Winterthur, Delaware

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Today we took a drive to the beautiful grounds of Winterthur Estate in Delaware. It was the 125 room mansion on 2,500 acres of Henry Francis du Pont who was a collector of American material arts pieces. Today the grounds comprise 982 acres full of amazingly gorgeous gardens. We had a lecture this morning on the production and trade of goods in early America (material arts). We took a garden tram tour back to the enormous house for a guided tour of a couple of floors. Du Pont was such a collector that he would purchase the remains of historic buildings that were being torn down, transport them to his estate and have them rebuilt as rooms inside his home. There were many lovely rooms, but my very favorite was the conservatory. When I was a little girl and would dream of the “perfect” house it would always include a conservatory and wood paneled library (blame it on too many games of Clue with my family). We didn’t get to see the old library in their house, but did get to see the modern research library that includes thousands of rare books. We also got to do some really good hands-on activities such as would be done with students visiting the estate. These were really neat activities that could easily be altered to meet the needs of many different levels.

We then stopped in Wilmington for dinner. It was nice to have everyone eat dinner together. This trip has not allowed for much time for camaraderie and this was a nice touch. Gettysburg tomorrow and then home on Saturday. I can’t wait!!!! I miss my family so much.

Classroom Application:

I plan to use the student activities that were presented to us in my classroom next school year.

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