Longwood Gardens

Every year, come the holiday season, our family takes a trip to what might be one of the most magical places on earth: Longwood Gardens. Since our annual trip is right on our horizon, I thought I’d take a little time this post to tell you about it!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Longwood Gardens is a sprawling park right on the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania—the property, once a park and arboretum, was purchased in the early 20th century by Pierre du Pont for conservation and ultimately made into public grounds. The park now stands at 1,100 acres of preserved land, with displays ranging from wild meadows to sculptural hedges to Italian fountains to expansive conservatory gardens. We’ve been going to Longwood since my daughter was little. One of the indoor conservatories houses a childrens’ play garden, full of fun tiled alcoves and magical fountains, where my daughter and her friend used to spend happy hours (days, if they’d been allowed!). The old du Pont house has been converted into a small museum with the history of the family and the gardens themselves. For a long time, this museum was stewarded over by one of Longwoods many resident garden cats, who used to lounge around on the marble front steps and soak up the adoration of every passer-by. Seeing that cat holding court was always a highlight of our trips there—he was sure the king of that castle.

Longwood is beautiful any time of year—spring spilling over with new colorful flowers, all in rich greens for summer, in autumn’s finery of reds and oranges in the arboretum—but I think they put on their finest show around the holidays. A Longwood Christmas is a Christmas display like no other, full of hundreds of thousands of sparkling lights, red and white poinsettias, and cups of peppermint hot chocolate (there’s nothing better to hold in your hands on a crisp December day). One of our favorite Longwood traditions is the carol singalong in the organ room of the main conservatory. The conservatory houses an enormous pipe organ—you can take a walk through the towering pipes behind the scenes—and the same delightful organist has led a festive singalong every year we’ve been! There’s a special kind of magic to a place so steeped in beauty and joy. Being there always makes my heart a little lighter.

So, if you’re willing to make a bit of a drive (for my DMV readers), I highly recommend taking a trip up to Longwood when you can! We’ll be heading there soon ourselves. 

In the meantime, I hope your winter months are off to a cozy start—talk soon!