The Friends
of Auburn Heights Preserve, hosted the annual east coast steam tour in
Wilmington, Delaware from June 17-22, 2007. Sixty steam cars from
as far away as Washington, Maine, and Florida, along with steam car
enthusiasts from the United Kingdom and Canada spent the week touring
northern Delaware, eastern Maryland, and southeastern Pennsylvania.
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| The first day of the
steam tour provided a scenic drive on the grounds of Winterthur; an
American country estate and former home of Henry Francis du Pont who was
an avid antiques collector and horticulturist. After that the tour
participants gathered at the Auburn Heights home of Tom & Ruth Marshall.
Pictured are several of the 76 participating tour cars parked on the front lawn on the
house. |
Photo courtesy of Tom Cannard |
| Steve Eckel, driving the
family's 1908 Model F, arrives at Auburn Heights.
After a hearty lunch and generous portions of
Woodside Farm Creamery ice cream, tour participants enjoyed rides
on the the Auburn Valley Railroad’s 1/8-size live-steam
trains, rides in the 1915 Stanley Mountain
Wagon as well as rides in the 1916 Rauch & Lang electric car. For
most, the highlight was touring the Marshall home built in 1897. |
Photo courtesy of Tom Cannard |
| In the mid-1960s T.
Clarence Marshall constructed a pair of coal-fired, 4-8-4 (Northern
Class) live-steam locomotives, laid nearly a half mile of 7-1/4" gauge
track around Auburn Heights, and started operating the trains for
various events. It is estimated that over 100,000 people have
ridden the Auburn Valley Line since the first trains ran in the
mid-1990s. |
Photo courtesy of Tom Cannard |
| Tuesday saw the cars
visiting Chesapeake City, MD. Located at the western end of the
Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, one of only two commercially sea-level
canals in the US, the canal is 14 miles long, 450 feet wide, and 35 feet
deep. Connecting the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay
and the Port of Baltimore, the C&D Canal is operated by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. |
Photo courtesy of Tom Cannard |
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The tour route visited the heart of “Chateau Country”,
the area where many of the DuPont family’s homes are located. The
steamers visited
Hagley Museum,
where the DuPont Company was founded, and
Granogue, the magnificent 525-acre
estate that is the home of a
great-great-grandson of the founder of the DuPont Company.
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Photo courtesy of Tom Cannard |
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Curt Fullum from
Punta Gorda, Florida arrives at Granogue in
his 1910 Model 60 Stanley. Built in 1923 and
constructed of Germantown granite, the stone contains platelets of mica
that sparkle in the sunlight. The floors are concrete finished in teak
wood. The gardens and greenhouses reflected Mrs. DuPont’s interest
in horticulture.
Guests dined on the patio and listened the
world's finest classical organists play the Aeolian Organ.
Installed when the house was built and recently restored, an Aeolian
organ with roll player was
indeed “the final touch of beauty for the well-planned home.”
|
Photo courtesy of Cindy Tobias |
| Pierre du Pont was the
great-grandson of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who arrived from France in
1800 and founded the DuPont chemical company. Pierre turned the family
business into a corporate empire in the early 20th century and used his
resulting fortune to develop Longwood Gardens. Now considered the
world’s premier horticultural showplace, tour participants enjoyed the
evening fireworks and fountain displays. |
Photo courtesy of Tom Cannard |
| Thursday brought the
cars to Lancaster County, PA and Amish Country. A morning visit to
the Rough & Tumble Engineers Historical Association to see displays and
operating steam equipment. The Strasburg Railroad was an option
for those wishing to make the detour. Along the way numerous Amish farmers
were tending their
fields. |
Photo courtesy of Robert Reilly |
