History

What most people don’t realize is that the major force behind the transformation of the house was none other than its longtime chatelaine, the petite powerhouse Marion du Pont Scott. Marion didn’t actually own the house; it was entailed to the du Pont family. But she was so determined that Montpelier be restored to its Madison-era state that she crafted her will so that, in essence, her heirs would be cut off completely from a considerable trust she controlled if they contested the transfer of the house to the National Trust. Initially, her nephews (among them convicted murderer and wrestling fancier John E. du Pont) did move to break the will, but they eventually yielded with certain conditions, and the National Trust was able to purchase Montpelier using funds left to it by Marion.

Marion du Pont Scott was a consummate sportswoman who devoted her life to the breeding and proving of thoroughbred horses. She was born in Delaware in 1894, during a visit to the family seat by her parents, Annie Rogers Zinn and William du Pont. The couple actually lived in England, and they returned there not long after Marion’s birth. Zinn and du Pont, having each been previously married, had retreated from American society to a life abroad to escape ongoing fallout from their divorces and subsequent marriage. A second child, son Willie, was born in 1896—but the damp English climate was deemed unhealthy for the “delicate” young children. So, in 1900, William du Pont purchased Montpelier and moved his family back to America. They did not occupy the house for two years, living in Delaware while Montpelier was extensively expanded and modernized.