Deerfield

The golf course at Louviers Country Club was built by the DuPont Corporation for its employees in 1955 and it operated as a staff facility for forty years until it was acquired by MBNA, who built a new clubhouse and renamed it Deerfield. A decade later, when Bank of America took control of the credit card company, the 145-acre site was deemed surplus to requirement, prompting the state of Delaware to step in to protect it from adverse development.

The surprise move was reported at the time in the following terms: “Early Friday morning, in the waning hours of the legislative session, the House and Senate introduced and quickly passed the $834.88 million capital spending plan. The bill, which was not made public until after midnight, contains a proposal to spend up to $6 million to acquire the Deerfield Golf and Tennis Club near Newark and make it part of White Clay Creek State Park.”

Under the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation, the property is now managed by Forewinds Hospitality, with public golfers able to access the course since it first re-opened in April 2006.