I was born and raised in Wilmington Delaware. The duPont name has been synonymies with Delaware for over 200 years. High Schools, highways, country clubs, hotels, buildings, gardens and mansions throughout the state bear the duPont name. My first job was at the Hotel duPont, my grandfather worked and retired from duPont. My mother’s first job out of college was at duPont. Up until 1990, duPont employees comprised one out of ten workers in Delaware. So, with duPont being so prevalent, I am surprised it took me over 50 years to visit the Nemours estate and Children’s Hospital.  I certainly drove past it’s10 foot stone walls topped with glass many times. I had assumed that the glass was to keep patients in (my 9-year-old mind incorrectly thought it was an insane asylum).  The rumor was that it was actually to keep the public and other duPonters out following a bitter business and family dispute over the duPont company. In the summer of 2026, I finally visited the Nemours estate with my friend, Wendy, and it was surprising in its beauty and innovation.

Alfred I. duPont built the 77-room mansion in 1909 for his second wife Alicia. Both Alfred and Alicia were Francophiles and loved all things French. The name Nemours comes from the town that Alfred’s great great grandfather emigrated from in France. The duPont company was founded close by on the Brandywine River where they initially manufactured gun powder. The company was established in 1802 by Eleuthere Irenee du Pont de Nemours and grew over the years to be one of the world’s largest chemical science corporations. The original home and gun powder manufacturing facility can be toured today and is known as Hagley Museum and is only a few miles from the Nemours Estate.

While I had several field trips as a child to various duPont estates like Hagley Museum, Winterthur and Longwood Gardens, somehow the Nemours estate was missed. This 47,000-square-foot chateau modeled after the Petit Trianon at Versailles is a lovely home with each room impeccably decorated with 18th-century French furniture, tapestries, 16th-century art work and personal items. It’s not just that It’s so beautifully preserved but that 95% of the furnishings are original to the home. Alicia duPont died just five years after moving into the mansion, Alfred married his third wife Jessie Ball duPont. Alfred died in 1935 and his will outlined the creation of a charitable trust dedicated to the care of disabled children and the preservation of the Nemours Estate for public enjoyment. From 1935 until her death in 1977, Jessie maintained and prepared the home for public use.  This is in stark contrast to the Vanderbilt estate Biltmore where the home was opened to the public after the home was deserted for many years. The Nemours Estate reflects this continuity. 

One of the most interesting floors in the estate is the basement.  Here we find Alfred’s engineering skills at work.  He held over 200 patents. They have their own room to make ice, a water-carbonation and bottling room and its own private electrical generator. There is also, no surprise, an elevator and dumb waiter along with a multi-story silver safe so that all the silver could be securely kept and moved from floor to floor.  The basement also houses a billboard room and two bowling allies. There was a small perch between the allies where a servant’s child would reset the pins. It’s all quite remarkable.

The main floors and second floor are fully appointed as it was when it first opened to the public in 1977.  A doll house for Jessie and Alfred’s adopted daughter, the library, extensive kitchen and a spiraling staircase to the second floor. The second floor has several bedrooms with a view of the outside gardens. It’s homey but grand which seem incongruous but it is. 

My friend, Wendy, and I arrived with only 45 minutes to see the interior of the mansion but there were helpful guides dressed in blue in many of the rooms to share information and make suggestions. Unfortunately, there is a large car collection but we didn’t have time to see that area of the mansion.  The exterior is breathtaking with its extensive manicured gardens. The Nemours gardens are the largest formal French-style gardens in North America, spanning 200 to 300 acres of fountains, woodlands and landscaping. It has one of the largest reflecting pools I’ve ever seen let alone in a private home. It’s like a little (maybe medium) slice of Versailles in northern Delaware. 

There are bigger homes like the Biltmore or Hearst Castle but I found Nemours to be inviting, lovely and surprising. I wish we had more time to explore and, I will, likely return.