Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

Henry Francis du Pont inherited both a fortune and a discerning eye, and he devoted his life to collecting the decorative arts of early America at a time when many still dismissed them as unfashionable. He bought entire rooms, paneling, mantels, and all, from old houses being demolished, and had them installed at Winterthur, so that his objects could be shown in period settings rather than glass cases.

The scale of his ambition was extraordinary. He expanded the house again and again to hold the growing collection, arranging thousands of objects with the care of a stage designer, matching a chair to a wall color to a piece of porcelain. What began as a private home became a teaching collection, and in time he opened it to the public as a museum, endowing it to continue his work of studying and preserving American craftsmanship.

Winterthur's interiors are its heart, a warren of rooms fitted out with period furnishings and architectural pieces salvaged from historic homes across the young nation. Walking through, you pass from a Colonial parlor to a Federal dining room to a Shaker interior, each assembled to show a particular time, place, and way of living.

The collection ranges across furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, textiles, and paintings, much of it made by American hands in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. It is a resource for scholars and students as much as a museum for visitors, paired with a serious research library, and it remains the standard against which American decorative-arts collections are measured.

Du Pont thought of his garden as another kind of collection, and he composed it with the same care he gave the house. Spread across a thousand acres of rolling Brandywine countryside, it is a naturalistic garden, one designed to look as though nature arranged it, with sweeps of color rising and fading in a planned procession through the seasons.

Signature areas carry the show at different times: a woodland of azaleas and native blooms, meadows and ponds, and quiet garden rooms tucked among the trees. A tram carries visitors through the grounds, and walking paths let you linger where the planting is at its peak. The effect is a landscape that feels wild and effortless but is, in truth, the product of decades of deliberate design.

Spring is Winterthur's grand season, when the woodland garden fills with bulbs, azaleas, and flowering trees in a long, unfolding display that peaks over many weeks. Summer keeps the meadows and garden rooms green and lush, a fine time for a leisurely tram ride and a walk.

Fall turns the estate's hardwoods gold and russet, one of the loveliest times to wander the grounds, and the house takes on a warm indoor glow. Winter quiets the garden, but the museum stays lively with exhibitions and a popular holiday display that dresses the great house for the season.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

The Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, near Wilmington in the Brandywine Valley of Delaware, is a magnificent former du Pont estate housing one of the finest collections of American decorative arts in the world, set amid stunning gardens and grounds. The grand mansion, once the home of a du Pont family member and passionate collector, holds an extraordinary collection of American furniture, ceramics, textiles, and decorative arts displayed in beautifully arranged period rooms, while the estate features a celebrated naturalistic garden and vast grounds. Its remarkable collection, house, and gardens make it a treasured destination. A superb and beautiful estate museum, it delights visitors. With its collection and gardens, Winterthur offers a compelling destination in Delaware.

You can tour the grand mansion with its extraordinary collection of American furniture, ceramics, textiles, and decorative arts in beautifully arranged period rooms, explore the celebrated naturalistic garden and vast grounds, and enjoy changing exhibitions. The world-class American decorative arts, the period rooms, the beautiful gardens, and the grand estate are the draws, offering a rich blend of art, history, and horticulture. The decorative arts collection and the gardens are highlights. With its collection and gardens, Winterthur offers a rewarding visit in Delaware.

The mansion and collection can be enjoyed year-round, while the warmer months of spring through fall are the loveliest for the celebrated garden and grounds, with spring blooms especially spectacular in the naturalistic landscape, and special seasonal events, including a festive holiday display, adding appeal. Because the gardens and some tours are seasonal, checking current information before you go is wise. For the loveliest gardens aim for spring through fall, or visit for the holiday display, at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware.

The du Ponts were a prominent and wealthy family whose fortune began with a gunpowder and later chemical company founded in the Brandywine Valley of Delaware, growing into one of the great industrial families in American history. Family members built grand estates in the Brandywine Valley, including Winterthur, Nemours, and the original Hagley powder works, and their legacy of industry, art collecting, and philanthropy shaped the region. The family's estates are now treasured museums. Understanding this heritage enriches a visit to the Winterthur Museum and the Brandywine Valley in Delaware.

The Winterthur Museum is near Wilmington in the Brandywine Valley of Delaware, within reach of the Hagley Museum and Library, the Nemours Estate, the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science, and the other attractions of the Brandywine Valley. That makes Winterthur a compelling stop to combine with the Hagley Museum and the other du Pont estates of the Brandywine Valley on a visit to Delaware.