Newtown Square (PA) Historic Sites (8/17/2019)

Saturday, August 17, 2019
Sites in Newtown Square were open only on Saturdays this summer. Decided to check out all their National Register of Historic Places/NRHP.
(First we had lunch at Pinocchio's (1955), which is said to be the first pizzeria in Delaware County and the oldest restaurant in Media!)
According to the 1687 map titled "Mapp of Ye Improved Part of Pennsilvania in America, Divided into Countyes, Townships and Lotts" (created by Thomas Holme), two inland New Towns were planned, one north and one west of Philadelphia. Neither New Town changed its "place holder" name over time, thus now we have Newtown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and the New Town that had a Tavern called the Square became known as Newtown Square, now in Delaware County.

Hood Octagonal School (1841-1842, by James Dunwoody to replace a log
school built by his father, Joseph Dunwoody) at 3500 West Chester Pike

You will note that most buildings in this area and era were built with fieldstone. The Octagonal School is at its original location on the edge of the Dunwoody Farm.

Nearby is the Dunwoody Barn (1924, built for animals used to
support the Dunwoody Home, a facility in which sick or injured workers
could recuperate until able to return to the workforce, as stated
in the bequest of William Hood Dunwoody, son the James Dunwoody)

Other side of the Dunwoody Barn

Hood-Fawkes House (1770, for Richard Fawkes, who sold it to his
son-in-law Joseph Hood, who passed it to his son William Hood,
who sold it to his son-in-law James Dunwoody in 1848)

James Dunwoody's son, William Hood Dunwoody, grew up in this house and attended school at the Octagonal School. He became a broker and dealer in grain. For his health he moved to Minnesota and joined the milling firm of Washburn-Crosby Company, which produced Gold Medal Flour (later the company would change its name to General Mills). When William Dunwoody died in 1914, he left $1 million to establish the Dunwoody Home. When recuperative facilities were replaced by other medical services, the trustees of the Home had the foresight to seek and obtain court permission to establish a retirement village with continuing care. Dunwoody Village opened in 1974, ahead of its time in providing independent living as well as skilled nursing and personal care facilities.

Flypaper wrapped around tree trunks

Paper Mill House aka Crosley-Garrett Mill Workers' House (1828)
with an addition (1845) to house a general store, at #2 Paper Mill Rd

Located on Darby Creek, there had been several mills in the area. This house was for workers, first of William Crosley's Woolen Mill (1828-1861) and later of Casper S Garrett's Union Paper Mill (1869-1889).

Unique woodwork on this bedstead (KSS)

Restored general store and post office

General store scene

View behind the Paper Mill House with Darby Creek (KSS)

Bridge to the mill sites across Darby Creek

The path to the foundations of the mills was overgrown with wet knee-high weeds, and so we did not go to see the ruins.

Roberts Harrison House (c 1700); on the property is the Iddings House,
said to be owned by the family of General Anthony Wayne

Roberts Harrison originally owned the property on which the Paper Mill House sits. He had it fully restored and donated it to the Tricentennial Commission in 1976.

Old St David's Church (1715) and Cemetery, at 763 S Valley Forge Rd

The Newtown area was settled largely by Quakers from Wales, but other denominations were also represented, drawn by Pennsylvania's policy of religious tolerance. Anglican missionaries helped establish St David's Church, but with the coming of the American Revolution, a movement began to separate from the Church of England (one of the movement leaders was Anthony Wayne). In 1792 St David's Church was officially chartered by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.

Although a larger church has since been built, the old church is still used

Grave marker of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne

Anthony Wayne was a United States Army officer and statesman, beginning during the American Revolutionary War and ending with the Northwest Indian War. He died from complications of gout while returning to Pennsylvania from a military post in Detroit. He was buried where he died, in Fort Presque Isle, now Erie, PA. A dozen years later, his son, Isaac Wayne, traveled to Erie to retrieve the bones of his father to be buried in St David's Church Cemetery.
The story is that when General Wayne was disinterred, his body was remarkably preserved. A physician rendered the body in boiling water to separate flesh from the bones, as Isaac only had enough room to transport the bones and not a full body. Further legend is that some bones were lost along the way, and on his birthday (January 1), the ghost of General Wayne wanders the roads searching for his missing bones.

Grave marker of Isaac Wayne, father of Anthony Wayne

 We could not find the grave marker of Isaac Wayne, the son of Anthony Wayne.

Square Tavern (1742, by Francis Elliot) at 

Francis Elliot was a wainwright and carpenter who lived at the crossroads of Goshen Road (following an old Indian trail) and Newtown Straight Road as surveyed by Thomas Holme. (Newtown Straight Road has become Newtown Street Road.) Elliot was constantly being asked by passing wagon drivers and others for food or drink, or accommodations for the night. He petitioned to open a tavern, and after being denied, he eventually obtained permission. The tavern is built with brick instead of fieldstone, to make it appear more urban than rural.

Square Tavern kitchen has a small window for light as well as
to place a candle at night to let travelers know they were welcome

Beginning in 1744, the proprietor of Square Tavern was John West, whose son Benjamin was then six years old. Benjamin West showed talent as an artist and painter, and earned a living painting portraits. A provost at the College of Philadelphia saw one of West's paintings and provided him with an education and introductions to wealthy Pennsylvanians. A William Allen sponsored West's Grand Tour of Europe, where he ended up in London in 1763 and stayed. In England he was known as the "American Raphael." and he soon was appointed the historical painter of the court of King George III. West died in London and is buried in St Paul's Cathedral.

Apparently George Washington's troops left the Battle of Brandywine
along Goshen Road, and stopped at a well at a tavern
on their way to Valley Forge; it had to have been this tavern!

Bartram Covered Bridge (c 1860, by Ferdinand Wood) on the
old Goshen Road was the main thoroughfare for
Chester County farmers headed to markets in Philadelphia

William Lewis House (c 1708) from which reports of British movement
were sent to General Washington at Valley Forge by intelligence officer
Major John Clark, under the command of General James Potter, who
had established his headquarters here during the American Revolution

Lewis Springhouse (c 1710) at 4190 Goshen Rd

Lewis Barn (c 1710) at 4109 Goshen Rd next to the William Lewis House

Across town at 3501 Goshen Rd is the former residence of
General Smedley Butler, a United States Marine Corps major general,
who participated in military actions in the Philippines, China,
in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars,
and France in World War I; he later became a critic of United States'
involvement in foreign wars, writing the book, War is A Racket

We had to make sure we returned to Granite Farms Estates before dinner time was over!