{"nrhp_refnum":"79002253","name":"Wright's Ferry Mansion","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"38 S. 2nd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbia","county":"Lancaster County","state":"PA","lat":40.02965359700005,"lon":-76.50296602899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Literature","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story limestone house built in 1738 on a long horizontal plan one room deep, at Columbia in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River. It was built for Susanna Wright and is restored to its original appearance.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is architecturally and historically significant for its high degree of original integrity and for mixing English and Germanic building elements that reflect English Quaker settlement in a Germanic area. It also connects the house to Susanna Wright's role in the settlement, her ferry, her correspondence with Philadelphia figures, and her library.","narrative":"Built in 1738 of native limestone, Wright's Ferry Mansion is a two-and-a-half-story house on a long axis one room deep, overlooking the Susquehanna River at Columbia in Lancaster County. Its features blend English and Germanic traditions: a squirrel-tail oven, a pent eave encircling the house, side-lapped white oak shingles, and massive horizontally divided oak doors, alongside an entry hall with a brick floor and a blackcherry staircase with vase and ring turnings. The paneled parlor is thought to possibly have been made in Philadelphia. Susanna Wright, a Quaker who had bought land in the settlement in 1726, built the house, and her ferry became known as the gateway to the West. Her correspondence with Benjamin Franklin and other Philadelphia figures, along with her poetry and library, are cited as reasons the house is important. Later accretions were removed during restoration.","period_of_significance":"1738","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Restored by the Louise Steinman von Hess Foundation, with later additions removed; the document describes the property as altered in its condition check and as restored to its original appearance.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.692593-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002253.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002253/f0c247b02f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002253/f0c247b02f-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wrights_Ferry_Mansion_Lanco_PA.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:Wrights_Ferry_Mansion_Lanco_PA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"83002249","name":"Columbia Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/columbia-historic-district-83002249/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995111","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright%27s_Ferry_Mansion","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8038149"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/wrights-ferry-mansion-79002253/"}