Embreeville is an historical unincorporated community, little more than a rural stretch of road with a few businesses and homes, in

Newlin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania Newlin Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,285 at the 2010 census. Newlin Township was the hometown of explorer Josiah Harlan and Lenape healer Hannah Freeman. William Baldwin, the botan ...

, inside a bend of Brandywine Creek. It is about west of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and north of Unionville. The Embreeville Historic District, which covers most of the town, is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. During the 19th and 20th centuries Embreeville was best known as the site of the county poor house and the Chester County Asylum for the Insane, rename
Embreeville State Hospital
in 1938 and closed in 1980. Embreeville's other landmarks include the Embreeville Dam, Embreeville Mill, Pennsylvania State Police Barracks, Star Gazers' Stone, and Hannah Freeman's grave. The

Star Gazers' Stone Star Gazers' Stone located on Star Gazers' Farm near Embreeville, Pennsylvania, USA, marks the site of a temporary observatory established in January 1764 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon which they used in their survey of the Mason-Dixon li ...

marked an important astronomical observation point used by

Charles Mason Charles Mason (April 1728 Jeremiah Dixon Jeremiah Dixon FRS (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779) was an English surveyor and astronomer who is best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason–Dixon line. Early life and ...

in 1764 in surveying the Mason-Dixon line, which lies 15 miles south of the stone. It is also the location to a Pennsylvania state police station.

References

External links

A brief history of the Mason-Dixon survey line Star Gazer's StoneEmbreeville State HospitalEmbreeville MillARCH/National Register of Historic Places
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Chester County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania