The contrast between members of the du Pont family who settled in Wilmington, Delaware, and the surrounding Brandywine Valley at the turn of the 19th century and those who toiled in the powder mills they founded is one of numerous diversities that characterize the destination.
Some members of the family lived in a 175-room mansion set amid 1,000 acres of magnificent gardens. Others resided in a chateau modeled after the palace where Marie Antoinette hung out. People who worked for that affluent American dynasty had more modest quarters. They included houses that today provide accommodations for visitors to the area.
The primary reason the area is a tourist magnet relates to the saga of the du Ponts. The tale began in 1800, when Pierre Samuel du Pont, the son of a Parisian watchmaker, immigrated to the United States, where one of his sons established a gunpowder mill near Wilmington. The company became the world’s largest manufacturer of black powder and created one of the wealthiest family empires in the country….