Yours to Celebrate
November 18 - December 30
Celebrate the holidays with Noël at Nemours! Tour the festive displays, enjoy live music in the Mansion, and warm beverages by a fire pit during our late hours on these dates: December 6, 13, 20, 27. Hours: 5 to 8 p.m.
Regular business hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Greenville & Hockessin Life Winter 2025
Letter from the Editor:
Welcome to the Winter issue of Greenville & Hockessin Life
In this issue, writer Ken Mammarella profiles Constance Hays Matsumoto. Matsumoto was inspired by both family and history when she wrote a fictionalized account of her in-laws’ World War II experiences as part of her work as a “good literary citizen.”
The subject of the Q & A in this issue is Chris Strand, the Charles F. Montgomery Director and chief executive officer at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Strand recently met with Greenville & Hockessin Life to discuss how his early love of horticulture served as an inspiration, the lasting influence of Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont, and the future challenges for cultural institutions.
Kate FitzGerald-Wilks has brought her two decades as an interior designer under one roof at the newly opened Timeless Design Center in Hockessin. It’s officially opening in January, but you can create your home design ideas there now.
We also present a story about a group of more than one hundred volunteers who recently helped with the ongoing effort to plant trees and reforest the Middle Run Valley Natural Area. This tree planting effort was coordinated by the Delaware Nature Society and continued a decades-long reforestation campaign at the 860-acre park.
The photo essay in this issue takes a look at outdoor music returning to the Dew Point Brewing Company. We hope you enjoy the stories and photos in this issue of Greenville & Hockessin Life and, as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for stories to highlight in the future. We’re already hard at work on planning for the next issue of Greenville & Hockessin Life, which will arrive in the spring of 2026. Until then, enjoy the holidays—and maybe step into a storybook holiday by planning a visit to Yuletide at Winterthur, which returns with literature-inspired magic, timeless traditions and new experiences.
Sincerely,
Steve
Cover design: Tricia Hoadley
Cover photo: Moonloop Photography
Inspired by family and history
Constance Hays Matsumoto’s fictionalized account of her in-laws’
WWII experiences is part of her work as a ‘good literary citizen’
By Ken Mammarella
Contributing Writer
On her first date with Kent Matsumoto, the man who’s now her husband, Constance Hays Matsumoto learned about his parents and decided that more people should know about teenage experiences these Americans had during World War II. His mother had been sent to incarceration camps thousands of miles from her Hawaiian
home. His father had been conscripted to work in a rifle factory in Hiroshima, Japan, and he witnessed the city’s nuclear devastation.
It just took 27 years, false starts involving two experts (one in Maryland who wrote nonfiction, another a documentarian in California), the willingness to close her interior design business to create time for the project and her gumption to write a book – something that she had never done before.
Continued on Page 10
Constance Hays Matsumoto’s first book, written with husband Kent Matsumoto, is Of White Ashes, a novel inspired by his family history. Her
How to Write a Novel Inspired by Family and History, is scheduled for publication in 2026.
Photo by Ken Mammarella
second,
Constance Hays Matsumoto
Continued from Page 8
“From the moment I met Kent, I have always believed that his parents’ stories were remarkable,” she said in an interview from the Greenville home that she and Kent share with Mister, a West Highland terrier. “I thought it was remarkable that his parents suffered the worst of the Japanese-American experience during World War II on different sides of the ocean. I also thought it was remarkable that they were able to put those traumas behind them and raise three kids to love this country as much as they do.”
Of White Ashes involved a lot of research into history, including more than 120 books, films, articles and documents, yielding spreadsheets than ran 176 pages and flip charts that were 2½ times as long as her kitchen island.
It involved research into writing through classes, workshops and other events.
It involved travel “through the lens of writing a book,” including the bomb shelter Kent’s father and uncle had dug and other spots in the lives of Hisao Matsumoto and his wife, Reiko Odate Matsumoto.
And it involved overcoming emotions.
“After my mother-in-law has been gone for a year, in addition to really missing her, I was grieving that this book had never been written,” Constance said. “I told Kent, ‘I’m going to close my business, and I’m going to write this book. I’m going to devote my full-time efforts to it, and I want you to come along with me on the journey.’ ”
Reiko Odate Matsumoto poses between sisters Wakako and Michiko inside the barbed wire fence at the Tule Lake Segregation Center in California in 1944.
The backstory
The result is a 375-page novel by the couple that was published in 2023 by Apprentice House, the nation’s only student-staffed publisher, directed by industry professionals and professors at Loyola University in Maryland.
The Matsumotos promote the book on www.matsumotobooks.com and through about 75 events over the last three years.
The book was a silver winner in the historical novel category of the Benjamin Franklin Awards, presented by the Independent Book Publishers Association. The award, in turn, led to another book.
Lauren Kelliher met Constance and Kent at the awards ceremony.
“I attended the 2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin awards
representing White Deer Publishing as managing editor of How2Conquer,” she said. “After an exciting win and nerve-wracking public acceptance speech on behalf of our author, I headed to mingle at the conference hotel bar. As I sidled up to a promising spot, golden-boxed award in arm, a couple graciously turned and offered to get the bartender’s attention on my behalf.
“We exchanged stories, and they told me about making the award-winning historical fiction novel Of White Ashes. Professional and personal curiosity grew as I asked more questions, learned more of Kent’s family story that inspired them, and Connie told me of her big binder of notes with a pink cover titled ‘How to Write a Novel.’ I declared, ‘Connie, that’s a book,’ and urged her to think about writing it all down for other first-time writers.
Continued on Page 12
Photos courtesy of Constance Hays Matsumoto
Kent and his younger brother Cal in front of the opening to the bomb shelter that Kent’s father dug during World War II on a hillside behind their family home in Hiroshima.
Constance Hays Matsumoto
Continued from Page 11
“Our How2Conquer imprint publishes nonfiction books written by experts in a variety of fields and designed to empower readers as they master new skills. We have worked with a range of authors who all have one thing in common: the desire to share their knowledge. Her commitment to bringing life to historical events has infused the process with hope and gratitude.”
A love of books
Work on Of White Ashes also led to leadership in the writing and publishing fields.
“I’ve always believed in being a good literary citizen,” said Constance, who also enjoys reading historical fiction. “That means I’m involved in a community of writers, publishers and book lovers.”
She led the expansion of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Women’s National Book Association into nearby states, and she now serves as president of the mid-Atlantic chapter. She’s also a member of the Authors Guild, Eastern
Shore Writers’ Association and Historical Novel Society. Previously, she served on the board of the Maryland Writers’ Association and as president of the Baltimore chapter, and as an advisory council member and chair of the Working Group on Nuclear Issues for the International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma.
Constance was born in Baltimore, Md. and Kent was born in Arlington, Va., but they met in Baltimore though work when she was in organizational training and he was an attorney. On their first date, he sketched the family history. His mother was born in Hawaii, the daughter of a Buddhist minister and a woman who died in childbirth when Reiko was in fourth grade.
“Born in California, his father moved to Hiroshima, Japan, when he was a baby,” J.K. Knauss quoted Constance on Historicalnovelsociety.org. “He was 16 years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on his city. Miraculously, he survived. Feelings of terror, injustice and inadequacy stirred inside me, trying to imagine the unimaginable.”
Continued on Page 14
For Of White Ashes, Constance told podcaster Deborah Kalb that she “structured the book, determined the dual points of view, fleshed out a comprehensive timeline and drafted the manuscript. Together, Kent and I studied family documents, personal stories and diaries. Kent offered the Japanese cultural perspective, critiqued and refined my drafts and maddened me with his wordsmithing.”
Photo by Ken Mammarella
Constance Hays Matsumoto
Continued from Page 12
The book’s title began as Gaman, but they didn’t get positive feedback about the term, which a glossary at the end of the book defines as “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” It was next From White Ashes before settling on Of White Ashes
“The title was inspired by the writings of Rennyo Shonin, a Buddhist who lived in the 15th century,” Constance said. “Shonin wrote ‘Letter On White Ashes,’ which addresses the fleeting nature of life. White ashes refers to the Buddhist tradition of cremation, how ‘we may have radiant faces in the morning, but by evening we may turn to white ashes.’ ”
Modest lives
Kent said that his parents shared little about the childhood experiences that inspired this historical fiction and late in their lives declined to go further with a book written by someone else and a documentary. His mother opened up more to Constance.
Continued on Page 16
Photo by Ken Mammarella
Their Greenville home hosts many family heirlooms, including books about the Library of Congress, where Kent’s father worked for decades, and a Buddhist altar carved by his grandfather while incarcerated during World War II.
Constance Hays Matsumoto
Continued from Page 14
While finishing the book during the pandemic, they moved from the Baltimore suburbs to Greenville, drawn by what Constance said included the quality of life, access to good medicine and “a welcoming and safe community.”
The book gives the main characters different names, and “We used our creative liberties and our imaginations to fabricate scenes to move from one significant event to another,” Constance said.
All those experiences showcase “the humanity that we want to bring forth,” Kent said.
“We hope our readers will feel the power of injustice and nuclear destruction, be reminded of the fragility of our country and our world, and consider the importance of focusing on what unites rather than divides,” Constance said on “Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb.”
“We really wanted to leave a legacy for my parents, who were very modest. They lived modestly. They spoke modestly,” Kent said, yet they had survived the world-changing events of the Pearl Harbor attack and a nuclear bomb.
“I’ve always believed in being a good
involved in a community of
and
said. “Not only a love story between my parents, but also a love story of their love for America.”
And, as they have been told, it’a also a love story between Constance and Kent, because they persevered together to create it.
Photo courtesy of Constance Hays Matsumoto
literary citizen. That means I’m
writers, publishers
book lovers,” Constance Hays Matsumoto said.
|Around Greenville|
Step into a Storybook Yuletide at Winterthur returns with literature-inspired magic, timeless traditions and new experiences Step into a Storybook
Storybook Holiday
Storybook Holiday literature-inspired
experiences
Dazzling decorations and imaginative holiday trees inspired by poems, traditional tales, and children’s books will delight visitors to Yuletide at Winterthur, which is on view through Jan. 4.
During this year’s Yuletide season, Winterthur will offer fun for all ages, including magical garden displays, a large gingerbread replica of the historic train station on the estate, and extended hours on select Friday and Saturday evenings for tours, workshops, live music, shopping, and dining.
Guests will encounter enchanting displays based on A Visit from Saint Nicholas, Alice in Wonderland, C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and other literary classics.
Outside decorations will feature festive lights, antique sleighs, holiday trees suspended above the Reflecting Pool and the front pond, and vignettes inspired by the 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Other nods to literary works include a feast table display and champagne tower in the historic Greenhouse area, and a tree celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the Visitor Center.
Continued on Page 20
Photo Courtesy of Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Timeless traditions and new experiences await visitors to Yuletide at Winterthur.
Yuletide at Winterthur
Continued from Page 19
A Storybook Holiday
Decorated rooms on the self-guided museum tour will feature holiday trees paired with the literary works that inspired them, theatrical props, and museum and library objects, such as Victorian combs, pocket watches, and historic toys, which will bring the stories to life.
In addition, Delaware Shakespeare actors have recorded excerpts from several of the works that served as inspiration for A Literary Yuletide, including Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Phillis Wheatley’s poems “Hymn to the Morning” and “Hymn to the Evening.”
The Du Pont Dining Room will feature a display inspired by A Christmas Carol. In an opulent scene from the story, Ebenezer Scrooge’s boss, Old Fezziwig, hosts a grand Christmas party for his friends, family, and employees. Delaware Shakespeare recorded a soundscape that will set the mood for the party scene and dining room decor.
In one room, guests will peer through a rendering of an open wardrobe to see the holiday tree inspired by The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The life-sized illustration is based on a wardrobe from the museum’s renowned furniture collection. With its doors flung open in quiet invitation, the vignette evokes the classic moment when the character Lucy Pevensie first catches a glimpse of another world shimmering beyond.
A purple tree in the Port Royal Entrance Hall will evoke “The Purple Cow” poem by Gelett Burgess. The literary selection is a nod to Winterthur’s early days as a farm, where founder Henry Francis du Pont bred prized Holstein Friesian dairy cattle.
While the poem, published in 1895, begins “I never saw a Purple Cow …,” visitors will indeed see a life-sized purple cow statue in the entrance hall, reflecting the whimsical spirit of Burgess’s famous poem.
Continued on Page 22
Photo Courtesy of Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
attractions and events at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library this holiday season.
Photo by Becca Mathias and courtesy of Winterthur Step into a Storybook Holiday during Yuletide at Winterthur.
Yuletide at Winterthur
Continued from Page 20
Dried-flower tree anchors Yuletide display in Museum Conservatory
The iconic Dried-Flower Tree, a focal point of Yuletide at Winterthur, will once again be on display in the soaring, glass-walled Conservatory at the museum entrance. A Winterthur tradition since 1985, the tree is a design masterpiece that showcases over 60 kinds of dried flowers artfully arranged into an unforgettable holiday display. Colorful flowers have always been a vital part of Winterthur, both inside and out. Throughout the year, flowers are collected from across the estate and, before they wilt, are preserved and dried by members of the floral design team.
Continued on Page 24
Photo by Joe Pulcinella and courtesy of Winterthur Dazzling decorations and imaginative holiday trees inspired by poems, traditional tales, and children’s books will delight visitors to Yuletide at Winterthur, which is on view through January 4.
Yuletide at Winterthur
Continued from Page 22
Annual gingerbread display harkens to Winterthur’s railroad roots
Guests will marvel at a grand gingerbread replica of the Winterthur Train Station (c. 1890), adding a sweet and whimsical touch to the festivities, along with a magical dollhouse and an interactive model train display.
For the fifth year, Bredenbeck’s Bakery & Ice Cream Parlor in Philadelphia will create Winterthur’s Yuletide gingerbread display. The family-run business has been in operation for over a century. The Winterthur Train Station gingerbread replica will be Bredenbeck’s biggest challenge yet. It took a team of six people more than 100 hours (102 to be exact!) to mix, bake, and decorate the train station. Made with 18 pounds of butter and 62 pounds of sugar, the finished creation, including a special support board, weighs 196.5 pounds.
More for the train lovers
Winterthur’s festive toy train display in Brown Horticulture Learning Center will showcase Lionel Standard Guage trains Tuesdays through Sundays between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1. On December 27, members of the Standard Gauge Module Association will give a behind-the-scenes look into how this toy train setup came to life, how they got started in model train collecting, and the adventures they’ve had in exhibiting their display.
Plan your visit
Don’t forget to enjoy Winterthur’s regular exhibitions, library, and garden programs during Yuletide, including a Director’s Garden Walk to learn about conifers on Dec. 13 and a New Year’s Day Hike on Jan. 1, where estate guides will lead guests on a peaceful, family-friendly hike through scenic meadows, woodlands, and trails.
Yuletide at Winterthur runs through Jan. 4, 2026, Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are also extended hours on select dates. For tickets and detailed event schedules, and more, visit winterthur.org/Yuletide.
Photo Courtesy of Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
Kate FitzGerald-Wilks has brought her two decades as an interior designer under one roof at the newly opened Timeless Design Center in Hockessin. It’s officially opening in January, but you can create your home design ideas there now
A timeless sense for design
By Gabbie Burton Contributing Writer
When interior designer Kate FitzGerald-Wilks noticed a gap in her industry, she decided to address it. Having worked in interior design for over 20 years, she saw the lack of convenience when it came to home renovation and retail options, so she decided to change it.
Enter the newly opened the Timeless Design Center, FitzGerald-Wilks’ new 5,400-square-foot storefront in Hockessin that provides community homeowners with a “one-stop” shopping experience for those looking to renovate, redecorate or just spruce up their homes.
“We thought we could bring a lot of beautiful products to the community, as well as a place where they could put it all together,” FitzGerald-Wilks said. “No longer do those looking to incorporate fresh ideas in their home have to run all over town to a tile shop and then a carpeting shop and then a wallpaper shop. Everything is right here.”
By “everything,” Fitzgerald-Wilks does really mean everything, as the Timeless Design Center is an incubator of ideas for every person and every project - from the selection of wallpaper, flooring, cabinets, countertops, furniture, window treatments to choosing just the right décor and original items not found anywhere else.
Continued on Page 30
Photos by Richard L. Gaw
Timeless Design Center’s owner
Kate FitzGerald-Wilks and its Chief Operating Officer, Joshua Towber.
Timeless Design
Continued from Page 28
While each item is selected by FitzGerald-Wilks, she shared that she tries to offer an array of options so all customers can find what’s right for them, including reclaimed wood or handcrafted, one-of-a-kind items that are sourced locally, allowing potential customers to support local craftspeople in addition to adding more beauty into their homes.
“I think we’re pretty eclectic, and I think we run the gamut quite a bit in terms of what we have on the floor,” she said. “I do like a home that features a well-traveled vibe, so I do have some exotic items, but I also enjoy the originality of found items as well, so we do showcase reclaimed wood and stone, which both add a bit of rustic flavor to the unique signature of a home.”
“Kate has gone through every item to make sure that it’s curated for who we want to sell to,” said Joshua Towber, COO at Timeless Design. “No bad designs come out of here.”
‘We’re open to any depth of creative involvement’
Although the vast showroom at the Timeless Design Center appeals to nearly every creative taste and preference, FitzGerald-Wilks said that the store provides full-service consultation for working families and empty nesters and those whose schedules don’t offer a lot of time to invest in reinventing their homes or individual rooms. While the Timeless Design team is happy to lead their customers’ renovation designs, FitzGerald-Wilks further emphasized that she and her team want customers to feel they can browse offerings in a “commitment-free way” and leave any pressure or expectations outside the door and just have fun.
“We’re very good in the interior design business for
Continued on Page 32
In addition to giving customers the opportunity to create their own home design ideas, the team at Timeless Design Center also offers complete design consultation services – perfect for the busy family.
Timeless Design
Continued from Page 32
Continued from Page 30
the working couple, because we do all the footwork for them, and that’s what we’re all about,” FitzGerald-Wilks said. “It allows you to do some of the footwork for your design ideas, but we also provide the full service that busy people often need when it comes to home design, so if someone would like to schedule an appointment with us, we will have done some footwork and have options set up prior to their arrival.
“We’re open to any depth of creative involvement, but we are also open to people coming in and developing their own ideas.”
Continued on Page 34
Timeless Design Center offers customers an entire showroom of options for wallpaper, flooring, cabinets, countertops, furniture, window treatments and more.
Timeless Design
All under one roof
FitzGerald-Wilks said that the timing of the new store, which opened in August and has a grand opening planned for Jan. 15, 2026, fits into the trend for home renovations in the area that can bring back interest and money from potential buyers.
“We knew there was a large need in this area for the renovation of the 20-to-30-year-old homes,” FitzGerald-Wilks said. “They have multiple bathrooms, for instance, and a kitchen that is now dated and they were probably builder grade or a little above that at best. Homes in this community are selling for more than they ever have before, and with it comes renovations that really need to be done for sellers to beautify their home as it goes on the sale market.”
FitzGerald-Wilks and the Timeless Design team want customers to know that they can do it all – or you can - and all under one roof. By having all the minutia covered in their new Hockessin location, the Timeless Design team hopes to fill a gap in the interior design industry and be a helpful addition to the community.
“We really want to make sure that people have accessibility to interior design,” Towber said.
The Timeless Design Center is located at 713 Ace Memorial Drive in the Wellington Plaza, Hockessin, Del. 19707 and is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointment. For more information and to join their mailing list for special deals, community events, sip & shop gatherings and more, visit www.timelessbykate.com.
Whether it’s for full renovations or minor decor changes,
To contact Contributing Writer Gabbie Burton, email gburton@chestercounty.com.
Timeless Design Center also offers a complete line of reclaimed wood, which will add a rustic vibe to any home.
Delaware Gov. Meyer signs legislation requiring CPR, First Aid, AED training for coaches
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed two bills into law that advance student safety in athletics and support educational opportunities at William Penn High School. “Our students deserve to learn, play, and grow in safe and supportive environments,” said Gov. Meyer. “With these bills, we’re taking concrete steps to protect student-athletes and uplift school communities like William Penn. Investing in safety and education is how we build a stronger, more resilient Delaware.” House Bill 71, sponsored by House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris and Sen. Nicole Poore, enhances emergency preparedness in school athletic programs by requiring all coaches to be trained in CPR, first aid, and the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The bill also mandates that every school with an athletic program have a clear Emergency Action Plan for cardiac events, ensures AEDs are easily accessible at all athletic events, and requires regular maintenance and registration of the devices with state emergency services.
Courtesy photo
SW EET SOUNDS
in the meadow
When the Hoffman family gave a new life to a crumbling, two-story brick building in the heart of Yorklyn in 2016, it repurposed what had been the abandoned Garrett Snuff Mill site and gave it a name: Dew Point Brewing Company.
Continued on Page 40
Photos by Moonloop Photography | | Text by Richard L. Gaw
|Greenville & Hockessin Life Photo Essay|
Continued from Page 39
Within the span of a few weeks, the word began to spread that something magical was brewing in this intimate tasting room, well beyond brewmaster Cody Hoffman’s signature beers. Dew Point was becoming a destiny of nonchalance, conversation, camaraderie and music – live music, living and breathing music - where a guest could cozy up with a pint of Nit Wit and kick back to the sounds of local bluegrass bands and emerging singer-songwriters. Over time, thanks to a full-time music permit, the best of the music was heard outside – Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass to name just one - emanating from a sturdy
performance stage to a meadow lawn that on any given weekend was filled with everyone from music aficionados to friends in event tents to moms and dads on blankets, watching their children performing impromptu dances in rhythm to the sounds coming from the stage.
“For our Dew Grass concerts, we would regularly draw as many as 400 people,” said Dew Point owner John Hoffman.
During the time of COVID-19, when visitors positioned themselves in circles spray-painted around the Dew Point meadow to enjoy outdoor music, the first
rumblings of what became a four-year journey for the popular brewery began. A small group of neighbors began to complain about possible sound violations coming from Dew Point, which led to a seemingly endless period of back-and-forth litigation.
“The first thing we did in response to the complaints was to buy our own sound system, so that we had more control over volume regulation,” Hoffman said. “We began doing decibel readings all around the property. We worked to keep volume as low as
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|Greenville & Hockessin Life Photo Essay|
Continued from Page 41
possible and meet the sound level requirements. We would end most of our concerts at 6 p.m., and we would only invite certain bands to play here based on the stipulation that we knew they would not be very loud.”
In the summer of 2022, Dew Point received a notice of a protest, and after an August hearing, Hoffman decided that in order to remain in compliance with state laws, the outdoor stage would be shut down, and immediately, the tasting room became the brewery’s exclusive music venue. Although the outdoor music scene was dormant, the friends of Dew Point rallied in unison, attaching their signatures to a nearly 5,000-name petition.
“We had 20 to 30 people approach us every week and ask us, ‘When is the outdoor music coming back?’” Hoffman said. “The conversation about our outdoor music issue was the stuff of constant buzz. It wasn’t just affecting us. It was affecting the community who has come here for several years.”
On July 30, after three years of hearings, appeals and court appearances, Dew Point Brewing Company received the news it had been patiently waiting for: the Delaware Alcohol and Beverage Commission ruled in Dew Point’s favor, and their permit was renewed.
On October 18 and 19, the Dew Grass Music Festival drew throngs of people to Yorklyn for two full days of sweet music in the meadow.
“For those who came to the Dew Grass Music Festival – the first one we had in three years – it was three years of pent-up demand,” Hoffman said. “Dew Point Brewing Company has become such a large part of this community, and in many ways, it has become a third place, where people come and meet and socialize with their friends and families.”
To learn more about Dew Point Brewing Company, visit www.dewpointbrewing.com, or visit them on Facebook for an up-to-date calendar of events.
From its personal care to its community engagement, the newly opened Harmony at Hockessin promises…
A new chapter in your life’s story A new chapter in your life’s story
|Greenville & Hockessin Communities|
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life. It is the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President
Consider what makes a fulfilled life.
Lay them down in front of you – moments and emotionsas if they are rare pearls discovered in oyster shells. Give each of them a name.
When Harmony at Hockessin, a new senior care residence on McGovern Road, welcomed its first four residents in late August, it had already burnished the following words found in Harmony Senior Services’ core mission into the fabric of what it wished to achieve, before even one person had moved there.
‘One family committed to yours’
When Harmony founder James R. Smith began his company in 1982, he did not start by speaking to potential investors and visiting boardrooms – many of whom had never lived in a senior care facility - but rather, to those who actually lived there, to hear for himself what they wanted most from senior care living. Now the 48th Harmony senior living community in the United States and the third in Delaware, Harmony at Hockessin is a model for other senior care centers to follow.
Movement and motion. Curiosity and culture. Feelings and fellowship. Clarity and purpose. Compassion and connection. Leadership and volunteerism.
“We have a strong brand development team that looks at market needs, demographics, geographics, and a lot of this is done through analytics, but then when you get to really evaluating where Harmony would next develop in Delaware, it came down to the fact that this is a great stake in the ground for this community,” said Harmony at Hockessin Executive Director Frank DeMarinis, who has been in the senior care profession for the past 35 years, dating back to when he was a student at Villanova University. “I have never been associated with a senior care living facility of this size that doesn’t have to partner with an investment fund or the stock exchange. But Harmony doesn’t answer to anyone but the people who live here. It is a family-run business – the Smith family - one family committed to yours.”
When it comes to the necessity of senior care, Harmony at Hockessin’s highly trained medical support team provides
To walk through the Pike Creek Bistro and the Ashland Courtyard and the Marshall Steam Living Room and the Tweeds Tavern at Harmony at Hockessin is to see these words not just used as marketing tools but as active verbs, and as each new resident begins to call it home – as each resident turns their pages to begin a new life - the power of those words magnifies the magic of what is happening there. Continued on Page 46
Courtesy Photos
Outdoor lounges abound at Harmony at Hockessin.
24/7 individualized care, on-site physical and occupational therapy and for its memory care residents, they are enrolled in Harmony Reflections, Harmony’s signature memory care program. In addition, residents receive transportation to and from routine health appointments, and when a hospital visit is necessary, Harmony at Hockessin is conveniently located near hospitals and medical centers.
At Harmony at Hockessin, the amenities that a resident used to drive to are tucked within the framework of its design: a full-service salon, a masseuse and an aesthetician, a chapel, a movie theater, two libraries, three game rooms, a bistro pub, a fitness center, a billiards parlor and seemingly at every stop, a cozy fireplace or a quiet nook to enjoy a good book or a great conversation.
In senior living, location is everything, and at Harmony at Hockessin, residents are within a few minutes’ drive to Lantana Square, local houses of faith, area restaurants, the Hockessin Athletic Club, and Chester County, Longwood Gardens, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library and downtown Wilmington are all within 20 minutes of home.
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Harmony at Hockessin Executive Director Frank DeMarinis with Life Enrichment Director Herlinda DePaz Cuevas.
At many senior care living residences, the social calendar is exclusively created by its staff, but at Harmony, the residents are its architects. During any given week, Harmony hums with activities as far ranging as participation in cancer and Alzheimer’s walks, book clubs and bird walks and even group knitting clubs that distribute hand-woven blankets to area nursing homes.
“When we first meet someone who is looking to begin the next chapter of their life, what we hope to hear - and we often do - is a desire to find a residential match that is more about nurturing their spirit of life as well as receiving medical care,” DeMarinis said. “What we often hear is, ‘I want to be in a place that provides great medical care, but I am really looking for a community that has a lively spirit that offers me options.’
“We embrace the culture of involvement, to see the people who live here not just in their apartments and coming out for a meal or two a day, but at the Hockessin Library or the Hockessin Athletic Club or enjoying a great meal at a local restaurant.”
Spacious living, smart options
Throughout the course of many people’s lives, it is often one defined by progression, transformation and migration, carved out of circumstance and necessity – from a childhood home to a college dorm to a starter home and then to a larger home. For anyone considering the concept of adding another chapter to that litany of residences, the idea of moving to a senior care facility is sometimes a traumatic experience – the possibility of moving from a four-bedroom home with a yard and a garage now ancient with memories - to a new apartment in a new place.
Harmony at Hockessin is an open door that allows each of its residents to bring the life they have lived and the home they have lived in…there, with spacious independent living, assisted living, and secured memory care neighborhoods, in a wide variety of one- and two-bedroom pet-friendly apartments that feature garden patios, nature trails, restaurant-style dining and a packed, resident-driven social calendar that encourages active participation. In total, the residence offers 72 independent living apartments - which have been completed - and 70 assisted living apartments and 32 memory care apartments, which are scheduled to be completed in 2026.
Harmony at Hockessin also fulfills another need: each apartment is a rental model, which provides residents with more financial flexibility.
“I have met with so many people who are considering senior living who tell me, ‘I am in generally good health, but I don’t want to put down $500,000 at this stage of my life,’” DeMarinis said. “That’s a big admission ticket price. There is a need for rental models that are still at that high service level that before you could only get through a buyin, and newer communities are beginning to see that niche.
“Senior living communities are required to have larger apartment styles, more parking and more staff, but the payoff is in having a service satisfaction level that is superior to more traditional senior living models.”
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Harmony at Hockessin provides restaurant-style dining with an everchanging menu designed to meet everyone’s culinary tastes.
Harmony at Hockessin offers 174 apartments that are designated for independent living, assisted living and memory care.
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Currently, independent living apartments at Harmony at Hockessin are already at 60 percent capacity.
“That alone speaks to the need and the desire, because independent living is more of a want than a need,” DeMarinis said. “This is evidence that people are looking for an affordable option than the buy in option –fulfilling the need that is out there.”
‘Enriching the spirit and celebrating life’
A common misperception about senior living is that when a new resident arrives at a senior care facility, they resign themselves to the belief that their best life is behind them. Contrary to this tired adage, there is a slogan on Harmony at Hockessin’s website: Your best life is waiting for you.
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Harmony at Hockessin
“You are not defined by your house or your things,” DeMarinis said. “You are defined by your memories and the fact that you are continuing to embrace life. What we want people to do is engage in their next chapter and not have us engage for them.
“The words contained in our mission statement are part of the culture we want to attract. The more people you attract into your fold - friends and families and community members - the more self-fulfilling you become. Being at Harmony is about inclusion, enriching the spirit and celebrating life.”
Harmony at Hockessin is located at 621 McGovern Road, Hockessin, Del. 19707. For additional information, visit its website: www.harmonyathockessin.com.
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.
Chris Strand
Chief Executive Officer
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
In October of 2021, Chris Strand, the longtime director of garden and estate at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, was named its Charles F. Montgomery Director and Chief Executive Officer. Chris recently met with Greenville & Hockessin Life to discuss how his early love of horticulture served as an inspiration, the lasting influence of Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont, the future challenges for cultural institutions and a dinner party guest list whose topic of discussion will no doubt be centered on the beautiful science of landscapes and gardens.
Greenville & Hockessin Life: A future novelist is inspired to write from a children’s book he or she reads in a local library. A future gymnast falls in love with the sport during an elementary school gym class. The directions our lives often take are influenced by our childhood experiences. Is there a definitive moment or experience from your childhood that connects you to Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library?
Chris Strand: I grew up in Colorado Springs, and a person who looms large there is Spencer Penrose, who was a prominent entrepreneur, philanthropist, and mining magnate known for his contributions to the city. I went to a parochial school, and we were once invited to visit Spencer and Julie Penrose’s house, which featured a beau-
tiful garden that was designed by the Olmstead brothers. As a ten-year-old kid, I couldn’t get over seeing horticulture at that level. I later studied horticulture as part of Longwood Gardens’ graduate program, and as part of that program, I was able to visit Winterthur, Hagley Museum and Gibraltar and study so many other historic landscapes. After I graduated, I was employed at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard and then worked at a 1750-era house with a garden designed by landscape architect Beatrix Farrand.
Winterthur Founder Henry Francis du Pont once wrote: “I sincerely hope that the Museum will be a continuing source of inspiration and education for all time, and that the gardens and grounds will of themselves be a country place museum where visitors may enjoy, as I have, not only the flowers, trees and shrubs but also the sunlit meadows, shady wood paths, and the peace and great calm of a country place which has been loved and taken care of for three generations.”
That’s an amazing legacy to leave, and the simple truth is that everyone associated with Winterthur closely follows that same mission. While everyone here has a task, a skill and a responsibility, what are the intangibles – a similar connection - that Winterthur employees bring to their jobs?
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Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Chris Strand is the Charles F. Montgomery Director and Chief Executive Officer at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.
Chris Strand
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There is an internal, unseen unity that binds all of us together here at Winterthur, which is revealed in our attention and care for this place. If you are a guest coming for a tour and going through the collection, our staff will either answer your question, or you may get a note or an email later that provides the answer. Anyone of us – no matter who we are – will stop and help a visitor get to where they want to go if they are lost. If we are on a golf cart and see a piece of trash out of the corner of our eye, we’ll stop and pick it up. Our former estate historian Maggie Lidz called it Winterthur’s “Founder Effect” — that devotion to care and attention that has been part of the estate for over 100 years.
To recognize the Museum’s 75th anniversary next year – and the nation’s 250th anniversary - Winterthur is planning some huge celebrations in 2026. Would you care to give the readers of Greenville & Hockessin Life a sneak peek into what is in store?
We have a lot going on next year, including the fact that it will also be the 25th anniversary of our Enchanted Woods, which means that many of the kids who visited as children may now have children of their own. We will have a new exhibit, “At Home at Winterthur,” which will open on May 23, which is a self-reflection that will lean heavily on our archives to tell people what life was like here at Winterthur. Then in the fall, we will have an exhibition, “Challenging Masterpieces,” which will focus on Winterthur’s decorative arts collection and highlight 40 objects from our furniture collection. I think that “Challenging Masterpieces,” and highlighting items from Henry du Pont’s collection, would really make him happy. I am grateful to our curators for coming up with the idea for the exhibition.
Perhaps the only blemish on what promises to be another stellar calendar of special events in 2026 will be the news that Winterthur’s signature Point-to-Point steeplechase will not take place next May. What led to that decision, and can we all look forward to Delaware’s most popular social event coming back in 2027 and beyond?
We pour thousands of hours into Point-to-Point, and when we said that we wanted to host a 75th anniversary spring celebration, we realized that in order to do that well, we really needed to focus. So, we decided to pause Point-toPoint for 2026 and evaluate the possibility of its return for 2027. We’re planning our 75th anniversary celebration for May 15 and 16, 2026, and we hope it will be something that reflects the importance of this anniversary and something that everyone can get excited about and come to. Our expectations are high, and I have an incredible amount of confidence in our events team to fulfill those expectations.
Our modern life has been cursed by the plethora of distractions now common to us, and the immediacy of obtaining culture and entertainment of any kind – anywhere in the world – comes with the flick of a phone. How has Winterthur begin to rebrand itself as an antidote to this new reality?
The whole AI reality has made rapid progress in the way people use and obtain information. I do feel like there is a new generation who live their lives according to what is on the screen and would be interested in being around things
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Photos courtesy of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Chris Strand, Charles F. Montgomery Director and CEO at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, shows guests interesting and seldom seen parts of Winterthur’s garden and landscape. His Director’s Garden Walks are typically held on the second Saturday of each month.
Chris Strand
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that are not on the screen, and in person. For places like Winterthur, we’re a place to come and see that. I think there is a high value proposition in coming to see real objects and understand that people owned them and have passed them on. They have hidden stories, and we are here to share those stories.
One of our staff members told me that our digital collections serve as an invitation to come see us in person. What we do is incredibly valuable and its value will go up as people look to unplug and embrace being in nature and seeing real objects.
In your opinion, what are the largest challenges facing cultural institutions of prominence today? Where are the uphill climbs that have happened, continue to happen and will likely happen in the future, and how is Winterthur preparing itself to meet those challenges?
Almost all organizations are seeing the marketplace and thinking about ways to maintain financial sustainability. I think we have that in common with everyone – not just with cultural institutions but with all businesses.
There is also the issue of resiliency. We have 1,000 acres here and in 2020, we had a tornado and a hurricane, and we lost 94 trees. We began to ask, ‘What does the future hold for places like this if the environment continues to change?’ We have 500 beech trees in the garden alone and another couple thousand on the estate, for example. We’re working on a plan that will meet the challenge of the effects of beech leaf disease. With this new disease, the landscape will look very different than it does today.
We are also asking, ‘Where are the future leaders of this field coming from?’ As we look for the next star curator or the next creative horticulturist, where is that person coming from? We have two graduate programs, and through those programs we have helped train more than 1,000 talented individuals and sent them out to the wider world to do great work. We believe they are helping to meet this need.
We are also bringing in schoolchildren here, because we feel it is important for them to have an experience at a cultural institution like this, so that they feel comfortable. When they grow up, they will visit Winterthur, Longwood Gardens, the Franklin Institute or the National Portrait Gallery, because they are interested in culture and art – and they will see these visits as an important part of their lives.
It’s a pay-it-forward strategy, so that the next generation has an idea about why cultural institutions, like Winterthur, are so special.
You conduct Director’s Garden Walks. How did that start and where can the readers of Greenville & Hockessin Life expect to visit if they choose to join you on these walks?
When I was at the Arnold Arboretum, there had been a tradition where my fellow students and I would walk with visitors through the collection. Inspired by this, I have been doing these sorts of walks at Winterthur for the past 20 years. When I began them, I was surprised at how interested people were in that experience – and not just in my walks, but in the walks that our guides and other staff conduct. I recently had a visitor stop me and tell me that some of the behind-the-scenes collection tours led by our guides have been some of the most amazing walks he has ever experienced.
My walks are about showing our visitors something they never imagined they would see here. Winterthur’s Garden Manager Carol Long and one of our horticulturists, Collin Hadsell, likewise, conduct walks and reveal things that wow people and show them new things in Winterthur’s landscape.
Let’s fast forward to a Spring afternoon in 2026. It is a picture-perfect day in northern Delaware, and you give yourself permission to leave your office for a two-hour, uninterrupted period to explore as much of Winterthur as possible – no guided walks, just you. I am not asking you to name your favorite destinations at Winterthur – that would be impossible and unfair to places not chosen – but where would you visit during those two hours?
Strand gives closing remarks at a Founders’ Circle workshop in 2023 that showcased two side chairs from two different sets of chairs that Philadelphia merchant John Cadwalader commissioned in 1769 for his Philadelphia townhouse from Philadelphia cabinetmaker Benjamin Randolph.
I love our gardens, and we have roads and trails everywhere, so many to choose from. But if I had that time, I would start at Chandler Woods and make an arc around that and pick up the garden at Garden Lane and then head to Duck Pond Woods, our only wooded wetlands. That walk would take me through about one-third of our garden, two-thirds of our natural area and give me a chance to absorb the Brandywine landscape.
What is your favorite spot in Greenville or Hockessin?
In the Hockessin-Yorklyn vicinity, I have always been interested in the Auburn Heights area. It’s a combination of our industrial era and local history. Most industrial ruins tend to be wiped clean, but I can see that there has been an effort to preserve some of that industrial history, so as to be able to tell its story.
You host a dinner party and can invite anyone – living or not, famous or not. Who would you want to see around that table?
I would love to have Henry Francis du Pont there, as well as his horticulture professor, Charles Sargent. I would also invite landscape designer Marian Coffin, as well as Charles Montgomery, Winterthur’s first director, and Gina Bissell, a long-time Winterthur board of trustee member. I would also invite my team, so that they could meet these people too.
What item can always be found in your refrigerator? Ever since I was a kid, I have always liked tonic water and lemon. Every refrigerator I have ever owned has had a bottle of tonic water or quinine water in it.
- Richard L. Gaw
REFORESTING THE FUTURE: Volunteers plant trees at Middle Run Valley Natural Area
By Joseph Mesa Contributing Writer
At 9 a.m. on Nov. 8, the autumn sun warmed the damp ground at Middle Run Valley Natural Area, where more than one hundred volunteers—toddlers standing on tiptoe beside parents, scout troops, retirees with gray hair and steady shovels—gathered for an annual tree planting event, coordinated through the Delaware Nature Society (DNS). The ground still held the softness of rain from the night before and the scent of fresh soil and wet leaves in the air. In between the gentle breeze and the chirping of crickets and birds, the metallic clink of hammers driving
stakes into the earth echoed across the field.
The planting continued a decades-long reforestation campaign at the 860-acre park northwest of Newark. According to the DNS, the Middle Run Valley Natural Area has more than 50,000 trees and shrubs planted to date.
Most holes had been pre-drilled the day before by county staff, and hundreds of potted native trees—oak, maple, sycamore, and pawpaw—waited in neat rows. Groups of 10 volunteers were instructed in proper planting
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Photos by Joseph Mesa A Delaware Nature Society staff member demonstrates how to plant a tree.
Reforesting the future
technique by DNS staff and seasoned helpers—how to set the tree at proper depth, stake it for support, and water it to keep the roots firm in the moist ground. Within minutes, the field transformed into a patchwork of motion: tamping soil, pouring water, and tying trees upright with stakes before enclosing them in protective cages.
“It has been going on in different areas through the Middle Run Natural area for about a good 30 years,” said Kristen Travers, the director of conservation. “It’s all driven by volunteers who come out for these tree-planting events. We have scout groups, and the University of Delaware’s Epsilon Eta out here today.”
For Joe Sebastiani, DNS’s director of land development, the event takes a lot of preparation.
“We’ve got to pick a spot that can accommodate a large group for parking,” he explained. “We decide what kinds of trees we want from native nurseries, and the county pre-drills most of the holes. Once people show up, we just instruct them how to plant correctly so the trees survive.”
Sebastiani added that Middle Run has been the focus of reforestation since the early 1990s.
“Some of the older plantings are now a forest,” he said. “If you walked into them, you wouldn’t even recognize it as a planting. You’d just think, wow, I’m in the woods.”
Each November, volunteers return to continue expanding the forest, filling in the open meadows and
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Rows of newly planted trees across the field.
Reforesting the future
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strengthening the buffers that protect the watershed.
“The planting is the easy part,” Sebastiani said. “The long-term part is what happens afterward. We have to maintain these areas for 20 or 30 years, otherwise invasive plants will choke out everything we’re planting.”
That ongoing care, he explained, is what keeps the reforestation effort sustainable. Crews and volunteers remove invasive vines and grasses that smother native growth. Over time, the patches of young trees merge into dense woodland that stabilizes soil, cools creeks, and filters runoff before it reaches Newark’s water supply. According to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources
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tree planted at the Middle Run Valley Natural Area.
Reforesting the future
and Environmental Control (DNREC) website (dnrec. deleware.gov), the White Clay Creek watershed—which Middle Run helps feed—supplies a large portion of the city’s drinking water.
Reforestation projects like this one reduce sediment, improve oxygen levels for aquatic life, and create vital habitat corridors for birds and pollinators.
By late morning, a plethora of new trees stood upright, caged and staked in rows that traced the curve of the forest. Kendall Summers, the county’s Parks Division Manager, recalled one family from a past planting.
“A friend had her young kids come one year,” she said. “They planted a tree, they named it, and they would come back to the park and say, ‘Let’s go visit Peter’ and they’d watch it grow. It’s one of the most rewarding parts of my job.”
The social impact, she added, is just as important. “You’re passing on this knowledge and care for the environment to younger generations,” Summers said. “If they are not exposed to it when they are young, they are not going to care for it when they are older.”
Middle Run Valley looked much the same as it did at the beginning of the day —still, green, and open—but beneath its surface, hundreds of new roots had taken hold. In time, this patch of land will become another stretch of forest, merging with those planted decades before.
The DNS hosts tree plantings and habitat restoration events several times a year, relying heavily on volunteers. Those interested in joining future efforts can find sign-ups and event listings at delawarenaturesociety.org, or follow the organization’s announcements on social media.
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