Winterthur, Delaware and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Sept 29
Tuesday

Having received good news from Kaiser in Gaithersburg, MD that my yearly tests are all normal, I am good to go. Travel is not a good reason not to take care of your health. Luckily, I am blessed with good health and take no medications, or probably would not have attempted this trip.

Still have a few days before am to meet Jean Brady in Pennsylvania,  so headed for Wilmington, DE to see the du Pont estate, Winterthur.

The RV park I had reserved was too scary and it was the only one in the area, so headed for a motel for the night.

I look on the internet for rv parks and there are usually photos.

When no photos, this is usually why.

Arriving at Winterthur, I took the tram thru part of the estate to reach the main house. It was once a 2,400 acre working farm and today has its own post office and fire department. The latter is necessary to save the priceless collections of antiques in the home.

The grounds are still beautiful but not as spectacular as in Spring when everything is in bloom.

Altho he had a staff of 70 gardeners, Henry du Pont considered himself the Head Gardener and kept detailed records of all the plants and their peak blooming season.

Winterthur is a house museum filled with 80,000 decorative arts, the best produced in America between 1640 and 1840.

It's a good thing the family business of gunpowder manufacture continued to be successful. All of those wars.......

The original 12 room villa was built in 1839 and would grow to become a 196 room chateau to house Henry duPont's constantly growing collection of antiques.

When rolls of never been used vintage Chinese wallpaper was discovered in the early 1930s, he had a wall removed to create a large enough area to hang the paper in the living room.

The only thing not antique in this room is the grand piano which his wife played while daughters sang.

Only the main floor was available for tour.

The du Ponts had many guests but Henry was so neurotic about maintaining the furnishings that guests were often told what couldn't be touched.  One guest was rumored to be so nervous, she slept in the bathtub to avoid disturbing anything.

The du Ponts gave the house over as a museum in 1951 and moved next door to a large home they had built on the property.

The du Pont library houses many students who are there for research.
One of them came up with the idea recently to have a display room called the staff lounge, sort of a downstairs to the spiffy upstairs. It's very cozy....

Before I realized it I was nearly across Delaware so stopped at King of Prussia, PA to check out Valley Forge, where Washington's troops froze their tails off in the winter of 1777-78.

Really it was just an excuse for another celebrity sighting.

The cabins the men built themselves, 12 men per hut.

At least during the construction they kept warm chopping logs.

Valley Forge National Historic Park is beautiful with 26 miles of trails and the 10 mile long Encampment Tour route which I drove but could be walked. It was a drizzly day so decided not to walk it.

The 1917 National Memorial Arch dedicated to the soldiers' perseverance.

The original stone house that served as residence and office for Washington and his staff. The owner was paid the going rate for rent while they were there.

The living room was set up as the command post.

Officers stayed there in two of the bedrooms.

Washington's bedroom.
Martha came and stayed February to April bringing two people with her to add to the already crowded small home.

More sleeping quarters

Washington's two slaves probably slept here in the attic.

Finally it's Fall in New England.
The leaves are beginning to turn.