Throughout the park you can find pieces of our cultural history. We call these cultural resources. They can be anything from the historic landscape, to an old stone ruin, to a farm building still in use to store equipment today. These cultural resources help us learn about land, people, and stories that make our community and world what it is today. Unlike some natural resources, cultural resources are non-renewable, so it is our job as stewards of the land to protect them.

Here by the creek we have ruins of an old farm. There was an established farm on this spot of land all the way from the mid-late 1600’s up through the beginning of the 1900’s. The pieces of farm that we see standing today were part of the Indian Springs Farm, a tenant farm to the large Du Pont family Winterthur Estate. This was a dairy farm, and housed cattle from H.F. Du Pont’s prized herd.

Throughout the park and the surrounding area so may see a lot of yellow bricks. These don’t mean you have found yourself in the land of Oz just that you have found yourself in the land of the Du Ponts. Here at Brandywine Creek you can find these yellow bricks at all of the structures where the Du Pont family renovated.

In the 1800’s Henry Du Pont began purchasing up all of the tracts of land that make up what is now the western side of Brandywine Creek State Park (everything west of the Creek). When he purchased the farms, mills, and other buildings they were put into use as tenant farms and the like. And renovations were made including this iconic yellow brick. Here at the farm, this brick can be seen on the front and back porches that remain from the old farm house.

In 1914, H.F. du Pont became the manager of all of the Winterthur farms. The fields surrounding the Tulip Tree Woods were primarily used for grazing, while the lower fields just up from Wilson’s Run were planted with corn and wheat. While the other areas were pastureland for the farms.

H.F. du Pont was an American horticulturist, and on tax returns and other documents, he often chose to identify his occupation as "farmer". H.F. was also an avid collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, and he went on to found what is now the Winterthur Mansion Garden and Museum, out of the main estate of Winterthur. And in 1917 Henry F. du Pont completed the purchase of what is now the entire western portion of BCSP, by purchasing the Ten Weeges tract. This is the land of, approximately, the current Hidden Pond Trail.

Having grown up at Winterthur, H.F. was both very knowledgeable and very passionate about farming. Particularly cows. In 1914, he declared to his father his intent to breed an even better cow from two of the best, Friesian and Holstein cattle.

By 1918, H.F had successfully acquired a prized herd and had begun his systematic breeding program, and “As a result, Winterthur cows would hold milk production records for decades. The genetic base of the Winterthur herd would be disseminated to farms around the country and around the world, making good on the hope of his father to do good for humanity”. And H.F.’s mission of a top quality herd was accomplished, from 1919 to 1969 the Winterthur farms was the premier dairy herd in the world! In 1928, The National Holstein Association held their annual convention in Philadelphia. They made a bus trip out to the Winterthur Farms to see the H.F. prize cow herd.