Old Swedes Church

Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church, A 1698 99 Swedish Colonial Church Now An Episcopal Parish, And A Component Of First State National Historical Park · Wilmington, Delaware

Old Swedes Church, formally Holy Trinity, is a small stone church on the east side of Wilmington built in 1698 and 1699 by Swedish Lutheran settlers of the former New Sweden colony, led by their pastor Eric Bjork. It passed to the Episcopal Church after the Revolution and is still a working parish, which places it among the oldest church buildings in the United States still used for worship. Its thick fieldstone walls and steep roof, with a porch and a bell tower added in later generations, sit inside a walled burial ground whose first graves go back to 1638, when colonists from the Kalmar Nyckel built Fort Christina a short walk to the east. Across the lawn is the Hendrickson House, a Swedish stone farmhouse from about 1700 that was taken down in Pennsylvania, moved here and rebuilt as a small museum. The site is a component of First State National Historical Park but is run by a nonprofit foundation, with tours only a few days a week from March to December. The setting is an industrial neighborhood between the rail yards, the river and I-495.

606 North Church Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, United States

Old Swedes keeps two different schedules, and mixing them up is the usual mistake. The historic site - guided tours of the church, the 1638 burial ground and the Hendrickson House - has been open from March to December only, and then only Thursday to Saturday, roughly late morning to mid-afternoon, with the last tour starting in the early afternoon; arrive after that and you will usually be offered the grounds at most. January and February are closed for tours, and Sunday to Wednesday are closed all year. The cheaper grounds-only cemetery walk with a self-guided app runs on the same open days. The church itself is also an active Episcopal parish, with services on Sunday mornings through the year; visitors are welcome to worship, but that is a service, not a tour. Weddings, funerals, special services and holiday events can close the church to sightseers at short notice, and the gates to the walled churchyard may be locked outside open hours, leaving only the view from the sidewalk. Confirm tour days, the last tour time and service times before you go.

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