Trimbleville Historic District

Trimbleville is a hamlet of stone houses, farm complexes and a mill on the West Branch of the Brandywine River in West Bradford and Pocopson townships. Settled by Quaker families, the site began with a grist and saw mill partnership and a fording place, and the Trimble family held the mill for generations. Most of the six principal buildings date from the late 1700s and early 1800s and are built of pointed stone with gable roofs and end chimneys. The hamlet is linked to the Battle of Brandywine, when more than 12,000 British troops crossed at Trimble's Ford on September 11, 1777. It also housed Greenwood Dell Boarding School, run by Jonathan Gause, whose most famous pupil was the writer Bayard Taylor. The surrounding landscape of meadows, hills and river has changed little since the mid-twentieth century, and the district illustrates rural Chester County life across more than two centuries.