Existing comment:
E.I. du Pont Restored Garden:
On this site in 1803-1804, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont planted a small garden reminiscent of the formal gardens at Bois-des-Fosses, the du Pont family home in France. By 1826, the garden had expanded to more than two acres and contained both common and rare varieties of flowers, ornamental trees and shrubs, herbs, vegetables, and fruit trees. Many were acquired through plant exchanges with other gardeners and botanists in America and his homeland.
Beyond the southern and western borders of the garden grew an orchard of pear, apple, peach, cherry, and plum trees, partially restored in accordance with E.I. du Pont's 1804 plant list.
Successive generations of the du Pont family maintained and expanded this site including the creation of the later Victorian rose garden. They also developed additional gardens with materials transplanted from this first du Pont location. This horticultural tradition influenced the establishment of extensive gardens at Winterthur, Longwood, Nemours, and other gardens in the Brandywine Valley.
A severe powder mill explosion in 1890 resulted in the abandonment of Eleutherian Mills as a du Pont family residence and the subsequent disappearance of the garden. Based upon research and archaeological excavation, the Hagley Museum is restoring it to the appearance it bore during E.I. du Pont's lifetime on the Brandywine, 1802-1834. |