by David Cardillo, DDNP Staff, Blog Contributor
The daily gazette. (Wilmington, Del.), 03 Feb. 1880. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
As we can see from this article of The Daily Gazette from February 3, 1880, Groundhog Day in Delaware goes back over a century. Nowadays, Delawareans rely on Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania, but this article is unclear as to whether Delaware observed its own groundhog or if this is a report from Pennsylvania predating the 1887 foundation of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.
The groundhog in question in 1880 did indeed see his shadow, then ran back to his burrow. That afternoon, clouds rolled in, bringing snow, which later turned to rain, robbing people of even the chance to go sledding.
Then, as now, the groundhog was unavailable for comment after his predictions came true.
Find out more by searching “Groundhog Day” under Delaware Newspapers on Chronicling America.
External source: The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club