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Wilmington, Delaware
Friends of Goodstay Gardens welcomes you to Wilmington’s “Secret Garden”
Friends of Goodstay Gardens manages the upkeep of the gardens through donations from people like you, the hard work of volunteers, and the cooperation of the University of Delaware which allows the property to be open to the public. All are welcome. Thanks for your support!
HOURS: Dawn to Dusk
OPEN: Year Round
ADMISSION: Free
STREET ADDRESS: 2700 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilmington, DE 19806
NOTE: This is a carry-in/carry-out park with no restrooms or trash receptacles. Artists, photographers, and picnickers otherwise welcome. Dogs must be leashed.
Historic Goodstay
Goodstay Gardens is one of the oldest continuously kept gardens in the state of Delaware dating back to the 1700’s. From childhood home of Howard Pyle, to residence of generations of the DuPont family, this historic garden has many stories to tell.
On the other side of the house, to a little distance, was a garden of old-fashioned roses and sweet shrubs that filled the air with fragrance when they were abloom. And there were beds of tulips and daffodillies, and there were graveled walks edged with box, and a greenhouse of shining glass at the lower end of the garden. And there was a wooden summer house at the end of one of the gravel walks, and together it was such a garden as you will hardly find outside of a storybook. It seems to me that when I think of that garden, I cannot remember anything but bloom and beauty, air filled with the odor of growing things, and birds singing in the shady trees in such a fashion as they do not sing nowadays.”
~ Howard Pyle (1853-1911) describing his childhood at Goodstay
Visit Goodstay
Goodstay Gardens is located on the Wilmington Campus of the University of Delaware at 2700 Pennsylvania Avenue. The gardens are tucked away behind the Osher Center for Lifelong Learning and beside the Goodstay Center Mansion. The gardens are free and open to the public from dawn to dusk, year round. Come visit!