Locust Grove is the oldest village in Pocopson Township, established in 1863 by businessman Pennock Marshall, who envisioned a settlement modeled on William Penn’s “Greene Country Towne.” Marshall laid out three streets among a stand of locust trees and planned 29 lots. The village never grew beyond two dozen families, but many of its original buildings survive — and together they tell a rich story of Quaker farm life, abolitionism, small-town commerce, and the slow rhythms of rural Chester County.
Stop One: Barnard House
The tour begins at the Eusebius Barnard House, an early 19th-century stone farmhouse and documented stop on the Underground Railroad. Barnard was an ardent abolitionist, temperance reformer, and advocate for women’s rights. He operated the property as a conductor on the Railroad alongside his first wife, Sarah Painter, and later his second wife, Sarah Marsh — whose parents were also conductors. Barnard was among the signatories to the 1848 Petition for the Division of Pennsbury Township, which created Pocopson Township. The property remained in family hands until 1944 and is now owned by Pocopson Township.
Farming in Pocopson Township
Agriculture defined early Pocopson Township. By the mid-19th century, local farms were adapting to competition from larger western operations, shifting from wheat and corn toward dairy, mushrooms, fruit, and nursery products. Tobacco became a notable cash crop, with production rising from 2,400 pounds in 1869 to 600,000 pounds in 1889. Dairy proved especially important — Chester County sold 1.6 million gallons of milk in 1870 alone — and creameries sprang up across the township to process it. Timber was also significant, with logs shipped as far as Germany in the late 1880s. Several active farms operate in the township to this day.
Log Cabin No. 1
One of the oldest surviving structures in Chester County, this log cabin likely dates to around 1700. At some point a Victorian house was built around it, doubling its size; the Victorian structure was later demolished, exposing the cabin again, but it has been covered again. Caleb Harvey, one of its later occupants, grew vegetables on the property and sold his produce at the West Chester market every Saturday, making the trip in his Model T until his death in 1952.
Locust Grove Schoolhouse
Built in 1870 on land owned by Abram W. and Ida Bernard Baily, the Locust Grove Schoolhouse served students aged 5 to 16 in a single room, and doubled as a township meeting place, Sunday school, and polling location. A date stone above the portico marks a rebuilding that expanded the original foundation and added cloakrooms, a belfry, and a formal entry. The school closed in 1923 when improved roads allowed consolidation with neighboring schools. Purchased by Pocopson Township in 2004, the building is open to visitors.
Windy Hill Farm
The Eaby family came to Locust Grove in the early 1900s, raising nine children on this property. One child was lost to the 1918 influenza epidemic. Horace, the youngest, was the last of the family to remain connected to the farm.
Baily Farm
The property features a springhouse and was once served by a water-powered ram pump that drew water from a dammed creek and pushed it up to a wooden tank in the house attic, from which it flowed by gravity to the kitchen below. The farm is now home to Baily’s Dairy; more at bailysdairy.com.
Lenni-Lenape Camp
Long before European settlement, the Lenni-Lenape reportedly camped, hunted, and fished on this land. An Indian burial ground is rumored to lie at the corner of Locust Grove and Corinne Roads. The Brandywine Creek, roughly two miles north, provided abundant fish; an ever-flowing spring made the site especially hospitable. Early farmers regularly turned up arrowheads and hatchets when plowing the fields.
Blacksmith Shop
After returning from Civil War service, Robert Brittingham established a blacksmith shop in this building. The original structure still stands beside the garage. The shop also served as a polling place for the village.
General Store and Post Office
Pennock Marshall built a store on this quarter-acre lot at the corner of Locust Grove and Corinne Roads in 1841. The Caldwell family ran it from 1860 to 1930, becoming one of the village’s most prominent families. The village’s post office, opened within the store on February 21, 1889, came to be called “Corinne” after a young resident named Harry Caldwell attended a Philadelphia play and returned inspired by its heroine. The post office closed in 1915 — no one would take on the postmaster role after Robert Caldwell resigned at age 93 — but the name lives on as Corinne Road.
Log Cabin No. 2
Owned by Samuel Sellers in 1766 and likely dating to the early 1700s, this log cabin is one of the earliest surviving buildings in Pocopson Township. Its occupants almost certainly watched British troops pass by on September 11, 1777, the day of the Battle of the Brandywine.
Pocopson Park
From the 1950s to 1971, this land was part of a farm owned by A.W. Browning, a native Virginian married into the du Pont family. His son Ted, a landscape architect, environmentalist, and writer, dedicated his life to the study and preservation of the Brandywine Valley. Ted taught landscape design at the University of Delaware and worked extensively with the Brandywine Conservancy. His weekly column “Notes from Turtle Creek” ran in The Kennett Paper; the articles were collected and published by the Conservancy in 1991.
Turtle Creek Farm
This property is the former home of environmentalist and author Ted Browning, whose series of articles describing natural phenomena around Chester County were collected and published by the Brandywine Conservancy in Ted Browning: Notes from Turtle Creek (1991). The property features a Chester County bank barn later restored by Amish builder Steve Stoltzfus. The barn is built into the hillside to allow animals on the lower level and threshing and storage above, with easy wagon access from the high side. Browning built the adjacent A-frame house in 1985 and called it “The Solution.”
Longmeadow Farm
One of the most beautifully preserved properties on the tour, Longmeadow Farm has had only three owners since Samuel and Jane Sellers built a log house here in 1740, followed by an adjoining stone house in 1782. The original tract was 2,000 acres; the house and outbuildings now sit on 11.5 acres under a conservancy easement. The site also features a windmill and cistern water system, a corncrib, an 18th-century workshop, and a former dairy barn.
Springbrook Farm
This working property blends centuries of history with active community use. Inside the original stone farmhouse, a stone-lined hand-dug well is visible through a trap door in the kitchen floor — roughly 6,000 artifacts have been recovered from it. The site also includes a carriage house built in 1883, a springhouse, and a “post and beam” Pennsylvania bank barn built in the historic tradition. The farm is home to The Barn at Springbrook Farm, a nonprofit providing animal-assisted activities to children with disabilities; more at springbrook-farm.org.