Be a tourist in your own state: Dinosaurs, millionaire mansions & more at Delaware museums

Patricia Talorico, Delaware News Journal
Updated ·5 min read

Be a tourist in your own state.

Here's what's happening at some local museums and attractions in and around Delaware this summer:

Brandywine Museum of Art

1 Hoffmans Mill Road, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; brandywine.org/museum

Artist Jamie Wyeth's painting 'Dead Cat Museum, Monhegan Island' is featured during the press preview of Wyeth's exhibition 'Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled' at the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pa., Friday, March 15, 2024. The exhibit featured more than 50 works drawn from museum and private collections across the country that 'trace a persistent vein of intriguing, often disconcerting imagery,' over Wyeth's career.

The museum is known for features galleries dedicated to the work of N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth.

The exhibition "Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled" featured more than 50 works drawn from the museum and private collection. It closed on June 9.

An exhibition of more than 100 black-and-white and color photographs by Frank Stewart, the senior staff photographer for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, centers on his portrayal of world cultures and Black life in many forms — including music, art, travel, food, and dance. It includes photos of jazz legends Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, and Wynton Marsalis. The exhibition runs from June 29 to Sept. 22 and includes a selection of his cameras from Stewart’s archives.

The museum is closed on Tuesdays.

Delaware Art Museum

2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, delart.org

Tom Otterness' The Crying Giant sits outside the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington.
Tom Otterness' The Crying Giant sits outside the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington.

The museum has about 12,000 works of art, including historic and contemporary American art, British pre-Raphaelite art, and American illustration with significant holdings of work by John Sloan, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Howard Pyle.

The exhibition "Paintings from the Collection" explores abstraction to landscape and many styles in between from the Delaware Art Museum’s collections. The painting collection features work by Delaware artists, acquisitions from the many annual and biennial exhibitions, and important gifts from museum donors. It will be on view until Feb. 9, 2025.

The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Delaware Children's Museum

550 Justison St., Wilmington; delawarechildrensmuseum.org

The Delaware Children's Museum on a Friday afternoon, May 23, 2014.
The Delaware Children's Museum on a Friday afternoon, May 23, 2014.

The museum on the Wilmington Riverfront has a 30-foot diameter climbing structure and various interactive activities such as a stream table that allows kids to explore everything from water locks to wind power, a toddler-sized train, and an auto shop with a miniature car to help children practice motor skills.

A summer kickoff is planned for June 21. Enjoy music, outdoor games, and bubbles. Dress for water play and bring a towel, from 5 to 8 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Delaware Museum of Nature & Science

4840 Kennett Pike, Kennett Pike, Greenville; delmns.org

The Theropod dinosaur Dryptosaurus (Dryptosaurus aquilunguis) was selected as Delaware's state dinosaur by students at Shue-Medill School on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science.
The Theropod dinosaur Dryptosaurus (Dryptosaurus aquilunguis) was selected as Delaware's state dinosaur by students at Shue-Medill School on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science.

The museum, formerly the Delaware Museum of Natural History, changed its galleries and public spaces in major revamping and reopened in 2022. It contains some of the largest shell and bird collections in the country and is the only permanent dinosaur exhibit in the state.

Hagley Museum & Library

200 Hagley Creek Road, Greenville; hagley.org

An exterior photo of Eleutherian Mills, a du Pont family home on the grounds of the Hagley Museum on Monday, December 11, 2023.
An exterior photo of Eleutherian Mills, a du Pont family home on the grounds of the Hagley Museum on Monday, December 11, 2023.

Hagley is the site of the gunpowder works founded by E. I. du Pont in 1802. It is located on 235 acres along the banks of the Brandywine in Greenville and includes restored mills, a workers' community, and the ancestral home and gardens of the du Pont family.

More: Hagley Museum and Library celebrates 10Best honor with new Summer Kick-off Celebration

Events through the summer include cannon firings and 90-minute guided walking tours every Monday at 11 a.m. beginning at the Visitor Center. The museum grounds are open to well-behaved, leashed dogs and their owners on Wednesday evenings from June through August.

Longwood Gardens

1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; longwoodgardens.org

Illuminated Fountain performances will be paired with a variety of music, from country to classical and contemporary pop, as part of Longwood Gardens' Festival of Fountains this summer.
Illuminated Fountain performances will be paired with a variety of music, from country to classical and contemporary pop, as part of Longwood Gardens' Festival of Fountains this summer.

Longwood Gardens spans more than 1,100 acres and it showcases horticultural splendor, intricate fountain systems, and architectural grandeur.

Longwood is planning more fireworks and fountain shows this summer and into the fall.

More: Longwood Gardens back with fancy Fireworks and Fountain Shows. Here's how to buy tickets

The first starts Wednesday, July 3, with the finale on Sunday, Oct. 13.  The shows feature a grand display of fireworks, along with lush fountains that dance to a variety of tunes. This year the events offer an enhanced sound system, new reserved seating throughout the venue, and new views that include the new tiered Conservatory Overlook.

The fountain season in the Main Foutain Garden officially began in May and ends in the fall. Longwood is closed on Tuesdays.

Nemours Estate

1600 Rockland Road, Rockland; nemoursestate.org

Lights come on as dusk settles over Nemours Estate, the 77-room mansion and grounds in Rockland. The former duPont home adjacent to Nemours Children's Hospital is open from April until December 30.
Lights come on as dusk settles over Nemours Estate, the 77-room mansion and grounds in Rockland. The former duPont home adjacent to Nemours Children's Hospital is open from April until December 30.

The former estate of Alfred I. duPont includes a 77-room mansion, a chauffeur's garage with vintage automobiles, and 200 acres of French-inspired formal gardens, grounds and woodlands.

It is open from April 2 until Dec. 30 Tuesdays through Sundays. The estate holds various events throughout the summer on the grounds of the estate.

Water is available for guests and picnics are encouraged. Bring a blanket to spread on the ground to enjoy the gardens. Picnic tables are not available.

Rockwood Park & Museum

 4651 Washington St. Extension, near Wilmington, newcastlede.gov/431/Rockwood-Park-Museum

Rick Loveless, paranormal coordinator and Rockwood historian, uses dowsing rods to communicate with Mary and Edward Bringhurst, in the seance and paranormal room during the inaugural 'Goth Ball: An Evening at Rockwood' at the Rockwood Park & Museum in Wilmington, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. Approximately 200 people, many in goth attire attended the event celebrating the preservation of the 1800s Gothic Revival treasure house and garden.

Visitors can tour the Gothic Revival mansion and country estate of Joseph Shipley, a Quaker merchant banker, who built Rockwood between 1851 and 1854. The museum also depicts the 20th-century lifestyle of the Bringhurst family, descendants of Shipley. The museum in June, July and August offers Paranormal Experiences where visitors can investigate the mansion from the unfinished attic to the decayed basement to the living spaces. Guests are instructed on the use of paranormal equipment.

Busy June at Winterthur: Latest Winterthur exhibition focuses on 30 artists with connections to historic collection

Plan your mansion tour: Delaware's Gilded Age: Here's a guide to 15 du Pont family estates

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur; winterthur.org

Henry Francis du Pont’s former home includes a 60-acre naturalistic garden and 1,000 acres of rolling hills, meadows, and woodlands. Winterthur has 25 miles of paths trails, and lush gardens to explore. Visitors also can hop aboard the new, $70,000 electric-powered tram that can navigate the estate’s winding pathways and Garden Lane. Winterthur has five other vehicles for guided tours: four gas-powered trams and a wheelchair-accessible garden bus.

The museum is closed on Mondays.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware museums offer art, history, science, play, ghosts and gardens

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