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Philadelphia
Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries |
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This country seat of the Pemberton family served as quarters for occupying British troops during the Revolutionary War and later served as a naval hospital until the construction of the Naval Asylum. In Shippen, Edward, M. D., U.S.N., "Some Account of the Origin of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, VII, No. 2 (1883), pp. 117ff. Library Company of Philadelphia. "Quite remote from the built-up portions of the city, and close to the banks of the beautiful Schuylkill, then unfettered and undammed, it was considered entirely as a country residence for the summer, quite as much so as would be the neighborhood of Bryn Mawr of Chestnut Hill to-day. It appears never to have been a farm or 'plantation,' in the usually accepted sense, being always small in acreage, and taken up with lawn, shrubbery, and extensive kitchen gardens, with some wood….[T]he house, though unpretending , was of a substantial character, roomy and respectable. It was built of brick, the kitchen and offices being in a basement, which had large windows opening upon an area. A fine hall ran through the main floor, with two handsome rooms on each side. Above were corresponding rooms, under a sloping roof, with large dormer windows, the apex being crowned by a balcony….Two brick tenant, or servants' houses, of rather prim construction and solid build, stood near the mansion to the north. These remained until near the time that the mansion itself was demolished. Altogether 'Plantation' must have been a very complete and attractive residence."
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