June 28-29, 2012
Well, we've been home for four days, so it's time to hit the road again...! This time we're off to Delaware to visit Michael's aunt and uncle John and Mary Helen. And we've timed our visit right...it's going to be in the 90's with humidity to match...thank God we did some training in Cambodia before we came here!
We've visited John and Mary Helen before, and they are wonderful hosts...we always see new and interesting sights, and of course we have great conversations (often over a glass of wine).
We arrived on Thursday evening and are informed by John that we have 9:00 AM tickets to see Nemours Mansion and Gardens, so we have a nice dinner and spend the evening catching up. Michael's cousin Matt stops by with his wife Lisa and son Jeremy, which made the evening even more enjoyable. Jeremy is seven years old, and made us all feel a little slow when he named all the U.S. presidents along with their place of birth...and then answered our extensive quiz about U.S. state capitals...!
Friday morning we get going and arrive at Nemours a little early. We find out that, due to a scheduling snafu, no one else was allowed to purchase tickets...so we get a private tour for just the four of us!
A little background on Nemours...well, that requires a little background on the du Pont family...which is a complex family tree, so we'll try to keep this simple. Pierre S. du Pont came to America from France after avoiding the guillotine (twice), and made his way to Delaware...even though his buddy Thomas Jefferson (whom he knew through their work together on the Louisiana Purchase) insisted he should live in Virginia. Pierre didn't succeed at much, but his son, E.I. du Pont, knew how to make gun powder and set up a powder mill on the banks of the Brandywine River in Wilmington, Delaware. That's how the fortune began, and the family fortune made its way down through the generations...which is a good way to get us to the Nemours story.
Nemours Mansion is the former estate of Alfred I. Du Pont, referred to in these parts as A.I., who was the great-great grandson of Pierre S. A.I. worked his way up in the powder business, and eventually became one of the three partners who owned the company. He had a tumultuous life, divorced his first wife, got shot in the eye while hunting, his second wife died young, he got kicked off the board of the du Pont company, got outmaneuvered for control of the du Pont company, sued and lost, went bankrupt, married his third wife, rebuilt his fortune (eventually owned 8% of Florida), started a children's hospital, established a foundation, and died at the not so old age of 70.
A.I. tried to convince his second wife how much he loved her by building a Versailles-like estate on 3,000 acres in Wilmington. The mansion itself is 47,000 square feet, and the footprint of the house is approximately one acre...and it has the most amazing amenities and furnishings inside the house.
We started our tour at the Visitors Center, and learned about A.I.'s life as a powderman, businessman and philanthropist. Then we begin our private tour...
We drive up to and through the Wimbledon Gates, and as we walk to the front door we get our first view of the magnificent layout of the estate...
We are not allowed to take photos inside the mansion, but we'll give you some of the highlights...the rooms are magnificent, many with gilt accents in the ceiling; there are large oil paintings of du Pont family members here and there; and many of the furnishings are quite historical in nature - George Washington's chair, or chairs from the coronation of one of England's kings, etc. - and yet the mansion feels like it was still a very livable family home.
The house has a receiving room, conservatory, huge dining room for 70 people, dens, studies and offices..all the necessities required by landed gentry like A.I. du Pont. Downstairs is for the men...full-on man cave...billiards room, locker room, bowling lanes, fitness room, movie theater, trophy room, and A.I.'s office.
Now, let's talk about the incredible array of state-of-the-art systems in this house...and remember, this was built in 1902...fully electrified, central heating, ammonia ice-making system (to keep the ice cream frozen), central vacuum system, internal bell system to call servants, elevators, internal phone system, and even a water carbonizing and bottling system. And all the major systems were redundant...two side-by-side systems to ensure full back-up...amazing.
From upstairs, we get a view of the formal garden, the reflecting pond, and the servants wing...A.I. du Pont took great pains to take care of his servants...putting cork floors into the kitchen and workspaces to make it easier on their legs, backs and feet...and tunnels to outlying buildings to keep them sheltered from bad weather...
Back outside after our tour inside, we get a chance to walk the estate. We make our way down to the colonnade...
There is a swimming pool with a fountain...the pool is one acre in area, so large that folks would use a row boat to get around it...it takes 800,000 gallons to fill the pool...And now we can look back at the mansion...
Beyond the swimming pool lies another maze garden with a statue of Triton as its centerpiece...this is gilt in 23 carat gold...!
Past the maze garden is the colonnade which creates the centerpoint in this long corridor of gardens, pools and statuary. The columns of the colonnade frame the top of the marble fountain that forms the wall of the sunken gardens.
The sunken gardens are cut into the landscape and the fountain features carved marble and bronze figures...
At the end of the sunken gardens lies another pond, beyond which lies the Temple of Love that houses a Dionysus statue by Rodin.
The grounds also include a carillon that houses the remains of A.I., his third wife, and his brother-in-law (who helped him rebuild his fortune)...and his dog...
Our last stop is the garages and chauffeur quarters...check out these cars...the first is a 1924 Cadillac that A.I. sent back to Cadillac in 1934 to be put on a new chassis and updated with all the new systems and options. There is also a Renault limo that he did the same thing with, and then two Rolls Royces, and a Buick coupe...the two-tone Rolls is one of four - one belongs to the Queen of England, one to Wayne Newton, and one to Elton John...
This tour really showed us how the real monied folks lived around the turn of the century...it also showed us that these folks had the same family dysfunction as the rest of us (or perhaps worse), as evidenced by the wall A.I. built around his property...look at the top of the wall...shards of glass embedded in the concrete cap..."to keep the rest of the du Ponts out..."
After lunch, we decide to see the source of the family fortune...the powder mill founded by E.I. du Pont. (E.I. is the son of Pierre S., the guy who avoided Robespierre and the guillotine) This mill sits on the banks of the very scenic Brandywine River which was selected because it could provide the power needed to prepare black powder.
The demonstration mill is still powered by water, and the tour guide opened the floodgates to get the mills started...
These stone buildings facing the river are where the powder was ground...they were built and fortified in such a way that any explosion would direct the force of the blast (and the unfortunate workers) across the river...
Here is an actual pair of eight ton grinding wheels, powered by water, working as they did one hundred years ago...
We also got a demonstration of how they test the explosive power of a batch of black powder...a small charge goes into a tube attached to a weighted wheel and is ignited...the amount of rotation of the wheel indicates the blasting effectiveness of the sample...
Up the hill from the mill is the house in which several members of the du Pont family lived as they oversaw the powder mill operation. The house was remodeled several times, including this art deco porch placed on top of the classical porch below...and this dedication to the du Ponts who lived here.
There is a small garage...this is no Nemours, but they do have this du Pont automobile...I've never seen one before, and did not realize that there was even a du Pont car company! Another interesting fact of history, the du Pont family were the majority shareholders in General Motors up until the 1950's...
On our way back to the shuttle bus that will take us back to the visitors center, we see another demonstration of how the du Ponts loved their dogs...here, above the mill site, there are three headstones, and they are not for the humans who lived (and died) here, they are for the the dogs the family had at different times...and take a look at the one on the left...a dog who lived at an explosive black powder mill operation - named Sparky!
What a day of du Ponts...but there is more to see...on Friday we go to see Winterthur, the home of another great-great grandson of Pierre S. du Pont...we've got to study the family tree a bit more...today we learned about Pierre S., E.I., A.I, Henry, and Henry A. Du Pont...tomorrow it will be Henry F.
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