Germantown Avenue Walking Tour
This brief walking tour includes stops at over a dozen historic homes, buildings, markers and museums. Each stop along the tour is within a few feet of Germantown Avenue.
Built in 1767, Cliveden is a historic Georgian manor that was home to the Chew family for two centuries. It was the home of enslaved workers during the colonial period-a time when slavery was legal in each of the American colonies. It was also the site of an important Revolutionary War battle in 1777, the Battle of Germantown. It was at this location on the evening of October 3, 1777 that George Washington's men attempted to storm the mansion, which had been previously occupied by British forces. The failed attack diverted strength from Washington's main force and helped the British turn back the rebel army. While Washington's men were forced from the battlefield, the five-hour battle demonstrated that the American rebels were capable of a sustained offensive campaign.
The Concord Schoolhouse , open from 1775-1892, was Germantown's first English language school. The school is sited on a lot set aside in 1692 to serve as a civic burial ground.
Built in 1768 and located in Philadelphia, the John Johnson House is a reminder of the struggle that many runaway slaves faced before the Civil War. The Colonial Georgian-style home was built by Dirck Jansen as a wedding gift to his son, John Johnson, Sr. The home is one of the only remaining structures affiliated with the Underground Railroad in the city. Harriet Tubman and other abolitionists led escaped slaves to the doors of this residence in the years leading up to the Civil War. The home is now a National Historic Landmark and also serves as a museum that preserves and interprets the history of the Underground Railroad.
Built in 1770, the Mennonite Meeting House of Germantown, Pennsylvania still stands to this day as a snapshot of Mennonite history and the religious mosaic that existed in colonial Pennsylvania. Much of Germantown’s history was written by members of the Quaker faiths, some of whom were historically Mennonites, bringing portions of their faith into the continually growing community in Germantown. The Meeting House has been preserved well, and, as of the creation of this article, it is under the care of the Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust, which administrates educational tours and open houses on weekends throughout the spring, summer, and fall months of the year.
Ora Washington was one of the premiere female athletes of the early 20th century. She excelled in both tennis and basketball, but because of racial discrimination, she was rarely able to compete with white athletes. According to Arthur Ashe, Washington may have been the best female athlete of the 20th century.
Wyck is a National Historic Landmark house, garden, and farm in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia that served as the ancestral home to one Philadelphia family for nine generations (1690-1973). Here, traditional Quaker culture blended with a passion for innovation. The people who lived and worked at Wyck expressed these values through their commitment to education, horticulture, natural history, and preservation. Today, the Wyck Association connects this family and its rich history to the Germantown community through programs that focus on history, horticulture, and urban agriculture, using the past as inspiration for the present. Our 2.5-acre, centuries-old site plays an essential role in the life of our 21st-century urban neighborhood, using buildings, landscape, and collections to provide educational, cultural, and nutritional resources for our neighbors and visitors. The mission of the Wyck Association is to preserve and interpret Wyck, one of America’s most authentic historic sites, to engage learners of all ages, and to strengthen our neighboring community.
The ACES Museum offers a variety of programs and exhibits related to the experiences and service of African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and other minority military veterans who served in World War II and other conflicts. The museum was created by a non-profit foundation that was incorporated in 2000 and began programs related to military history in 2001.
The Germantown White House, also known as the Deshler-Morris House, of Germantown, Pennsylvania is one of the oldest and best-preserved presidential residences in the United States. It is most famous for being the retreat of First President and decorated general George Washington on two separate occasions, once in 1793 and once in 1794. It was also the primary residence of British General Sir William Howe following the bloody Battle of Germantown in the American Revolutionary War.
This local historical society offers a collection of artifacts and a number of exhibits related to the original township of northwest Philadelphia that was home to many German immigrants. The collections include one-of-a-kind books, works of art, furniture, diaries, and manuscript collections drawn from the surrounding neighborhoods in the Pat Henning Library and Archives.
On November 29, 1832 (on her father's thirty-third birthday), Louisa May Alcott was born at Pine Place, in the Germantown neighborhood of Pennsylvania [2; 4]. The family left Germantown to live in Massachusetts when Louisa was two years old, where her abolitionist father, Amos Bronson Alcott, began a progressive school and educated his daughters along with the students. Louisa grew up to become an abolitionist in her own right, as well as a suffragist, Civil War nurse, and authoress (under the pen name A. M. Bernard) of Gothic thrillers and children's literature including Little Women [2; 3]. Pine Place is now home to the Cunningham Piano Company .
Originally constructed sometime in the 1740s (no official record of construction exists,) the Clarkson-Watson House is one of the oldest remaining and most historically relevant houses in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Having served many diverse purposes, from a meeting place of Continental Army generals to the site of a national bank, the Clarkson-Watson House has been a veritable nexus of historic events in the area. In most recent memory, it has served privately as the home of a local law firm and, more publicly, as the meeting place of the Germantown Historical Society, whose members have worked to preserve the vital pieces of early American history that permeate the City of Germantown.
Like many of the Colonial Era homes in Germantown, Pennsylvania, “Grumblethorpe” was once the summertime retreat of a Philadelphia businessman and his family that later become a long-term residence following the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1793. Grumblethorpe, which was also frequently known by the name “John Wister’s Big House” after the name of its builder and owner, not only survived the American Revolutionary War but earned a permanent name for itself as the final resting place of British Brigadier-General James Agnew, whose bloodstain is, according to the current keepers of the house, still visible on the floor where he died.
Originally known as the Lower Burial Ground, it is located on land set aside in 1692 as a secular burial ground for residents of lower Germantown. It is estimated that more than 1000 persons are buried within its two acres, including many of the earliest settlers of Germantown and a number of prominent Philadelphians.