Birchrunville PA, the Town that Progress Passed By

Birchrunville is one of the most intact historic villages of Chester County. It is an example of a 19th Century village where tradesmen and millers lived in a symbiotic relationship with the farmers whose land surrounded the village. Its people supported a nearby iron mining settlement and its roads carried tradesmen and ore to Branson’s Vincent Forge on the French Creek.

On a recent Town Tour sponsored by Chester County, our guide told us that the marshy and hilly land was only suitable for farming and horses, which is why developers passed it by. As I left, my GPS said “no signal,” and the local policeman said that didn’t surprise him. It was like a local Brigadoon!  So many original historic homes remained along the hilly roads--and it was because they had a veil of secrecy over them. Either that or Toll Brothers would have nothing to do with this remote 19th Century village! Birchrunville was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. 

Need more information about historic homes in Chester County or New Castle and Kent Counties in Delaware? Contact Carolyn Roland, your older homes resource.