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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings
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CALEB PUSEY HOUSE
Pennsylvania
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Location: Delaware County, Race Street,
Upland.
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Built in 1683, this house is the oldest extant
English-constructed house in Pennsylvania. Pusey, a Quaker, migrated
from England to manage a gristmill in which William Penn was a partner.
Becoming a warm friend of Penn, who apparently visited this home, he
became a member of the assembly, served on the colony's Executive
Council, and in 1701 sat on the Governor's Council. Selling his interest
in the milling business in 1708, he moved to Chester, after which his
former home had various owners. By the 1930's, the house seemed destined
for eventual loss. Interest in it increased after World War II, however,
and in the early 1960's the Friends of the Caleb Pusey House came to its
rescue and began restoration.
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FORT LE BOEUF
Pennsylvania
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Location: Erie County, on the north bank of French
Creek, Waterford.
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The French built Fort Le Boeuf in the spring of 1753
as part of a major effort to strengthen their hold over the vast lands
in Canada and the Mississippi-Ohio Valleys that they claimed. The fort
resembled Fort Presque Isle, built a bit sooner, although it was
somewhat smaller. Four log buildings stood within a log stockade. The
Governor of Virginia sent a young officer, George Washington, to protest
the incursion into British-claimed territory, but the French rebuffed
him. During the French and Indian War, a British force laid siege to a
major French stronghold, Fort Niagara, and the garrisons of Fort Le
Boeuf and other minor posts were summoned as reinforcements. Fort
Niagara fell, and in 1759 the French themselves destroyed Fort Le
Boeuf.
Great Britain used the site of Fort Le Boeuf for a
depot, and in 1794 the Americans built a blockhouse nearby, but all
these buildings fell into ruins and disappeared as the area became a
settled and prosperous section of modern Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania today operates a museum illustrating the history of Fort
Le Boeuf on its site. Across the street are the foundations of the 1794
blockhouse. Many interesting artifacts of French, Indian, British, and
American origin have been recovered in the area.
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FORT PRESQUE ISLE SITE
Pennsylvania
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Location: Erie County, at 6th and Parade Streets,
Erie.
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In 1753, a French force under Sieur Marin from
Montreal, recognizing the strategic possibilities afforded by the
sheltering arm of the Presque Isle peninsula, built a fort there, about
the same time as Fort Le Boeuf. The stockade of chestnut logs measured
about 120 feet square and 15 feet high, and enclosed several buildings.
After the British captured Fort Niagara, the French abandoned and
destroyed Fort Presque Isle. The English rebuilt the fort and garrisoned
it, but later abandoned it. No remains are extant today.
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LOWER SWEDISH CABIN
Pennsylvania
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Location: Delaware County, on Creek Road, 1 mile
south of Clifton Heights.
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This cabin, erected during the period 1640-50, is one
of the earliest extant examples of Swedish log construction in the
United States. The walls consist of logs about 12 inches in diameter,
notched at the corners. The cabin originally consisted of only one room,
but another was added later; a low door connects the rooms. The ceiling
rafters can be touched by the upraised hand. Each room contains a
Swedish-style corner fireplace, above which rises a large stone chimney.
The roof is gabled.
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An early example of Swedish log
construction, Lower Swedish Cabin, Pennsylvania, built in the period
1640-50. |
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PENNSBURY MANOR
Pennsylvania
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Location: Bucks County, 3-1/2 miles east of U.S.
13, just outside of Tullytown.
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This is the re-created country estate of William
Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. He purchased the lands in 1682, on
his first visit to Pennsylvania, and began construction the following
year. During the next 15 years, he directed the development in a stream
of correspondence from England. He stayed at the manor frequently while
he resided in the New World during the period 1699-1701 and entertained
many colonial personages and Indian visitors. The manor fell into a
deplorable state after he finally returned to England, and by the end of
the century was in ruins. The Pennsylvania Historical Commission
acquired it on the 250th anniversary of his first trip to America and
subsequently carefully re-created the manor house, bake and brew houses,
stable, other outbuildings, and gardens and grounds. The manor is open
to the public all year.
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SWEDISH CABIN (MORTON HOMESTEAD)
Pennsylvania
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Location: Delaware County, on Pa. 420, near Darby
Creek Bridge, about 2 miles south of Glenolden.
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This hewn-log structure was probably built in 1654, a
year before New Sweden fell to the Dutch, and is the best preserved and
most carefully documented of the few known remains of Swedish settlement
in the 17th century. About 1698, a second cabin was erected a few feet
distant, and around 1806 the two structures were connected by a third
one, built of stone. Marten Martensson built the original cabin shortly
after he arrived in New Sweden.
The long-time tradition that the cabin was the
birthplace of John Morton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence,
has not been verified. Morton's great-grandfather did, however, once own
the land on which the cabin stands. Since 1935, when the cabin was in a
dilapidated condition and surrounded by modern framehouses, the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has carefully restored it. It is furnished
with period pieces. The setting is now preserved by a small park of
approximately 3 acres, which is open to visitors throughout the
year.
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Swedish Cabin (Morton Homestead), Pennsylvania. It consists of two log
cabins connected by a stone building. The three structures were built
between 1654 and 1806. |
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/explorers-settlers/sitee24.htm
Last Updated: 22-Mar-2005
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