Polecat Road House

Polecat Road House (Resource #141)

Mills were commonplace throughout the waterways of Delaware County in the early years of William Penn’s colony, and required mill workers to keep them running. This modest house exemplifies how those early families lived in support of the mill nearby, and is unique in that it preserves how the non-wealthy people of the area lived in contrast to the typical preservation home of the wealthy.

Inside Polecat Road House

 

 

The house is a stone 1 ½ story duplex, which housed two families. Each family occupied one room on the first floor with a corner fireplace, a cellar below, and an attic space above. There was a wooden dividing wall between the two families on the first and attic floors, and a stone wall in the cellar. Corner stairways provided access.

Thomas King was the original first purchaser from William Penn in 1684 but he later sold the 200 acres, only to purchase 50 acres with ‘a dwelling house’ in 1696.   Area architects date this home to about 1750, but it is likely that it is much earlier, perhaps before 1700. It became part of the Trimble Mill in the late 1700’s, on the same west branch of the Chester Creek as the Newlin Grist Mill.

In 1967, this house on one acre was donated to Concord Township as part of the Fox Valley development. The Concord Township Historical Society was formed to restore and preserve it. It Is the Society’s founding symbol.

REV August 2021