Washington House

Chester, PA · est. 1954

In the late summer of 1781, the combined French and Continental armies were racing south for the decisive campaign that would end the Revolutionary War. After a grand review before Congress in Philadelphia, the allied columns marched down the old King's Highway toward Wilmington, pausing to camp here at Chester on September 5. Within weeks these same troops would help trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Lower Merion Township, PA · est. 1972

Opened in 1704 and known by a string of colonial names, this roadside inn served travelers on one of the region's key routes for well over a century. It was familiar to Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, and shortly after the Revolution it was renamed to honor General Anthony 'Mad Anthony' Wayne, who had lodged there. Taverns like this were the social and political hubs of colonial and Revolutionary America, where news traveled and plans were laid.

Chester, PA · est. 1954

This ground in Chester marks the site of the first St. Paul's Episcopal Church, built in 1702 in one of Pennsylvania's oldest settlements with roots in New Sweden. Just south lies the grave of John Morton, the Pennsylvania delegate whose vote helped tip the colony toward independence and who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Nether Providence Township, PA · est. 1955

Built in 1809-10 by Thomas Leiper and surveyed by John Thomson, the Leiper Railway ran about three-quarters of a mile to haul stone from quarries on Crum Creek down to a landing on Ridley Creek. It is remembered as the first railway in Pennsylvania and the first in America to be laid out by survey. Horses drew the loaded cars along its wooden rails decades before the steam locomotive age.