Tredyfferin Township: Estates and Country Homes
Tredyfferin Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was originally settled in the 17th century, it is crosses both the Montgomery and Delaware County boundries. Its north boundary holds a small part of Valley Forge National Park. Tredyfferin and the Great Valley region have many limestone deposits. It is also home to over a dozen historic resources entered in to the National Register of Historic Places. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Cramond. This is designed by the architectural firm of McKin, Meade and White and was built for Daniel Newhall, a Pennsylvania Railroad executive. It was built so that its windows has a good view of the Strafford rail station.
Cressbrook Farm. The original portion of this house was built in 1745 by John Harvard. It went through major additions in 1825. From 1777 to 1778, it was used during Washington’s Valley Forge encampment as Brigadier general Louis Lebique Duportail’s headquarters.
Great Valley Mill. In 1857, Mr. Joseph Jeanes boght an older mill property and made substantial improvements that included a 3 story building still standing today. It was the first and last mill built in Trendyfferin township with records that date back to 1702.
Greenwood Farm. According to 1798 tax records of the farm, this farm is was owned by James Davis. It has a stone house, stone farm and a tenant house. In the middle of the 19th century, it was made a gentleman’s farm for its successive wealthy owners.
David Harvard House. This served as Colonel William Bradford and Major General Charles Lee’s quarters in Washington’s Valley Forge encampment. During the 1880s, Pennsylvania Railroad president J Cassatt bought this for a country estate to raise his horses.
Roughwood. The sole surviving building the Glassley Village, this place served as a summer home for several generations of notable Pennsylvanians, such as Colonel Michael Dallet (steamship line owner), Thomas Biddle (banker), Peter Zeigler (publisher) and Albert Ashmead (Civil War Hero).
Major General Lord Stirling Quarters. Known as Homestead Farm in 1880 and Echo Valley Farms in 1926 to 1973, this house changed quite a bit over the years from the original one story plan, one room, built by Henry John through a series of rambling additions.
Joseph Walker House. This house served as General Anthony Wayne’s headquarters during Washington’s Valley Forge encampment. It is built by Joseph Walker and has seen three big renovations since those earlier days. It is located on one of the prettiest 1.3 acres of Trendyffrin Township.
Wetherby et. al. Log House. In 1772, this house and the land it stands on was sold by Whitehead Weatehrby. This house is displays an unusual use of round logs and other materials with a herringbone design and stone additions.
Some of the luxurious estates for sale in Berwyn lack the historical relevance found in Trendyfferin Township. You can find a few Main Line homes for sale that date back to the mid 1800’s when this area was being developed as the aristocratic hub of Philadelphia. When buying a million dollar home that has the character of the Roughwood or the Crestbrook farm, you need to invite site surveyors that can research the historical records of revitalization and restoration projects done to those properties before moving forward with your purchase decision.
