Summerseat, also known as the George Clymer House and Thomas Barclay House, is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at Hillcrest and Legion Avenues in

Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania Morrisville (, ) is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located just below the falls of the Delaware River opposite Trenton, New Jersey. The population was 8,728 at the 2010 census. Morrisville is located southeast o ...

. Built about 1765, it is the only house known to have been owned by two signers of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

, Founding Fathers

George Clymer George Clymer (March 16, 1739January 23, 1813) was an American politician, abolitionist and Founding Father of the United States, one of only six founders who signed both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. He was among the e ...

and Robert Morris, and as a headquarters of General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

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 a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The house is now managed by the Morrisville Historical Society, which offers tours. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1965. and

Description and history

Summerseat is located west of the central business district of Morrisville, sharing a property with Patriot's Park at the junction of Hillcrest and Legion Avenues. It is a -story masonry structure, built out of a combination of brick and stone. Its front and sides are brick, while the rear wall is stone. The main facade faces east, and is five bays wide, with a center entrance framed by pilasters and a fully pedimented gable. The interior follows a traditional center-hall plan, with four rooms on each floor. The interior retains some original features, despite having had non-residential uses. The house was built about 1765 by Adam HoopsRoberts, Priscilla H., et al. “Adam Hoops, Thomas Barclay, and the House in Morrisville Known as Summerseat, 1764-1791.” ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', vol. 90, no. 5, 2000, pp. i–106
JSTOR website
Retrieved 10 Dec. 2022. , and was owned by his son in law Thomas Barclay at the end of 1776, when

occupied it as a military headquarters during the dark days of the New York and New Jersey campaign of the

. After the war the house was purchased by Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the principal financier of the war effort. Morris fell upon financial hard times owing to failed real estate speculation, and sold the house in 1806 to

, another signer of the Declaration. It is Clymer who named the property "Summerseat", and it was his home until his death in 1813. The house was restored in 1931 and converted for use as a school administrative building in 1935. Summerseat is now owned and operated as a house museum by the Historic Morrisville Society. The house is open to the public for tours on the first Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Admission is $7.00 per person, children under the age 12 are free.

References

External links

Summerseat
- Historic Morrisville Society * * * {{Robert Morris, state=expanded National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1765 Museums in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Historic house museums in Pennsylvania Clymer, George Houses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania American Revolutionary War sites American Revolutionary War museums in Pennsylvania History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1770 establishments in Pennsylvania Homes of United States Founding Fathers

Description and history

See also

References

External links