DELAWARE RENAISSANCE The famed Hotel Du Pont and the gems of the Brandywine Valley make for a perfect weekend getaway by Nicole Haddad FROM SNOWFLAKE-LADEN winter getaways to spring-inspired weekend jaunts, there are endless options to escape the concrete jungle New York City dwellers call home. And as the temperature heats up and work life slows down, the need to escape becomes priority one. Enter Wilmington, Delaware, an under-theradar locale a mere hour-and-a-half away by
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train and less than two hours by car, in the midst of the beautiful Brandywine Valley. Consider the iconic Hotel Du Pont, a gilded-age architectural jewel of a hotel located in the heart of downtown Wilmington. The Brandywine Valley is home to some of the East Coast’s most beautiful nature-and-art-filled attractions such as Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, and the famed
DuPont family’s historic Nemours Estate. The hotel itself, a twelve-story, Italian Renaissancestyle structure built in 1913, features incredible architectural craftsmanship that has been preserved for over a century. From handcarved wood details to mesmerizing mosaic and terrazzo floors, and grandiose chandeliers imported directly from Europe, Hotel Du Pont is
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BOB LEITCH (WINTERTHUR MUSEUM). OPPOSITE PAGE: LARRY ALBEE (FOUNTAIN); HOTEL DU PONT (GOLD BALLROOM).
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