Smyrna times., 1954-05-13
WINTERTHUR
GARDEN TOUR
Tourists VIII Have Unusual
Opportunity During May
To See Monuments
DECORATIVE ARTS

Garden Tours. Unlike many other
scenically beautiful historic monu-
ments, the Winterthur collection
memorializes not one person or
event, but the whole broad sweep
of Americas cultural achievement
in the two centuries that followed
her first settlements. Next month,
for the third successive year, the
outstanding rooms of the Henry
Francis DUPONT Winterthur Mu-
scum and the magnificent azalea
gardens of Mr.. and Mrs. Francis
DUPONT, at Winterthur, will be
open to the public daily except
Sundays and Mondays. No advance
reservations are necessary for
these special May tours. Winter
thur is located 5 miles west of Will
mington, Delaware, on State Route
81. The Museum, housing the larg-
est and richest assemblage of
early-American decorative arts
ever brought together, affords an
excitingly new perspective on the
historic beginnings of this coun-
try-both as colonial empire and,
later, as young republic. Trans
planted from a highly civilized
world to a wilderness in which
they had to fashion for themselves
the very tool for living, the early
colonists developed level of
craftsmanship that staggers the
imagination of present-day Ameri-
cans. In authentic rooms, disman-
tied from actual colonial houses
and reassembled at Winterthur, is
clear evidence of the creative in
genuity that fosterel the founding
of a new nation.
Pieces of Historic Interest
Among the widely representa-
tive examples of American archi-
lecture, furniture, painting, sculp-
ture, metalwork, and textiles, are
many pieces of unusual historic in
terest. Some are associated with
individual events and persons who
figured prominently in seventeenth
and eighteenth-century public Life:
chair from the home of Francis
Scott Key; cake plate owned by
Martha Washington; silver
pitcher made by Paul Revere. in
the Port Royal Parlor taken
from house built in 1852 in
Frankford, Pennsylvania-art two
sofas that belonged originally to
John Dickinson, the statesman
whose Letters from Farmer IN
Pennsylvania first gave Europe
the colonial viewpoint on unjust
taxation. Dickinson's Philadelphia
Library card and several books
from his own library offer an in
teresting slant on the reading
habits of this patriot who later re-
presented Delaware at the Consti-
tutional Convention. For students
of the French contribution to
American independence, the mont
morenci Stair Hall has a particular
fascination. 1t is not difficult TO
imagine the charming, fiery Mar
quis de Lafayette descending the
graceful spiral staircase to be in
troduced to guests at reception
in his honor. The staircase comes
from a house built in 1922 in
North Carolina by General Will
liam Williams. Two years later,
Lafayette-on return visit to the
country whose liberty he had
helped to secure-was General
Williams guest at Montmorenci.
Paintings Signed by Serres
The Winterthur collection as q
whole represents several broad
movements which had significant
effects on the course of American
history. Memorabilia of the
American Revolution include a
pair of fine silver-mounted pistols
the kind used by officers of the
Continental Army-made by Fred
erick zorger of York, Pennsyl.
vania. Zorger was a member OF
the local militia, and records indi.
cate that he did guard duty when
the American Army used his home
town as a prison camp. Represent.
ing the other side of the battle
lines is a painting signed by Dom.
Unique Series (1722-1793) called
The Forcing of the Hudson River
Passage, october 9, 1776. 1t wa.
painted especially for the captain
of the Roebuck, one of the vic
torious- British gunboats in this
action which turned out to bt
relatively unimportant in the
course of the war. The chagrir
with which England accepted
Americas victory is revealed IL
Benjamin Vests painting The
Conference of the Treaty of Peace