Barns-Brinton House

In the early 1700s, blacksmith William Barns saw the need for a tavern on "ye Great Road to Nottingham," a major highway between Philadelphia and Maryland. In 1714, he built a house with distinctive Flemish bond brickwork and a diamond-patterned gable that served as his home and later as a tavern, with a private side for the Barns family and a barroom with sleeping quarters above for travelers. Barns requested a tavern license in 1722 and operated it for the accommodation of man and horse until at least 1726, but in 1728, when the tavern was in financial difficulty, the license was not allowed. When he died in 1731, he was in debt to 78 neighbors. In 1753, James Brinton, grandson of early settler William Brinton, purchased the house and farmland, and he owned it in 1777 during the Battle of the Brandywine. In 1938, the main road was moved from the south side of the building to the north. The Chadds Ford Historical Society, formed after concerned residents bought the dilapidated Chads home and springhouse in 1968, purchased the abandoned Barns-Brinton House in 1969. With restoration work supervised by architect John Milner, the building was returned to its original 18th-century appearance and opened as a house museum in the 1970s.

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania · United States