I know, George Washington spent a lot of time in New Jersey and Pennsylvania during the Revolution, so he slept in plenty of places. (And in the tent, of course).
But this was a new one for me: Summerseat, up on a hill not far from the Delaware River in Morrisville, PA.
Washington turned this house into his headquarters for about a week in 1776, before moving on — I’m guessing to somewhere further north, closer to where he and his troops crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 so they could march to Trenton.
Two signers of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution lived here.
Today it appears to be an unoccupied historic mansion, open for public tours twice a month and otherwise available for private tours and events.
The house is only a few blocks from the D&L Trail, near the new ramps leading up from the canal to a road crossing. I learned about it because the distillery by that ramp named its vodka after it. So we made the house a stop on a 32-mile bike ride on the D&L trail from the Pennsylvania side of the Scudders Falls bridge, a bit north of Yardley, to Bristol.
There’s a small parking lot on the New Jersey side that we used and a bike path along the Scudders Falls bridge that gets you across the Delaware.
The trail: mostly tranquil, occasionally interrupted by the sounds of Amtrak trains nearby. Oh yeah, and those two teenage boys who roared by on ATVs at one point. A blue heron patiently stood knee-deep or so (do herons have knees?) in the Delaware Canal’s water posing for my photos. The towpath surface is mostly a red clay, so a bit muddy in spots when it’s just rained.
We’ve been to downtown Bristol several times since discovering the D&L Trail, so this time we biked along the riverfront. I don’t recall appreciating the number of beautiful old homes from a wealthier era.
The big name is Joseph Grundy, whose mansion is on the water and is now a museum. We’ll be back for one of the free house tours.
Exploring by bicycle 