Louise du Pont Crowninshield
The Last du Pont at Winterthur
Today is the birthday of Louise du Pont Crowninshield, who was born on this day.
Louise spent her life working on projects related to ecological preservation, charity, and horticulture. Aside from her philanthropic efforts, Louise is remembered as the last du Pont to live in the residence at Winterthur ("Winner-TOUR") before it became a museum and library.
The Winterthur estate covers 1,000 acres of rolling hills, streams, meadows, and forests. A love-long lover of nature and a natural designer, Henry Francis du Pont got his bachelor's in horticulture from Harvard. Henry thoughtfully developed Winterthur, and he planned for the gardens to be a showpiece. When it came to sourcing plants, du Pont spared no expense to source top plants from around the world. Today, you can visit Winterthur Garden and see for yourself the Quarry, Peony, and Sundial gardens as well as the Azalea Woods and the Enchanted Woods.
You can get a lovely used copy of a book called Henry F. du Pont and Winterthur: A Daughter's Portrait and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $2.