Museums quell the itching desire to walk inside a stranger's house to inquire about the age of their furnishings, take pictures of their kitchen, and buy novelty key chains off their dog. Peruse politely with today's Groupon: for $9, you get one adult admission to the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (up to an $18 value), located on Kennett Pike in Wilmington. Admission is always $5 for children ages 2–11 and children under 2 are always free. This deal is only valid during March.

Picked as a top 10 attraction in Wilmington by the editors of 10Best, the Winterthur Museum houses a massive collection of more than 85,000 pieces of American decorative art and furniture from 1640 to 1860, displayed on the magnificent childhood estate of collector and horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont. The lavishly decorated house sits on a 1,000-acre preserve of meadows and woodlands modeled after grand English estates. The mansion contains 175 antique-furnished rooms in which du Pont grandly entertained family, friends, and various aristocratic superheroes. As you take a spin around the first floor, don't miss the Touch-It Room, where visitors toy around with hands-on displays of a parlor, kitchen, and general store.

The galleries feature curator-picked selections from within the Winterthur collection, with the first floor gleaming with ceramics, glass, furniture, metalwork, paintings, and needlework. Feel your way to the textile gallery and try on The Plimouth Jacket: A Paradise in Silk and Gold exhibit, featuring a stunning embroidered jacket that took 300 people more than 3,700 hours to create. The spacious second floor hosts changing exhibits, such as Made for Trade: Native American Objects in the Fellows Gallery, featuring nature-influenced pottery, baskets, and other items used as shields in 16th-century paintball tournaments. Those who don't throw stones or metal spoons are also welcome inside the glass-walled Dorrance Gallery, where the Campbell Collection of Soup Tureens is on permanent display.

This Groupon is only redeemable during the month of March.

Reviews

The Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library is an Editors' Pick on 10Best. TripAdvisors give it an average of 3.5 owl eyes, and seven Yelpers give it a 3.5-star average.

• A children's Enchanted Woods is a garden of whimsy and play with hollowed trees, "serpentine path," stone cottage with thatched-roof, and May Pole green. In the galleries, a "Touch-it Room" offers a special exhibit providing hands-on learning for all ages. – 10Best
• The grounds around the house are spectacular - worth walking around on a nice day. – Christopher W., Yelp, 06/15/2007