The Keith House, also known as Washington's Headquarters or Headquarters Farm, was a historic house in
Upper Makefield Township,
Bucks County
Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. It served as the headquarters for
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1978.
History
The of land surrounding the Keith House was originally set aside by
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...
for use by his family, but sold it in 1697 to a group of investors after he found people already living on it.
[Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, § 8, p. 1.] The house was likely constructed sometime around 1742, with the land being acquired through an auction by William Keith in 1761.
During the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, the house was headquarters for General
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
from December 14 to December 24, 1776. It was the location from which Washington planned the
crossing of the Delaware River and subsequent
Battle of Trenton
The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington's George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, crossing of the ...
.
Legend has it that the Keith House's
spring house
A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing str ...
was where
double agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
John Honeyman
John Honeyman (1729August 18, 1822) was an American spy and British informant for George Washington, primarily responsible for spreading disinformation and gathering the intelligence crucial to Washington's victory in the Battle of Trenton.
...
was imprisoned to inform Washington of the plans of the
Hessian troops in
Trenton.
The house was kept in Keith family for 133 years. After the death of John Slack Keith, the house was sold to John Paxon in 1893.
[Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, § 8, p. 2.] The property was acquired and owned by Henry Bristol between 1933 and 1946. The house was then sold to James Rendall.
[ With accompanying 4 photos.]
It was destroyed by fire in the 1980s and later rebuilt, but not included in
Washington's Crossing, the
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
.
See also
*
*
List of Washington's Headquarters during the Revolutionary War
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
External links
*
*
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Houses completed in 1742
American Revolutionary War sites
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Houses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
1742 establishments in Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Bucks County, Pennsylvania