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Winterthur, DE Real Estate News

By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
A recent rainy day brought me  inside Winterthur Museum for what is called the "Closer Look" tour. It turns out that up to 5 people can take a look at whatever your guide (ours was Barbara) feels like showing you. That explains the eclectic assortment of rooms we visited. The photo above is either called the "go big or go home" or "bordello red."  Since the room settings go up to the 1870's, it's at the top range as far as periods go.  Another room we saw was museum founder Henry Francis duPont's bedroom (much more conservative). And he didn't lack for a fine architectural setting (he collected physical doors and millwork from old homes). With a network of friends on the lookout for homes about to be destroyed or aristocrats down on their luck, this early 20th century collector could ch...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
We went to Winterthur Museum and Gardens today especially to see the azaleas. They were still not at their peak, but oh how lovely they were.  And I got to see my special favorite at this time of year, the Dove or Handkerchief tree, whose flowers resemble white handkerchiefs blowing in the breeze. And STOP the garden tram! We want to get off at the Quarry Garden, replete with Candelabra Primroses. They never disappoint. (as seen from bridge above quarry). 
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Winterthur Museum and Gardens is using Mr. duPont's idea of directing visitors to the best views every day by posting arrows (one in shadow above).  The bluebells are gathered around below to welcome us.On my wandering yesterday, I noted that the windflowers (a type of anemone) were vying for attention all over the place.The pathways were lined with these blue or white flowers.All in all, I'd call it just a beautiful spring day in the woods.
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Nancy McDaniel's dollhouse, built in 1985 was again featured during the Yuletide tour at  Winterthur. The dollhouse's late owner's portrait is hanging in the miniature dining room. This 18 room replica contains over 1000 objects, including needlepoint rugs she made for the rooms.  It was not easy finding an opening to see the tour this year--people are starved for activities and this masked only self-guided tour with stationary guides in each room was very popular.  But if you came to see if the tour incorporated any changes this year, you would be pleased to see that you get to see sections of two floors and some new types of trees are featured.  There is still a tree decorated with preserved flowers in the conservatory, and a colorful azalea tree is in the Readbourne stairhall (althou...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
It seems like it's been weeks since we had a sunny day, and I didn't want to waste it by not taking a long walk at Winterthur Museum and Gardens.  Not yet looking like fall as far as the leaves were concerned, everything was green. The viburnums, however, did sport bright red berries. And the forested areas still were showing all green leaves.  But there was all kinds of live action going on, with the chipmunks appearing all over the place, and the koi in the ponds carrying on a swirly circle of activity.  And lets not forget all those hawks circling in the sky.  
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Successfully threading my way through a day with occasional rain, I made my first visit in several weeks to Winterthur Museum and Gardens.  After a rather silly encounter with a woman staffing the visitor center, who told me I needed a mask for the couple of feet I traversed through the visitor center (then said I didn't need one as I went out another door a second later), I proceeded mask free on my hour and a half walk through the gardens.  This was a great day for different types of hydrangeas, ranging from the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas to the Smooth Leaf type. One path was lined on both sides with the Oak Leafs.  Then I saw a plant thrusting its way up throughthe forest floor in many places on the grounds. Using my Google Lens, I found it was Black Cohash, a herbal remedy for various ills...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
On Sunday, I ventured out to Winterthur Museum and Gardens to see what was in bloom. I did learn a lot, but not exactly what I expected to learn. I shall explain. The field (above) next to the golf course still housed the temple folly (from a special exhibit pre-pandemic).The ostrich ferns were doing their fiddley thing as I left the visitor center, and being a fern lover, I had to stop and admire them. Then I decided to follow the white arrow trail, which has made a return to the scene. It is supposed to lead you to the latest blooms, and sure enough, it did, although the azaleas were not yet at their prime, but this white one amid bluebells looked nice.  Another favorite of mine is the trilliums--a field of white ones. Having just purchased some to go alongside my ferns, I was happy t...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Around 3 o'clock today, I went for a hike at Winterthur and one thing jumped out at me--the long shadows. We are not long past the Winter Solstice, so the shadows are going to be getting shorter eventually.But the sun was bright, and it felt a lot warmer than the low 40's. There is a find Waldo in my first picture, but frankly, I couldn't find it after I looked at the picture. It's usually pretty quiet out there in the woods, but shortly after I started my hike, a hawk swooped down, a squirrel went chattering up a tree on the left, and the hawk perched in the tree on the right. The hawk sat motionless, while the giddy squirrel scampered in circles on the tree trunk, noisily protesting his near miss. Probably not a good idea to make that much noise, but what do I know?  Another noisy pla...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Every Christmas season, I visit Winterthur Museum to see the Yuletide Tour.  Well, talk about a "quick tour," this one sure fit the description.Due to Covid restrictions, the display was abbreviated and I'm sure took much less work setting it up than it did in the past. But, not being behind the scenes, it was probably more complicated and difficult to keep the elves who decorated the trees six feet from one another.            My opening picture is the Marlboro Room, where baskets of gifts with name tags illustrate the way the duPont family handled crowd gift giving. The second picture is in one of the period rooms with a gold-themed tree, and the third is a tree decorated with dried flowers which the museum traditionally places in the Conservatory (now the starting point for the tour)...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
After Friday's tornado in Delaware left hundreds of trees down and power lines down for the second time in a week, I was curious as to how Winterthur Museum and Gardens fared.  I was going to visit Saturday, but seeing all the roads that were closed, I changed my mind. Today the visitor center was closed, so my online reservation was checked on my phone by the guard at the gatehouse.  I was then greeted by a field of blooming white hostas at the start of my usual path.  A staff member told me today that Winterthur lost 30 to 50 trees last week. I have to give them credit, they have been hard at work and much of the damage has been cleared away. When I first started my garden walk today, it was quiet except for woodpecker tapping. By the time I left around 2 p.m., the dominant sound was ...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Since our options for being out and around seem to be limited to parks and our our yards, a friend and I took advantage of a sunny day and had a nice hike around the grounds of Winterthur Museum and Gardens today. The museum and shops are closed, but the groundskeepers are busy and we saw them bustling around and using the nice day to get after the invasive lesser celandine.  And this was a perfect day to see the pink camellias in bloom in a sheltered spot near the museum. There were lots of "tommies" in bloom (a type of crocus), blanketing hillsides and terraces. We took time to note the strange and twisted above-ground roots of the Hinoki Cypress trees.  The delicate pink of the pieris japonica was like a breath of Spring air.  We decided we are going to need to do this more often!  (...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
On a walk this week around Winterthur gardens, I decided to take "the path less traveled" to areas beyond the meadows I usually skirt. After passing the Neoclassical Folly, which stood out in the late afternoon sun in a field which looked much more interesting and green than it had in April, I found a sign saying "Brown's Woods, 1/2 mile walk." Not bad, right? (Photos:Neoclassical Folly in March, then in October)         It may have been a half mile for someone who was sure which fork to take in the woods, but not for this first time woods explorer. I ended up walking 1 1/2 hours, rather than my usual 45 minute stroll from the visitor center. And I wasn't entirely alone. Large "clunk, rustle" in the woods and a white tail I took to be a deer scampered away.  I walked so long that the mu...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
On display at Winterthur Museum until January 5, 2019, Follies--Architectural Whimsey in the Garden is a new exhibit which has been placed outside in nature, rather than inside this world-famous museum of period interiors and furnishings. (photo taken through Neoclassical Folly)I had been walking in the gardens this past week and watching construction happen in "real time" and had a chance to speak to one of the craftsmen for some inside info.  As a Realtor, I had been curious about the building permit posted at the Mirrored Folly (garden follies have a long tradition in England). Does this mean a demolition permit is needed when it is taken down? It turns out that some of these follies have been built so that removing a few bolts will allow them to be taken down and carted to another l...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
I usually don't go walking at Winterthur in the rain, but it was an on and off kind of drizzle yesterday on March 1, as the gardens opened for the first time this year. There are some nice grades on the walking paths, just the ticket for someone who is trying to get back in shape from a rainy, snowy winter. The winter hazels were blooming next to the visitor center. Down the walking path, there were winter aconites (yellow), snowdrops (white) and crocuses (purple). Out in the meadow there were pieces of machinery carving out mown pathways leading to what is going to be a major outdoor exhibit soon featuring garden "follies," in the English Manor style. I could see one Grecian temple under scaffolding and a platform with a building permit for a "mirrored structure." Should be interesting...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Many years ago there used to be a program on WFLN, a classical music station out of Philadelphia (the station no longer exists) and it was 5 or 10 minutes long and broadcast from the Campbell Soup Museum in Camden, New Jersey. It was hosted by an erudite gentleman by the name of Ralph Collier (who was born in Germany but spoke elegant English). Called "Tours and Detours," it might be about anything in the world, as he was a world traveler and he broadcast several programs from the 1960's to 2011. (pictured -the Campbell Collection at Winterthur)But every once in a while he would mention the collection of soup tureens which surrounded him where he broadcast in the Campbell Museum. Mr. Collier was president of the  Museum from 1975 to 1990, a job that enabled him to travel the world to 80...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Went with friends to see Winterthur's Yuletide annual display (open until January 7), and of course, it was very well done.  And one of the first things I noticed was that the first room on the tour had a Wilmington connection. It was from the Joseph Shipley House in Wilmington. I knew that Rockwood was Shipley's retirement home (now a museum), but didn't realize that Winterthur had saved an element from Shipley's home that no longer exists. It is shown on the tour with a natural tree which could have been something in the laurel family, but I'm not sure exactly what this decorated tree was. They also had a giant cookie on display in this room (following the theme of some other cookie related displays including one as big as a pizza and a room full of laundry baskets full of cookies to ...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
I visited Winterthur Museum and Gardens today, searching for some fall color but found that our recent forays into the 70's and 80's are not doing it for the bright colors. I know there are scientific reasons having to do with chlorophyll, but I am a simple person, and the simple fact that it is still very warm in Delaware convinces me that the temps are to blame.Don't get me wrong, the woods were beautiful today and the birds were having a songfest in the conifers, so there was a lot of greenery, especially in the pinetum. The only colorful trees were small ones I could not name, and the big sour gum trees.There were many estate vehicles buzzing around, working on what looks to be a new feature: a folly (an often extravagant picturesque building erected to suit a fanciful taste) more o...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
In all the years I have been going to local Historic Home and Gardens at Winterthur, I have never been there when there is snow on the ground. They are closed most of January and February, so that explains part of the reason, but I know we have had snow in March before. This time there was a lecture on Miss Ima Hogg, founder of Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens in Houston.Miss Hogg had many friends in the arts, one of whom was Henry Francis duPont, founder of Winterthur. The speaker, David Warren,  had been a Winterthur Fellow, and later curator of Bayou Bend. Grateful for my years of classes and lectures at Winterthur and the University of Delaware about the early decorative arts in this country, I could understand what Warren meant when he said "Newport block front chest." I hope the ...
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
I say a big "thank you" to mother nature for finally bringing those fall clothes out of the closet. A walk the other day at Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Delaware brought out some of her finest colors. And we have not even had freezing temperatures yet--more like the 60's every day!This made a walk in the woods well worth the time! From Carolyn Roland, Your Older and Historic Homes Resource
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By Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA, Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS
(Independent architectural histor'n)
Needing to get out and walk the other day, I decided to take advantage of a lovely warm October day midweek, when I knew there would not be many visitors at Winterthur Museum and Gardens. Very few trees had yet felt the urge to show fall colors, but the seasonal changes were subtle, but present. The lavender was going crazy on a bank, while the deep forest of the tall trees near the March bank were appropriately mysterious.The dawn redwoods had chandeliers of budding cones (I think) hanging down, their bright panicles defying my lens, while the Sargent cherry tree majestically shed its leaves next to the meadow.But I was not totally alone, with a squad of squirrels busily gathering winter provisions, and up near the mansion, koi staring up from their ponds, mouthing silent greetings.   ...
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