Mt Cuba Center -- high on nature, low on communism

In my continuing effort to visit all the amazing places near my parents' house, I took a 15 minute drive down the road and took the winding drive up to the Mt Cuba Center. You'll need a reservation to visit, but it's only a $5 fee for a 2 hour tour of native plant forest and the formal gardens.

The grounds are the former estate of Mr and Mrs Lammot DuPont Copeland, who were cousins of Henry Francis Dupont, the last private owner of the Winterthur estate. The passion of conservation running through the family is self-evident.

Upon entering the house, I was ushered through the back door and greated with the most lovely bucolic view of the Delaware valley.

I sat for a few minutes and tried to sketch a few things, but they were all crap. We embarked on our tour and started in the forest, created in the 40s and 50s by Mr and Mrs Copeland from the farmland that previously surrounded their estate.


The docent for the tour was very knowledgable and the weather was absolutely beautiful.




The dogwoods were just starting to change colour. And the meadow the opened up was surprisingly full of wildflowers.



From the meadow, we walked down to the network of ponds that provided the perfect escape from the world.


I will certainly be returning to these beautiful grounds, hopefully by the end of October when the leaves will be in full colour.