Vacation Ideas - Hagley Museum And Library, Wilmington, Delaware, Usa

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The Hagley Museum and Library is located at 298 Buck Road East, Wilmington, Delaware 19807 with a telephone number of 302-658-2400.

The Hagley Museum and Library sits on 235 picturesque acres along the Brandywine River. Hagley is home to the DuPont Company. The park-like museum resembles the home and work life of a 19th century industrial community. Visitors have the opportunity to ride along the Brandywine River to tour the first DuPont family home in America, and participate in a mid-nineteenth-century school day. Period machines powered by water and steam are visible as you stroll through a formal French garden. The first office of the DuPont Company and a barn filled with antique vehicles that include an early nineteenth-century Conestoga wagon is on site here. Learn about the intricacies of making gunpowder, DuPont’s original product. A key step in the gunpowder production process is the Brandywine River’s falling water turning a sixteen ton iron wheel to mix the ingredients.

In the fall season, Hagley offers visitors a charming journey back to the nineteenth century in a setting of natural splendor. There is a special magic in the air as you enjoy the seemingly endless array of nature’s colors, a meandering river and the sound of honking resident Canada geese.

The spring season is full of blossoming trees and flowers as the river winds its way through the original DuPont black powder manufacturing, estate, and gardens. There are wildflowers, azaleas, dogwoods, daffodils and Canada geese.

Christmas at Hagley features a heated bus to transport groups back to a nineteenth-century style holiday celebration. Holiday decorations include nature’s bounty complemented by toys and ornaments from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Hagley Museum and Library is an example of early American industry that includes restored mills, a workers community, and the ancestral home and gardens of the DuPont family.

The library furthers the study of business and technology in America, especially the Middle Atlantic region. Collections include individuals’ papers and companies’ records ranging from eighteenth-century merchants to modern telecommunications and illustrate the impact of the business system on society.

Museum Hours:

• Regular Hours - now through January 1, 2008: Open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Winter Hours - January 2, 2008 through March 14, 2008. Open weekdays for one guided tour at 1:30 p.m. Open weekends 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day

The Belin House Restaurant Hours:

Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. through December 1, 2007, closed on Thanksgiving Day.

December 1-24, 2007, closed Monday through Friday, Open weekends 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. December 15, 2007 closed

December 26, 2007 to January 1, 2008 Open 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

January 2, 2008 through March 14, 2008 closed

Under new management of Fleur de Lis, the Berlin House Restaurant will resume regular daily hours on Saturday, March 15, 2008.

Admission Prices

Adults - $11

Students and senior citizens - $9

Children under six - Free

Groups welcome year-round by reservation. Call weekdays for information - 302-658-2400, ext. 259

Exhibits include:

• DuPont Science and Discovery: Offers visitors a look at 200 years of DuPont Company history

• DuPont: The Explosives Era: Details the DuPont family’s decision to come to America, choice of a site for the black powder manufactory, early years of the company, concentrated exploration of the role of explosives in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century life.

• Eleutherian Mills: First DuPont Family home in America built in 1803, sits on the crest of a hill, a charming Georgian-style residence furnished with antiques and memorabilia of the five generations of DuPonts associated with the home, has an adjoining, restored French-style garden created by E.l. DuPont, who was an avid botanist. Near this residence are two other exhibits, the First Office and the Barn

• Easy Does It! How Machines Make Life Easier: A colorful, interactive exhibit featuring hands-on fun for education and adventure. Includes wheels and axles, levers, gears, and pulleys, Lift It platform, rack and pinion steering mechanism, a bicycle, simple machines from work and home that include a wheelbarrow, the whirring of an eggbeater, and the power of a line shaft. This exhibit is open only on weekends.

• Hagley Powder Yard: Massive stone mills, storehouses, a waterwheel to recall the time when waterpower was the source of energy. The exhibits and working models tell the history of the economic and technological expansion of the Brandywine region and the nation. Powdermen and machinists demonstrate a water turbine, a steam engine, a powder tester, and a working machine shop.

• Workers’ Hill: Focuses on the social and family history of the workers who operate the powder mills.

For more information about the different kinds of tours offered at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, visit them online or call 302-658-2400, ext. 203

Rental of Facilities

The facilities of the Hagley Museum and Library are available for use by community groups and organizations. Contact them at 302-658-2400, ext. 203 or visit them online for more information.

Source: The Hagley Museum and Library Online

Important Disclaimer: The URL address in the resource box of this article is not associated with any of the attractions mentioned in this article. This article and the web site are offered as a resource for formulating vacation ideas.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved

Written by: Connie Limon. For more vacation ideas visit http://smalldogs2.com/VacationIdeas For a variety of FREE reprint articles and special topic articles rarely found elsewhere visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com

Tags: delaware vacation ideas, hagley museum and library, vacation ideas, willington delaware

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