Today I want to tell you a long story which began in William Penn’s days, continued into the era of mass settlement in Pennsylvania, reached its culmination in the middle of 19th century and is not yet over.
The abandoned place, we are heading today, is known as Slateford Farm. It used to be a large farmstead in its best years, but now it stands as a silent monument to the agricultural heritage of Pennsylvania, secluded in the picturesque woodland of Mount Bethel in Northampton County. The farm’s history, made by the people used to live here, is unique, yet representative of American agriculture and industry.
The roots of the farm history can be traced to a suspicious agreement between family of William Penn and the Lenape native Indians.
In that infamous agreement, known as the Walking Purchase of 1737, Richard and Thomas Penn, sons of the province's founder, obtained a large tract of land along Delaware River from the native Indians. Once Thomas Penn authorized the Walking Purchase, Lenape people were forced out of the Delaware Water Gap region and the area was thrown open for settlement.
The Penn brothers followed father steps to establish Northampton County for and to sell land to favored individuals. One of these parcels of land later became the Slateford Farm, we are going to explore today.
In 1753, Thomas and Richard Penn, sold the parcel to Nicholas Scull (1687–1761), the province's surveyor.
The property was under Nicholas Scull’s ownership for a short time, around a year and he didn’t make any kind of improvement on it.
Amos Strettell grew up to be an influential trader in Philadelphia. In 1752, he participated in the establishment of the first fire insurance company in America, being elected a director along with Benjamin Franklin.
I didn’t found any significant records about Amos Strettell’s life, however came across two his letters dated back 1772 in General Correspondence of George Washington.
In 1754, he sold the land to a Quaker, Amos Strettell (1720 - 1780), who was a wealthy merchant and landowner in Philadelphia. Amos Strettell belonged to a family of Irish immigrants, who landed in Philadelphia in 1736.
Amos Strettell bequeathed the land at his death in 1780 to his two daughters Ann (1755 -1792) and Frances (1758 -…). The property, they got, didn’t have any structural improvements, it was just a parcel of woodland.
Again, no mention was made in the brief biographies of the Ann and Frances ownership of the property in Northampton County. No information is thus known about any construction or farming the Strettell sisters might have had done on the parcel they inherited.
On April 17, 1790, less than two years before Ann's death her family sold "that parcel and tract of Land Situate lying in and being in Mount Bethel Township County of Northampton" to Samuel Piper (born between 1736(40)–1812), a "yeoman" of Northampton County for "seven hundred and eighty two pounds ten shillings lawful money of Pennsylvania."
Samuel Pipher Sr. was an experienced farmer and began to develop the farm with adding acreages and starting construction works. Although, it is probable that some buildings and cleared fields existed on the property when Samuel Pipher bought it. First evidence of structural improvements, done by him, was reflected in 1798 tax records of the county, in which Samuel Pipher paid a direct tax on a wooden two-storey house.
The Slateford Farm main house was built by Peter Pipher (1791-1871), a son of Samuel in 1833. The place was known as Pipher Farm those years.
00:00 Prehistory of the abandoned farm
02:45 Main house, 1833
04:47 Abandoned cabin exploration , 1800-1810
06:57 Bedroom
08:34 Historic notes at the walls
09:54 Attic
12:11 Basement
References for more info and historical photos:
Davis's 1877 History of Northampton Co, PA
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/northampton/history/local/davis/davis27.txt
Slateford House, Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.pa0660.photos?st=gallery
https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.pa0660.sheet?st=gallery
The NPS History Electronic Library & Archive
Delaware Water Gap. Slateford farm
https://npshistory.com/publications/dewa/slateford_farm_hfr.pdf
Historic Resource Study - Slateford Farm. Prepared by Sharon A. Brown, 1985
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/dewa/slateford_farm/contents.htm#figures
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I search and explore alone ghost towns, historic, abandoned, haunted places in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. My explorations are based on local creepy legends and old maps research and aimed to discover something new in urban exploring.
Hadden abandoned farm in PA. Discovering forgotten history of Slateford farm, Pennsylvania.
Please be respectful to ghost towns, haunted and abandoned houses! No trash and graffiti!
Music credit:
Max Anson - Hours;
Kikoru - Creeping Up the Backstairs;
Amos Noah - Into Pieces;
Ramin - Don't Cover Me.
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