Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I lived in Dover for six years and went to high school there--many, many years ago. The Dover of my youth seemed absolutely perfect--historic, physically beautiful with practically no crime or poverty. Dover then was small but with a large enough "downtown" (primarily Loockerman/State Streets) to find pretty much everything one needed. If you lived in town in those days you could get by without a car.
No longer. I returned to Dover last week for the first time in 50 years and was shocked by what I found. Today downtown Dover is largely dead with most commercial activities located east of town--up and down Rte. 13 (DuPont Pkwy) in one of the worst examples of strip commercial sprawl I've ever seen. The highway now is more like a parking lot--heavy auto traffic for miles, acres of parking, and no pedestrians--an absolute mess!
Fortunately the physical beauty of the old town is still more or less intact, and the state of Delaware has invested a lot in the Legislative Hall (state capitol) district. The original town plan dating back to 1682 features "The Green"--still one of the beautiful and historic small urban open spaces in the U.S. Dover has good "bones" (as we like to say) and with some planning and $$$ investment the town could become a serious tourist destination. At the present time however, it's but a ghost of the place I once knew and loved.
I just street viewed Dover's downtown area tonight, and it still looks pretty nice! Yeah you are right about the suburbanization and development along US Hwy 13 (DuPont Parkway) taking over what used to be the commercial center of town, though what part of the US hasn't been hit with some suburbanization in the 2nd half of the 21st century? Even with that issue (development moving towards US 13/DuPont Pkwy), Dover still has a good looking downtown. I wonder if they do some festivals and other occssional outdoor activities(including ones where certain downtown streets are closed off), to encourage people to come downtown? Dover's downtown does have character and bones, where it could come back more one day.
Delaware bridges East -PHILLY and West MARYLAND ANNAPOLIS BALTIMORE DC PROPER
Delaware has small old world ethnic enclaves in Wilmington (Italians, etc); lots of rural, mostly Breadbasket African Americans who have been there for 400 years and tourists galore on the shore.
People live in DE and work in PA
People from DC Metro and Baltimore summer in DE (ex: President Biden, Tony Kornheiser, Richard Gere)
Rehoboth/Bethany Beaches are very preppy resort towns with lots of partying college kids and a large supported LGBTQ population.
RI has a historical, longtime small AA community. Also, many Huguenots settled their centuries ago. In the 19th century, Italians, Jews and Irish settled in RI. in the 1970s the Portuguese came in (thats where Meredith Vieira comes from). In the 21st century, Cape Verdeans, Haitian and DR communities along with Plymouth Founder Families in the preppiest of preppy New England all call RI home. Lots of colleges so lots of college kids also.
RI is known for the biggest Heroin production facilities on the East Coast as its brought in from NY and prepped there. The gangs are frightening. Gangster Disciples are the largest international gang there who handle the drugs for NYC cartels.
You can surf in Westerly, theres sharks and dolphins there too.
Taylor Swift adores her RI mansion but everyone hates her bc she blocked off her beach access to the community.
DELAWARE has the most potential due to its location, climate, friendly Banking regulations and less poor immigrants than RI.
Delaware bridges East -PHILLY and West MARYLAND ANNAPOLIS BALTIMORE DC PROPER
Delaware has small old world ethnic enclaves in Wilmington (Italians, etc); lots of rural, mostly Breadbasket African Americans who have been there for 400 years and tourists galore on the shore.
People live in DE and work in PA
People from DC Metro and Baltimore summer in DE (ex: President Biden, Tony Kornheiser, Richard Gere)
Rehoboth/Bethany Beaches are very preppy resort towns with lots of partying college kids and a large supported LGBTQ population.
RI has a historical, longtime small AA community. Also, many Huguenots settled their centuries ago. In the 19th century, Italians, Jews and Irish settled in RI. in the 1970s the Portuguese came in (thats where Meredith Vieira comes from). In the 21st century, Cape Verdeans, Haitian and DR communities along with Plymouth Founder Families in the preppiest of preppy New England all call RI home. Lots of colleges so lots of college kids also.
RI is known for the biggest Heroin production facilities on the East Coast as its brought in from NY and prepped there. The gangs are frightening. Gangster Disciples are the largest international gang there who handle the drugs for NYC cartels.
You can surf in Westerly, theres sharks and dolphins there too.
Taylor Swift adores her RI mansion but everyone hates her bc she blocked off her beach access to the community.
DELAWARE has the most potential due to its location, climate, friendly Banking regulations and less poor immigrants than RI.
In general, RI has more distinct ethnic enclaves than Delaware for sure. You mentioned some but left out the Liberians, Guatemalans, Laotians and Cambodians who are all very noticeable in Northern RI.
RI has soft culture and proximity to Boston to prop it up as well as vacation getaways for the high brow. Its slowly been improving and can only go up. There's more energy behind RI which is why I put its future as brighter despite the urban poverty. It generally does very well with crime too. The colleges help as well.
I definitely go with Rhode Island over Delaware. Providence has the east side, downtown and federal hill with amazing walkable neighborhoods and food. I don’t feel like Wilmington is at that level currently.
Rhode Island also has Newport which is a national gem. The other charming coastal beach areas of RI are similar to DE. Block Island is another amenity that DE doesn’t have.
Also, I prefer RI’s location between NYC and Boston over DE’s location ever though it’s still a great location.
I think both states are great with good futures but I still give the nod to RI.
My vote is for RI. I think it's a beautiful state, and I like it's location better than DE although DE is no slouch in the location department based on its proximity to MD and PA. IMHO there's nothing like Newport, Little Compton and Bristol, and RI's proximity to Boston wins for me since MA is where I am from and I like its proximity to CT.
This is probably unfair as I have admittedly not seen much of DE other than Winterthur which was incredible and New Castle Village, which was cute but small and surrounded by sprawl.
To me RI has more of an identity and I like Providence a lot. It's a very comfortable city - kind of quirky and artsy, and from what I understand a pretty good food scene. Waterfire is awesome.
Economy-Tie
Cost of living- DE
Housing-DE
Cities, towns and suburbs-RI
Amenities/things to do- Tie
Culture- Tie
Food-Tie
Education-RI
Location-DE
Importance-Tie
Future outlook-Tie
This is a very good match up but its difficult to compare both states. Both states offer a mix of mid sized/ small metros and coastal towns. I prefer Deleaware's location because if you are in the Wilmington area you are closer to more major cities. 20 mins to Phily, 2hrs to NYC, 1 hr to Baltimore and 1.5 hrs to DC vs Providence, RI where you are an hour from Boston and 3 hours from NYC. I am not that familar with Rhode Island but I would imagine that the water temperature at the beaches in DE would be more pleasant swimmers. I do think that Rhode may offer a little more cultural diversity, but DE offers more african american culture. In terms of future outlook I think both states will cotinue to have similar steady economic growth since they are in areas dominated by major cities in other states. Overall Rhode Island may offer slightly more character in its towns and cities, but Delaware's location makes it a better choice.
Economy-Tie
Cost of living- DE
Housing-DE
Cities, towns and suburbs-RI
Amenities/things to do- Tie
Culture- Tie
Food-Tie
Education-RI
Location-DE
Importance-Tie
Future outlook-Tie
This is a very good match up but its difficult to compare both states. Both states offer a mix of mid sized/ small metros and coastal towns. I prefer Deleaware's location because if you are in the Wilmington area you are closer to more major cities. 20 mins to Phily, 2hrs to NYC, 1 hr to Baltimore and 1.5 hrs to DC vs Providence, RI where you are an hour from Boston and 3 hours from NYC. I am not that familar with Rhode Island but I would imagine that the water temperature at the beaches in DE would be more pleasant swimmers. I do think that Rhode may offer a little more cultural diversity, but DE offers more african american culture. In terms of future outlook I think both states will cotinue to have similar steady economic growth since they are in areas dominated by major cities in other states. Overall Rhode Island may offer slightly more character in its towns and cities, but Delaware's location makes it a better choice.
RI has a much bigger city and metro than anything in DE. Providence metro is 1.6 M and Providence Pawtucket and Central Falls combined (all over 8000 ppsqmi and contiguous) has 270k people in a very urban enviroment-albeit its low income its extremely diverse and offers many more big-city offerings than virtually anywhere in DE.
RI is for sure more culturally diverse overall with more to do. I don't know any notable DE food whereas RI is not lacking for good food.
Rhode Island is a more populous state, in general, its about 20% more populated.
DE has many more practical advantages for everyday life but RI is much more exciting and dynamic. I've been to Delaware a few times now and it's a nice place I wouldn't rule out moving to-pretty serene and logical. RI has a lot more character and quirks. But RI is better overall, just slightly IMO.
Minimal AA culture in RI is correct though. Its a small contingent found in urban areas, mos of the black community is Liberian Haitian Cape Verdean and Dominican or some combination of that-maybe with AA/Jamaicans mixed into one of those as well lol.
Economy- DE
Cost of living- DE
Housing- DE
Cities, towns and suburbs- RI, Providence>Wilmington
Amenities/things to do- RI
Culture- RI
Food- Don't know
Education- RI
Location- DE
Importance- RI
Future outlook- DE
Rhode Island is the best place to escape the violence in movies and sex on TV.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
