{"nrhp_refnum":"09001214","name":"Cheyney, Squire, Farm","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1255 Cheyney Thornton Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Thornbury","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.93696968100005,"lon":-75.5241913598291,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-01-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic farmstead of about 44 acres on Cheyney Thornton Road in Thornbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, with a farmhouse begun around 1797, a stone bank barn dating to about 1804, a granary ruin, an ice house remnant, a spring house, a stone retaining wall and a family cemetery. It is listed as a district.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the farm illustrates the importance of agriculture to Thornbury Township and that its buildings reflect changes in farming practice from the late 18th to mid-19th centuries. It cites the early adoption of new farming methods by Squire Thomas Cheyney, the Chester County stone-posted forebay barn type, and the farm's shift from butter and cheese to fluid milk production. Significance is claimed under agriculture and architecture at the local level.","narrative":"Located on Cheyney Thornton Road in Thornbury Township, Chester County, this 44-acre farmstead was built up from the late 1790s. Its farmhouse began as a three-cell stone and stucco dwelling around 1797, with additions around 1815, 1830 and 1850. Nearby, a stone barn was built around 1804 by Squire Thomas Cheyney and his son William, replacing an older frame barn. Around 1820 a stone-posted frame forebay was added, a form that gave the barn its Chester County Stone-Posted-Forebay designation, and its floorboards could be moved to drop hay to cattle below. Cheyney wrote in 1796 about adopting a new rotation method, which his farm helped demonstrate. The property also includes a granary ruin, an ice house remnant, a spring house, and a walled family cemetery established around 1803. The farm's later dairy output shifted from butter to fluid milk, and the buildings reflect these changes in agricultural practice.","period_of_significance":"C. 1795-c. 1910","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Dornbusch Type E Lake District Barn; Dornbusch Type J Pennsylvania Barn (Chester County Stone-Posted-Forebay Barn)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.515409-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/09001214.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09001214/94cf412e73-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09001214/94cf412e73-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Squire_Cheyney_Farm.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Squire_Cheyney_Farm.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998344","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squire_Cheyney_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7582289"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/cheyney-squire-farm-09001214/"}