Preserving Our Past for the Future

Preserving Our Past for the Future. . Preserving Our Past for the Future, Thornbury Delaware County Historical Commission , Historic Resource Property #097 Wilamar / Black Bell Farm, This spring house sits on property once owned by George Peirce II, one of Thornbury's first landowners., Built over a spring or creek, spring houses supplied fresh, clean water to a farm or home. They were common on farms and homesteads of the 18th and 19th centuries, providing water and storage. Spring houses fell out of use as indoor plumbing and refrigeration became available. You can see the stone remnants of spring houses on old farms throughout the area., Left Top: Spring houses were partially built into the ground. The space below ground stayed cool making it an ideal place to store perishable items like milk and butter., Left Bottom: This plan shows the path of water from the natural spring through built troughs and back outside. The running water stayed fresh, clean, and cool. The wood stairs led below ground, for a cool storage space, similar to a root cellar., Our spring house showed signs of a hearth on the upper level, indicating it may have been used as a living space as well., Preserving Peirce's History, The property and spring house originally belonged to George Peirce II. Born in England in 1654, he moved to Pennsylvania in 1684 with his wife and two children. He would have eight more children here, some of their relatives still live in the area. Over his lifetime, Peirce bought nearly 800 acres of land. Part of his property is now part of Longwood Gardens. Thornbury was named after his wife's place of birth (Thornbury, England). Peirce died in 1734 at age 80.