Company
K-1 Reunion in Pennsylvania…
Part 3a is a supplement to the photo-essays chronicling the Company
K-1 Reunion @ Valley Forge - Philadelphia, PA and environs. The series was
prompted by a recent K-1 reunion in the area. This supplement includes a
Shutterfly Slide Show that integrates the three events (Longwood Gardens,
Winterthur Estate, General Warren Inn) with additional photography from earlier
visits.
The Shutterfly Slide Show will provide the viewer an enhanced selection of
pictures of the exhibits @ Longwood Gardens and Winterthur Estate. While not
captioned, the majority of the pictures will already be familiar to the viewer
from Part 2 of this series…
As noted in an earlier message:
"At the invitation of Hugh and Ann Trumbull, the men
and ladies of Company K-1, Class of '58, enjoyed five full days (May 17-21) of
planned events in the Philadelphia-Valley Forge-King of Prussia area.
In attendance: Tom and Barbara Sands, Bob and Susie Barker, Norm and Toni
Gustitus, Ron and Barbara Bellows, Brad and Carol Johnson, Bill and Ann Shely,
Lynn and Joan Shrader, Margaret Groves w/daughter Charlotte, Pat Hidalgo
w/daughters Val & Wendy, Hugh and Ann Trumbull, Bill and Edna Mae Serchak"
Wednesday, 18 May
Car pool convoy to Longwood Gardens; lunch at the Longwood Cafe.
Optional Tours in the afternoon to Brandywine River Museum, Winterthur,
or the Hagley Museum.
Cocktails and dinner at the Historic General Warren Inn, Malvern, PA
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Main Fountain Garden, Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens consists of over 1,077 acres (4.2 km²) of gardens, woodlands,
and meadows in
Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania,
United States
in the
Brandywine Creek Valley.
It is one of the premier
botanical gardens
in the United States and is open to visitors year-round to enjoy exotic plants
and horticulture (both indoor and outdoor), events and performances, seasonal
and themed attractions, as well as take part in educational lectures, courses
and workshops.
What is now Longwood Gardens was originally purchased from
William Penn
in 1700 by a fellow Quaker named George Peirce (1646–1734). Although it started
as a working farm, in 1798 twin brothers Joshua and Samuel Peirce planted the
first specimens of an
arboretum,
originally named Peirce’s Park, and has been open to the public almost
continuously since that time. By 1850 they had amassed one of the finest
collections of trees in the nation.
Industrialist
Pierre S. du Pont
(1870–1954) purchased the property from the Peirce family in 1906 to save the
arboretum from being sold for lumber. He made it his private estate, and from
1906 until the 1930s, du Pont added extensively to the property. A world
traveler from an early age, du Pont was often inspired to add features to the
garden after attending world's fairs, the most notable additions being the
massive conservatory, complete with a massive
pipe organ,
and the extensive system of
fountains.
Mr. Du Pont opened his estate to the public many days of the year during his
occupancy and was even known, on a rare occasion, to personally (and
anonymously) provide tours to visitors as happened one day with a lady requiring
a wheelchair, as reported by
Random House
publisher,
Bennett Cerf.
Following the completion of the fountains, du Pont began planning for the
sustained life of Longwood Gardens after his death. According to his will, filed
in Delaware and dated March 21, 1946, he founded Longwood Foundation Inc. and
left most of his estate "for the maintenance and improvement of the gardens."
Upon du Pont’s unexpected death April 5, 1954, Henry B. du Pont, president of
the Longwood Foundation, announced, "There will be no change in our
long-standing policy of opening the gardens and greenhouse to the public every
day in the week."
Today, the 1,077-plus acre Longwood Gardens consists of 20 outdoor gardens and
20 indoor gardens within 4.5 acres (18,200 m²) of heated greenhouses, known as
conservatories. It contains 11,000 different types of plants and trees, as well
as fountains. The Gardens also has extensive educational programs including a
tuition-free
two-year school of professional horticulture,
a graduate program, and extensive internships. It hosts 800 horticultural and
performing arts events each year, from flower shows, gardening demonstrations,
courses, and children's programs to concerts, organ and carillon recitals,
musical theatre, fountain shows, and fireworks displays. It also hosts an
extensive Christmas light display during the holiday season.
Longwood's conservatory is one of the world's greatest greenhouse structures.
The conservatory alone is home to 5,500 types of plants. An exploration of the
20 indoor gardens spanning a half mile takes about an hour and a half. Gardens
of the conservatory, each with its own exquisite displays of plants, include The
Orangery, Silver Garden, Acacia Passage, Orchid House, Cascade Garden, Palm
House, Mediterranean Garden, Tropical Terrace and the Outdoor Water Garden
display. Since its original construction date in 1919, it has undergone
expansions and renovations. In January 2003, the East Conservatory was closed
for a renovation project, with the main hall reopening to the public on October
29, 2005.
The gardens attracted nearly 900,000 visitors during 2009 and plans for the
growth and expansion of Longwood Gardens for the next four decades began in 2010
with the hiring of
West 8,
a Dutch
landscape architecture
and
urban planning
firm with headquarters in
Rotterdam
and an office in
New York City.
The founder of West 8, Adrian Geuze, stated their mission is: “to celebrate
Longwood, enjoy it, keep it, preserve it, while asking how could it function as
a spectacular place for larger groups of people in the 21st century." The
comprehensive Longwood plan is expected to be complete by July 2011.
See also:
http://www.longwoodgardens.org/
http://www.visitphilly.com/find-a/tag/longwood+gardens/
http://www.inusa.com/tour/pa/brandy/longwood.htm
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The Museum building |
Location:
Area:
979 acres (3.96 km2)
Governing body:
Private
Winterthur Museum and Country Estate is an
American
estate and
museum
in
Winterthur,
Delaware,
now housing one of the most important collections of
Americana
in the country. It was the former home of
Henry Francis du Pont
(1880–1969), a renowned
antiques
collector and
horticulturist.
Until recently, it was known as the "Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum".
In the early 20th century, H. F. du Pont and his father,
Henry Algernon du Pont,
designed Winterthur in the spirit of 18th- and 19th-century European country
houses. The younger du Pont added to the home many times thereafter, eventually
moving to a smaller house on the estate when the main building became a public
museum in 1951.
Winterthur is situated on 979
acres
(4 km²), near
Brandywine Creek,
with 60 acres of naturalistic garden. There were 2,500 acres when it functioned
as a country estate.
Initially a collector of European art and decorative arts, H. F. du Pont
reported that it was
Electra Havemeyer Webb,
later the founder of
Shelburne Museum
in
Vermont,
who first interested him in American art and antiques through the paintings of
Charles Louis Heyde.
In 1929, he drew worldwide attention when he purchased a tambour desk, made and
labeled by
John Seymour,
Cabinetmaker in Boston, at Parke-Bernet auction galleries in New York for a
then-record sum for Americana in excess of $30,000. Subsequently, he became a
highly prominent collector of American decorative arts, building on the
Winterthur estate to house his collection, conservation laboratories, and
administrative offices.
There are 175 period-room displays in the museum and approximately 85,000
objects. Most rooms are open to the public on small, guided tours. The
collection spans more than two centuries of American decorative arts, notably
from 1640 to 1860, and contains some of the most important pieces of American
furniture and fine art. The Winterthur Library and Research Center includes more
than 87,000 volumes and approximately 500,000 manuscripts and images, mostly
related to American history, decorative arts, and architecture. The facility
also houses extensive conservation, research, and education facilities.
In the 1990s, more informal museum galleries were opened in a new building
adjacent to the main house where special rotating and permanent exhibits are now
housed. The museum also is home to the Winterthur Program in Early American
Culture and the Winterthur/University
of Delaware
Art Conservation program.
The museum is named after the sixth largest city in
Switzerland--Winterthur.
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterthur_Museum_and_Country_Estate
http://www.winterthur.org/?p=744
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This series of photo-essays was prompted by the recent reunion of
Company K-1, Class of '58, USMA in
the Philadelphia area.
It
also
serves as a reminder that the area has continued to play a
role in our family's life with frequent return visits to the area,
first with our young children, then in more recent years when we
returned to the places where we grew up, but now with our adult
children and their spouses... |
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