WHAT A BLAST. We came here for my birthday kind of ironically because online we saw reels saying it…read morewas the "weirdest museum ever," and thought it would be kind of funny/maybe even creepy. Little did we know it was actually FASCINATING; it was so fun to admire every last piece in the museum. The tram guide was great, the pre-recorded audio is helpful and interesting, and the collection is so varied and extensive that you can't help but love it. The pipe organs - fabulous. The walkable "toy box" collection was great after the tram. Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone - it was soooo fun.

What a fun thing to do! We didn't know what to expect and want to say we all really enjoyed the…read moreexperience! Admission was reasonable and enjoyed the self-guided part while waiting for the next tram departure time. There was everything you could imagine - except one thing! A TELEX MACHINE (which I used to operate). When I asked the staff if they had one none of them even knew what I was talking about (early 20's)! We took the tram tour and really enjoyed it. The tram moved at a nice pace so you could really take in everything. So much to see - everywhere. It was a really fun way to spend a few hours on a rainy day! But I urge you to visit rain or shine!

Living part time in NYC where I'm reliant on public transportation, it's kind of a treat to ride in…read morethe car when I'm back in PA. I was game when my husband suggested visiting Hagley Museum in Wilmington, DE. Hagley is the DuPont family's first U.S. "home," though I'd describe it more as an estate. The property encompasses 235 acres along the banks of the Brandywine with historic buildings, a research library and black powder mills. The gardens and grounds are spectacular. There's shuttle service between the visitors' center, powder yard and DuPont residence. What particularly impressed me are the friendly and knowledgeable docents leading tours at key sites. Demonstrations are pretty cool, including a blast -- a literal blast! -- at the black powder mill. (As I learned, gunpowder is made from black powder, so not exactly synonymous.) Wear comfortable shoes. Some paths are rocky. And if you can, avoid visiting on a broiling hot day. (I should've taken my own advice!)

Hagley is a little hard to describe, but I spent hours there this past weekend, so I'll do my best!…read moreHagley is one of many properties in the area associated with the du Pont family. Hagley is where Éleuthère Irénée du Pont founded his black powder mills in 1802. For more than 100 years (the factory was the largest in the world but then closed in 1921), it was the center of the du Pont family's work, wealth, and success. The reason it's hard to explain? Hagley has multiple areas and attractions - it's not just one place or one thing. There's the Powder Yard, Workers' Hill, the historic home and gardens, and the Nation of Inventors (a museum/exhibit exploring inventors/patents in 19th century America). When you arrive at the visitor center, a friendly staff members hands over a map, which you'll need during your visit. You can walk around most of the property, but you do have to take their shuttle to get to and from the historic home and gardens. Since I was already at the visitors center, I explored the Nation of Inventors first and found it interesting and fun (with some interactive aspects). Then I walked along the Brandywine River and the mill race to the Powder Yard. There, I visited the Powder Yard Orientation Gallery (for some context), explored the roll mills (historic structures where the black powder was produced), and visited the millwright shop. At the millwright shop, the friendly staff turned on some of the 19th century machines in the machine room, explained about the work that happened at the factory, and demonstrated a small, contained black powder explosion. From there, I took the shuttle to the historic home and gardens. I visited the barn (where you can see carriages and antique vehicles), the pollinator garden, and the restored French kitchen garden, before taking a tour of the house and the First Office (a structure next to the house that served as DuPont Company headquarters). After all this, I looked at my phone to realize I had spent about 2 hours longer than I had intended to at Hagley and I was starving. It says a lot that I had intended to spend about 2 hours at the museum and then go grab lunch in Wilmington and instead spent at least 4 hours at the museum. And I didn't even make it to Workers' Hill (where you can visit another house, the Sunday school, a picnic pavilion, and the workers' garden)! There is so much to do at Hagley. I learned a ton (big thanks to the docents that helped me to learn at Hagley - Pete, John, and Jonathan), and I had a great time. Visiting Hagley is easy - most sites have tours or demonstrations on the half hour, so you're never waiting for long for something new to begin. The shuttle makes it easy to get around, but the property was also beautiful to walk around. Hagley would be great for anyone interested in history, science, or the Brandywine region. Definitely plan to spend a long time here to fully experience what it has to offer!

The Wilmington & Western Railroad is a non-for-profit primarily weekend and holiday tourist train…read moreoperation that runs on ten miles of track along the historic Red Clay Creek from Greenbank to Hockessin Delaware. The line started serving the area since 1867 and became a tourism line in the 1960s. The RR is mainly operated by volunteers and enjoys strong community support. After having to be rebuilt as the result of two devastating hurricane-related floods (1999 and 2003), the W&W resumed full operation in July 2007. The 2003-07 rebuild cost more than $10 million and was designed to help prevent future destruction from high water. The railroad operates two steam engines, two diesel-electric engines, and a self-propelled railcar (The Doodlebug). Two passenger rides are offered (with commentary on the outbound trip). The shorter one goes from Greenbank Station about half-way up the line to the Mt. Cuba picnic grounds, which are furnished with tables that are available free to riders. You can get off the train, picnic, and then catch the next train back to Greenbank. The ride each way is about 30 minutes. The longer ride, offered periodically, goes the total route to Hockessin and terminates next to the shops at Hockessin Corners for a total ride of about two hour and a half hours. Special themed rides are frequently available all season long from February until December. Any of their cars or an entire train is available to charter for private parties whether on a regular operating day or on a day when you could have the entire place to yourself. Looking for more of a unique experience we have chartered one of their three cabooses here just for the fun of it. It was a good call as the caboose had a cupola that all 4 of us were able to sit in. The views from up there were great you can control whether or not to have narration in the caboose. You will have one of the volunteers riding along and he was truly a wealth of information about the history of the line and of the area as he was obviously able to give more information than just what is told to you off of the script. Overall the W&W is a solid tourist train ride that while a little on the expensive side, is well worth the visit to support the work that this dedicated group does to keep the line going. http://www.wwrr.com/default.aspx

We had a wonderful trip full of color, history and wonderful staff. Tucker and Conductor Barb were…read moreso nice and knowledgeable. They made the trip so much fun. Do yourself a favor and take a ride on this amazing train!

I visited Winterthur for the first time with my mom on Christmas Eve for their Yuletide exhibit…read more I'd been mildly curious about the mansion over the years, and it seemed like a fun thing to do on my day off from work. The mansion is ornate, truly massive, and opulent. It's a true peek into the lifestyles of the rich. The Yuletide theme this past year was centered around Christmas and children's books, like Alice and Wonderland, Twas the Night Before Christmas, etc. When we arrived, we were a bit confused on where to park, as my mom has a handicap sticker. We ended up parking right at the visitor's center where the tram retrieves guests. We didn't have a long wait. On the tram, the driver recommended starting at the house and then walking down to the galleries. She didn't mention the enchanted woods/garden, so I didn't even realize they were there until I got home later that night -- bummer. Some of the folks working the rooms were pleasant, others felt like security guards. One chided my mom for leaning her hand against a wall at one point. Some were knowledgeable, and others clearly didn't want to be there. I appreciated the girl in the garden entry room who snapped our photo with the decorated trees before we stepped into the house! I took many pictures while in the house, and then we traipsed over to the galleries. The gallery building had a doll house, a really well-done gingerbread train station, furniture and other exhibits on the ground floor, and a rotating, very interesting exhibit on African American history on the second floor. After the galleries, we stopped by the museum store, and while most everything was dramatically overpriced, I did find a few cool items in my price range. We were on the grounds for roughly 2-3 hours I'd say before having lunch nearby. Arriving early was a good choice. They do offer reciprocal garden access with other garden memberships (I have one at home in Richmond, VA), so perhaps one day I'll use that access to see the gardens that I missed!

This was not on our list of museums to hit but since the weather was so darn hot we changed what we…read morewere going to do after spending the morning at Longwood Gardens. It helped that we got free admission with our reciprocal museum membership. It was 2:30pm we when we arrived so we didn't have a lot of time. We were given good advice on what to do in our limited time from the folks at the ticket office. We took the garden tram tour which was educational and got off at the house where we did the self guided tour. You only see a small fraction of this giant mansion but that was enough for me. While most of the docents had interesting facts the actual contents of the collection were not that interesting to me. If you are really into this era of American decorative furnishing supposedly they have more in-depth guided tours. We still had time to see a bit more of the grounds around the house but with big thunderstorms rolling in we headed out. I am guessing for some this place is a must... I am glad we got free admission.

Place is beautiful with a wonderful Museum as well. My girlfriend and I spent some time here on our…read morelast trip. Park is huge with lots of running trails and lakes. Beautiful nature and trees to get surrounded and lost. Tickets are only $10.00 for a tour of the museum. Nice historical artifacts of the world and art. Delaware historical scenery and sculptures too. Weather was moderate at the time we were here. I love it. I will be back again.

We came on a free Sunday with family to enjoy the nice weather and learn a little history. Tickets…read moreare usually $10 to tour the museum. Even though it was a free day, both tour guides took time to introduce us to the house and answer any questions we had. It took us just shy of an hour to go through, but we could've spent longer if we had read every piece of material and took in every photo in the collection. The grounds and surrounding park were also beautiful and well maintained. There was ample free parking. A nice way to spend the day!

Such a special place! How had I never heard of this museum?…read moreIt's magic! As others have said, they are not open every day, festival days are held the first Sunday of every month (June-Nov). It is quick and easy to buy tickets online in advance. You can choose admission to the grounds with house tour, admission with rides, or the full package. This was really helpful because though I'd love to someday see the house, it's much easier to just do rides for young kids. With general admission, you do get to see the museum located behind the house, with antique cars, and Lionel trains. The model trains are set up and running, which the kids love. You also get free popcorn from the antique steam-powered popcorn machine. It was really good! Around the grounds, there is a train theme play structure, a pond with fountain and bridge, picnic tables, and a corn hole game. They also had era-appropriate live music, and an ice cream food truck! The Steamin' Days events are from 12:30pm-4:30pm, and if you choose rides, you get 4 with your ticket. They punch the ticket each ride. There is a ride-on steam train, ride-on diesel train, a steam bus, and two convertible cars from which to choose. You can ride 4 times on the same thing, or any combo you like! My son had a blast on everything, but my favorite was the convertible car. The day was all for my son, and I did not think I'd enjoy myself as much as I did, which is always a happy surprise! I can't wait to go to another! Also as others have mentioned, the volunteers were really knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, and engaging. They really put their all into creating a spectacular day for everyone. Every detail was covered, from the crossing guard at the entrance making sure everyone was safe, to the "purse parking" table at the train boarding, to the exciting train conductors' uniforms. This place is immaculate looking, and the experience is 1000% streamlined to care for everyone's needs. It was like a VIP event, but my ticket was only $12, and my son's was $4!!! If you have an ACCESS Delaware pass, you get $2pp admission for up to 4 people. The experience is worth so much more! *One caveat was a woman helping with boarding the train; she randomly, and very unnecessarily and harshly, warned my son to keep his hands inside the car--BEFORE he even sat down--with a threat of ejecting him from the ride, and did not give the same misery to any other passenger. You don't speak that way to a 2yo! But overall, I cannot recommend this place enough! It should be all over the brochures of the Brandywine Valley. Such an exciting, fun, amazing place!

Awesome house and grounds - be sure to go to a Steaming Sunday and take a ride on the scale model…read moresteam train - visit the beautiful Victorian manor house and walk through the Stanley Steam Car Museum - plenty of volunteers on hand to answer questions.

I'm a Delaware Art Museum member so I must say it is one of the best decisions that I have made in…read morerecent years joining. I have visited the museum many times over decades but in the last two years since joining, I've probably visited just as much as I did in all the time prior. There's quality diverse program on top of the standing exhibits in the galleries and visiting ones. I am a born Wilmingtonian and have always enjoyed culture and the arts, which again is why I have frequented this museum many times before, but I think it's a jewel that many locals neglect to appreciate. You don't have to go to the larger regional cities for acclaimed artists as many are here. The proximity to other places of interest in the area, can allow you to enjoy this and many others during a day or weekend trip if you're not local or live outside of the city. Join the mailing list and check the events because there is always something going; the images on my review are from a few of them. I keep saying I'm there so much I should join the team, but this is my way of supporting in sharing this review.

Decided to visit this museum this past Thursday as it was later in the day and a search revealed…read morethat they were open until 8pm on Thursdays (photo attached). Approximately an hour into our visit we were ushered out of one of the exhibits on the first floor and told that exhibit would be closing. Thought it was odd that a particular exhibit in the museum would be closing early, but we complied, simply moving on to other exhibits. At approximately 4:20 we were in a room on the second floor and the lights suddenly went out (pitch black, can't see your hand in front of your face, darkness). We were stunned for a moment before using our phone flashlights to safely exit. We were then met at the door by a confused staff member who stated that the museum had actually closed at 4pm. We began making our way toward the exit, explaining that the website listed that the hours were until 8pm on Thursdays. We were then stopped by a second employee who accused us of having entered the room *after* the lights had been turned off (because, as everyone knows, the best way to view art is in total darkness). She then said that we had already been informed that the museum was closing. ("Exhibit" and "museum" mean different things.) We explained once again that the website listed Thursdays' hours until 8pm. Rather than appreciate the confusion (much less apologize for the communication error), she insisted that we must have been looking at the hours for the following week (not true) and added a superfluous directive to leave (as we were literally stepping toward the exit). Up to this point, we had been enjoying our visit. However, this rude encounter certainly marred our experience

The Brandywine Museum has a special place in my heart. Intimate and welcoming, it is set in a…read morebeautiful natural environment, a wall of windows overlooking the river and green foliage. The focus on nature is a fitting homage to the special place the Wyeth family holds for the museum. This family of painters made their home in the area, and Andrew Wyeth - in partnership with his wife Betsy - took the local landscape, architecture and people as his life's work. However, the family produced three generations of artists, and there is usually at least one, carefully curated, Wyeth exhibit on display at the museum at any given time. Each time I come I learn about a different aspect of their art, and fall in love a little bit more. You can also take a tour of the artists' home and studio, as well as the newly installed N.C. Wyeth mural in the Round Barn, constructed just for this purpose. These tours need a reservation and cost extra, but worth it if you are able to splurge.

The museum was free on the Sunday we went. I'm not sure exactly which days, but it was great to go…read morethere when it was free. The kitchen area was really clean. We had a nice lunch overlooking the water and on the second floor they had some cool exhibits and activities for kids. Highly recommended if you're in the area.