Savoring the Brandywine Valley

It was a treat seeing your front-page coverage of the Brandywine Valley in Delaware and Pennsylvania (“Dropping In on American Aristocrats,” May 6). My family and I were visiting our daughter at Swarthmore College at the same time that writer Susan Spano was in the area, apparently, and we delighted in discovering the art and history at Winterthur, the Brandywine River Museum, Longwood Gardens and other sites.

One stop you may have missed, a highlight of our visit, is the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pa., a stone’s throw from Bryn Mawr College. Reminiscent of the Frick Collection in New York City, this private museum, housed in a stately mansion, has an extensive collection of French early modern and Postimpressionist paintings, including masterpieces by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse. Admission is $5; reservations are required (telephone [610] 667-0290, Internet https://www.barnesfoundation.org).

NINA STERN McCULLAUGH

Sherman Oaks

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The article reminded me of a visit to the Winterthur Museum three friends and I made about 20 years ago. The guide, who had learned we were all from California, pointed to a portrait on the wall and asked condescendingly, “Do any of you know who painted that?” When I replied that it was Gilbert Stuart, she looked at me in astonishment and asked, “Now, how did you happen to know that?”

Obviously not all guides are gracious, nor are all knowledgeable enough to know that there are people west of the Appalachians who know something about American cultural history.

JOANNE O’BYRNE

Long Beach