How one man saved the historic Summerseat mansion in Morrisville from destruction
The Morrisville school board decided it had no other choice but to demolish a national shrine. Historians and others in town knew what Summerseat represented. It was once home to two signers of the Declaration of Independence including Philadelphia banker Robert Morris who financed the American Revolution. Even more important, it was the very place where George Washington conceived a surprise crossing of the Delaware River at Christmas 1776 to storm Trenton, seize the city from the British and take 1,000 prisoners.
To better envision this peril Summerseat faced in 1926, fellow history sleuth Wynne Wert and I recently visited the well-decorated mansion. Sam Davis, president of the Morrisville Historical Society, greeted us. The retired Trenton High School science teacher and fitness coach is imposing at 6-foot 4-inches tall with a commanding baritone voice, a man who often plays George Washington as an actor and singer. He’s emotional about preserving Summerseat amid a lack of state and federal assistance. Without it, borough citizens soldier on to repair and enhance the mansion. Inside and outside it’s a gem.
Having studied the history of Summerseat, I earlier shared with Wynne a century-old speech begging the borough school district not to level the two-story edifice. “Preserving Summerseat” was an impassioned plea by Morrisville Mayor Thomas Stockham in 1926 to save the “hallowed place”. The mayor noted how Summerseat dated back to 1678 when English immigrant John Wood settled 478 acres that eventually became Morrisville. By 1765, owner Adam Hoops constructed the hilltop mansion he called Summerseat overlooking Delaware River rapids and Trenton. Eleven years later, Gen. Washington made it his headquarters after the retreat of his army from New York City to safety in Bucks County. It’s in the mansion he conceived his grand stroke to save the Revolution.
In 1920, the Washington Heights Realty Company sold Summerseat and surrounding property to World War I veterans for an American Legion post. They set to work tearing down walls on the second floor to create an auditorium. The cost became too great. Subsequently, the Morrisville School District purchased the estate for a 3-story high school overshadowing the mansion. Left shuttered, the home experienced rapid deterioration, posing health and fire risks. Reluctantly, the board scheduled Summerseat’s demolition.
Aghast, Mayor Stockham addressed the school board. He urged it “to stay the hand of destruction until something could be done. This building on this site is not Morrisville’s, is not Bucks County’s, is not the Commonwealth’s, but the Nation’s own. Mount Vernon, the historical shrines of Boston, Tennet Church, Yorktown, Valley Forge and Washington Crossing are national shrines and Summerseat belongs side by side with them.
“Pull aside the veil that blinds us. These walls should not fall where the one great event occurred that fixed the destinies of the whole world. Here was the birthplace of the thought, here was reared the child of action who struck yonder across the river that blow which stunned an Empire.”
Moved by such eloquence, the school board shelved its plan. The Chamber of Commerce patched a large hole in Summerseat’s wall, and the board authorized a complete restoration to become the district’s administrative headquarters. Mayor Stockham, an architect, brought it to fruition in 1931.
Fifty years later the society took ownership. The obsolete school has been demolished, returning the mansion to its former stand-alone grandeur on the hillcrest adjacent to the open space of the borough’s new Patriot’s Park. Much has been accomplished since then through volunteer efforts, including repainting the entire mansion, weekend public tours and special events. Sam envisions an expanded historical attraction if grants can be obtained. Yet in his view Summerseat, turned down in the past, has yet to benefit in the way of other Revolutionary War sites. He vows to keep up the fight “for as long as I live.” With tears clouding his eyes, he gathered himself after a long pause in the second-floor Bonaparte Room. “I would do anything it takes to preserve Summerseat,” he began. “This is America’s House.”
Sources include “Preserving Summerseat”, a speech by Thomas B. Stockham before a Morrisville meeting on Sept. 25, 1926, and the “Historic Summerseat” website athttps://historicsummerseat.com/
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Saving Summerseat, where Washington turned course of Revolutionary War
