Hannah Miles Farm

Hannah Miles Farm

Shortly after the grant of land to William Penn was made, around the year 1681, Penn decided to start his colony over in the New World. Penn split up the land in his area, and one piece ended up in the hands of a man named Wickersham. We believe he was a grandfather, and that he spit up his large piece of land into smaller parts. When he died, his belongings were probably spit up among his grandsons. This most likely includes most of the land in the Unionville Area, and some of Chad's Ford.

The grandsons did different things with the land. Some farmed it, while others started businesses on it. The land that is now the site of the land that used to be the Hanna Miles Farm remained relatively undeveloped until the middle 1700s to the mid 1800s. There is no way to know for certain when.

In the year 1776, the United States declared independence from the Ruling Monarchy of English Empire. This sparked the Revolutionary War. This war had a profound effect on how and who would own the area.

On the eleventh of September, 1777, the British Army, marched up Northbrook Road, which is still in existence today, and headed toward the Battle of the Brandywine in which they would participate later that day. Northbrook Road marks the eastern edge of the Hanna Miles Farm. If you walk along the edge of Northbrook Road, and dig in the dirt, you may very well find some musket balls or other things. Legend has it that that someone hiding in the area warned the Americans that they were coming, but most dismiss this as a myth.

Sometime between this time and the beginning of the Civil War, the Unionville General Store was established. This was a little store where a farmer could buy feed for his horses or seeds to plant, or a builder could recruit workers or buy nails. You could get just about any provision at a general store. This store was so well known in the area, when steam was invented, it had it's own stop on the Unionville-Lenape Trolley, which used to run from Unionville to Lenape along where, strangely enough, Unionville-Lenape (or Lenape-Unionville) Road runs today.

The store consisted of a hill entrance store, and a ground-level entrance basement, which could keep things cold. If the storeowner wanted to keep something even colder (fresh eggs, for example) he could take it down to the springhouse. The springhouse was built around the same time as the general store. The general store expanded to double its size (approximately 30'x15', instead of 15'x15') in the following years.

The next major addition on to the general store is what is now used as a kitchen. We do not know its original purpose. Later, second and third floors were added to the original store. By this time, the house was probably owned by Hanna Miles.

Hanna inherited the farm from her husband. It is said that many in the area expected her to remarry, because they did not believe she had what it took to run a farm. She never did remarry (she already had children), and she ran the farm as well or better than her late husband did. In the time she owned the house, she built a large barn and a shed. The barn crumbled after she died, and it is now in use as the walls surrounding a swimming pool. Also, after she died, the springhouse crumbled as well.

In the mid-1800s, the Civil War began. Some believe that the people who owned this house at the time may have hidden slaves, but there is no firm proof to that effect, although there are many places where an escaped slave could have been hidden from the local authorities or a slave catcher.

We found that the orginal owner of the estate was James Wickersham in 1803. Wickersham owned the estate for most of his life until he sold it to Walter Martin in 1876. Martin sold the estate in 1892 to Charles Gillen. Gillen then sold it to Benjamin Valentino in 1906. Francis L. Carpenter bought the estate in 1918, and quickly sold it to Sally Sager also in 1918. Sager owned the house for a short period of time until she it to Emma Philips. Joe Wilson then bought the house from Phillips in 1921. Wilson then sold the house to what we believe to be three different brothers who bought the estate in three different decades. First, Carlo Formi bought the estate in 1923. Formi then sold it to what we think was his brother Charles Formi. Finally, Charles Formi sold it to the last Formi who owned the estate, Antonio Formi, in 1942. Formi owned the house for a relatively short period of time, until he sold it to Edward Wynne in 1946. Wynne quickly sold the estate to Robert Ralston in 1947. Ralston owned it until he sold it to Paul Foster in 1994, who is the current owner.

This house has changed in many ways, it has evolved from a one story, small, little shop, to a three-story house, with pool and everything. This house has also seen many owners, and is currently under the care of Mr. Paul Foster, P. E. The barn has now been turned into a swimming pool (after a fire burnt down that barn). The storage house is now a garage, and a new room is being added on the East Side of the house.

This house, on the Hannah Miles Estate, is historic in many ways; it was constructed during the 1700's and has undergone many changes, from land and ownership, to additional sections and rooms.

During the Revolutionary war, the Redcoats had a high concentration of loyalists in this area, and this is where they decided they would get the most help in a battle. So they staged a battle plan, and it became known as the Battle of the Brandywine. During this battle, the Redcoats marched up and down the road nearby the house several times, and skirmishes between Redcoats and patriotic forces happened nearby. One of the important British attacks actually happened only an eighth of a mile away!

The second era of the house is the Civil War. While a battle where people died of gun wounds was fought far away, a different type of battle was happening in the house itself. This battle was much more lethal in a much different way. This battle was also well known, but much more ethical. The battle was the fight between the Underground Railroad and the slave pursuers. This house was known for hiding slaves in it's attic, cellar, and any other part of the house that had space for hiding things or people, including the barn. However, the house itself was also changing. There were new floors added to the house. There were improvements made on old parts of the house. A storage house was put together next to the newly redone barn, which had burnt down. New owners were coming and going. The house was almost evolving.

Hannah Miles Farm| King Ranch