Chateau Country: Du Pont Estates in the Brandywine Valley

Originally from France, the du Pont family settled in the Brandywine River Valley and became one of the richest and most influential families in the United States. Chateau Country is an intimate portrait of the houses built by this Delaware dynasty. Their first dwelling was a modest six-room house just steps from the gunpowder mills that made the du Ponts wealthy. One hundred years later, their largest house had 176 rooms and thirty-six servants on 2,300 acres of land. Since company founder E.I. du Pont built Eleutherian Mills in 1802, almost one hundred houses have been built nearby and occupied by his descendants. While many spectacular estate houses have been razed, this book explores thirty-three still-existing du Pont family properties through images and anecdotes. Some, including Eleutherian Mills, Longwood, Gibraltar, Nemours, and Winterthur, are open to the public; others remain hidden behind stone walls. Chateau Country takes readers inside these houses and provides a look at one of the region's most influential families.

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