Middle Pickering Rural Historic District

Rural farmsteads of fieldstone and brownstone, set along quiet roads in the hills of northern Chester County, make up this district of about 1,055 acres. Most of the farm houses are two and a half stories with gable roofs, and the stone barns often date from the early nineteenth century. Land here was first settled by Welsh farmers on tracts of 100 to 150 acres, and later German families joined them. Commercial activity was limited mostly to grist and saw mills, a distillery and a creamery, and at Merlin a mill site later used for a foundry, snuff mill and chair factory. The district is regarded as an unusually complete record of farm life from the eighteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. It also includes a few International Style houses designed by Oskar Stonorov, including his own home, which was built on an older farmhouse foundation. The area is listed for its agriculture, its architecture and its settlement history.