BALLET, FASHION, LIFESTYLERie Victoria AokiDecember 17, 2019ballet, ballerina, ballet dancer, ballet style, mansion, wilmington, delaware, where to go, delaware visit, delaware blog

Where To Visit This Holiday: Nemours Estate

BALLET, FASHION, LIFESTYLERie Victoria AokiDecember 17, 2019ballet, ballerina, ballet dancer, ballet style, mansion, wilmington, delaware, where to go, delaware visit, delaware blog

Need one more place to make your holiday outing more festive?

If you are near Wilmington, Delaware, YOU MUST VISIT NEMOURS ESTATE before Christmas! Nemours Mansion & Gardens is owned and developed by Alfred I. DuPont, where a visiter might believe he/she magically just stopped in Europe. It is modeled after Versailles, and is a masterpiece of design with its mansion, fountains, artwork, filed sculpture and what is the largest formal French style garden in North America! This past summer, my friend Irina and I visited there and we were in awe of its gorgeousness. Today I’d like to share a bit of the most famous and gorgeous place in Delaware, I want you to visit there if you are near! It’s ONLY OPEN for visits MAY-DECEMBER!!! So we only have a little bit of time left to have a visit, and NOW IS THE TIME - Nemours is very famous with their most amazing Christmas decorations!

THE MANSION

The 77-room mansion, modeled after Marie Antoinette’s Le Pitet Trianon, is dressed to the nines. There is a clock made for Marie Antoinette which she never received… Alfred I. DuPont built the mansion for his second wife Alicia. After her sudden death, Alfred and his third (and final) wife Jessie made it “a home”…

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I have this thing with beautiful architecture (I mean, who doesn’t?) and @nemoursestate is definitely one of my fave places I’ve ever visited. I was absolutely amazed by the Victorian style French mansion. {Here is some art & history class from here 🦢} Every room, every ceiling or wall is oh so attentive to the details. These architects for sure had great eyes, they also designed the New York Public Library - As I mentioned before, Alfred I. DuPont built this mansion for his second wife Alicia, by all accounts, she was fond of him but not in love. However, it was DuPont’s third {and final} wife Jessie (she is in the first painting) who made this mansion “a home” - I LOVE that they added Asian inspired furniture to the conservatory (6th to 8th photos!) — If you are in Wilmington, DE, this place is a must go! (Also this place makes you feel rich $$$) #nemoursestate

A post shared by Rié Victoria Aoki (@rievictoriaaoki) on Sep 25, 2019 at 7:01pm PDT

THE GARDENS

A long walk leads to a huge reflecting pool, which opens onto a maze, a colonnade, a sunken garden, a lake and, finally, at the very end, a small round temple enclosing a statue of Diana, the goddess of the hunt. The duPonts came to the United States from France in 1800, just after the French Revolution. A hundred years later Alfred duPont re-created a bit of the old country—the France of the guillotined Bourbons—in Delaware's Brandywine Valley.