Group Tour Brochure (PDF)

Group tours are available seven days a week, twelve months a year, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Hagley is closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Hagley Museum offers a variety of group tours. Frequently, tours can be adapted to address the specific interest of the group. For details and scheduling, contact the Group Tour Office.

The Group Tour Office - email:
tours@hagley.org

Group Tour Office
Hagley Museum
P.O. Box 3630
Wilmington, DE 19807-0630

Phone: (302) 658-2400, ext. 259
Fax: (302) 658-2230

Group Tours

See Hagley First When Visiting the Brandywine Valley

When planning a group tour of the Brandywine Valley, there is only one way to start--at Hagley. An initial visit to Hagley will put your entire trip into context. For it is here that the du Pont story begins. And it is the history that happened here that made the beauty of Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, and Nemours possible. Every Brandywine Valley itinerary should begin at Hagley.

Highlights - Situated on 235 picturesque acres along the Brandywine River, Hagley is the birthsite of the DuPont Company. Among industrial ruins and restorations, today's park-like museum depicts home and work life in a nineteenth-century industrial community along the Brandywine.

Seasonal Highlights - If fall foliage is your interest, the best of the fall season awaits your group tour at Hagley. From the crisp autumn air to the multi-colored hues of brilliant leaves viewed against towering evergreens, Hagley offers groups a charming journey back to the nineteenth century in a setting of natural splendor. Springtime brings a vast array of blossoming trees and flowers. Wildflowers, azaleas, dogwoods, daffodils, and Canada geese followed by lines of young goslings grace Hagley's rolling 235 acres. The restored French-style garden cultivated by E. I. du Pont bursts with the color of hyacinths, crocuses, daffodils, and other spring flowers.During Christmas at Hagley, a heated bus will transport your group back to a nineteenth-century style holiday celebration. In Eleutherian Mills, holiday decorations made of nature's bounty are complemented by toys and ornaments from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Brandywine Tour
This tour visits Eleutherian Mills, the original (1803) home to five generations of the du Pont family, with its restored nineteenth-century French-style garden and the First Office of the DuPont Company. A second stop is made at either the Powder Yard, where demonstrations show the harnessing of water power, or the Visitor Center, where models and exhibits describe early industry along the Brandywine and the development of the DuPont Company.
- $8 per person - two hours - fifteen-person minimum
- Includes guide and bus transportation
- Offered year-round*

Extended Brandywine Tour
This tour serves the needs of adult groups who wish to spend a longer time at Hagley and to enjoy more fully the many points of interest throughout the property. The tour includes the Visitor Center; Powder Yard; Machine Shop; Workers' Hill; the du Pont family home, barn, and garden; and the First Office of the DuPont Company. The group will tour for approximately two hours and then stop for a one-hour lunch break. Lunch may be either a Group Tour Lunch (additional cost) or a picnic lunch (provided by your group). Touring resumes after the lunch break.
- $13 per person - five hours - fifteen-person minimum
- Includes guide and bus transportation
- Offered year-round*

*Join us during the holiday season, the day after Thanksgiving through January 1, when Eleutherian Mills is wonderfully decorated for the holidays.

Gardens and Grounds Tour
This tour highlights Hagley's beautiful grounds. Your guide discusses the history of the gardens that E. I. du Pont planted on his property in the early nineteenth century. Enjoy a ride along the Brandywine River, with special attention to landscape points of interest along the way. The tour includes a visit to the restored nineteenth-century French-style garden as well as the Eleutherian Mills residence.
- $8 per person - two hours - fifteen-person minimum
- Guide and bus transportation included
- Offered May 1 to October 31

Holiday Shopping Tour
Bring your group for a day at our annual craft fair on the third weekend of October. Enjoy a one-hour tour of the Eleutherian Mills residence before exploring the many offerings of the artisans' marketplace. Held in two buildings on our historic grounds, this annual event showcases the work of more than fifty talented crafters. You will find jewelry, handbags, hand-carved wood items, artwork, pottery, hand-woven scarves, and much more. Please call the tour office (302-658-2400, ext. 259) for the dates of the craft fair.
- $9 per person - from fifteen to forty-six people
- Includes walking tour and admission to the craft fair
- Offered the third weekend of October (call for dates)

Powder Yard Tour
The DuPont Company manufactured gunpowder and blasting powder at Hagley from 1802 until 1921. This outdoor walking tour explores how the process of making gunpowder developed and changed over the years. You will learn the steps involved in making the powder as well as the history of the Hagley Powder Yard. You will also visit the Machine Shop, the Roll Mill, the Birkenhead Mills, and the Steam Engine.
- $7 - Two hours - fifteen to forty-six people
- Guided walking tour
- Offered April 1 to October 31

Group Tour Meals

Private group tour meals are served in a historic building on Hagley's property. The lunch may be before or after your tour of Hagley. Meals are by reservation only, and early reservations are suggested. For a menu, click here.

Group Tour Meal Reservations must be made through the tour office in conjunction with a tour reservation. A two-week tour notice is required, although the tour office suggests making reservations as early as possible. Group Tour meals must be reserved well in advance. You will be charged for the number of people you reserve if you do not inform us of changes or cancellations.

Access for Persons with Disabilities

Please mention any accessibility needs your group might have so that we can make arrangements ahead of time. Most of the buildings at Hagley are accessible to persons with disabilities. A bus that accommodates wheelchairs is available as well. Please advise the tour office at the time of reservation of any special needs, in terms of wheelchairs, limited walking, etc. for your group.