{"nrhp_refnum":"87001992","name":"Wickersham, Gideon, Farmstead","other_names":["Hame's Best"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"750 Northbrook Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kennett Square","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.88861112400008,"lon":-75.68947541999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-01-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A farmstead of three buildings in East Marlborough Township, southern Chester County, Pennsylvania: a stone double-door house, a frame and stone corncrib/garage, and a frame and stone bank barn, laid out on a north-south axis. The house was built in 1818 by Gideon Wickersham.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the farmstead is architecturally significant as a representative southeastern Pennsylvania farmstead, with a good example of the double-door house plan popular in the region from about 1800 to 1825. The house is distinctive for its schist and serpentine masonry and for the quality of its interior and exterior woodwork, which the nomination attributes to Gideon Wickersham's turner's craft.","narrative":"Built in 1818 by Gideon Wickersham, a former turner and wheelmaker, this farmstead near Northbrook Road in East Marlborough Township sits on nine acres of rolling land south of the Brandywine River. The stone house, about 30 by 30 feet, is built of rough-cut schist and serpentine from foundation to gable, a combination the nomination describes as unusual even in an area where stone houses abound. It follows the double-door plan, which has two entrances and no center hall and was especially popular in southeastern Pennsylvania from about 1800 to 1825. The house is valued for its interior and exterior woodwork, including fluted pilasters on the parlor mantel, beaded window reveals, medallion cornerpieces, Federal lozenges, and a carved box cornice. The nomination also notes the closely grouped buildings and the north-south orientation typical of local farms. Wickersham and his wife Meribah are named on the datestone.","period_of_significance":"1818","architect_builder":"Gideon Wickersham","architectural_style":"Double-door plan (vernacular adaptation of the Georgian style)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Nearly 180 years of continuous use as a residence is stated; the 1987 nomination describes the property as serving as a residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.412932-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/87001992.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001992/dd82a387d9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001992/dd82a387d9-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wickersham_Farmstead.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:Wickersham_Farmstead.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995347","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Wickersham_Farmstead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5559674"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/wickersham-gideon-farmstead-87001992/"}