New York & the Mid-Atlantic Trips 2 - Full PDF eBook

spectacular Longwood

Gardens (%610-388-1000;

http://www.longwoodgardens.org;

1001 Longwood Rd, Kennett

Square; adult/child $18/8;

hfrom 9am, check website for

closing times), only 3 miles

to the east. Pierre du

Pont, the great-grandson

of the DuPont chemical

company founder, began

designing the property

in 1906 with the grand

gardens of Europe

in mind – especially

French and Italian ones.

Virtually every inch of

the 1,050 acres has been

carefully sculpted into a

display of horticultural

and floricultural

magnificence. Whatever

your mood, it can’t

help but be buoyed

by the colors of the

tulips which seem too

vivid to be real and the

overwhelming variety

of species testifying

to nature’s creativity.

With one of the world’s

largest greenhouses and

11,000 kinds of plants,

something is always

in bloom. There’s also

a Children’s Garden

with a maze, fireworks,

fountains, outdoor

concerts in summer and

lights at Christmas.

The Drive » In summer

months traffic can be backed

up heading east on Rte 1.

Midway between the gardens

and the Brandywine River

Museum is Chaddsford

Winery (hnoon-6pm Tue-

Sun) – grab a glass of vino

and an Adirondack chair for a

pleasant afternoon break.

4 Chadds Ford

A showcase of American

artwork, the Brandywine

River Museum

(%610-388-2700; http://www.

brandywinemuseum.org;

cnr Hwy 1 & Rte 100; adult/

child $12/free; h9:30am-

4:30pm), at Chadds Ford,

includes the work of the

Brandywine School –

Howard Pyle, Maxfield

Parrish and of course

three generations of

BRANCH OUT IN THE PINE BARRENS

Despite the name, the Pine Barrens are anything but. Here are some sights in the area:

» The 27,000 acre Bass River State Forest (www.state.nj.us), New Jersey’s first

state park, typifies the strange character of the Pine Barrens where it’s quite easy

to feel as if you’re in isolated wilderness, forgetting there’s a major highway within

throwing distance. Lake Absegami (weekdays/weekends vehicle fee summer

$5/10), near the park offices, is packed with swimmers in summer months, but you

can take the half-mile interpretive trail on a boardwalk that passes over a section of

eerie and mysterious looking white cedar bog.

» For a short detour when traveling on Rte 539 between Bass River and Brendan

T Byrne State Forest, turn onto the ominously named Bombing Range Rd – a

sign reads ‘177th FW/DETI Warren Grove Air to Ground Range’. A half-mile on this

dirt road provides unobstructed views of the surrounding pygmy forest (mostly

dwarf Pitch Pine trees all the way to the horizon). Oh, and you can’t go any further

• there’s a large gate and fence marking the site where Air National Guard units
  practice bombing and strafing runs nearby.
  » New Jersey is one of the largest producers of cultivated blueberries in the US and
  the world. Whitesbog, in Brendan T Byrne State Forest – where blueberries were
  first cultivated – is really nothing more than a ghost town out of blueberry season,
  but is worth visiting during the annual June festival (www.whitesbog.org).
  » Camping in the Pine Barrens, the most recommended way to experience the
  true wilderness of the parks, can be ‘buggy’. In summer, prepare for mosquitoes,
  strawberry flies, greenheads and other quaintly named biting pests, all of which
  diminish in spring and fall.

NEW.JERSEY.&.PENNSYLVANIA.TRIPS.

11

(^) BRANDYWINE V
ALLEY TO A
TLANTIC CITY