Brandywine Valley - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 999

Achievement, the spectacular work created by French sculptor Henri Crenier and gilded in 23-carat gold leaf, looms
over the maze garden in front of the Nemours Mansion.
1. Nemours Mansion
Go almost anywhere in Brandywine country and you're likely to encounter the name Du
Pont. The first member of this notable clan to arrive in America, Pierre Samuel du Pont de
Nemours,emigratedfromFrancewithhisfamilyin1799.Threeyearslateroneofhissons,
ÉleuthèreIrénée,establishedagunpowderplantbesidetheBrandywineRiverinDelaware.
By the early 20th century the family business had grown into the world's largest chemical
company.TheDuPontseventuallybecameoneoftherichestfamiliesinAmerica,andthey
poured a great deal of their wealth into their properties.
The first of several monuments to the Du Pont dynasty to be seen here is the Nemours
Mansion, located on Rockland Road between Rtes. 202 and 141 north of Wilmington. A
modified Louis XVI-style château, this 102-room masterpiece was built in 1910 by Pierre
Du Pont's great-grandson Alfred, who used it as a refuge from scorning relatives after his
divorce. Antique furnishings, tapestries, and a fine collection of 17th-century Dutch paint-
ings are among the items on exhibit here. Visitors to the 300-acre estate can cap a house
tourwithastrollthroughgardensthatsomesayrivalthosefoundatthePalaceofVersailles.
Did you know…
TheNemoursMansionandGardensrecentlyunderwentathree-year-long$36.8
million renovation in which statues, furniture, paintings, and tapestries were re-