Media Borough

MEDIA, 43.7 m. (210 alt.,5,372 pop.), is the approximate center of Delaware County, hence its name, The majority of its houses, almost all built since the Civil War, sit far back on shaded lawns and seem somewhat gloomy. The borough has a large and prosperous business section and a few small industrial plants; many townspeople work in Philadelphia or Chester.

Quakers early settled in this vicinity, but Media was not officially laid out until 1848 when it was selected as the county seat; in 1850, when the new county buildings were under construction, it had only 12 dwellings.

The PROVIDENCE MEETINGHOUSE, Providence Road, is a typical Pennsylvania stone meetinghouse with two hooded doorways and long wing and porch at the sides. The meeting was established in 1684. Several of William Penn's acquaintances are buried in the graveyard.

The SITE OF THE BLACK HORSE TAVERN (R), 45.5 m., was occupied until 1939 by a two-and-a-half-story stone structure built in 1739. The building, once an important stage stop, was razed to make way for highway improvements.

West of Media, US 1 traverses farming country, with occasional suburban developments, nurseries, and hothouses; many of the farmhouses date from Colonial times.

CONCORDVILLE, 51.4 m. (380 alt., 200 pop.) (see Tour 9), is at a junction with US 322 (see Tour 9), which unites with US 1 to PAINTERS CROSS ROAD, 52.6 m. (427 alt., 37 pop.), which is at the junction with US 202 (see Tour 4).

The BRANDYWINE BAPTIST CHURCH (R), 54.2 m., on a small rise, is a one-and-a-half-story field stone structure dating from 1859; it embodies Colonial, Greek Revival, and Victorian elements of design. The congregation was organized in 1715.

CHADDS FORD, 55.2 m. (168 alt., 200 pop.), center of the Battle of the Brandywine, occupies the east bank of sparkling Brandywine Creek, today a mere trickle; in Colonial times floods and ice rendered the ford here so hazardous that it became necessary in 1737 to provide ferry service.

Here, on September 11, 1777, the American Revolutionary Army suffered a major defeat when Washington, in an effort to halt the British march on Philadelphia, hurled 12,000 troops against a force of 18,000 British and Hessian soldiers under Generals Howe and Knyphausen. Maneuvering went on in a fog for hours. Finally, late in the afternoon, the British crossed the creek, flanked the Americans, forced them to retreat, and moved on to Philadelphia, as the Colonials withdrew to the northwest of the city and prepared for the Battle of Germantown.

A local barber displays a large sign: 'This is where Washington and Lafayette had a close shave.'

In the center of town is (R) the CHADDS FORD INN, a three-story boxlike structure, with white-plastered walls and a mansard roof, built about 1737 by John Chadd, who also owned the first ferry.

On the PERCY CHANDLER ESTATE is a late eighteenth-century house. Erected in 1776, it is notable for its fine brick work, having diamond-shaped patterns in the gable ends. Across the gable ends are pent roofs characteristic of the German Colonial work in this region. Above the entrance door is a gabled hood. The interior retains much of its original paneling, several large fireplaces with high mantels, and a narrow winding corner stairway.

Right from Chadds Ford on State 100 to CHADDS HOUSE, 0.2 m., an unadorned, two-story-and-attic stone dwelling with a hipped roof, built by John Chadd. At 1.3 m. is the junction with Dilworth Road; R. on this dirt road to the junction with an unmarked dirt road, 3.3 m.; L. here to a fork in the road, 3.7 m.; L. here to a low stone marker (R), 4.1 m., on the scene of the Sandy Hollow engagement, the bloodiest in the Battle of the Brandywine. Another marker (R), 4.3 m., is on the spot where Lafayette was wounded in the leg late in the engagement.

The BIRMINGHAM FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE (R), 4.7 m., of gray-green stone, was erected in 1763, 41 years after the first cedar-log meetinghouse had been built here. On the maple-dotted lawn is a stone mounting block. In the rear is the LAFAYETTE CEMETERY, with a 50-foot stone obelisk dedicated to Lafayette and Pulaski; it is surrounded by numerous lesser monuments commemorating events and leaders in the battle. Near by is the OCTAGONAL SCHOOLHOUSE, a low, buff, plastered stone structure, with a pyramidal roof, erected in 1753. During the battle it was captured and recaptured 11 times within 45 minutes. US 1 crosses shallow, tree-lined BRANDYWINE CREEK, 55.4 in., of which Bayard Taylor (see below) wrote:

• And once thy peaceful tide
• Was filled with life-blood from bold hearts and brave;
• And heroes on thy verdant margin died,
• The land they loved, to save.
• These vales, so calm and still,
• Once saw the foeman's charge, the bayonet's gleam;
• And heard the thunders roll from hill to hill
• From morn till sunset's beam.

West of the creek large dairy farms border the route.

The KENNETT MEETINGHOUSE (R), 58.3 mn., a long structure of stone, built in 1710, commands a sweeping view of the valley and (L) the distant hills. The first skirmish in the battle occurred here between advancing Hessians and American sharpshooters sheltered behind the walls and gravestones of the burial ground.

Federal Writers Project, Works Progress Administration, 1940