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Pierre du Pont opened the garden to the public in 1921 and in 1937 created the Longwood Foundation, which came under the control of trustees in 1946. He was not planning to create Longwood Gardens, but within a few years, his desire to make it a place where he could entertain his friends transformed a simple country farm into one of the country's leading horticultural display gardens. On July 20, 1906, 36-year-old du Pont purchased the farm primarily to preserve the trees, in a transaction managed by Isabel Darlington, Chester County's first woman lawyer. du Pont, American entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent du Pont family to take action.

The farm passed out of the family through several hands in quick succession, and a lumber mill operator was about to cut down the trees for timber in early 1906. which was supported by Quakers of Kennett Square, Hamorton, and Wilmington, Delaware." Īs the 19th century rolled into the 20th, the family's heirs lost interest in the property and allowed the arboretum to deteriorate. The Pennsylvania guide noted in 1940 that "Longwood received its present name from 'Long Woods,' as the section was known before the Civil War, when Negro slaves fleeing from the South found shelter in this station on the Underground Railroad. Community picnics and socials were held at Peirce's Park in the mid to late 19th century. īy 1850, the arboretum boasted one of the finest collections of trees in the nation and had become a place for the locals to gather outdoors – a new concept that was sweeping America at the time. The collection included specimens that they collected from the wild as well as plants acquired from some of the region's leading botanists. In 1798, Joshua's twin grandsons Samuel and Joshua, who had inherited the farm, actively pursued an interest in natural history and began planting an arboretum that eventually covered 15 acres. George's son Joshua cleared and farmed the land and in 1730 he built the brick farmhouse that, enlarged, still stands today. In 1700, a Quaker farmer named George Peirce purchased 402 acres of this English-claimed land from William Penn's commissioners. Evidence of the tribe's existence is found in quartz spear points that have been discovered on and around the property and can be found on display in the Peirce-du Pont House on the Longwood Gardens property.

For thousands of years, the native Lenni Lenape tribe fished its streams, hunted its forests, and planted its fields. Longwood Gardens has a long varied history. It is one of the premier horticultural display gardens in the United States and is open to visitors year-round to enjoy native and exotic plants and horticulture (both indoor and outdoor), events and performances, seasonal and themed attractions, as well as educational lectures, courses, and workshops. Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden that consists of over 1,077 acres (436 hectares 4.36 km 2) of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, United States in the Brandywine Creek Valley.