Worth-Jefferis Rural Historic District

Along the Brandywine Creek north of its juncture, the Worth/Jefferis Historic District covers about 1,800 acres of rolling farmland in East and West Bradford Townships, Chester County. It holds ten historic farms built around stone and frame Pennsylvania barns, stone farmhouses and tenant houses. The land was first surveyed for William Penn in 1686, and Thomas Worth bought 500 acres in 1707. Worth and Jefferis family descendants kept most of the land for more than two centuries, and the farm boundaries and hedgerows still follow those early property lines. The district's buildings reflect English Colonial, Georgian and Federal traditions. It is regarded as a clear record of how Chester County farming changed, from grain and subsistence crops through cattle fattening and dairying to today's horse farms. Its farmsteads remain largely intact, and noncontributing houses are mostly screened by hills and vegetation.