Thornbury Township near Glen Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Historic Agricultural Landscape: Preserved for the Public Good

Squire Cheyney Farm Park

— Thornbury Township —

Historic Agricultural Landscape: Preserved for the Public Good Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Carl Gordon Moore Jr., December 11, 2021

1. Historic Agricultural Landscape: Preserved for the Public Good Marker

Inscription.

Historic Agricultural Landscape: Preserved for the Public Good. Squire Cheyney Farm Park. A Chester Creek Meadow, Cheyney, Pa., c. 1906. (From the Keith Lockhart Collection). Farming in Thornbury Township, When Pennsylvania settlers ventured into Thornbury Township in the 1680s, the land was not heavily forested. The Lenni Lenape had removed many trees on ridges and near streams to better hunt buffalo and deer. They also had created many clearings to cultivate corn and beans. In fact, once the natives left, the forests grew thicker until eighteenth-century farmers aggressively cleared them., Thornbury grew slowly throughout the eighteenth century. At the close of the War for Independence, only 52 farms stood in the undivided township., Squire Cheyney's farmstead consisted of meadows for grazing, fields for crops. and woodlands, in part as a source of fuel. After his death, his son and grandson, like most Chester County farmers, shifted to dairy products, specializing first in cheese and after 1850 in butter. This required an addition to the springhouse to preserve the products for market., The family also raised wheat as a cash crop, necessitating a steady expansion of the barn. The barn continued to grow in size after Thomas Dallett bought the farmstead in 1875. Dallett descendants lived here until the turn of the twenty-first century., The farm's landscape did not change significantly throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. Farm structures increased in number, but the use of the land remained fundamentally the same., This park and the adjacent buildings are all that is left of Squire Cheyney farmstead. They stand as an open space for public enjoyment, helping to fulfill a commandment of Pennsylvania's constitution: "Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come.” Approximately one-quarter of Chester County's land, over 100,000 acres, is protected as open space. In 2014, approximately 17 percent of Thornbury Township's land was protected open space., The farmstead's placement on the National Register of Historic Places prevents its arbitrary destruction from public projects while a preservation easement protects the privately owned Squire Cheyney house and barn from neglect and historically damaging changes. The springhouse, owned and maintained by the Township, has been preserved to interpret Thornbury's agricultural heritage., For Additional Information Visit: www.thornburytwp.com, A representative c. 1875 Chester County agricultural landscape in the Great Chester Valley which runs through the county north and west of here (Futhey and Cope, History of Chester County, Philadelphia, PA: L.H. Everts, 1881 Cornell Internet Archive. Web. 20 August 2014.) . "Old Chester County's Townships", O how they fill our happy dreams Old Chester County's townships fair. Her hills and woods and wandering streams, Her landscapes beautiful and rare -- Dear Landscapes of our happy dreams!, What child of Chester County doth not love Her fields and woods all other lands above What child of Chester County does not see Those fields and woods in tender memory When from his well-loved home-land far away He feels the charm of childhood's golden day!, Those townships fair,-- in dreams he sees them still, Each fertile farm and every breezy hill, Dingle and dale and flowery pastures sweet, And fields of fragrant corn and rippling wheat, And ancestral bomes beneath the trees,-- All these, all these in memory's dream he sees.. -John Russell Hayes, 1916 , [at lower left corner of plaque] Green Region The PECO Open Space Program This project funded in part by the PECO Green Region Open Space Program.

A Chester Creek Meadow, Cheyney, Pa., c. 1906.
(From the Keith Lockhart Collection)
Farming in Thornbury Township

When Pennsylvania settlers ventured into Thornbury Township in the 1680s, the land was not heavily forested. The Lenni Lenape had removed many trees on ridges and near streams to better hunt buffalo and deer. They also had created many clearings to cultivate corn and beans. In fact, once the natives left, the forests grew thicker until eighteenth-century farmers aggressively cleared them.

Thornbury grew slowly throughout the eighteenth century. At the close of the War for Independence, only 52 farms stood in the undivided township.

Squire Cheyney's farmstead consisted of meadows for grazing, fields for crops. and woodlands, in part as a source of fuel. After his death, his son and grandson, like most Chester County farmers, shifted to dairy products, specializing first in cheese and after 1850 in butter. This required an addition to the springhouse to preserve the products for market.

The family also raised wheat as a cash crop, necessitating a steady expansion of the barn. The barn continued to grow in size after Thomas Dallett bought the farmstead in 1875. Dallett descendants lived here until the turn of the twenty-first century.

The

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farm's landscape did not change significantly throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. Farm structures increased in number, but the use of the land remained fundamentally the same.

This park and the adjacent buildings are all that is left of Squire Cheyney farmstead. They stand as an open space for public enjoyment, helping to fulfill a commandment of Pennsylvania's constitution: "Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come.” Approximately one-quarter of Chester County's land, over 100,000 acres, is protected as open space. In 2014, approximately 17 percent of Thornbury Township's land was protected open space.

The farmstead's placement on the National Register of Historic Places prevents its arbitrary destruction from public projects while a preservation easement protects the privately owned Squire Cheyney house and barn from neglect and historically damaging changes. The springhouse, owned and maintained by the Township, has been preserved to interpret Thornbury's agricultural heritage.

For Additional Information Visit: www.thornburytwp.com

A representative c. 1875 Chester County agricultural landscape in the Great Chester
Valley which runs through the county north and west of here
(Futhey & Cope, History
Photographed By Carl Gordon Moore Jr., December 11, 2021

2. Historic Agricultural Landscape: Preserved for the Public Good Marker
This sign is near the park entrance.
of Chester County, Philadelphia, PA: L.H. Everts, 1881
Cornell Internet Archive. Web. 20 August 2014.)
"Old Chester County's Townships"

O how they fill our happy dreams
Old Chester County's townships fair.
Her hills and woods and wandering streams,
Her landscapes beautiful and rare --
Dear Landscapes of our happy dreams!

What child of Chester County doth not love
Her fields and woods all other lands above
What child of Chester County does not see
Those fields and woods in tender memory
When from his well-loved home-land far away
He feels the charm of childhood's golden day!

Those townships fair,-- in dreams he sees them still,
Each fertile farm and every breezy hill,
Dingle and dale and flowery pastures sweet,
And fields of fragrant corn and rippling wheat,
And ancestral bomes beneath the trees,--
All these, all these in memory's dream he sees.
-John Russell Hayes, 1916

[at lower left corner of plaque]
Green
Region
The PECO Open Space Program
This project funded in part by the PECO
Green Region Open Space Program

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Agriculture • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1850.

Location.

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39° 56.343′ N, 75° 31.415′ W. Marker is near Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, in Chester County. It is in Thornbury Township. Marker can be reached from Cheyney Road, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1320 Cheyney Road, West Chester PA 19382, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Squire Cheyney: Progressive Farmer (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Squire Cheyney: Public Servant (about 700 feet away); Thornbury Township: Divided Since 1789 (approx. ¼ mile away); Squire Thomas Cheyney (approx. ¼ mile away); Fanny M. Jackson Coppin (approx. half a mile away); Jimmy Carter (approx. half a mile away); Thornbury: Past, Present, Future (approx. 1.9 miles away); An Era of Community (approx. 1.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Glen Mills.

More about this marker. There are 4 plaques in this park which were submitted to hmdb.org , encountered in the following order when traveling the path counterclockwise (subject plaque listed 4th):

Thornbury Township: Divided Since 1789
Squire Cheyney: Public Servant
Squire Cheyney: Progressive Farmer
Historic Agricultural Landscape: Preserved for the Public Good

Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 17, 2021, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. This page has been viewed 113 times since then and 26 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 17, 2021, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.