It has the largest formal French gardens in North America, a chauffeur's garage housing a collection of vintage automobiles and nearly 200 acres of scenic woodlands, meadows and lawns. It was designed by the same architects who created the New York Public Library and the Senate Office Building. Nemours, a 77-room, 47,000 square foot house, was ready for occupancy in December 1910. The mansion was designed to look like Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.Īt that time, Nemours cost $2 million, more than Andrew Carnegie's 64-room 1901 mansion in New York City. The cost today for duPont would have been $52.8 million. In 1909, duPont, in an effort to please his Francophile new wife, began construction on the Nemours Estate. Alicia Bradford was the ex-wife of duPont's secretary. He threw even more gasoline on the fire when he had Swamp Hall razed.Ī possible affair with, and eventual marriage, to Alicia Heyward Bradford in 1907, another cousin, did little to endear him to family members. He further infuriated family when, with a week's notice, he evicted his hated ex-wife, Bessie, from the duPont home at Swamp Hall, off Brecks Lane on the south side of the Brandywine near Hagley. Alfred then cut off contact with her and all of their children except for his eldest, Madeleine duPont.
Yet, despite the family ties, there was no love lost between the cousins.Īlfred's strained relations with duPont family members began to simmer when he divorced his first wife, Bessie, who was also his cousin, in 1906. Coleman duPont founded the modern-day DuPont Co. duPont Hospital for Children is the legacy of Alfred I. The legend might be better than the actual truth, but, first some background:
Was it said in jest? Was it said at all? Maybe. duPont: The Man & His Family," by Joseph Frazier Wall. duPont: The Family Rebel."Ī slight variation of the quote was repeated in the 1990 biography "Alfred I. duPont supposedly said he built the wall with the glass shards around his estate “to keep out intruders, mainly of the name of duPont,” according to Marquis James’s 1941 book "Alfred I. The wall, one of the quirkiest landmarks in New Castle County, if not the state, is said to have represented a longstanding feud among members of the duPonts, Delaware's most wealthy and influential family.Īlfred I.
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