Transportation Tuesday: Winterthur’s Train Station

The train station at Winterthur Museum, Delaware. 2013.

The train station at Winterthur Museum, Delaware. 2013. Back when the front doors faced the rail. The front is not accessible as its now a private residence and the rail embankment on the other side blocks the view. RL Fifield.

You had to know that the DuPonts would have had their own train station for their 2400-acre estate outside of Wilmington, DE.

I’m living at Winterthur for the month while participating in a preventive conservation exchange and researching how 18th century working women acquired textiles and garments (see an earlier post on the project here). Surprisingly, train fanatics haven’t documented this little station extensively online. It is located between the museum and the employee entrance, so while you can walk to it, most visitors to Winterthur probably never make it over to the little Victorian structure. It serves as a private residence for Winterthur staff, so it’s not very accessible.  The DuPonts welcomed guests, coal, and supplies to the estate via the country train station. Speaking as a public transportation user, it’s too bad you can no longer reach Winterthur by train.

About Becky Fifield

Becky Fifield is a cultural heritage professional with 25 years experience in institutions large and small. She is currently Head of Collection Management for the Special Collections of the New York Public Library. An advocate for preventive conservation, Ms. Fifield is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation, Chair of the AIC Collection Care Network, and former Chair of Alliance for Response NYC. She is also a scholar of 18th century female unfree labor and dress. There's a bit of pun in the title The Still Room, delineating a quiet space brimming with the ingredients of memory, where consideration, analysis, and wordcraft can take place. Ms. Fifield’s interests include museum practice, dress history, historic preservation, transit, social and women’s history, food, current events, geneaology, roadtrips, and considerations on general sense of place. Becky and her husband, Dr. V, live in the Hudson Valley.

Comments are closed.