Summerseat (Morrisville, Pennsylvania)

	Summerseat
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark
	Pennsylvania state historical marker
	Summerseat
Location	Clymer St. and Morris Ave., Morrisville, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°12′29.1″N 74°46′46.5″W / 40.208083°N 74.779583°W
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	c. 1770
Architectural style	Georgian
NRHP reference No.	71000685
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 17, 1971
Designated NHL	July 17, 1965
Designated PHMC	January 27, 1949

Summerseat, also known as the George Clymer House and Thomas Barclay House, is a historic house museum at Hillcrest and Legion Avenues in Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Built about 1765, it is the only house known to have been owned by two signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, Founding Fathers George Clymer and Robert Morris, and as a headquarters of General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. The house is now managed by the Morrisville Historical Society, which offers tours. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.^[3]^[4]

Description and history

Summerseat is located west of the central business district of Morrisville, sharing a property with Patriot's Park at the junction of Hillcrest and Legion Avenues. It is a 2+1⁄2-story masonry structure, built out of a combination of brick and stone. Its front and sides are brick, while the rear wall is stone. The main facade faces east, and is five bays wide, with a center entrance framed by pilasters and a fully pedimented gable. The interior follows a traditional center-hall plan, with four rooms on each floor. The interior retains some original features, despite having had non-residential uses.^[4]

The house was built about 1765 by Adam Hoops^[5] , and was owned by his son in law Thomas Barclay at the end of 1776, when George Washington occupied it as a military headquarters during the dark days of the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War. After the war the house was purchased by Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the principal financier of the war effort. Morris fell upon financial hard times owing to failed real estate speculation, and sold the house in 1806 to George Clymer, another signer of the Declaration. It is Clymer who named the property "Summerseat", and it was his home until his death in 1813.^[4]

The house was restored in 1931 and converted for use as a school administrative building in 1935.^[4] Summerseat is now owned and operated as a house museum by the Historic Morrisville Society. The house is open to the public for tours on the first Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Admission is $7.00 per person, children under the age 12 are free.

References

^ "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ ^a ^b "Summerseat". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Charles W. Snell (February 9, 1971). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 2 photos, exterior, from 1970 (32 KB)
^ Roberts, Priscilla H., et al. “Adam Hoops, Thomas Barclay, and the House in Morrisville Known as Summerseat, 1764-1791.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 90, no. 5, 2000, pp. i–106. JSTOR website Retrieved 10 Dec. 2022.

External links

Summerseat - Historic Morrisville Society
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. PA-5345, "Summerseat, Clymer Street & Morris Avenue (Morrisville Borough), Morrisville, Bucks County, PA", 24 photos, 2 color transparencies, 3 photo caption pages
HABS No. PA-5345-A, "Summerseat, Outbuildings, Clymer Street & Morris Avenue (Morrisville Borough), Morrisville, Bucks County, PA", 3 photos, 1 photo caption page
HABS No. PA-5345-B, "Summerseat, Barn, Clymer Street & Morris Avenue (Morrisville Borough), Morrisville, Bucks County, PA", 1 photo, 1 photo caption page

[phmcdatabase-1] "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Retrieved December 19, 2013.

[nris-2] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[nhlsum-3] "Summerseat". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2008.

[nrhpinv2-4] Charles W. Snell (February 9, 1971). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 2 photos, exterior, from 1970 (32 KB)

[5] Roberts, Priscilla H., et al. “Adam Hoops, Thomas Barclay, and the House in Morrisville Known as Summerseat, 1764-1791.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 90, no. 5, 2000, pp. i–106. JSTOR website Retrieved 10 Dec. 2022.

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v t e US National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
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v t e Robert Morris
United States Senator, Pennsylvania, 1789–1795 Superintendent of Finance of the United States, 1781–1784 Second Continental Congress, 1775–1778
United States Founding events	Financier of the American Revolution Signed, Declaration of Independence Signed, Articles of Confederation Signed, United States Constitution 1776 Model Treaty Committee of Secret Correspondence, Second Continental Congress Chairman, Pennsylvania Committee of Safety U.S. Superintendent of Finance Agent of the Marine Bank of North America Nova Constellatio Philadelphia as U.S. capital city, 1790–1800 Residence Act President's House
Other events	Willing, Morris & Co. (Slavery) Use of the dollar sign Newburgh Conspiracy Empress of China merchant ship Old China Trade Phelps and Gorham Purchase
Life	Early life Summerseat home 1788 U.S. Senate election Panic of 1796–97 Christ Church, Philadelphia, burial site
Legacy	Robert Morris University, Pennsylvania Robert Morris University, Illinois Robert Morris statue, Philadelphia Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington Heald Square Monument, Chicago Mount Morris, New York village dam Morrisville, Pennsylvania USS Morris Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
Related	Thomas Morris (son) Founding Fathers Thomas Willing Haym Salomon Betsy Ross flag USS Alfred

Description and history

See also

References

External links