Town · West Chester, Chester County
West Chester
The Chester County seat, a handsome college town of brick and green serpentine stone, with a Greek Revival courthouse and a lively downtown of restaurants and shops.
West Chester has been the seat of Chester County since 1786, and its downtown is a grid of brick sidewalks and handsome nineteenth-century buildings. At the central crossroads stands the Greek Revival courthouse designed by Thomas U. Walter, who later designed the dome of the Capitol in Washington. West Chester University gives the town a young crowd, and Gay and High streets are lined with restaurants and shops that stay busy into the evening.
The Chester County History Center, downtown, tells the county's story from the Lenape onward. West Chester also makes a good base for the Brandywine Valley: the Brandywine Battlefield and the Brandywine Museum of Art at Chadds Ford are a short drive south, and Longwood Gardens is a little farther.
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In and around West Chester
Museum · West Chester, Chester County
Chester County History Center
The county's history museum and research library, with tall-case clocks, early furniture, quilts and historic clothing, and exhibits on three centuries of local stories.
State historic site · Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County
Brandywine Battlefield Park
Part of the ground of the 1777 Battle of Brandywine, one of the largest battles of the Revolution, with the farmhouses used as quarters by Washington and Lafayette.
Museum · Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County
Brandywine Museum of Art
Three generations of Wyeth family art in a converted 19th-century grist mill on the Brandywine River, surrounded by native-plant gardens.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Public Garden · East Marlborough Township, Chester County
Longwood Gardens
Pierre S. du Pont's garden masterpiece: a vast conservatory, dancing fountains, meadow and woodland walks, and a famous holiday light display.
Also nearby
Nearby
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Chester County History Center
The county's history museum and research library, with tall-case clocks, early furniture, quilts and historic clothing, and exhibits on three centuries of local stories.
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Brandywine Battlefield Park
Part of the ground of the 1777 Battle of Brandywine, one of the largest battles of the Revolution, with the farmhouses used as quarters by Washington and Lafayette.
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Chadds Ford
A Brandywine Valley village known for the Wyeth family of painters, the Brandywine Museum of Art and the 1777 Battle of Brandywine.
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Brandywine Museum of Art
Three generations of Wyeth family art in a converted 19th-century grist mill on the Brandywine River, surrounded by native-plant gardens.
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Longwood Gardens
Pierre S. du Pont's garden masterpiece: a vast conservatory, dancing fountains, meadow and woodland walks, and a famous holiday light display.
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Ridley Creek State Park
Wooded hills and meadows along a trout stream, with a paved multi-use loop, bridle paths and the old mill village of Sycamore Mills; the Tyler Arboretum is right next door.