USA Guide
The Capital Region
The du Pont mansions
The first of the du Pont mansions is accessible in Bellevue State Park, 800 Carr Rd (daily 8am– dusk; free). William du Pont Jr converted a Gothic Revival mansion into his own version of James Madison's Neoclassical home and called it Bellevue Hall. You can't get inside, but can visit the grounds and see the ponds, woodlands and gardens.
Twenty minutes northwest of Wilmington, various generations of the du Pont family built opulent homes in the rural Brandywine Valley. The Hagley Museum, off Hwy-141 just north of Wilmington (mid-March– Dec daily 9.30am–4.30pm; Jan– mid-March Sat & Sun 9.30am–4.30pm; 
www.hagley.org ; $11), showcases their 1802 founding of a small water-powered gunpowder mill, which grew over the next century to include ever-larger steam- and electricity-powered factories – most of which are still in working order. Also make sure to tour the luxurious du Pont mansion, Eleutherian Mills, the centerpiece of the 235-acre estate.
The newly restored, enormous, dusty-pink Nemours Mansion, just a mile away at 1600 Rockland Rd (reserve a tour at 
1-800/651-6912, www.Nemours.org/mansion.html ), was built by Alfred du Pont in 1910 and named for the family's ancestral home in France, and is surrounded by a three-hundred-acre, French-style garden. Inside the mansion, you'll find plenty of lavish rooms including those devoted to fitness, bowling, and ice-making, and a collection of early twentieth-century automobiles. Two miles northwest, off Hwy-52, the one-time du Pont family estate of Winterthur (Tues– Sun 10am–5pm; www.winterthur.org ; tours $20–30, gardens and galleries $15) now displays American decorative arts, from 1640 to 1860, each of its 175 rooms showcasing styles ranging from a simple Shaker cottage to a beautiful three-storey elliptical staircase taken from a North Carolina plantation. Separately, the estate galleries present a selection of furniture, textiles, ceramics, paintings, and glass in a more conventional museum setting.