Chadds Ford was an ideal place back on Sept. 9, 1777, for Gen. George Washington’s Headquarters as his Continental Army plotted to attack the British army, writes Troy Grubb in Pennsylvania Heritage.
The town, then known as Chads Ford, was on the Great Nottingham Road, (U.S. Route 1) and along the banks of the Brandywine Creek.
Washington established his headquarters in the home of Benjamin Ring.
Then, just two days later, on Sept. 11, the British instead attacked the flank of Washington’s army at the Battle of Brandywine, sending Washington into retreat.
Over the following decades, the Ring House became recognized as Washington’s Headquarters.
In 1931, the house was damaged in a fire, a relic for nearly two decades.
When Pennsylvania created Brandywine Battlefield Park, it purchased the Ring home and hired architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh to reconstruct Washington’s Headquarters as it would have looked during the Revolutionary War.
On the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1952, Brandywine Battlefield Park and Washington’s Headquarters opened to the public.
Today, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission administers the park and continues preservation efforts at the former Ring House.
Find out more about the history of Washington’s Headquarters in Chadds Ford in Pennsylvania Heritage.
