Pleasant Hill Plantation | |
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| Location | Little Conestoga Road near Glenmoore, West Nantmeal Township, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 40°7′2″N75°47′0″W / 40.11722°N 75.78333°W |
| Area | 6.8 acres (2.8 ha) |
| Built | c. 1780 |
| NRHP reference No. | 83002227 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | February 24, 1983 |
Pleasant Hill Plantation, also known as Van Leer Place, is a historic stone farmhouse located near Glen Moore in West Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The original structure of two stories and three bays was built by Matthew Robinson or Robertson, probably before the American Revolution. He died in 1792 and left the house to his son David. Around 1800, it was sold to the Lewis brothers, John and Samuel. They were probably responsible for the addition of two bays on the west side of the house at this time. Local tradition associates the house with a tavern, possibly at this time; however, if so, it was never licensed to dispense liquor. In addition to their reputed tavern-keeping, the Lewises also opened an iron mine on the farm. They lost the property in 1824 when it was sold by the sheriff to Isaac Wayne Van Leer. [2]
Van Leer, a grandnephew of Anthony Wayne, was the son of William R. Van Leer, a local ironmaster and grandson of Samuel Van Leer a Captain in American Revolutionary War. Isaac Wayne was a progressive agriculturalist and horticulturalist. Isaac's renovations were influenced by his family's estate on the Reading Furnace. He enlarged an existing structure into a barn soon after purchase and replaced the old log kitchen with a new addition to the house in 1843. Van Leer also added gilt paint and other fashionable touches to the house. He called upon friends and family from other states to help plant rarities and build an arboretum. His grandnephew, George Howard Earle III (later Governor of Pennsylvania) was born at the house in 1890. After Van Leer's death in 1896, the condition of Pleasant Hill deteriorated, particularly when it was rented out during the 1930s and eventually ransacked. It was restored in 1948 and remains a private residence. [2]
Pleasant Hill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 1983. [1]
Van Leer may refer to:
Cooksville is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. As of 2016, the population was 631. The town was founded by Thomas Cook in 1802. The crossroads town was anchored by the Joshua Roberts Tavern, where General Lafayette visited in 1824. The inn was destroyed by fire, rebuilt, and demolished a second time. Thomas Cook exchanged his stake in Cooksville with Thomas Beale Dorsey for the 231-acre Round About Hills slave plantation. A Post Office opened on the 4th of July 1851, the same year Howard County was formed from a portion of Anne Arundel County. Roberts Inn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Hill's Tavern is a historic building in Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania. It was heavily damaged by a fire that started shortly before midnight on August 17, 2015. For a period in the early 1900s, the inn was known as Central Hotel. Now called the Century Inn, it has been claimed to have been the oldest tavern in continuous use on the National Road, until the fire brought an end to its 221 years of continuous operation.
The Morton Homestead is an historic, American homestead that is part of Morton Homestead State Park, which is located at 100 Lincoln Avenue in Prospect Park, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Fort Pleasant — formerly known as Fort Van Meter and Town Fort and still also known as the Isaac Van Meter House — is a historic site located near the unincorporated community of Old Fields about 5 miles north of Moorefield in Hardy County, West Virginia, U.S. Situated on the South Branch Potomac River, a young Colonel George Washington directed a fortification to be built here in 1756 during the escalating hostilities with Native Americans and French known as the French and Indian War. The fierce skirmish known as the Battle of the Trough occurred about a mile and a half away the same year. The existing Federal style house, built just after the American Revolution, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Neal Log House is a historic log cabin built in 1765 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Neal Log House is the oldest existing residential structure in Pittsburgh and one of the last few buildings left from the eighteenth century. The two other buildings — the Old Stone Inn and The Fort Pitt Block House (1764) — are not residential structures. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation placed a Historic Landmark Plaque on the building in 1970. In 1977, it was named a City of Pittsburgh Designated Historic Structure. It is part of Schenley Park U.S. Historic District.
The Thornton Village Historic District is a national historic district that is located in Thornbury Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Situated in the crossroads at the intersection of Glen Mills and Thornton Roads in the village of Thornton, this district includes thirteen contributing buildings that were built between 1750 and 1855, some of which were created in the Federal style.
White Chimneys is an historic, American home that is located in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A large white mansion directly adjacent to U.S. Route 30, the premises were listed on The National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Thomas Bull House, also known as Robert's Plantation, the Redding Plantation, and Mt. Pleasant, is an historic, American home that is located in East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Lahr Farm is a historic home and farm located in Warwick Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was originally owned by a wealthy Quaker ironmaster William Branson and part of his Reading Furnace estate. The farm has three contributing buildings; the main house, bank barn, and wash hour or latchen. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story, four-bay by two-bay, fieldstone dwelling with a gable roof. The farm was inherited by Branon's grandson a wealthy ironmaster Samuel Van Leer. The Van Leer Family's original surname spelling was Von Lahr. The farm remained in the Lahr family from 1834 to 1938.
Hibernia House is an historic home which is located in Hibernia County Park, near Wagontown, West Caln Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The Drouillard House is a historic house at Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee. Built in 1868–1870 in the vicinity of Cumberland Furnace, the three-story house was a summer residence for Nashville socialite Mary Florence Kirkman and her husband Captain James Pierre Drouillard. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since December 27, 1977. It is also part of the Cumberland Furnace Historic District.
The Atherton Farmstead is a historic farm property at 31 Greenbush Road in Cavendish, Vermont. The farmhouse, built in 1785, is one of the oldest in the rural community, and is its oldest known surviving tavern house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
Van Leer Cabin, is a historic cabin and one of the last historical dwellings in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It still stands on the grounds of Conestoga High School.
Captain Samuel Van Leer was a military officer from Pennsylvania who served as a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and as a lieutenant in the Chester County Light Horse Volunteers from 1781 to 1785. After his retirement from the military, he owned the Reading Furnace ironworks.
Bernardhus Van Leer was a German-American early settler of the Province of Pennsylvania. He worked as a physician and was father of American Revolutionary War Captain Samuel Van Leer.
Mortonson–Van Leer Log Cabin, is a historic cabin and one of the last historical dwellings in Swedesboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. It stands on the grounds of the cemetery of the Trinity Church. It is one of the oldest original log cabins of early Swedish-Finnish architecture in the United States.
Isaac Van Leer was a Pennsylvania ironmaster and owned the Hibernia Furnace, Springton Forge and historic Hibernia House in West Caln Township, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the influential Van Leer family and was the son of Samuel Van Leer, a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
John Pugh Van Leer was an American military officer who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the 6th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry regiment and was killed during the Battle of Williamsburg. He was a member of the influential Van Leer family and his ancestors were some the earliest settlers of the Pennsylvania Colony.
The Van Leer family, originally spelled Von Lohr, is an influential German-American family that emigrated to the Province of Pennsylvania in the 17th century from the Electorate of Hesse near Isenberg, Germany. The family made their fortune in the United States through the ironworks business. The family includes American business owners, academics, civil rights activists, women's rights activists, university founders, inventors, politicians, and military officers. Earlier spellings include Von Leer, Von Lohr, and the ancient surname Valär.
