This Little Slice Of History Hiding In Delaware Will Blow You Away
By Kim Magaraci|Published July 30, 2016
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Kim Magaraci
Author
Kim Magaraci graduated Rutgers University with a degree in Geography and has spent the last seven years as a freelance travel writer. Contact: kmagaraci@onlyinyourstate.com
When young Eleuthère Irénée du Pont escaped Revolutionary France in 1799 with his father and set sail for America, he never could have imagined what mark he and his family would leave on the state of Delaware and the entire Brandywine Valley. Mild mannered Eleuthère Irénée had studied as a chemist and worked in powder mills before he and his family were forced to escape the Reign of Terror, so when he began to establish himself in the New World, he stuck to what he knew. In 1802, just two years after landing first in Rhode Island, E. I. DuPont founded a black powder mill on the banks of the Brandywine Creek, just north of Wilmington. The location was ideal – the river provided power, the trees helped produce charcoal, the Delaware river and ports were nearby, and there were several gneiss quarries that would help him create the mills themselves. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over 50 years ago, that very first DuPont Family mansion, garden and the powder mills were transformed into a museum, called the Hagley Museum and Library. Now, you can tour the grounds and take in the history that helped the DuPont family create and secure their legacy.
Step back in time at the Hagley Museum and Library
The house and the visitors center will give you great insight on what life was like when Eleutherian Mills was founded as the very first DuPont home in America in the early 1800s.
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The gardens at the foot of the Mansion will astonish you.
The DuPont family certainly took their gardens seriously, and Hagley is no exception. Beautiful gardens cover the 250+ acre property, mixed in with remnants of the gunpowder mills that once ran along the Brandywine.
The gorgeous Brandywine runs through the property.
From the restored railroad cars that used to carry gunpowder to Wilmington, to the actual mills themselves, there is so much to learn walking around Hagley.
You'll learn how the old mills used to work just by walking around.
You can almost hear the water wheels running, powering the factories that created gunpowder for the DuPonts as they established their roots in Delaware.
The very first office of the DuPont Company is available to tour, as well.
In fact, it might inspire you to do a little groundskeeping of your own! It's really incredible that the DuPont family left such an amazing footprint on Delaware.
You can find the hours and admission info, as well as directions to the amazing Hagley Museum, on their website.
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