The Brandywine Valley in Delaware and Pennsylvania is the site of a remarkable collection of cultural institutions. The commercial resources of the valley - it was here, for example, that the du Ponts founded their powder mills early in the nineteenth century - created a number of wealthy families, many of whom became patrons of the arts, scientists, antiquarians, preservationists, and gardeners on a heroic scale. Many of their estates, galleries, and gardens were eventually bequeathed to the public.The best of them are loosely grouped in a confederacy known as "The Brandywine Nine." Included are Winterthur, the world's finest collection of American antiques and decorative arts; The Hagley Museum, heart and soul of the du Pont enterprise; Rockwood, a rare 1850s Gothic estate; the Delaware Art Museum, an extraordinary collection of American art and Pre-Raphaelite painting; the Historical Society of Delaware, with its Old Town Hall and Read House; Nemours, the ultimate du Pont mansion; the Delaware Museum of Natural History, displaying the fauna of the world; the Brandywine River Museum, specializing in American art and housing a superlative gathering of Wyeths; and Longwood Gardens, a thousand-acre wonderland of gardens and fountains.Illustrated with more than 90 colorplates and 100 black-and-white photographs, this is an extraordinary voyage through an area rich in American history and in the arts of America and the world. Read Less