Delaware

Shhh. This centuries old Wilmington garden is a ‘secret,’ but it’s open for walks, picnics

Published

8 hours ago

September 12, 2025

Press Room

Shhh. This centuries old Wilmington garden is a ‘secret,’ but it’s open for walks, picnics

Goodstay Gardens, a historic garden in Wilmington, Delaware, is a free, public space open year-round.
Though smaller than nearby Longwood Gardens, Nemours Estate, and Winterthur, Goodstay offers a charming and historically significant experience.
The gardens feature a variety of flowers, trees, and seating areas, and are dog-friendly (leashed).

One of the best aspects of being a reporter in Delaware is discovering and writing about places I might never have visited otherwise.

When I was a student at the University of Delaware, I took some summer classes at UD’s Wilmington campus at 2700 Pennsylvania Ave. That was more than 30 years ago. I never gave the mid-17th-century Goodstay Center Mansion on the grounds much thought, and certainly didn’t visit the gardens. If you’re taking a summer class, your main concern is to get it over with as soon as possible, especially when it feels like everyone else is having fun at the beach.

I’ve been back to the Wilmington campus maybe once since then to give a talk at its Osher Lifelong Learning Institute about my journalism career, but that was at least a decade ago.

But for several years, I’ve been hearing about and even sometimes mentioning the “secret garden” tucked behind the Mansion.

While on an assignment in downtown Wilmington on a glorious August summer afternoon, I drove by the Colonial Revival-style mansion, behind the white fence off Pennsylvania Avenue, and, on a whim, made a U-turn.

I was finally going to check out the Goodstay Gardens that are free and open to the public daily from dawn to dusk, year-round.

It felt a little like being in a Nancy Drew mystery as I opened the gate of the white picket fence leading to the historic Tudor-style gardens behind the stone colonial house, which traces its roots back to before 1635.

What a find! Let me first apologize in advance to anyone who considers this garden “a secret,” including the lone woman I met on my stroll who told me about the frogs and butterflies she spied during her walk and then said she didn’t want anyone to know about this hidden gem.

OK, so sorry-not-sorry. I’m no gatekeeper when it comes to sharing cool places in Delaware to visit, especially a free urban oasis. I feel compelled to spill the beans. That’s why the boss man pays me.

First things first: This former du Pont family home is nowhere near as sprawling as Longwood Gardens, Pierre du Pont’s former home near Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, which has nearly 200 stunning acres open to the public.

Nor is it as majestic as Nemours Estate, his cousin Alfred I. duPont’s former homestead and French-inspired formal gardens in Rockland, which makes you feel like you’ve been transported to the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.

And it’s also no Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Henry Francis du Pont’s former home with its 60-acre garden, designed by du Pont, that is considered among America’s best.

Please, go to all three if you’ve never been before. All are spectacular, especially in the spring and summer and during the holiday season.

While Goodstay, originally known as Green Hill, might not be so grand as Longwood, Winterthur or Nemours, it’s charming, beautifully maintained, and has deep Delaware history as one of the oldest continuously kept gardens in the state.

It’s also free, and you can bring your dog. You can’t do that at Longwood, Nemours or Winterthur.

Green Hill was the childhood home of artist Howard Pyle, the Wilmington-born illustrator and painter who taught Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth. (Want to see his works? Go to the Delaware Art Museum, founded to preserve Pyle’s art.)

Pyle had a deep affection for Green Hill and its garden and was wistfully sentimental when he reminisced about its “old-fashioned roses,” beds of tulips and “daffodillies.”

“It was such a garden as you will hardly find outside of a storybook,” Pyle wrote shortly before he died in Florence, Italy, in 1911. “I cannot remember anything but bloom and beauty, air filled with the odor of growing things, and birds singing in the shady trees in such a fashion as they do not sing nowadays.”

In 1868, Margaretta du Pont, Pierre and Alfred’s grandmother, purchased the home and renamed the estate Goodstay from the French phrase bon Sejour, which translates as “have a good stay.”

Her grandson, T. Coleman du Pont, a cousin of Pierre and Alfred, often visited Goodstay when he was home from attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later purchased the property.

Du Pont, who owned the hotels the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, the Willard in Washington, D.C., and the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia, gave Goodstay and its 16 acres to his daughter, Ellen du Pont Coleman Meeds, in 1923.

She then hired landscape architect Robert Wheelwright to restore and enhance the gardens. Wheelwright, who designed Valley Garden Park in Greenville (another must-visit), and Meeds later married. Wheelwright transformed the gardens throughout the late 1930s, making numerous expansions, including the planting of magnolia trees.

After Ellen Wheelwright died in 1968, the property was given to the University of Delaware. In the late 1980s, Wilmington resident Helen Eliason was a leading force in rejuvenating the declining gardens, and the Friends of Goodstay Gardens was formed in the 1990s.

Friends, a nonprofit group, manages the upkeep of the gardens through donations and the hard work of volunteers. Some of the Damask roses still blooming in the gardens date back to the 1920s during the Wheelwrights’ time at Goodstay.

Goodstay is a carry-in/carry-out park with no restrooms or trash receptacles. Artists, photographers, and picnickers are welcome. Dogs are, too, but they must be leashed. High school students in the know sometimes pose for prom photos there. There’s free parking in a lot adjoining the Goodstay Mansion.

Walk through the garden’s gate and get ready to drink in the beauty. Blossoms change with the seasons, and the variety is impressive. Come in April and you’ll find tulips and magnolias; by Mother’s Day, there will be roses, peonies and irises.

During my August visit, I saw deep orange and coral-colored zinnias, tall golden sunflowers buzzing with bees, flowering tobacco plants, tangerine-hued leopard lilies, pink-colored pollinators known as fleabane, and tuffs of lavender-hued verbena.

Crunch down one gravel path and you’ll come upon a bubbling fountain. Go down another, and you’ll find benches to plop down on and read a book or shady areas to spread out a blanket.

Fall promises to bring amaranth, dahlias, asters and salvia. Next time I come (and there will be a next time), I’m bringing my dog (on a leash) and a cup of coffee and maybe a pastry to enjoy at one of the vintage garden chairs and tables at the back of the house.

Just remember, when you leave the garden, the trash leaves with you.

Unfortunately, there’s no exploring the historic Goodstay Center Mansion. At least not for now.

It has been temporarily closed by UD’s Department of Environmental Health & Safety, according to a sign on one of the doors.

When asked why the building was closed, a spokeswoman for the University of Delaware sent a statement: “Goodstay is home to one of the oldest continuously kept gardens in Delaware, with the origins of the garden (and the building there) dating to the 1700s. With older structures, it is important to routinely assess and address any maintenance priorities in order to ensure a safe visitor experience. At this time, only the gardens are still fully accessible to the public.”

Inside the Newsroom is an opportunity for our news team to share a look behind the scenes of how we do our jobs and live our lives.

Patricia Talorico writes about food, restaurants, true crime, and Delaware history. You can find her on Instagram, X and Facebook. Email ptalorico@delawareonline.com. Sign up for her Delaware Eats newsletter.

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Delaware

Flags across Delaware lowered to half-staff in wake of conservative leader’s death

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2025

Press Room

Flags across Delaware lowered to half-staff in wake of conservative leader’s death

Delaware and U.S. flags will be lowered across the state in the wake of conservative leader Charlie Kirk’s death on Sept. 10.

Gov. Matt Meyer ordered the flags at state buildings and other facilities to be lowered from now until 6 p.m. Sept. 14 in concurrence with President Donald Trump’s proclamation.

Kirk died after being shot at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

Kirk, who was the co-founder of the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA and a key ally of President Donald Trump, was shot in the neck at a debate hosted by the organization. He was 31.

Meyer condemned Kirk’s killing “in the strongest possible manner” in a written statement on Sept. 10.

“As Americans, we can and should be able to debate ideas vigorously without turning to violence, because violence is never the answer,” he said in a written statement. “Lauren and I are praying for the loved ones of Charlie Kirk, who are now faced with an unspeakable tragedy.”

Delaware leaders and elected officials issued numerous statements as news spread Sept. 10 about the deadly act of violence in Utah. Former President Joe Biden posted on X that “there is no place in our country for this kind of violence.

“It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.”

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Delaware

2 horses in Delaware euthanized after contracting West Nile virus from mosquito bites

Published

3 days ago

September 10, 2025

Press Room

2 horses in Delaware euthanized after contracting West Nile virus from mosquito bites

Two horses in Delaware have been euthanized after contracting West Nile virus.
The virus is carried by mosquitoes.
The Delaware Department of Agriculture recommends vaccinations for horses and ways to try to prevent mosquito bites.

Two horses have been euthanized after the first cases of West Nile virus in horses this year were confirmed in Delaware.

The Office of the State Veterinarian in the Delaware Department of Agriculture announced the Kent County cases on Sept. 9.

A 4-year-old Standardbred gelding and a 7-year-old Standardbred mare were euthanized, said Michael Lewis, chief of community relations for the department.

The onset of symptoms in these cases occurred between Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquito bites, generally in summer and fall, with a peak period for disease transmission from mid-August to mid-October.

Signs of infection in horses include fever, although not always present, along with anorexia, head pressing, depression or behavior changes, wobbling or staggering, weakness, blindness, convulsions, hind-limb weakness and muscle spasms in the head and neck.

If owners notice any of these signs in their horses, the Department of Agriculture recommends contacting a veterinarian immediately.

Animal health professionals with formal training in diagnosing or recognizing animal diseases and pests of horses and livestock are required to report suspected or confirmed cases of West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis to the Office of the State Veterinarian within 24 hours.

People can also be infected with West Nile virus, but transmission requires a mosquito bite. The virus cannot be directly transmitted between horses or between horses and people.

Advice to protect horses from mosquitoes

Horse owners can take steps in the barn and around the farm to help protect horses from mosquito bites including:

Keep horses inside during dawn and dusk, peak hours for mosquito activity
Apply topical insect repellents labeled for use on horses
Use fans in horse stalls to deter mosquitoes
Dispose of old tires and containers with standing water
Empty, clean and refill water troughs or buckets at least every two to three days to remove mosquito eggs or larvae
Contact a veterinarian to ensure they add the West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis vaccines to their annual vaccination schedule for 2026

Neither disease has a specific drug treatment. Eastern equine encephalitis in horses is fatal in 70 to 90% of cases. The West Nile virus in horses if fatal in 30% of cases.

Advice to residents for protection from mosquitoes

The Delaware Department of Agriculture reminds residents to continue taking precautions to avoid mosquito bites, including:

Wear light-colored long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors in mosquito-prone areas
Apply insect repellent containing 10 to 30% diethyltoluamide (DEET) according to label instructions
Avoid mosquito-infested areas and times of peak mosquito activity around dawn, dusk and night

The department recommends that residents eliminate standing water on their property that might have been there for four or more consecutive days because it can be a mosquito breeding habitat.

The mosquito season should end with the first hard freeze.

Who to contact if mosquito-borne illnesses are suspected

For questions about mosquito-borne illnesses in horses, along with calling a veterinarian, call the Delaware Department of Agriculture at 302-698-4500 and ask for the Poultry and Animal Health Section.

If people suspect they may have West Nile virus or eastern equine encephalitis, along with calling a doctor, call the Delaware Public Health Office of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at 302-744-4990 Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or after hours at 888-295-5196 or email reportdisease@delaware.gov.

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

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Delaware

Shuttered Taylor Hospital in Delaware County may soon reopen

Published

4 days ago

September 8, 2025

Press Room

Shuttered Taylor Hospital in Delaware County may soon reopen

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 1:38AM

Shuttered Delaware County hospital may soon reopen

RIDLEY PARK, Pa. (WPVI) — A shuttered Delaware County hospital may soon reopen its doors.

A group of private investors has entered into a deal to acquire Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park for $1 million.

MORE | Employees report for final shift at Taylor Hospital before it closes for good

In a social media post, one of the investing partners, Keystone Quality Transport, said a key goal of the acquisition is to restore essential medical services at the site.

Taylor Hospital closed in April after its parent company filed for bankruptcy.

The proposed deal requires court approval.

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