Holiday Visit at Longwood Gardens

Hello fellow bloggers 

and Happy New Year!

I had an opportunity to visit

Longwood Gardens again

while visiting in Pennsylvania

this past holiday!

This is the home of the Pierre duPont

the founder of Longwood Gardens.

The home was originally owned by a

Quaker farmer- George Peirce who 

purchased the land from William Penn 

in 1700. The home built by the Peirce 

family was updated and added on to by 

Mr. duPont in 1914.  My feature is a 

collection of pictures I took while visiting 

this home on our tour of

Longwood Gardens.

 I didn't get far and was intrigued with 

these giant hinges for these doors on

the side of the original home.

Apparently these fold back to open.

 I stared at these old steps and thought

about the many footsteps that had 

occurred over the many years

it served as a family home.

Coming around to the front of

the home I was intrigued by

this Wisteria. Can you imagine

how beautiful this must be when

it's blooming!!

 As we entered the conservatory

this music box was playing.  It

certainly added a nice touch!

This room is described as a living

room conservatory.  It joins the

two wings of the home.  I love this

idea.  Can you imagine during the

gloomy winter months being able

to sit in here and collect some bright

light and enjoy the live plants?  

It has to be good for the soul!

 There were a pair of these child

sized chairs on either side of the 

bench. I actually got a picture of a 

child sitting in it but I decided not to

show it to preserve his privacy.

Of course there are lots of 

poinsettias for the holiday.

 This is a large living room where

they are playing a video that gives

a history of the home and Longwood

Gardens.  It's right off the conservatory

near the palm trees.

This is a map drawer which included

blue prints for the home and grounds.

A very large bookcase

 In the center of this large

home between the two wings

is this grand stair case. We

aren't allowed to enter past 

here or go up to the 2nd floor.

Now we're heading to the right

side of the home.

Immediately on the right is

this very tiny staircase.

The stairs in the original home

leading up to the bedroom level.

There are a lot of rooms and

everyone of them has a fireplace!

It must have been a lot of work

keeping a home cozy and warm

back then!

 The office of Mr. duPont

Beautiful desk and bookcases

 The home is set up like a museum

with information and pictures

displayed.  It was busy and hard

to take time to study things for long.

 This tree sets next to the

large windows that I showed

in the beginning that fold out to open

the room. 

 A kitchen fireplace with the

swing out metal arms for

the pots.

 This tile floored room has built ins

for china and other goods. I imagine

it was a food prep area since we are

almost to the newer kitchen.

 This kitchen even has it's own safe!

Can you imagine! They displayed some

silver pieces in it, but I am amazed that

someone would put such a large safe

in a kitchen! The room also had a modern

linen dryer/heater in it too! Pretty

snazzy for the early 1900's

All done!

 Back out to the conservatory area.

So that's a wrap on my tour of this house!

This is a link to my garden blog

where I posted about the

beautiful conservatory and garden

areas.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you

enjoyed the tour too!

Liz

Touring at Longwood Gardens

We were visiting our son in Pennsylvania

over the Christmas/New Years holiday 

and we went to Longwood Gardens 

for a tour. It's my 2nd Christmas visiting 

there. This year was so warm we were 

able to walk around the grounds before 

we went into the conservatory to see all 

of their floral decorations.
This is a long post- get some coffee or tea and read on!   

 Of course it's technically winter now

so there aren't flowers blooming outside, 

but it was a very pleasant tour just

the same.

I took pictures of bare trees because

I like their architecture

 The Square fountain

 A garden of Wisterias

I'd love to see these blooming!

 Even the Canada Geese were

enjoying the day

 We weren't sure what these men

were doing, but it looked interesting

 The Canopy Cathedral 

tree house

 The Italian Water Gardens

Pruned Little Leaf Linden Trees

  I was told this is a London Plane

Tree

 Not positive what this tree

is but it's huge..

 This one is a 

Princess Tree from China

 The Peirce-duPont Home with a

conservatory between two wings

of the home

 I have to say if I suddenly get rich

I want one of these for my home!!

Mr. duPont spent his money wisely!

This is one of the latter additions he

made to the home.

 A tree decorated with bird houses

and dried grasses

 This bridge leads to a nice little

restaurant where we enjoyed a

warm cup of coffee and some

pastries

 I'm up on the bridge looking 

down here…

 

Heading towards the 

conservatory now

It's a huge place...let's go in!

 There is a fair amount of people

visiting..it's nearly impossible

to get a photo without someone

else in it!

 These paper whites were very

pungent and stood out the minute

we came in the door...

 This faces the ballroom where there

is an organ with over 10,000 pipes

 A topiary of red poinsettias

 Amaryllis

 Fountains of all sorts throughout

These were the prettiest and

most soft colored poinsettias I've

ever seen.  

They are called 

Euphoriba Pulcherrima 

'PER975'

(Visions of Grandeur)

 This is a long hallway with bathrooms

surrounded by walls of live

plants

 It's amazing

 Decorated trees throughout

 The children at the local 

schools make decorations for 

trees each year.

Always a fun bunch of trees

to see

Outside the conservatory are these

fabulous formal grounds.  At night they

are lit with Christmas lights and it's

gorgeous.  We had to leave before

nightfall but we saw them last year.

I hope you enjoyed the tour- 

I know I did!