A Role in the American Revolution In 1740, a Welsh Quaker named John Havard, Jr. built a stone farmhouse on a large William Penn land grant, amid the fertile fields of Chester County’s Great Valley. During the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-78, the Havard family played host to a guest from France, General Louis Lebègue Duportail. Recruited by Benjamin Franklin, Duportail served as the army’s Chief Engineer, designing fortifications at Valley Forge that could enable Washington’s troops to hold off a potential attack by the British army, which was encamped in nearby Philadelphia.
Cressbrook Farm Fortunately, those defenses were never tested. After the departure of Washington, Duportail, and the Continental Army, the house and surrounding farm remained in the Havard/Davis family until 1903. In April of that year, the property was purchased by Lawrence McCormick, who was the general manager of the elegant Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. The property became known as Cressbrook Farm at this time because watercress grown in the streams on the property was used in the kitchens of the Bellevue Stratford. It was during renovations of the house for Mr. McCormick that General Duportail’s original map of the Valley Forge defenses was found in the attic rafters. Since 1908, the map has been in the collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.
General Duportail’s original map of the Valley Forge defenses
History of Duportail House
A Role in the American Revolution
In 1740, a Welsh Quaker named John Havard, Jr. built a stone farmhouse on a large William Penn land grant, amid the fertile fields of Chester County’s Great Valley. During the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-78, the Havard family played host to a guest from France, General Louis Lebègue Duportail. Recruited by Benjamin Franklin, Duportail served as the army’s Chief Engineer, designing fortifications at Valley Forge that could enable Washington’s troops to hold off a potential attack by the British army, which was encamped in nearby Philadelphia.
Cressbrook Farm
Fortunately, those defenses were never tested. After the departure of Washington, Duportail, and the Continental Army, the house and surrounding farm remained in the Havard/Davis family until 1903. In April of that year, the property was purchased by Lawrence McCormick, who was the general manager of the elegant Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. The property became known as Cressbrook Farm at this time because watercress grown in the streams on the property was used in the kitchens of the Bellevue Stratford. It was during renovations of the house for Mr. McCormick that General Duportail’s original map of the Valley Forge defenses was found in the attic rafters. Since 1908, the map has been in the collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.