Longwood Gardens (Photo by Becca Mathias courtesy Longwood Gardens)
In 1799, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, his wife and children fled revolutionary France and started a gunpowder mill on the banks of the Brandywine Creek, north of Wilmington, Delaware. Despite periodic explosions that would shatter windows at Eleutherian Mills — the family house up on the hill — the gunpowder business was successful.
Some 200 years since those beginnings, visitors from around the world now marvel at the stunning gardens and homes left by du Pont’s wealthy family and heirs. Less than four hours from Richmond, Wilmington is an ideal base for a weekend visit. From there, my wife and I had easy access to the Brandywine Valley, which straddles the Pennsylvania-Delaware border and is home to some of the mid-Atlantic’s finest combinations of nature and architecture.
Grand Estates
We began at Hagley Museum and Library, the site of the original home and gunpowder works positioned along the picturesque Brandywine. A shuttle takes visitors to the family home where expert gardeners oversee the original garden, a 2-acre oasis where we saw the first bursts of orange Oriental poppies bloom on a day in late May. Visitors can also explore the nearby house, but I was most impressed by the powder works tour along the creek, where our guide demonstrated the water wheel’s power-generating ability.
From Hagley, we drove to Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, the former home of du Pont’s great-grandson Henry Francis du Pont, who expanded and transformed the estate into a 60-acre rolling, diverse garden with a “get lost” aesthetic. Our guide, Lisa, notes that the blooming azaleas along the hills were du Pont’s attempt to “paint” the landscape with colorful flowers. The main house is nearly hidden among the various gardens but is worth a visit to check out the extensive collection of furniture and decorative arts.
Winterthur (Photo by MoonLoop Photography)
Longwood Gardens, just over the border in Pennsylvania, is spectacular. Purchased in 1906 by du Pont’s other great-grandson to save surrounding trees from local timber mills, the property evolved from a rural country estate into one of the most significant horticulture display gardens in the United States, with more than 4,000 plants and trees.
Longwood’s size can be intimidating, but with frequent stops to rest tired legs, we covered almost the entire property, including the spectacular displays in the enclosed conservatory, which should not be missed.
Beyond the Gardens
Interested in something more untamed? Visit the Russell W. Peterson Wildlife Refuge, situated along the Christina River in Delaware. Named after the environmentalist and former Delaware governor, it’s a short bike ride from downtown Wilmington along the riverwalk. The refuge features an educational center with views of the surrounding marshlands.
Dining
Between our visits in and around the gardens, we stopped for lunch at Hank’s Place near Longwood Gardens, where members of the Wyeth family — famed artists and regional legends — used to bring eggs to be prepared for breakfast, taking the shells with them to use in their tempera paint, owner Kathryn Young shares. For dinner, we enjoyed a hearty mushroom soup at Buckley’s Tavern, also a National Historic Landmark, located just outside of Wilmington. Over in West Grove, Pennsylvania, La Chispa Creamery (“the spark” in Spanish) offers glorious, overflowing ice cream creations.
