Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is much more than the dozen and a half rooms on the standard tour, its famed gardens and the annual festivities of Yuletide and Point-to-Point that draw thousands of visitors. The property covers almost 1,000 acres, the stewardship by the du Ponts go back to 1839, and the collection numbers almost 90,000 items. So there’s lots of space, time and stuff for interesting stories. Let’s go behind the scenes.

Why is the stuff arranged like that? Does it change?

Winterthur founder Henry F. du Pont was “very particular in telling stories” by how he arranged the rooms, said Reggie Lynch, director of interpretation and engagement.

In some rooms, Du Pont grouped furnishings from the same era and the same region, “so you could see what the Empire style looked like in one room,” she said.

“He also was very interested in aesthetics, so when he was mapping out a room, he was thinking about things like shape and line and color and the placement of the objects in the space.” For instance, the Montmorenci Hall (which hosts the giant Christmas tree during Yuletide) features an oval spiral staircase and Federal pieces with similar oval shapes.

Yet there can be changes.

Du Pont redecorated seasonally, pulling the colors and shapes from what was blooming outside for drapery, upholstery and even rugs, she said. The museum today rethinks fabrics every other year or so, because handling them too much risks damage.

Staff members have rearranged furniture in some rooms to accommodate the flow of visitors. That’s why an upright piano was shifted in the Empire Parlor on the fifth floor.

Staffers have also moved some small objects further into the room so that they are less likely to be involved in “touching incidents” by visitors. Again, it’s about avoiding damage.

Yet change is not everywhere.

In the 1970s, the board froze the arrangements in some spaces, including 14 on the introductory tour. (The tour runs 17 to 19 spaces, depending on the season, and counting spaces that you can only see into.) “It was thought that these spaces best exemplify H.F. du Pont’s aesthetics and efforts to preserve the history of specific styles, regions and eras of the decorative arts,” she said.

“Any time we move an object in any of these spaces, we revisit the move after a period of time, assess the visitor needs and safety of the collection and decide whether or not to restore the space or move on to the board for approval to retain the new configuration for a longer period. All of these moves are documented down to the most minute detail. The records are impressive.”

The dozens of objects in each room – whether in the same spot for decades or in a new one – can provide new experiences for repeat visitors, Lynch said. “Every time I walk through a room, I notice new things, like how he was pairing the color of a certain object next to a certain window treatment.”

That insight about how du Pont felt about shape and color among nearby objects evokes the famous stance of Pennsylvania art collector Albert C. Barnes in his eponymous museum. And yes, du Pont and Barnes knew each other and exchanged letters. “Pretty fascinating,” she said of their friendship.

What is Winterthur adding to its collection?

“Winterthur’s collection is far more expansive than many people realize,” collections director Alexandra Deutsch said. “While the museum is the home of some of the finest 18th and 19th century decorative arts made and used in America, Henry Francis du Pont’s visionary collecting created a foundation that has allowed Winterthur’s curators to expand the collection in innovative and inspiring ways. Today, guided by a collections policy that acknowledges the global nature of the collection, acquisitions that significantly expand Winterthur’s ability to share complete histories with our visitors, students and scholars are a top priority. This selection of objects provides a glimpse of recent acquisitions which document histories previously untold in Winterthur’s galleries and museum rooms.”

Here are three recent acquisitions to its collection of nearly 90,000 objects.

A 2023 quilt by Sharon and Jemica Williams is the first quilt by a known black designer and maker to enter Winterthur’s collection. “The design is a fresh interpretation of the ‘My Way’ style of freeform piecing and quilting for which the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, descendants of enslavement, are famous,” Deutsch said. Sharon Williams “wants people to see these colors and admire them,” and that brings her joy.

“An arresting portrayal of a dark-haired naval captain, Don Juan de Dios de Parreno y Pardo, intimates the history of maritime politics of Europe and the Americas in the early part of the 1800s,” said Kedra Kearis, associate curator of art and visual culture. “Seated at a table with navigational tools spread over an indeterminate map, the confident Pardo gestures to his offshore frigate that bears the pre-Republic flag of Spain. This conversation piece invites an array of questions. Who is this captain? Is his vessel heading out to sea or returning? What does this portrait tell us about Spain’s presence in the Americas? Sure to intrigue visitors, this picture joins Winterthur’s strong holdings of early 19th-century portraits painted in the United States. It allows for important conversations about the exchange of art traditions across the Atlantic and contact between Spain and indigenous people of the Americas.”

California’s state flower, the golden poppy (also called the cup of gold), is the dominant inspiration for each vessel of a “gilded beverage bouquet,” said Ann Wagner, Winterthur’s curator of decorative arts. The 1915 hot chocolate set was commissioned for a patriotic Californian named Anita May Baldwin, who inherited a ranch called Anoakia that covered thousands of acres. It was likely designed with her input and created in Rhode Island by Gorham Manufacturing, with the Lenox Ceramic Art Company providing the fitted white porcelain liners. It is on view in the museum’s galleries.

Do ghosts walk here? Did Washington sleep here?

“The most common questions of the unusual variety are ‘Is the house haunted?’ and ‘Are there ghosts?’ ” said Eileen Scheck, manager of tour programs. She invites those interested in the supernatural to listen to a 2023 “Ghost Stories of Winterthur” podcast featuring a few ghost stories told by employees.

Museum guide Tyler Horne enjoys answering unusual questions. Here are two of his favorites.

“What’s up with the lights?

“The lights here at Winterthur were installed as part of a lighting project years ago, and they do not look like they did when du Pont was living here. But, the majority of Winterthur always had electric lighting, as we had an electric generator here in 1893.”

“Were George Washington and Henry Francis du Pont friends? Why is there so much Washington stuff here? Did Washington ever visit here or sleep here?

“Remember, Henry Francis du Pont was alive much more recently than Washington, from 1880-1969. Du Pont was a collector of all things American from 1640-1850, and there was a point in time after the American Revolution when you couldn’t walk five feet without seeing Washington depicted in art in some way. Du Pont admired Washington for his heroism during the Revolution and for his decision to support the new Republic rather than name himself king.”

Why does Winterthur have a post office?

Of Winterthur’s 118 buildings, some for decades have served uses that sound unusual for a museum, including shops for painting, carpentry and auto repair; a post office; a fire station; and a railroad station. They date back to when it included multiple farms, had many more workers and, at its peak, covered 2,500 acres.

Most specialized buildings are not open to the public, but the post office (a fixture since 1900 and now behind the museum store) can be used by anyone.

“We have an active fire brigade. We are self-sufficient in that we operate our own public water system and treat our own wastewater,” said John W. Castle, facilities services director. “The railroad tracks are in use, and the train goes by twice a day going from Wilmington to Reading and back. It mostly carries scrap iron and other bulk freight as the rails are not certified for passenger service.”

Sheep? Goats? Really?

The du Ponts and sheep go back to 1801, when Pierre S. (father of E.I.) imported four Merino sheep from France. The only one that survived was named Don Pedro, who became famous as a breeding ram. When Don Pedro died, the du Ponts received condolences from Thomas Jefferson.

Livestock farming at Winterthur began in 1810, when E.I. bought the land, and ended in 1969, when museum founder Henry F. du Pont died. He had a world-renowned herd of Holstein cattle, plus sheep and goats. A Holstein named Winterthur Boast Ormsby Ganne set a world record in 1933, for producing 1,004.2 pounds of butterfat. Her daily average was eight gallons of milk.

At its peak, the Winterthur farm numbered 1,200 Merino, mixed Merino and common sheep, “the largest and finest flock in the United States,” according to “The Delaware Woolen Industry.”

In 2007, Winterthur entered an agreement with Greenbank Mill to house some of their sheep, said Kevin Braun, supervisor of arboriculture and natural lands. Greenbank works with Winterthur and Historic Williamsburg to preserve historic breeds of sheep and educate city folk about farm life.

“Goats returned to Winterthur in 2014,” he said. “We brought them back for historic value and to help us control invasive species. We will move them around the property, put up temporary fencing, and allow the goats to browse the vegetation. They are very efficient. We use them in tough-to-mow areas where their four-legged footing is much better than trying to get equipment to the areas.”

He added, “We will sometimes bring the goats out for programs on the property. Every once in a while we will have tours that go up to the barn to meet the goats.”

Why is Winterthur a nursery for mussels?

In 2017, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary came up with the idea of breeding freshwater mussels to clean up the watershed. “Each adult mussel can filter more than 10 gallons of water per day,” the nonprofit writes on its Mussels for Clean Water Initiative page, adding that the process “can remove substantial amounts of microscopic particles, including many forms of pollutants.”

One of the many problems to increase the mussel population is finding comfy bodies of water for them to grow up in, and two ponds at Winterthur were the main focus at first.

“Many of Delaware’s freshwater waterways were once home to freshwater mussels, and some still are, albeit with fewer mussels,” said Kurt Cheng, senior science manager for the partnership. “Mussels are growing well in all of the areas we have tested so far.”

A pond southeast of Winterthur’s library (along Clenny Run Road at the intersection with Duck Pond and East Barn roads) and ponds at Talley Day and Rockwood parks continue to nurture mussels.