Washington Slept Here

"George Washington Slept Here" is a common claim and the source of a few jokes. Truth be told George Washington slept in many places within the region from the mid 1770's to mid 1780's. As Commander of the Revolutionary War Troops and First U.S President he spent a great deal of time in this region which was truly the key city and region in America at that time. At Drexelbrook Catering we have heard that claim many times from local historic sites and private residences. Many are based on myths or stories passed down through the years while others have a great deal of documentation. It is truly amazing the amount of written historic references to where our founding father slept. Drexelbrook Catering is proud to have worked at several of these incredible locations. Here are just a few of the many locations where you can walk in the footsteps of our "Founding Father" Some of these are just historic sites while others are venues at which you can truly party with the ghosts of our founding fathers.  

In the early evening of 10 August 1777, eleven thousand Continental and militia soldiers are marching up York Road towards the Cross Roads with Bristol Road [Hartsville, PA] on their way to Coryell’s Ferry [New Hope, PA] to camp four miles across the Delaware River.  General George Washington receives a dispatch from John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress, placing the 260-vessel British fleet, hauling 17,000 troops under General William Howe, fifty miles south of the Delaware Capes [May & Henelopen] on 7 August. Unsure and wary of Howe’s intentions, Washington immediately halts his force to encamp around the bridge over the Little Neshaminy Creek in Warwick Township, Bucks County.  Knowing the area and having ridden through only ten days earlier, he selects the substantial stone dwelling of Widow Moland as his Head Quarters on the farm north of the bridge.   Drexelbrook Events is proud to be the exclusive caterer at Moland House.

The original section of the Duportail House was built in 1740 by John Harvard, Jr., a Welsh farmer, on a tract of land given to him by his father. The house was used as quarters by General Louis Lebeque Duportail, chief engineer of the Continental Army during the encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-78.  Havard, his wife Miriam, and their only daughter, Mary, lived in the house during Duportail’s stay.  General Duportail was recruited in France by Benjamin Franklin to serve as General George Washington’s field engineer.  The original map on which Duportail planned the fortifications at Valley Forge was found in the attic of the rafters nearly a century and a half later. This map served as the basis for Valley Forge National Historic Park as it is today and is now in the collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.The house and its land of more than 170 acres remained in the Havard and Davis family until the early 1900’s. The front room and porch were additions made to the farmhouse in the early 1800’s.  In April of 1903, the property was purchased by Lawrence McCormick who was the General Manager of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.  The property became known as Cressbrook Farm at this time because watercress grown in the streams on the property was used in the kitchens of the Bellevue Stratford.  It was during renovations of the house for Mr. McCormick that Duportail’s original map was found. In 1926 the property was acquired by Henry L. Woolman, a University of Pennsylvania alumnus who subsequently gave it to the University.  The University had planned to build a suburban campus for some of its undergraduate students, but these plans were eventually abandoned.  The house was designated a historic site and placed on the National Historic Register in 1972. In 1974, the Fox Companies purchased the land from the University.  This property and land from two adjacent farms became the 865-acre planned community of Chesterbrook.  Tredyffrin Township insisted that the Fox Companies preserve this historic home for future generations.  Restoration work on this historic house was completed in 1984.  A non-profit corporation was subsequently created to manage the use and maintenance of the Duportail House. While there is little eveidence that George Washington Slept here is goes without saying he visited his Engineers residence during that fateful stay at Valley Forge. Duportail House is an amazing venue for weddings, social and corporate events. Drexelbrook Events  and Drexelbrook Catering is proud to work at Duportail House.

Carpenters' Hall was designed by architect Robert Smith (1722–1777) in the Georgian style and built as a two-story brick building between 1770 and 1773 by the Carpenters' Company. It would be first used as a meeting site by the guild on January 21, 1771, and would continue to hold annual meetings there until 1777 when the British would capture Philadelphia. On April 23, 1773 (St. George's Day), it was used for the founding meeting of the Society of Englishmen and Sons of Englishmen. The First Continental Congress of the United Colonies of North America met here from September 5 to October 26, 1774, since the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) was being used by the moderate Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania. It was here that Congress resolved to ban further imports of slaves and to discontinue the slave trade within the colonies, a step toward phasing out slavery in British North America. The building has a long history as an assembly place and has been the home to numerous tenants in the arts, sciences and commerce. The meeting hall served as a hospital for both British and American troops in the Revolutionary War, and other institutions in Philadelphia have held meetings in Carpenters' Hall, including Franklin's Library Company of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, the First and Second Banks of the United States.

Other notable places of interest in which to walk in George Washingtons Foot Steps include:

The Lamb Taven, Stenton, Powell House, Cliveden, Brandywine Battlefield, Peter Wentz Farmstead, Indepence Hall, City Tavern and The Dresher Morris House. Let Drexelbrook Events a division of Drexelbrook Catering create an event for you that will make history or one designed around any of these historic sites and venues.

Sources: Wikipedia, http://www.moland.org/, http://www.duportailhouse.com/,