Stenton House Museum & Gardens

Stenton is one of the earliest, best-preserved, and most believable historic houses in Philadelphia. Its distinguished Georgian architecture, outstanding collections, and superb documentation combine to create one of the most authentic house museums in the region. Stenton was built circa 1730 by James Logan, Secretary to Pennsylvania founder William Penn.  Since 1899, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has worked to “preserve and maintain Stenton as an historic object lesson.”  The three-acre site includes the main house, open for guided tours, as well as landscapes, buildings and objects from the early colonial era through the federal period.  Stenton has a rich and extensive gardening history, beginning with James Logan’s experiments with plants and mentoring of John Bartram, which had a significant impact on the field of botany; and continuing with his son, a horticulturist, and grandson, George Logan, who developed Stenton into a model farm.  Another gardening milestone at Stenton was the founding of the Garden Club of America in 1913.  Stenton maintains a Colonial Revival-style garden and landscape, designed by renowned Philadelphia landscape architect John Caspar Wister, which was the setting for this significant event.

 

Website: www.stenton.org