DVJC Steam, Limousines and Dinner, November 2, 2025
On what many would consider to be a perfect fall day, two-dozen members (and soon to be members!) gathered at the Marshall Steam Museum at Auburn Heights near Hockessin, DE for a step back in time. Israel and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Marshall built their Queen Anne–style mansion on a hilltop overlooking the Marshall Brothers Paper Mill in 1897 and named it Auburn Heights. The garage-now-museum was built by T. Clarence Marshall in 1947 to house his growing collection of antique automobiles. Club members were treated to reserved parking and for the next several hours, lined up for tours of the mansion, rides on the 1/8th scale train circling the property and a variety of steam and electric vehicles. The museum offers visitors a glimpse of what life was like at the dawn of the automotive age. Following the stop at the Marshall Museum, the group caravanned to the Nemours Estate in Wilmington, DE. The Nemours Estate, named for the north-central French town of Nemours, was created by Alfred I. du Pont in 1909–10 as a gift for his second wife, Alicia. Due to time constraints, our tour was focused on the estate’s garage to view the cars on display, which include two Rolls-Royce limousines, two Cadillacs and a Buick used at their Florida estate. A tour of the mansion, which can take over 90 minutes, should be on everyone’s list to visit. To wrap up the day, twenty members settled in at The Naked Olive restaurant in Kennett Square, PA for (more…)