"Swiss Name - American Antiques" Winterthur by grandmaR

House with conservatory

In 1969, when my children were 7, 5, and a year old, we lived in Philadelphia for about eight months. One day we came over to Wilmington and visited Hagley Museum and Winterthur

Winterthur is the Henry Francis du Pont estate outside of Wilmington which has its own zip code. There is this original house with an extra nine story wing housing thousands of American antiques, and a research library also concentrating on American antiques.

Explanatory sign about weeping dogwood

And there are also extensive gardens and grounds. You can get a map from the internet, which will be helpful in finding your way around. There are also signs telling about the various specimen plants.

My sister agreed to babysit my children so I could come back on my own and take some of the specialty tours. I also had lunch at the cafeteria and walked around in the gardens.

• In a nutshell:The Mecca of American Antiques