Work in progress: Visitors center construction continues at John Dickinson Plantation

Work is well underway on an expansive upgrade to the visitors’ experience at Kent County’s John Dickinson Plantation. The new building is set to welcome the public in 2026.

Construction on the new facility broke ground in 2024. Once built, the $14.5 million project will provide a large multipurpose community room space and upgraded exhibits and displays for people to learn more about the complex and sprawling history of the 450-acre property.

The historic site shares the stories of the tenant farmers, indentured servants, free and enslaved Black men, women and children who lived, labored and died on the plantation. Throughout Dickinson’s life, he enslaved many men, women and children, until 1786, when he unconditionally manumitted 59 people – all the enslaved individuals he owned at that time.

The John Dickinson Plantation is a partner site of First State National Historical Park, and a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom, the Bayshore Byway and an American Alliance of Museums-accredited museum.