Farmhouses of the Brandywine Valley

The Ramsey's House at 405 Ramsey Road. Built of locally quarried stone, the original first part of the house dates back to approximately 1800-1816. A later rear addition was added between 1830-1835.

National Park Service

The first European-American domiciles built in what is now First State National Historical Park were mostly modest, single-story log homes. Later homes in the Valley were made primarily from stone, wood plank, or brick. These homes were similar or virtually identical to the architecture of the areas of England (primarily Wiltshire) and Ireland (County Armaugh) from which their owners originated. Almost all houses had a barn and several outbuildings, including smokehouses, springhouses, sheds, corn cribs, wagon houses, etc.

The earliest barn in the Valley, from 1772, was based on the English midlands lake model but later modified with forebays (a Germanic/Swedish concept) to enhance diary yield. The seven barns that remain in the Valley were constructed between 1772-1865 and there are visible remains of at least three other barns that date from this same period.

As farming increasingly focused on dairying at the end of the 18th Century, the settlers organized their barns to increase the yield from their cows. The barns were largely built into a bank, hence the name Pennsylvania bank barns, and generally had two stories: the lower floor was used for milking and the upper floor for storage of hay, oats, and corn, with a central threshing floor. Livestock were largely left to the pasture or to forage in the woods.

One local dwelling, the Ramsey House, was built in two phases. The original structure dates to approximately 1800-1816 and is a locally-quarried stone dwelling built at the base of an earthen embankment. There was a cellar kitchen with living quarters on the upper two stories. The house was enlarged circa 1830-35, extending it 16 feet to the rear and into the north embankment.

The Ramseys immigrated from Ireland around 1850, eventually settling in the Brandywine Valley. Their farm now consists of 200 acres. Six generations of Ramseys have cared for the land, which focused during the 19th and early 20th centuries on dairy farming and butter making. Remnants of spring houses that were used to cool butter and dairy products are visible on the farm today.