Cliveden

The History

In an attempt to avoid the yellow fever outbreaks that plagued Philadelphia in the mid- to late eighteenth century, Benjamin Chew purchased 11 acres of land in Germantown and constructed the Cliveden estate between 1763 and 1767.

The Cliveden estate played a major role in the Battle of Germantown.

Born on a Maryland plantation, Chew was the patriarch of one of the largest and latest slave-holding families in Philadelphia. The Chews’ wealth during the 18th and 19th centuries largely came directly or indirectly from slavery.

In the fall of 1777, the British occupied Philadelphia. In an attempt to reclaim the city, Gen. George Washington and at least 11,000 men decided to attack the city from the northwest — right through Germantown.

Dozens of British soldiers holed up in the estate and, over the course of several hours, successfully prevented the Americans from taking the house. More than 1,000 men from both sides were either killed or injured during the intense fight, and the Americans retreated in defeat.

The Experience

Today, all three centuries of the house’s existence are on display at the Cliveden estate, from musket-ball-pocked walls to authentic nineteenth-century Louis Vuitton trunks to an equally authentic 1950s kitchen (a result of Samuel Chew V’s attempts to modernize the house for his family).

Some of the furnishings in Cliveden are among the few left anywhere from early American woodworking masters James Reynolds, Jonathan Gostelowe and Thomas Affleck.

In the Carriage House, the “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness?” exhibit helps orient visitors to the history of Cliveden, and a short film highlights the ways that the estate is preserved and maintained.

Don’t Miss

Check out the so-called “Blood Portrait” on the estate’s second floor. The story goes that a British soldier, wounded fatally during the battle, used his final moments to etch a portrait of a loved one in his own blood on the wall of Cliveden.