Visiting the Winterthur Country Estate

We took a day trip recently to the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, the historic DuPont family home. I’ve been wanting to go for quite a while now and finally had the opportunity to go. I saw some really interesting hand stitched beauties and had to share my discoveries with you. And what a lovely day trip! There was a little something for everyone…

Our explorations began in the Enchanted Fairy Garden, complete with a troll bridge, toadstools that mist when you walk by and this little house,

And a sweet little stone cottage to check out too.

There was an azalea woods, and this one was enjoying a patch of sunshine,

Next stop was the house, a beautiful seemingly endless architectural spectacle celebrating the Gilded Age.

A lovely lady took us for a tour of the magnificent interior full of art and antiques.  Coming through an unassuming alcove, we came across a set of dishes that belonged to George Washington himself…very neat!

An elegant veranda offered us glimpses of the stunning grounds,

And this lovely lady greeted us in the conservatory.

Moving into the museum that is adjacent to the mansion, I discovered this beautiful antique set that showed an embroidery in progress!  Maps were often embroidered to teach geography and fine needlework skills.  It even had the little needle tucked into the work as if the person had stepped away for a moment.  Stunning!

Oh and here’s something else that I came across, called a “pocket book,” that ladies and girls wore to tote around their books.  This version looked to be hand quilted and finished off with a pretty blanket stitch edge.  It’s fun to imagine where those scraps may have come from too.  Shown beside it was the book that was found inside.

I loved this piece…silk embroidery worked on linen.  Exquisite!  If you look carefully, you can see the impression that the hoop left behind…so amazing to see that still.  I love to see that hand of the artisan in the work.

Following our museum discoveries, we stepped back into the sunshine to have a look out over the gardens.  They were meant to be natural, kind of like a “manicured forest”  It was pretty hot that day, but the shade from the mature shade trees was most helpful.

As we descended further along the gorgeous foot paths to wrap up our trip, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the house peeking back at us…a lovely day!

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8 thoughts on “Visiting the Winterthur Country Estate

    1. Me too, I made a list of historic homes I'd like to see a few years back and hope to see them all!

  1. What a wonderful trip. Thank You for sharing this with all of us. I love your newsletters and everything you do!Always looking forward to your next newsletter.

  2. We live close to Winterthur and have toured it too. Your photos are lovely and it bought back memories. I fell onto the hilly pavement getting off their bus and landed hard on my knees. That was over ten years ago but every so often my knees bother me from that fall.

    1. Oh my goodness! Glad you are OK now. The Brandywine Valley is lovely, what a pretty area to live in. 🙂

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