We’re no strangers to Nemours Mansion and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware. In fact, we’ve visited their holiday displays a couple of consecutive years and really enjoyed ourselves. Each time we’ve visited, we’ve learned something new about the DuPont family or spotted something we didn’t pick up on before. The mansion is incredibly large, so it’s easy to miss little details as you’re exploring the mansion.
However, this was the first time (and hopefully the last time as we hope the pandemic is coming to an end soon) that we stopped by during the time period we’re all currently living in. We weren’t sure if we wanted to visit, but after reading up on their safety precautions, we felt pretty comfortable exploring the museum knowing that they were doing everything they could to keep us all safe.
In today’s post, we thought it would be helpful to share with you what our experience was like as well as the precautions they have in place just in case you also live in the Delaware Valley and are interested in going in the future as well!
Enter at the Hospital Entrance & Follow the Green Signs:
Usually we enter in on the property right by one of the Nemours facilities. It is a visitor’s center that has a video you can watch about his life and some timelines along the walkway as you walk out towards the shuttle. However, due to the pandemic and perhaps for safety reasons, the entrance is actually now in a parking lot across from the Nemours Children’s Hospital. You park you car and walk towards a booth to purchase your ticket and from there, you can walk through the gardens to the museum.
At first we were confused as to why the entrances were switched, but we think it’s out of consideration for the guests because it would be a much longer walk if you walked from the visitor’s center to the mansion as opposed to where this entrance starts.
Wear a Mask:
They ask guests to wear their masks inside of the mansion as well as on the gardens if they are walking near other people. Guests are asked to do so to ensure that everyone there can enjoy themselves while keeping everyone safe. While the gardens are so large that you don’t really come within several feet of other people, other guests would pull their masks up although we were several feet away from each other. The employees remained masked up the entire time they were around guests and inside of the mansion.
Personally, I loved that they made this something they asked guests to do because although I know no one likes wearing them, it’s a step they’ve taken to ensure that guests can safely enjoy the museum and gardens during their time there.
Social Distance:
Although there weren’t markers on the floor sharing how far you should stand (at least from what we noticed while there), social distancing is encouraged by the people working at the museum as you walk in, on the website, and at the booth where you purchase the tickets from. In our experience, due to the size of the museum, this was pretty easy to do even without the markers and the people we encountered there seemed just as willing to follow the precautions set forth. There are some areas where you may have to step aside and let someone pass if there’s another group walking through this one hallway, but even then, the rooms are large enough to step in to let them past and then step out.
Eat Before or After Your Visit:
If you haven’t visited Nemours Mansion before, there isn’t really an area on the property where you can purchase lunch, so pre-pandemic, I would advise you to eat before or after your visit. However, as an added precaution, we’d definitely double down on that suggestion and encourage you to get something to eat before you go or grab something after. The mansion and gardens are large and while there are some spots I’m sure you could pack a lunch and safely snack while there, I wouldn’t recommend it as I don’t recall there being trash cans on the property outside where you can toss your garbage from your lunch.
Pack Sanitizer:
While there is sanitizer when you first enter the museum, we didn’t notice many other stations outside of that. It makes sense, however, because you aren’t really touching anything during your visit inside of the mansion since the doors are propped open and they open the door for you when you enter. However, if you need to use the restroom or expect you will, you’ll definitely want to make sure you pack your own sanitizer. We did not, but we also knew we would not have to use the bathroom.
Keep in Mind Some Exhibits Will Be Unavailable:
In addition to the video you can normally watch in person being unavailable, the basement floor (yes – the one with the bowling alley in it) is unavailable for viewing, sadly. We were informed that this is done because they want to keep guests safe during their visit and there is not a whole lot of airflow down there to ensure that everyone will be kept safe. It is definitely understandable and as much as we missed seeing his office, workout area, bowling alley and other sights located in the basement, we appreciated their consideration of guest and employee safety in deciding not to have that accessible at this time. There is still so much for you to see and experience while there, however!
If you decide to visit, we think you’ll truly enjoy your time there. While keeping in mind some of the safety precautions they have there, you’ll leave knowing more about one of the most prominent families in the Delaware Valley than you knew before. You can view some of our older posts about Nemours here if you’re interested!
Have you visited Nemours before?
