Wilmington, Delaware, is the most populous city in the state, with a population of 70,898 at the 2020 census, situated at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek near the Delaware River. First settled by Swedish colonists in 1638 as Fort Christina — among the earliest Swedish settlements in North America — it later became a significant industrial hub for shipbuilding, milling, and chemical manufacturing, much of it driven by the DuPont company. Today it functions as a major national banking and finance center and serves as the county seat of New Castle County. For Expedition Unknown's very first episode, Gates flew into Wilmington not to investigate the city itself, but to sit down with Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, whose organization is headquartered there and has spent decades pursuing the question of what really happened to Amelia Earhart.
Swedish settlers establish Fort Christina on the site, one of the first Swedish settlements in North America
Area formally incorporated as the Village of Willingtown
Granted Borough Charter within the Delaware Colony and renamed Wilmington, after Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington
Gates visits Wilmington in Season 1, Episode 1 of Expedition Unknown to interview TIGHAR's Ric Gillespie about the Earhart disappearance
Ric Gillespie, the executive director of TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery), is the central expert voice in the Wilmington segment of Expedition Unknown's premiere episode. Gillespie told Gates that when TIGHAR first considered the Earhart case, his own instinct was that she 'probably just got lost looking for a tiny island in a big ocean, ran out of gas, crashed at the sea' — but the analysis by retired military navigators changed his thinking. According to Gillespie's account on camera, those navigators believed Earhart's radio transmissions describe standard navigation procedure that would have brought her to one of two reachable islands, and that no one had ever seriously looked there.
TIGHAR's working hypothesis centers on Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner Island) in what is now Kiribati. The organization has conducted more than ten expeditions to the atoll in support of the castaway theory, gathering physical evidence that includes a fragment of aluminum described as matching a patch repair unique to Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E, as well as forensic analysis of bones discovered on the island in 1940. Mainstream aviation historians and official investigations have not reached a consensus on the castaway hypothesis, and the wreckage of the Electra has never been definitively located or confirmed on or near Nikumaroro.
The broader debate over Earhart's fate has produced several competing theories — open-ocean ditching near Howland Island, capture by Japanese forces, and the Nikumaroro castaway scenario among them. Of these, the Nikumaroro hypothesis has attracted the most sustained scientific investigation, largely due to TIGHAR's fieldwork, but it remains contested and unproven. The absence of confirmed wreckage keeps the question genuinely open within the research community.
Gates' visit to Wilmington served as the scene-setting interview that launched the entire Expedition Unknown series, establishing the show's approach: Gates as a curious journalist visiting credentialed researchers rather than as an authority himself. The episode explores the Nikumaroro hypothesis in depth but does not present it as resolved — consistent with where the evidence actually stands.
Wilmington was first settled by Swedish colonists in 1638 and built on the site of Fort Christina, one of the earliest Swedish settlements in North America.
The city was incorporated as the Village of Willingtown in 1731 before being renamed Wilmington in 1739 after Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington.
Despite its relatively small population of roughly 70,900, Wilmington is a major hub for national banking and finance institutions.
TIGHAR's Ric Gillespie told Gates on camera that he had personally traveled to the remote Nikumaroro atoll ten times in pursuit of evidence about Earhart's fate.
Wilmington is a working city with accessible downtown neighborhoods, historic sites tied to its Swedish colonial origins, and museums reflecting its industrial heritage. The TIGHAR offices are not a public tourist attraction, but the city's Riverfront district and the nearby Fort Christina State Park — commemorating the 1638 Swedish landing site — are generally open to visitors. Check current local advisories for hours and access before visiting.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, approximately 30 miles northeast of Wilmington.
Late spring through early fall offers the most comfortable weather for exploring Wilmington's riverfront and outdoor historic sites. Summers can be humid, so early June or September tend to offer the best balance of warmth and manageable crowds.
Tomlinson Farm, Newtown, Pennsylvania
Tomlinson Farm in Newtown, Pennsylvania, appeared in the same broader regional cluster of Expedition Unknown historical investigations in the northeastern United States.
Mercer Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
The Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was featured in Expedition Unknown investigations focused on American historical mysteries, making it a thematic neighbor to the Earhart research interview conducted in Wilmington.
Historical data sourced from Wikipedia