Tour The Largest Formal French Garden In North America
The DuPont Family Estate Has Become A Family-Friendly Facility, Children's Hospital & Open Mansion And Garden For Self-Guided Tours
DuPont is a name familiar to most Americans. The chemical giant leads in everything from paints to plastics. Unless you’ve toured around Delaware, however, you may not know how much the history of the du Pont family intertwines with that of the United States itself.
Huguenot patriarch Pierre du Pont de Nemours came to the young U.S. in 1800, concerned by the course of the French Revolution was taking. “His friends, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin along with the Marquis de Lafayette, convinced him that America offered more potential than France,” John Rumm, director of the Nemours Estate. “He and his sons settled along the banks of the Brandywine River and soon opened a gunpowder factory.” Profits from the enterprise quickly made the du Pont family one of the country’s richest.
Rumm oversees the Nemours Estate, built in 1910 by Alfred I. du Pont, great-great-grandson of the original Pierre. Alfred jockeyed with his cousins for control of the family business, but built his estate, often called a modern Versailles, for the love of a woman. The 77-room mansion is surrounded by 300 acres of elaborate landscaping, the largest formal French garden in the United States, complete with sunken garden, maze and Temple of Love.
Alfred and his third wife Jessie decorated the mansion with an eclectic blend of rare antiques, art works, and tapestries. Lafayette’s chandelier graces the main stairwell; one from Marie Antoinette’s childhood home hangs in the dining room. History surrounds you in the mansion, preserved much as it was at Jessie duPont’s death in 1970.
Games enjoyed by Jessie’s nieces and nephews remain scattered around the conservatory. A half-full cocktail glass sits on a table, near a forgotten evening wrap and bejeweled bag. “Must have been quite a party,” one of the mansion’s interpreters comments.
The interpreters, formerly tour guides, are scattered throughout the mansion, ready to share stories about the duPonts and the people who worked for them. They represent a new, more open access policy, brought to Nemours by John Rumm when he arrived two years ago.
“Nemours was always the estate behind the wall,” he says. “It was presented as an exclusive place to visit, catering to an elite. We had just three tours a day, and were actually turning people away.” Visitors had to register in advance and could only enter via a guided tour. Children under 12 were excluded.
Now all that has changed. After getting a taste of the du Pont family history in the visitor center through time lines, exhibits and a video, guests are whisked up to the mansion and around the grounds via shuttle buses. The first and second floors of the mansion are open for self-guided tours, aided by numerous information panels and strategically placed interpreters offering guidance. Visitors of all ages are welcome, and are encouraged to take photos and post them on social media.
“We changed the emphasis from things, antiques and such, toward stories of the people who lived and worked here...people much like our visitors, but separated by time,” Rumm explains.
Mary Gallagher, who came to Nemours nine years ago as a guide, takes great pleasure in introducing members of the du Pont family, present in portraits throughout the mansion. One of her favorite spots is the grand staircase, where the Lafayette chandelier hangs close to a bust of the Revolutionary hero. On the landing, a magnificent stained glass window displays the du Pont family coat of arms, awarded by the French king in the 1700s.
Scattered throughout the mansion are “ghost chairs,” clear Lucite seats that let visitors sit down and “visit” with the du Ponts. Guests can pull up a chair to the grand dining table under the gaze of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, relax in the conservatory, or join the party in the music room, where Alfred, an accomplished musician and composer, often gave concerts with his friends.
Many of the details Mary points out might be easily overlooked by visitors. “We have four antique chandeliers that have perfume bottles built into them,” she says. “When the candles were lighted they created a lovely fragrance.” She also directs guests to the rooftop deck above the conservatory. “You can really see the design and color scheme of the gardens from up there.”
The basement of Nemours, equipped with billiards tables, shuffleboard and a bowling alley, is another favorite spot for visitors. “Men especially are always interested in the mechanical rooms down there,” Mary says. The shuttle bus also takes guests to the chauffeur’s garage where five of the du Pont’s vintage cars, ranging from 1921 to 1960, are housed, along with a pony cart and an early motor boat.
Rising above the formal gardens is what some visitors first see as a discordant note, the blue glass tower of the Nemours Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children, one of the largest medical facilities dedicated to children’s health in the country. A special “walking gate” allows patients and their families, as well as the hospital staff, to enter the Nemours grounds to seek healing and respite in the natural world whenever they like. The Estate also offers free passes to families of patients at the hospital.
“It’s really the completion of Alfred du Pont’s dream,” John Rumm says. “He grew up in the family philosophy that it’s the responsibility of everyone to take car of the less fortunate. He left most of his fortune to be used to develop the children’s hospital and to preserve Nemours for the pleasure and benefit of the public.”
Visitors touring the Du Pont Historic Corridor, visiting Hagley, Winterthur, Longwood Gardens and other estates established by the du Pont family, are likely to get their best feel for everyday life at Nemours. “We had one youngster come and he wrote us a letter,” Rumm says. “He had been to Biltmore but said he liked Nemours better, because it was more ‘liveable in.’ I think that captures the down-to-earth, immersive experience we are creating here. The du Ponts were not stuffy people. Jessie loved nothing better than snacking on a bowl of Fritos.”
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Philadelphia / West Chester KOA, where you can enjoy a rural setting near many attractions. The park holds a special Philadelphia tour for campers, and the tour van holds up to 14. Guides pride themselves on their knowledge of history and out-of-the-way places.