The Brandywine Battlefield and the Brandywine Battlefield National Historic Landmark: What's the Difference?
By Kathleen C. Wandersee
There has been a lot of activity and publicity lately about saving the Brandywine Battlefield. This has been confusing to many because the local Brandywine Battlefield Park is so familiar to us all. Why the efforts to save the Park? Isn’t it already saved? In fact, it has been "saved," but the Park is only a part of the Battlefield. The Battlefield efforts now are much, much larger encompassing the rest of the Battlefield. The entire area is called the Brandywine Battlefield National Historic Landmark. Below is a chart that may help sort out the differences.
|
PARK |
NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK |
|
|
Size And Location |
50 Acres on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford Township |
10 Square Miles covering parts of six municipalities in two counties |
|
Ownership |
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |
Over 800 privately owned parcels of land |
|
Date Established |
1949 (by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) |
1961 (By the United States National Park Service of the Department of the Interior) |
|
Historic Sites |
Washington’s Headquarters |
Terrain, archaeological sites and buildings involved in the Battle action of 1777 |
|
Administration |
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |
At present, a collaboration of Federal, State, County and local agencies and non-profits called The Brandywine Battlefield Task Force |