Rhoads Homestead
Also known as: Rhoads Homestead Complex
Why it's listed
Set on roughly 60 acres north of York Road at the edge of New Hope, the complex grew from a mid-eighteenth-century stone farmhouse, traditionally dated to 1734, with a kitchen wing added by the late eighteenth century and a lean-to in the early nineteenth. The Pike-Paxson House, the principal structure today, was remodeled in the 1850s into a Victorian country villa with a cross wing, porches, bracketed bonnets and a stuccoed stone façade. A board-and-batten servants' house, a stone spring house and a ruined stone bank barn also remain. The land passed from the Pike family to the Paxson family and has stayed with descendants of Thomas Paxson. In December 1776 part of the American army under General William Alexander, Lord Stirling, camped on the tract near an important Delaware ferry crossing, helping hold British forces in New Jersey before the attack on Trenton. The complex is also valued as a rare example of the transition from early farmhouse forms to mid-nineteenth-century domestic architecture.
Significance in brief: The complex is argued to represent dwelling types built for wealthy agriculturalists and merchants in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is also argued to be significant as the site of a three-week encampment of part of the American army in December 1776, before the crossing of the Delaware River and the attack on Trenton.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 85003655, listed August 8, 1996. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 102--106 W. Bridge St., New Hope |
|---|---|
| County | Bucks County |
| Listed | August 8, 1996 |
| Reference number | 85003655 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Mid-nineteenth century Victorian country villa influenced by Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux (Pike-Paxson House); traditional southeastern Pennsylvania farmhouse (Pike Farmstead) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Military, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still used for agriculture; the land remains in agricultural use. |
| Acreage | 60.1 |
| Coordinates | 40.36988, -74.95700 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 85003655.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7320817
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.