Kennett Square, PA III (8/2/2020)

Sunday, August 2, 2020

While following the Kennett Square Underground Railroad Self-guided Tour, we stopped at several other historic sites along the way.

Pennsbury Township, PA:

1301 Brintons Bridge Rd/Brinton-King Farmstead (originally built
c 1780, extensive modifications were made in 1889 in Queen Anne style)

162 Baltimore Pike/Brinton-King Farmstead Stone-and-frame Bank Barn

883 Baltimore Pike/Former Pennsbury Inn (1789) was also known
as Lancaster Inn and Hal-Dell Farm, now a multiple family residence

Kennett Square, PA:

128 S Willow St/Harry Hicks Building (1895) was the first
purpose-built mushroom house in Kennett Square

309 Marshall St/William Swayne House (1882) belonged to
a florist who brought spores from England to grow mushrooms
under the benches in his carnation greenhouses

318 S Broad St/Mary Phillips House (1871 Gothic inspired) was the
home of Herb Pennock (from age 3 to 18) who went on to become a
major league baseball Hall of Famer with the New York Yankees in the 1920s

106 Lincoln St/Lois & Edgar Cleaver House (1924, in Arts & Crafts style)

Gatehouse Dr/Cedarcroft or Bayard Taylor House (1859, in Italianate style)

The author, Bayard Taylor, wrote a series of articles about supervising the construction of Cedarcroft. He had a zinc box hidden as a time capsule in the cornerstone (to be opened after 500 years or in 2359).

In 1904, the house became a boarding school for boys, one of whom was the future professional baseball player Herb Pennock.

West Chester, PA:

Strodes Barn (1875) was the former home of the
Strode’s Sausage and Scrapple Plant

Strodes Mill/Entriken Mill (1721) was a grist mill

Now we follow in the footsteps of British troops under General Cornwallis, heading south on Birmingham Road, towards the September 11, 1777 Battle of Brandywine, during the American Revolution.

Birmingham Lafayette Cemetery with the
Lafayette and Pulaski Monument (1900) 

The monument commemorates the Marquis de Lafayette and Casimir Count Pulaski, both of whom had their first American battle experience here.

Colonel Isaac Taylor Monument (1898); Taylor led the
defense of Chadds Ford during the Battle of Brandywine

Note the stone wall behind the monument that separates the cemetery from the Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse. The American troops used the wall as a defensive position.

Joseph McClellan Monument (1895);
McClellan served under General Anthony Wayne
during the Battle of Brandywine

1245 Birmingham Rd/Octagon Schoolhouse (1819)

1245 Birmingham Rd/Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse (1763)
was used as a hospital during the Battle of Brandywine

The Birmingham Friends Meeting also experienced the split between conservatives and liberal Hicksites. Here the conservatives built a meetinghouse nearly across the street.

1270 Birmingham Rd/Orthodox Meetinghouse (1845)

21 Oakland Rd/Brinton 1704 House is an example of an early
Delaware Valley stone house; it was one of 14 houses
in the midst of the Battle of Brandywine

Brinton 1704 House and a double outhouse

Dairy Barn (early 20C) at the Brinton 1704 House

Carriage House at the Brinton 1704 House