Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library — Attraction in Pennsbury Township

I went to Winterthur for their Yuletide at Winterthur event. My daughter had seen a picture online of a beautiful Christmas tree in a beautiful library and wanted to go see it. The event was supposed to go from 5-8pm. Based on the event description, I expected beautiful Christmas trees, an old mansion decked out in antique Christmas decor, toy trains, arts and crafts all to live music. We went Wed Dec 27th. It was pouring rain. As we drove to Winterthur, we could hardly read the signs to know where to park. There is no lighting on the driveways or signs and it was very dark outside. Eventually we found the parking lot and walked to the visitor center. It was around 6:45 when we got to the front desk. The lady checking our tickets said to the person in front of us that the house was closed. I was shocked. That was the reason we came. I asked more questions and she said the house is actually closing at 7 pm because the tour takes an hour and they want people out by 8. She said it would take at least 10-15 minutes to walk there so she didn't recommend it. We tried it anyways, turns out there was a bus that she failed to mention. The bus took us to the house and we were able to get in as the last people for the last tour. The tour guides were rushed and didn't want to answer questions. The tour did NOT show the whole house. In fact, all the rooms looked the same, a tea room with a fire place and cabinets with china. I remember thinking, how many rooms do you need to drink tea in. We asked about the library and were told that isn't part of the tour. What the hell? Why do a tour of endless tea rooms. Why not show other parts of the house to give more variety, like a kitchen, or library, a bedroom, a nursery or something! No, just a bunch of tea rooms. The tour took 20 minutes at most and although we saw everything, we only saw maybe 1/4 of the total house, probably a lot less. The rest was closed. Oh and all the "musicians" that were supposed to be playing that night, stopped playing at 7. In my opinion, if you have an event from 5-8, you have the musicians play until 8. After that we walked in the rain to the museum. The "crafts" was essentially tables with markers and paper on them. No one was directing any sort of organized craft. My kids can color with markers at home. Also, it was in an ugly all purpose room that had no character, so its not like we wanted to spend time in the "craft" room. We then walked in the rain to the area that had the toy trains. This was kinda nice, but why make people walk up poorly lit trails, in the rain, in the dark, to see trains when you have a massive mansion available with over 75% of it closed off. I just don't understand why everything was so far from everything else. Get some path lights or sign lights at least! Then from the train, the woman said we had to walk about 3 city blocks to get back to the house. She told us go right, right and then left. Anyways, these were very bad directions. We ended up having to walk off path, through the woods, down a slippery hill in the pouring rain to find the visitor center again. All this with my elderly father, a toddler and two young children. The lack of lighting alone on the paths is a serious danger for night time activities. We were completely soaked and very disappointed by this whole experience. It was so poorly organized. I do NOT recommend going to this....

Stay away from the Yuletide tour!!! It was very unpleasant. Before I start complaining about the Yuletide tour, let me say that I gave Winterthur 3 stars because I'm sure I hit it at the wrong time. There was nothing in the gardens to see, and I didn't have time to take in all of the medium-sized museum. If you go during late spring and spend a little more $ for the full house tour, there is easily a full day's worth of activities on the estate. Winterthur is well worth a second chance.

OK, so for the Yuletide tour: the tour dispenses with anything related to the DuPont family, the house, and the furnishings. Instead, the staff decked out about 10 rooms with Yuletide "traditions," which amounted to a lot of Late Victorian holiday knick-knacks, fake snow, and other clutter, very little of which was actually owned by the DuPonts. (and never mind that the glory days at Winterthur started in the late 1920s, but I guess the knick-knacks from 1890 were prettier.) The tour guide talked ONLY about the Yuletide stuff, all while herding us through the house at top speed. There was a smattering of Dupont anecdotes, but if you asked anything deeper, the guide became annoyed and said she had no time to answer anything non-Yule. She repeatedly lectured us that THIS TOUR WAS YULETIDE ONLY, and pointed out that if -- oh the horror -- you wanted to hear about an actual DuPont, "other tours were available" (no, there are no other general tours available this time of year). She was very vague as to where to walk and where to stand, but if you even looked in the wrong direction she would yell at you (I finally yelled back at her). I'm not going to give the name of the tour guide because I'm sure it wasn't her fault. I saw other flocks of sheep (at $19 each) being herded too by other tour guides, so this is clearly a failure on the part of Winterthur Corporate (whoever they are). Stay away and come back...

I think that the crowd running this museum is super woke, they need to include conservatives in their decision making, this is the garbage they spewed years ago, I don't even think they have a presence on X - "Dear Members of the Winterthur Community, For the past several weeks, we have been listening to the voices across our country, of our own staff, fellows, and alumni, and on Winterthur’s social media platforms that are crying out for America—and us—to recognize that Black Lives Matter. We regret that our earlier communications did not more strongly denounce systemic racism in our nation or the killing of George Floyd and so many others, named and unnamed, by law enforcement officers. We affirm here, unequivocally, that Black Lives Matter. Winterthur holds inclusion as a core value. We acknowledge that we have often failed to live up to our own ideals. We have been reminded of this by our brave staff, students, and neighbors who have spoken out. We have not been sufficiently aware or sensitive of the needs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to see their stories reflected at Winterthur and in the interpretation of our collections. We are deeply sorry for the disappointment and pain this caused many to feel within our graduate programs and museum experiences. We know we must do better. We will continue to listen and to learn, but we also need to act. The Trustees and leadership of Winterthur maintain zero tolerance for racism and discrimination of any kind, and we are firmly committed to anti-racist practices at all levels within our institution. Today, we pledge to the following immediate and longer-term actions: DEI Expert Consultant: We will engage a Diversity/Equity/Inclusion expert consultant to conduct an immersive climate assessment of our museum and its programs to review and to determine greater opportunities for diversity...