West Chester, Pennsylvania

Everything West Chester is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in West Chester

Songs About West Chester

Asshole
Eminem
3%
"Ask Asher Roth when he roundabout Dissed me to shout me out"

Artists From West Chester

Rivers & Roads in Song near West Chester

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near West Chester.

History of West Chester

Delaware's Circular Border RoadyGoat

1681

Delaware has the only circular state boundary in the United States, and it exists because of a jurisdictional accident from the 1680s. When King Charles II granted William Penn the land that became Pennsylvania in 1681, he carved out an exception: the lands within a twelve-mile radius of New Castle, Delaware, which already belonged to the Duke of York. The Duke had taken them from the Dutch. In 1682, the Duke transferred those same lands to Penn anyway, but as a separate entity, not part of Pennsylvania. That quirk eventually made Delaware its own colony and its own state. In 1750, a commission fixed the center of the circle at the cupola of the New Castle Courthouse, built in 1732 and one of the oldest courthouses in America. The circle creates bizarre consequences. Its arc extends into the Delaware River past the low-tide mark on New Jersey's shore, giving Delaware sovereignty over water that would otherwise belong to New Jersey. This has caused Supreme Court cases in 1907, 1934, 1935, and as recently as 2008 over a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal. The circle also intersects the Pennsylvania border in a way that creates a small wedge of land called the Delaware Wedge whose ownership was disputed for centuries. An entire state's existence traces back to a twelve-mile circle drawn around a courthouse.

12.4 mi away

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

1839

Henry Francis du Pont transformed his family estate into the premier museum of American decorative arts with nearly 90,000 objects.

10.5 mi away

Hagley Museum and Library

1802

E.I. du Pont founded his black powder mill along the Brandywine Creek in 1802, launching one of America's greatest industrial dynasties.

12.8 mi away

Valley Forge National Historical Park

1777

Continental Army winter quarters 1777-78, where roughly 2,000 soldiers died of disease and exposure.

13.0 mi away

Brandywine Creek State Park

1898

The Brandywine Valley inspired three generations of Wyeth painters, making it one of America's most painted landscapes.

10.3 mi away

Nemours Estate

1910

Alfred I. du Pont built this 77-room Louis XVI-style mansion on 300 acres, the largest formal French garden in North America.

13.5 mi away

Delaware Art Museum

1912

Founded in 1912 to honor illustrator Howard Pyle, the museum holds the largest American collection of Pre-Raphaelite art.

13.7 mi away

Things to Do in West Chester

Everything Near West Chester

120 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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