Marie Antoinette’s actual clock is sitting inside a Delaware mansion off the highway

Wilmington’s Answer to Versailles

You can drive through Wilmington, Delaware, a thousand times and never know that a 77-room French chateau sits on 200 acres just off the road.

Nemours Estate holds a mansion filled with royal clocks, the largest formal French gardens in North America, and a garage stocked with vintage Rolls-Royces.

People who visit say it rivals the Gilded Age mansions of Newport. But somehow, most travelers have never heard of it.

The house alone would be enough. The grounds make it something else entirely.

Alfred duPont built this for his bride in 18 months

Industrialist Alfred I. duPont started construction in 1909 and finished by 1910. The whole thing was a gift for his second wife, Alicia.

He named the estate after the French town of Nemours, where his great-great-grandfather Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours once served as a representative.

The firm of Carrère and Hastings drew up the plans in the Louis XVI style, and the crew put up 47,000 square feet of mansion in about 18 months. That pace still surprises people who see the detail inside.

Three floors of French furniture and Remington paintings

Walk through the front doors and you’re standing in a 77-room mansion with three levels open to visitors. A carved marble grand staircase anchors the center of the house.

The rooms hold French furniture from the 1700s, tapestries, and fine art that spans centuries. You’ll find religious paintings from the 1500s hanging near works by American artist Frederic Remington.

Hand-painted ceilings and stained glass throw color across the floors. Every room feels like its own small museum.

Marie Antoinette never received this clock

A clock made for French queen Marie Antoinette sits inside the mansion. She never got it.

Nearby, one of King Louis XVI’s own clocks keeps it company, and a rare musical clock from around 1785 can still play four tunes. The dining room hangs portraits of both Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette on its walls.

Unlike many historic mansions that lost their contents over the years, Nemours kept most of its original decor right where the duPonts placed it.

Bronze elk guard a one-third-mile promenade

Step out the mansion’s front door and the Long Walk stretches ahead of you, about one-third of a mile of wide, tree-lined path. A pair of bronze elk sculpted by a French artist stand guard at the top.

Your eye follows the path straight down to a large reflecting pool and a white colonnade at the far end. Visitors say the view makes them forget they’re in Delaware.

It feels more like a country estate outside Paris.

Lemon trees line gravel paths inspired by Versailles

The formal gardens at Nemours cover more ground than any other French-style garden in North America.

Marie Antoinette’s Petit Trianon at Versailles inspired the design, and you can see it in the long straight walkways and trimmed geometric shrubs. Statues, fountains, and carved stonework fill every turn.

Potted bay laurel, lemon, and orange trees line the gravel paths, and the smell of citrus hangs in the warm air. You could spend an hour here and still miss corners.

The duPont kids swam in 800,000 gallons of water

The one-acre reflecting pool sits at the heart of the gardens and holds around 800,000 gallons of water. From June through September, more than 150 jets shoot water as high as 12 feet.

Four statues at the corners represent the four seasons. The duPont children treated it like their personal playground.

They swam in it during summer and skated across it in winter. Today you stand at the edge and watch the jets catch sunlight while the mansion rises behind you.

A gold-leaf statue stands 12 feet tall in the maze

The Temple of Love sits at one end of the gardens and shelters a bronze statue of Diana the Huntress. Turn around inside the temple and you get a straight-line view all the way back to the mansion.

Nearby, the Maze Garden holds a 12-foot statue called “Achievement,” a man and woman covered in real 23-carat gold leaf. A colonnade built in 1926 honors the duPont ancestors.

The gold catches afternoon light in a way that stops you mid-step.

Carrara marble and Italian stone fill the Sunken Garden

The Sunken Garden drops below the main grounds, framed by walls and steps of Italian travertine stone. Statues carved from Carrara marble stand along the edges.

Elaborate fountains anchor the center, and a stretch of green lawn opens up between them. Boxwood hedges and colorful flower beds line the borders.

The garden has undergone renovation work, so check the estate’s current schedule before your visit. When it’s open, the Sunken Garden is one of the quietest spots on the property.

Two Rolls-Royces and a Buick sit in the 1914 garage

The Chauffeur’s Garage went up in 1914 to house the duPont family’s automobiles, and the cars inside still look ready to drive.

You’ll find two Rolls-Royces, two Cadillacs, and a Buick coupe, with the oldest dating to the early 1920s. A staff member stands by to answer your questions about the collection.

The garage sits a short walk from the mansion, and most visitors pass through quickly. Give yourself a few extra minutes if you like old cars.

A bowling alley hides in the mansion basement

Head downstairs and the mansion basement opens into Alfred duPont’s personal recreation area. A full-size bowling alley stretches along one wall, and a smaller duckpin lane sits beside it.

Pool tables and an exercise room round out the space.

At the end of a corridor, you’ll find duPont’s private office, still set up as if he just stepped out. Guided tours take you through the home’s early heating and cooling systems, which were cutting-edge for 1910.

Woodland trails and natural springs surround the gardens

Beyond the formal gardens, the estate opens into woodlands and meadows that most visitors never reach. Trails wind through the hillsides, and natural springs bubble up along the way.

You can bring a blanket and have a picnic on the grounds. Most of the gardens sit within a 10-minute walk of the mansion, so you don’t need to rush.

Wear comfortable shoes and give yourself a full morning or afternoon. Two hundred acres give you plenty of room to wander.

Explore Nemours Estate in Wilmington, Delaware

You can visit Nemours Estate on a self-guided tour at your own pace.

The estate sits on the grounds near Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, at 850 Alapocas Drive. Admission runs $20 for adults 12 and older, and children under 12 get in free.

The estate is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last entry at 3 p.m. Wear comfortable walking shoes because you’ll cover a lot of ground.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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