Preserving Washington’s Headquarters

On the morning of September 9, 1777, Gen. George Washington and units of his Continental Army arrived in the village of Chads (later Chadds) Ford. Its strategic location on the Great Nottingham Road (today U.S. Route 1) and along the banks of the Brandywine Creek made it a likely place for an attack as the British army crept closer to the rebel capital of Philadelphia. As his anxious troops took...
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Painter’s Folly

Located in the heart of the Brandywine Valley, Painter’s Folly — along with the surrounding historic sites and landscapes — has inspired generations of artists. Today, thanks to an effort led by Chadds Ford Township, the building has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building’s unique name is not related to its association with the famous Brandywine School of artists...
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Artful Trails

In honor of the 50th Art of the State exhibition, open through September 10, 2017, at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, we’re exploring art at other historic sites and museums along PHMC’s Pennsylvania Trails of History. As visual storytellers, our sites employ a multidisciplinary approach to documenting and sharing Pennsylvania heritage. Artworks frequently play a role in the study...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter

Topics in the Summer 2013 Newsletter: Stories from the Homefront: Pennsylvania in the Civil War Opens in September New PaHeritage.org Website Trailheads: 250 Years on the Pennsylvania Trails of History Welcome New PHF Members Welcome New State Museum Affiliate Members PHF Board Harrisburg SciTech High School Docents Washington Crossing Historic Park Visitor Center Pennsylvania Lumber Museum...
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Current and Coming

Horace Pippin Exhibition The Brandywine River Museum of Art on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Delaware County, will present the special exhibition Horace Pippin: The Way I See It from April 18 to July 26. The show features more than 60 of Pippin’s works from American museums, universities and private collections. Pippin (1888–1946) was a self-taught painter who was active in West Chester, Chester...
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The Deerslayer by N.C. Wyeth

  In December 1967 PHMC chairman James B. Stevenson accepted an original painting by N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945) for the collection of The State Museum of Pennsylvania from Mrs. George R. Bailey of the George R. Bailey Foundation of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, in a ceremony held in the museum’s Memorial Hall. The painting had been created as the cover design for the 1925 Scribner Illustrated...
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White Glove Service at The State Museum: It’s Not What You Might Think

Sometimes hands-on history projects require gloves. White cotton gloves, to be precise. In June 2012 three curators at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, donned gloves and began the first of an orderly series of planned inventories of the museum’s collections known as the Collections Advancement Project (CAP). By the end of summer three more curators joined the team and the...
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The Brandywine River Museum and Conservancy: Keeping the Brandywine Heritage Alive

One of the most treasured aspects of the artistic heritage of the Commonwealth is the Brandywine Tradition of representational paint­ing, a legacy around which much activity is centered. For years the beauty of southeastern Pennsylvania’s Brandy­wine River Valley has captivated artists and provided them with a natural studio. It seems appropriate, then, that this beautiful river valley...
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Historic Sites of the Revolution

Pennsylvania is unusually rich in historic sites associated with the American Struggle for nationhood two centuries ago. The Bicentennial observance under­scores the importance of this treasury of the state’s historic heritage. The deep involvement of Pennsylvania people and land in the Revolutionary War is reflected by these historic sites maintained by government as well as organizations...
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The Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania

  With some conspicuous exceptions, Pennsylvania was largely on the outskirts of the scenes of Revolutionary War military operations. True, in December, 1776, Gen. George Washington brought the remnants of his retreating army from New Jersey into Pennsylvania, using the area in the vicinity of McKonkey’s Ferry as the jumping-off point for the Christmas-night crossing of the Delaware...
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