799. Wilmington, New Castle County (DE3)

The New Castle County courthouse almost got missed.  It’s another one of those courthouses that’s a justice center or named after someone, so if you haven’t done the research, you might easily miss that it’s the right building.  I almost missed this one myself, but it was the only place that really made sense.  Later, once I was back home, I was able to find older photos of the building bearing the New Castle County title instead of the current name honoring Leonard L. Williams.  This was also when I learned of the controversy behind it.  In 1997, a city ordinance was passed, adding a deed restriction that any courthouse built at that city-owned lot would be named after Williams, Delaware’s second Black judge.  The state built a courthouse, but in 2002, the governor presented the keys to the New Castle County Courthouse—an apt name, but in violation of the deed restriction.  It wasn’t until 2016 that a new governor opted to honor the deed restriction, changing the name from the New Castle County Courthouse to the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center.  Unfortunately, Williams, who died in 2013, never lived to see it.  Whichever name it was under, the courthouse was a modern, uninspiring edifice, but I could live with a few minutes of confusion over its appellation. 

The cache was equally uninspiring but with less of a story.  Rolling into town from Dover, we pulled off into a mini mall a short distance from our hotel.  It was easy enough to find a key box on an electrical box, and with a quick stamp, the claim was made, and one of my personal goals was accomplished.  Boom went the proverbial dynamite! I had finished my eighth state.  Of course, I knew that three counties in no way compared to the 254 of Texas, but a state is a state is a state, and victory requires no explanation.  Besides, I was done with the largest state and the smallest. In that, there is symmetry. When we got to the hotel, we all collapsed into the sleep of the just.  Besides, we had to get up early because we were hosting an Event!  It was super early, and a few local cachers were able to come chat with us at a crazy hour of the morning before we set off again.  The new day would be at a slower pace because it was more devoted to being touristy and traveling to our primary starting point for the next day.  Of course, there would be some new counties along the way; after a drive across the wrong bridge, we got our navigation right, and soon stopped in…