Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway
Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Delaware. Within Delaware it covers roughly 45 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Delaware's Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway links 28 back roads across roughly 27 miles of the Red Clay Creek watershed in northern New Castle County. It's believed to be the first U.S. byway organized around a watershed rather than a single roadway, winding between Delaware Routes 52 and 48 and passing through the old mill village of Hockessin and the Yorklyn valley, where the creek once powered snuff, paper, and gunpowder mills tied to the DuPont family's early industry. Drivers can detour to the steam-powered Wilmington & Western Railroad, the gardens of Mt. Cuba Center, Auburn Heights' antique steam cars, and the working farmland of Coverdale Farm Preserve, plus stone crossings like the Ashland and Wooddale covered bridges. Much of the corridor traces roads first laid out by English and Quaker settlers in the early 1700s. At about an hour end to end, it's less a single scenic highway than a loosely connected drive through Delaware's Piedmont mill-town history, best paired with a stop at one of its several nature preserves.
- Red Clay Creek watershed
- Hockessin
- Wilmington & Western Railroad
- Mt. Cuba Center
- Auburn Heights
- ~27 miles
- 18th-century mill history
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What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway
1 campground or RV park sits within about 5 miles of Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway.
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