As enticing as its name suggests, the rambling Brandywine Valley is a veritable harvest for groups. Encompassing neighboring Delaware and Chester counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and the greater Wilmington area in northern Delaware, the region’s many experiences invite leisurely exploration and discovery.
Mixing modern group products with small-town Main Street appeal and roaming stretches of countryside, the Brandywine is custom-made for small to midsize gatherings. With advantageous room and occupancy tax rates throughout and zero sales tax on shopping, entertainment and dining in Delaware, the area, easily accessible via Interstate 95, the New Jersey Turnpike, Amtrak and Philadelphia International Airport, is also a distinct value draw.
The Brandywine is steeped in history, its namesake river once powering Revolutionary-era grist mills and paper mills. This is du Pont country, their aristocratic legacy showcased by lavish mansion-estates and heritage sites, and Wyeth country, home to three generations of the celebrated family of artists. These and other signature notes give the Brandywine (the name possibly dating back to a potent Dutch spirit, but its true origin unknown) full-bodied appeal for a wide range of groups.
Delaware County
The oldest settled area in Pennsylvania (1643), multifaceted Delaware County is as stocked with diverse group products as warm welcomes.
“There are no strangers in Delaware County, just friends you haven’t met yet,” says Tore Fiore, executive director of Delaware County’s Brandywine CVB. “Customer service, customer service and more customer service—our job is to make you happy.”
In the county’s northeastern corner, neighbors Radnor and Wayne lie along the famed Main Line, established by Philadelphia’s social elite in the 19th century. An unforgettable tour option is Chanticleer, the only surviving Main Line estate still open to the public and featuring 35 acres of rapturous English-style pleasure gardens. Other local diversions include boutique shopping, upscale dining and cultural venues including The Wayne Arts Center and the circa 1928 Anthony Wayne Theatre.
Home to a number of leading corporations, these affluent suburban small towns attract significant meeting and event business, with groups gravitating toward two superb independent properties. Founded as the Waynewood Hotel in 1906 and on the National Historic Register, the recently renovated, 40-room Wayne Hotel today is a charming European-style refuge.
“Just 18 miles west of Philadelphia, we are particularly well located for visits from our New York and D.C. neighbors,” says General Manager David Brennan.
Opening this September, the hotel’s new destination restaurant and bar “has the Greater Philadelphia area abuzz,” he adds.
As the Main Line’s sole full-service property, the nearby 171-room Radnor Hotel is a social, business and weddings magnet featuring award-winning formal gardens, 10 meeting rooms, a fitness center and an outdoor pool. With a 28-seat oval bar, the hotel’s Glenmorgan Bar is a classy draw, while Sunday brunch in the hotel’s elegant dining room is the best deal in town.
Established as the county seat in 1850, centrally located Media is a good news story for planners and groups, offering a lively mix of dining, entertainment, cultural and outdoor options.
Served by one of America’s last surviving small-town trolley lines, State Street is the county’s Restaurant Row, with Fellini’s Cafe Trattoria (Mondays are opera night) and Lotus Farm to Table among more than 20 establishments serving cuisine from around the globe. Lined with shops, the main thoroughfare of “Everybody’s Home Town” is also home to the restored Media Theatre, center stage for shows and events, and the stirring Pennsylvania Veterans Museum.
Media’s appeal extends in all directions. On the outskirts of town, the 120-acre Rose Tree Park features the Delaware County Summer Festival concert series and the circa-1737 Rose Tree Tavern, the new home of the CVB and the county’s tourism welcome center. Ridley Creek State Park includes Colonial PA Plantation, a recreated 1770s farm, and the adjacent 650-acre Tyler Arboretum. Set on a historic 300-acre farm, Linvilla Orchards is a welcoming option for families and groups.
The county’s country character fully blooms in its western corner, where Chadds Ford ushers in the heart of the Brandywine Valley. With the comfortable 40-room Brandywine River Hotel serving as a local base and the adjacent Bistro on the Brandywine and Brandywine Prime among the dining draws, groups have yet more treasures to discover. Set in a restored 19th century grist mill, the world-class Brandywine River Museum showcases original works by the Wyeths and other Brandywine School artists, while the Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site, peaceful now, saw the largest land battle of the Revolutionary War, fought in 1777.
Other key Delaware County coordinates include the glittering Drexelbrook Corporate Event Center in Drexel Hill, while the 18,500-seat PPL Park soccer stadium and Harrah’s Chester are revitalization anchors of the Delaware River waterfront south of Philadelphia. Nearby Aston is home to the event-capable IceWorks skating complex, and a new Hollywood-style production facility.
Chester County
Created in 1692 from lands granted by King Charles II to William Penn, Chester County is eclectic and varied in its own right, with the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, American Helicopter Museum, QVC Studios and the landmark Jimmy John’s restaurant—back in business after a devastating 2010 fire—among its many attractions.
“From wineries overlooking historic battlefields to charming B&Bs offering Wi-Fi and other business amenities, our landscape is one of contrasts,” says Blair Mahoney, executive director of the Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau. “Planners and guests alike will be intrigued by the mix of history, charm, innovation and hospitality that is Chester County’s Brandywine Valley.”
A study in contrasts is the circa-1882 Phoenixville Foundry in historic Phoenixville, first settled in 1732. Situated along the French Creek, the building’s industrial exterior is largely intact, while the sophisticated, renovated interior can flexibly accommodate single occasions for up to 500 guests or multiple smaller gatherings. Housing the Schuylkill River Heritage Center, the eastern pavilion is an intimate space for smaller groups. Phoenixville is also home to the circa-1903 Colonial Theatre, famously featured in the 1958 sci-fi classic The Blob.
Other signature Chester County venues include the IACC-certified Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in scenic Great Valley, featuring 194 spacious guest rooms and 11 dedicated conference rooms accommodating groups of up to 125 and offering flexible, value-driven package options. Nearby, the Conference Center at Penn State Great Valley hosts customized events in an academic atmosphere, with 25 meeting rooms in the main building and a 300-seat tiered facility in the Conference Center building.
The county seat since 1786, West Chester has major small-town appeal, with more than 3,000 structures dating back to the colonial period.
Charming too is leafy Kennett Square, “The Mushroom Capital of the World,” where the annual fall Mushroom Festival draws thousands of revelers. Nearby, Longwood Gardens is one of the county’s crown jewels. Among the Brandywine’s many du Pont heirlooms, Longwood is a singular horticultural showplace, boasting countless varieties of plants, shrubs and trees, 20 outdoor gardens and four acres of indoor gardens under glass. With its 10-acre solar field, Longwood is also a regional leader in sustainability.
A standout in Chester’s collection of historic B&Bs is the Fairville Inn, popular with small corporate groups and featuring 15 rooms in three buildings, including the circa-1820 Main House. The inn is located on Route 52, a National Scenic Byway that connects lower Chester and Delaware counties with northern Delaware and the pastoral heart of Brandywine country.
Greater Wilmington
Located halfway between New York and Washington, D.C., Wilmington has been a city of corporate headquarters for over a century. The influence of DuPont, founded in 1802 as a gunpowder company on the banks of the Brandywine River, is prominent throughout the area, including the city’s premier group destination, Hotel du Pont.
Attached to DuPont’s world headquarters, this solidly comfortable Old World gem, which opened in 1913, features 206 renovated guest rooms and 11 suites, along with 30,000 square feet of meeting space, including an IACC-certified executive conference center. From its artfully furnished lobby to its regal suites, the hotel is opulent throughout, with amenities including a landmark 1,250-seat, Broadway-style theater, the stunning Louis XVI-style Gold Ballroom and the legendary Green Room restaurant.
Other meetings-ready downtown hotels include the freshly transformed Sheraton Suites Wilmington, which recently completed a major renovation of all public and meeting spaces as well as the renewal of all 233 suites; the 217-room Doubletree Hotel Downtown Wilmington-Legal District, with 20,000 square feet of meeting space and the 3,200-square-foot Legal Center, an office-style workspace for business travelers; and the 105-room, 18-suite Courtyard Marriot Wilmington, featuring a newly renovated lobby. A new 193-room Sheraton is slated to open just off I-95 this fall.
Renewal is a major theme in Wilmington. The event-capable World Cafe Live at the Queen, a restored theatre from 1915, is earning rave reviews as a renaissance beacon on revitalized Market Street, while a new center of gravity is emerging on the city’s riverfront.
Commenced in the mid-’90s, Riverfront Wilmington is a successful multiuse redevelopment project that includes several planner-ready venues on an expansive tract of riverfront land. The contemporary 87,000-square-foot Chase Center is the Brandywine Valley’s largest special event facility, with an adjacent minor-league ballpark. Of the 6,000 hotel rooms in the greater Wilmington area, 750 are within a mile of the Chase Center, which partners with area hotels to offer special rates.
Group dining options include Iron Hill Brewery, culture is served at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts and Delaware Children’s Museum, and rising dramatically from the surrounding marshland, the DuPont Environmental Education Center & Urban Wildlife Refuge, with panoramic balconied meeting space on its top floor, is a wonderful surprise.
With much of its original architecture intact, New Castle, Del., founded in 1651 and where William Penn first landed in 1682, is a historic escape south of Wilmington, along with Delaware City, where ferries depart for Civil War-era Fort Delaware, an exceptional group and interpretative experience.
Located in a leafy residential neighborhood above downtown Wilmington, the event-capable Delaware Museum of Art is among the must-see treasures beckoning north of the city, where the du Pont’s gilded legacy and the Brandywine Valley’s scenic splendor unfold in earnest.
Set along routes 141, 52 and 100 like pearls on a necklace, group choices include the superb Hagley Museum & Library, located at the 235-acre gunpowder manufacturing complex where the DuPont company began in 1802, and Nemours, Alfred du Pont’s enthralling 77-room Versailles-like mansion with French formal gardens and a priceless collection of art and furnishings. Once housing DuPont workers, the charming 28-room Inn at Montchanin Village, a restored heirloom built between 1799 and 1910, includes a spa and fine dining and is ideal for board retreats, reunions and weddings.
Yet another du Pont mansion-estate is Winterthur, featuring world-class American antiques and 60 acres of gardens, including the fairy-tale Enchanted Woods, while the nearby Delaware Museum of Natural History is an inviting choice.
Regular Meetings Focus East contributor Jeff Heilman loves uncorking and unwinding in the Brandywine.
