Museum at Winterthur

See previous Winterthur posts about the gardens, the children's garden, and the house at the links.

Having a massive estate with buildings to spare means there's plenty of room to have a museum at Winterthur, a sprawling du Pont estate in Delaware. On our visit, we saw some of the permanent exhibits and an intriguing temporary exhibit on art forgeries.

The museum has several rooms of items collected by the du Pont family. Henry Francis du Pont was an avid collector of American colonial antiques.

Grandfather clocks

Clockworks and other gizmos

Our children enjoyed most the exhibits with some interactivity.

A fun touch screen

The du Ponts collected a lot of furniture, even outside the American colonial period.

Old furniture

A good variety of chairs

Different styles of feet on chairs explained

The displays also have some more practical items, if fine china can be considered practical!

Mishmash of fine china

A massive loom

Works of iron are prominent in the collection as well.

Iron gates and things

Gold beater's trade sign from Boston

Decorative and functional parlor stove

Rifles

Painting also make nice collectables, though our children were not very interested.

Paintings and Prints gallery

A whole room is dedicated to embroidery. Books on technique and patterns sit alongside various works.

A little "how to" display

"The Politician (after William Hogarth)" attributed to Alice De Fuller (1870-80)

An amazing basket

Upstairs is the exhibit "Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes."

Fancy stairs

The entrance

The first display describes various terms used about faked art. Sometimes copies or replicas are made without an intention to deceive, just to have something to take home and remind one of a great work. Forgeries and counterfeits are made with the intent to deceive, leading to criminal fraud in some cases.

The good, the bad, and the illegal

Fashion is a popular area where "knock-offs" are used either to look good or to make money through fraud.

Dresses, handbags, and sunglasses--I certainly can't tell fakes from reals

Historical items are also popular to reproduce, such as the famous Stradivarius violins. Antonio Stradivari worked in the 17th and 18th centuries and his violins are so popular (and valuable) that fakes are a way to make a tidy profit on the gullibility of buyers.

Explaining violin making techniques/details

A fake Stradivarius

Tiffany and Co. makes more than jewelry--their stained glass is also famous and used in decorative practical items like lamps.

A Tiffany lamp and a fake

Paintings are another area where copies and forgeries can turn up.

"The Procuress" by Dirck van Baburen and a fake

Van Gogh's "Oleanders" with a copy by John Myatt

At the end of the exhibit is a vampire killing kit from the 1800s, providing an interesting case of deception. Did people really believe in it or did they go along because of the Dracula hype? Has someone more recently reproduced the kit, making it look older and possibly authentic?

Vampire killing kit info

Real or fake?

The museum had a lot of items we didn't get to see (a whole other wing is devoted to decorative soup tureens--for some reason the children weren't interested). If we lived closer we'd consider becoming members so we could visit the grounds and the museum again.

House at Winterthur

See previous Winterthur posts about the gardens and the children's garden at the links.

The house at Winterthur has grown over the years. The original twelve-room home was built by Jacques Antoine Biddermann and his wife Evelina (a daughter of the first du Pont to own the land) in the late 1830s. In the early 1900s, the du Ponts began adding wings and new facades until the "house" included a library, a museum, and 175 rooms!

View of the house from the garden tour

Current entrance between the library, the museum, and the house

Different tours are available. We chose the "Time Travelers" tour since it is intended for children. The tour began with an elegant colonial-era hutch that Henry Francis du Pont purchased on a trip. He was so taken with it that he started collecting all sorts of items from the American colonial period, many of which can be seen throughout the house.

A late 1700s hutch

A wood carving from the American colonial era

The tour took us through several rooms in the house, including one of the porches that overlooks the "back yard."

View of the yard and the library

Cool stairs leading down (not part of the tour, alas!)

Inside, we saw the dining room as it was set for one of the many dinners they had. Henry Francis du Pont was a meticulous man who kept extensive notes about which plates and silver were used, what was served, and what flowers were taken from the gardens to decorate the table. He never repeated the same combination!

The main dining room (George Washington's portrait over the fireplace!)

Several of the sitting rooms are also decorated in colonial style, with authentic or replica furniture.

Sitting room with a table that has a secret drawer!

Chinese Parlor with wallpaper popular in the colonial days

A gaming table in the parlor

The family went on a world tour in 1935 and 1936. Unbeknownst to the wife and children, H. F. du Pont had a marble staircase replaced with an elegant spiral staircase. Supposedly one of his daughters thought the new stairs were more exciting than the world tour, which is pretty hard to believe.

"New" spiral staircase with photos from a wedding reception in the room

More of the staircase

The conservatory also shows a bit of the colonial collecting that du Pont loved.

An eagle from a Boston carver

A Dutchman and a Native American with other symbols from colonial times

The entrance from the Conservatory (those busts are du Ponts in classical garb)

Another sitting room off the Conservatory has high tea ready to be served. If only the cakes and fruit were real!

High tea service off the Conservatory

Another sitting area has some spectacular "colonial harbor" wallpaper that fits the house's overall theme quite nicely.

Fancy wallpaper and some spare silver

We finished our tour of the house by visiting the "Touch-It Room" where children are encouraged to try out life in the house.

I thought the braille on the sign was an appropriate addition

The room has a dry-goods counter where my daughter pretended to sell us items, mostly through bartering (e.g., a pound of coffee cost one squirrel pelt!).

Dry goods for sale

A small fireplace is equipped with cooking utensils. A nearby shelf has plastic fruit, vegetables, and meats. My toddler started working on some stew.

Ready to cook old-school-style

Dropping in a sausage

Other activities include planning a room layout or a fancy party.

Choosing an activity

We only saw ten or twelve of the 175 rooms but that was plenty for the children. A good time was had by all!

Enchanted Woods at Winterthur

Continuing our tour of the gardens at Winterthur from yesterpost...

The most popular outdoor spot at Winterthur for our children was the Enchanted Woods, a part of the garden specifically designed for children.

Follow the path to adventure

The first spot we enjoyed was Water's Edge, where a cute little frog is forever filling a little basin in front of him. A frog in the garden is supposed to be good luck, right?

Water's Edge

"Mind if I spit?"

My older son was fascinated by the Forbidden Fairy Ring. The tram driver told us that mist rises up and transports children to the fairy kingdom if they are not careful. The mists only work in warmer weather, though, so we didn't lose any children.

Forbidden Fairy Ring

To relax, my son stopped in the Acorn Tearoom which wasn't serving. We'll have to pack our own snack for next time!

Acorn Tearoom

The Gathering Green has a May Pole for dancing and welcoming spring. Too bad we came in April!

May Pole

The Fairie Cottage looks a bit undone but is fun to visit. In the summer, I'm sure it's a relief from the hot, hot sun.

Fairie Cottage

Brothers sitting at the window

The fireplace

Frog Hollow has a fun water feature that we couldn't quite figure out. Was it suffering from the same problem as the Fairy Ring?

Imitating big brother at Frog Hollow

Just beyond Frog Hollow is the Tulip Tree House. A giant tulip-poplar gave up the ghost after a hundred years of life and was given a swanky hat to become another little house in the garden.

Tulip Tree House

Siblings inside the Tulip Tree House

A nearby bench gave the kids a rest from resting. The bench is on chains so it swings back and forth just a bit.

A swing!

A gigantic bird's nest lets children experience a whole new kind of home, as well as provide some very substantial eggs to play with. I hope momma bird doesn't come home soon!

Bird's Next

Lifting an egg

An old-fashioned labyrinth is laid out near the nest. The stones are set in a curvy path to make a slight challenge for walking.

Labyrinth

Story stones surround a reading area that has one of those "give-one-take-one" lending libraries. The library is good for grabbing something to read to the kids as they relax on the benches. My son had enough relaxing and was trying the labyrinth walking trick on the stones surrounding the reading area.

Story stones with stories in storage

We had a lot of fun visiting the gardens. More on the house and museum in future posts!