HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Marked site on The Green where Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution
1 The Green, Dover, DE 19901
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit. The original tavern was demolished around 1830; a state historical marker (KC-76) stands at the site on The Green.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Sidewalk and public green in downtown Dover
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1730 · First State Ratification Site (Dec. 7, 1787) · Early Legislative Council Meeting Place · Dover Green Historic District
The Golden Fleece Tavern was built in the 1730s and stood on The Green in Dover, then the civic heart of the colony's new capital. After the state government moved from New Castle to Dover in 1777, the tavern became the meeting place of the Legislative Council, the upper house of the assembly, and served that role until the State House was completed in 1791.
Its place in national history was fixed in late 1787. On December 3, thirty delegates to a ratifying convention gathered at the Golden Fleece to consider the proposed federal Constitution. Their approval was unanimous, and on December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first of the thirteen states to ratify, the origin of its enduring nickname, the First State. The council met here again in January 1790 to ratify the Bill of Rights.
The original tavern did not survive. It was demolished around 1830 and replaced by the Capitol Hotel, which itself closed in the 1920s. Today the spot is marked by Delaware historical marker KC-76, installed in 2002, and a freestanding wall behind a later building is locally identified as the only surviving section of the historic tavern.
Sources
Because the Golden Fleece was a working tavern at the center of Dover's public life for a century, it is a fixture on the city's ghost-tour route. Guides describe nighttime laughter heard near the site, objects that shift position, and pockets of sudden cold, and they attribute the activity to a visitor said to have died after slipping and breaking his neck at the tavern.
This is tour folklore rather than documented history. The building itself was gone by about 1830, so the stories attach to the site and its marker rather than to a standing structure. What is solid is the ground beneath the legend: this small patch of The Green is where a colony became the first state, a fact the marker has commemorated since 2002.
A free, self-guided stop at the state historical marker on The Green commemorating the Golden Fleece Tavern, where delegates met in December 1787 and Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. A surviving wall fragment is visible behind a later building on the block.
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