The Past and Present of Historic Preservation
By Kathleen C. Wandersee
How many of you have gone to Europe lately? The charm of the Old World is still there in the small villages and the countryside. Even the larger cities have a definite character that tells you where you are whether it is Paris, London, Rome, or Berlin. A train ride through the countryside can reveal a good portion of the country’s history with the farmhouses and barns, stone walls and landscape. France is different from Germany which is different from Switzerland, Spain or England. The heritage of the country is shown through the visual remnants of what still remains and is the personality of that country. This is historic preservation, and European countries are very good at it!
Historic preservation is a relative newcomer to the United States. We had the ladies who organized and tried to save Mount Vernon in the mid 19th century. Gettysburg Battlefield was the result of effort of the first battlefield preservation organization in the United States in 1864. In 1926 the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg began with funding from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Finally, in 1966, the National Historic Preservation Act was passed, providing funding for preservation activity as well as setting up the National Register of Historic Places.
The urban renewal of the 1960s was a wake-up call. In the name of progress, the older sections of dozens of cities were razed, forever losing their individual architectural identities, as well as their historic roots. The common thought was that demolishing the old and creating new was the key to a better society. Rehabilitation and reuse were considered too expensive and inefficient.
The Chadds Ford Historical Society, founded in 1968, was on the forefront of a new movement—preservation. The threat of industry coming into downtown Chadds Ford and the possible loss of the John Chads House unified the citizens in protest, thus creating what would become the Brandywine Conservancy and the Chadds Ford Historical Society. Other historical societies were formed throughout the United States, many with the purpose of saving and restoring a locally significant historic building.
Today, however, preservation has evolved to much more than saving a building here or there. Historic preservation now involves the identification of a community’s character and preserving those elements that contribute to the "sense of place." What are the ingredients that make up the community’s identity? Of course, buildings are a strong component of this identity. Architectural style is important, but buildings placed together can form a unit with similar bulk, height and setback producing a perception of harmony and neighborhood feeling. It is also the surrounding features. In Chadds Ford, our local character is defined not only by the older buildings such as the Chadds Ford Inn, the Brandywine River Museum, the Chadds Ford Elementary School, Brandywine Baptist Church, and the multitude of stone farmhouses, barns, and outbuildings. We also have the river and its marsh, the bridges over the river, the stone walls such as found on Route l00, the meandering Route 100 itself and other "winding" roads, the tunnel on Heyburn Road, the treelines and hedgerows, the farm fields, and the scenic vistas. Although not visible in most cases, we also have archaeological sites that promise to hold a wealth of information. All this contributes to the character of our local community.
Recognizing the identifying features can then lead to putting a value on them and developing strategies for saving them. Developers new to the area recognize these features and even use them in advertising to suggest that our community is a desirable place to live for residents of new subdivisions. But will the new subdivisions eventually lead to the loss of these same features that the community values? We hope not. We know that historic preservation can work with open space preservation efforts to help guide future changes. This is the direction we must take to help save that which makes Chadds Ford and its surrounding areas in the Brandywine Valley so special.