For years, the camping registration office at Trap Pond State Park—Delaware’s first state park—was, well, very minimal. In fact, you’d probably be exaggerating if you called it an office.

“It wasn’t much bigger than a phone booth,” says Bud Nash, statewide parks maintenance superintendent. “It really wasn’t meeting our needs.”

The 2,685-acre park offers 142 campsites on the pond’s northern shore as well as two yurts and eight cabins, which translates into a busy recreational place during its March-to-November season. There are also plenty of daytime visitors, hikers and birdwatchers who come to explore the wetland forest.