MANOR HOUSE
The Pre-Revolutionary manor house is located at Hidden Valley Ln. and York St. and may be rented by residents of the Newtown Crossing Community Association for private parties and events.
This historic stone manor house may be rented by members of the Newtown Crossing Community Association for a nominal fee. Currently, the Manor House costs $150/day plus $150 deposit which is returned if proper cleanup is accomplished. The Spring House costs $100/day plus deposit. There are no overnight stays allowed. Members interested in further information about the manor house or spring house including rentals for meetings, parties, or wedding receptions should contact Bonnie Dettra at 215-860-9818.
Newtown Crossing resident Henry Piotrowski sent this historical information:
The following information regarding the Newtown Crossing Manor House was obtained from "A History of Land Ownership Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1683-1850," by Thomas C. Mayer, Newtown Historic Association. Adams Apple Press, Bedminster, PA, October. 1999.
Special thanks for helping with the research is extended to David Callahan of the Newtown Historic Association.
The land on which the Manor House, and indeed the whole of Newtown Crossing, is situated is intimately connected with familiar and long standing Newtown area family names such as Twining, Leedom, Hicks, and others.
Mayer notes in chapter 2 entitled "Thomas Rouland: Twining Family" that "the land comprising the Twining estate of the 18th century was derived from a tract shown by Thomas Holme as belonging originally to Thomas "Rouland." Newtown Crossing is located within this tract of land. And, a historic house (identified as #9) is described as a "stone house dating to Captain Henry Vanhorn's period of land ownership, built in 1765. It is now a clubhouse of the Newtown Crossing Homeowners Association."
Historic house #10 is described as the "site of the original Vanhorn homestead, earliest section built by Christian Vanhorn, c1735. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the David Leedom Farmstead. This property was also the subject of an Edward Hicks farmscape." Residents will find this home located in Liberty Square (Leedom Way off of Mill Pond Rd.).
Further, in a section referencing the deeding of land sections to "all three Leedom brothers" Mayer notes in a paragraph regarding the Charles Leedom Farm that "the stone farmhouse located in the southwest corner of Jesse Leedom's plantation was probably built by Henry Vanhorn soon after he received the land in 1761. The datestone is 1765. It served as the "Manor House" of the elaborate Lawrence J. Pearson "Hidden Valley Farm" and now is the homeowner's recreation center of the Newtown Crossing development."
Rentals of Manor House & Spring House Now Permitted
The Manor House and Spring House are available to rent.
The Manor House rents for $150.00 along with a $150.00 refundable deposit and the Spring House is $100.00 rent plus $100 deposit. Rental is available only to members of the Newtown Crossing Community Association.
Contact Bonnie Dettra at 215-860-9818.