Update: As per the article in the Valley Forge NHP - The Continental Chronicle, Winter 2005, Vol 2, Issue 4 [Copy of article here]
The roof on the barn at Walnut Hill has been removed (see photo taken 27 Sept 2006) and replaced (see photo taken 14 Oct 2006).

Walnut Hill (Pawling Farm)is part of Valley Forge National Historical Park

Walnut Hill is a remnant of the former Pawlings/Wetherill land holdings. A large parcel of land bounded by the Schuylkill River and the Perkiomen Creek was owned by the Pawling family in the 18th century and in the 19th century by the Wetherill Family.

Some structures still stand on this land, one of which is a large stone barn and another are the remnants of the Pawlings/Wetherill mansion house.

Walnut Hill was originally purchased by Henry Pawling (I) in 1719 from Edward Farmer. The land remained in the Pawling family until it was sold in 1826 to Samuel Wetherill Jr. by Levi Pawling and James Milnor, executors of the estate of Henry Pawling (III).

The earliest remaining portion of the mansion house was built by Henry Pawling (II) in 1743. The family continued to acquire land and by the mid 1800's the Pawling holdings were 700 acres. Pawling's Ford was constructed as a crossing of the Schuylkill River and a rope ferry was operated there prior to the Revolutionary War.

Samuel Wetherill, upon purchasing Walnut Hill in 1826, built a large stone barn on the property which was doubled in size in 1845 by his son, John Price Wetherill. The 1845 addition actually created a second barn that was connected to the first only by a narrow door on the first floor.

The large barn (approx. 40.5' by 116.5') remains and is an imposing structure.

The property remained in the hands of the Wetherill family until 1949. Walnut Hill was purchased in that year by Lyle Boulware. Boulware spent the next 20 years renovating and rehabilitating the mansion house only to have it lost to fire in 1967. At this time only remnants of the mansion house remain.

The National Park Service acquired the farm in 1984.

This short history was gathered from information graciously supplied by Valley Forge National Historic Park's Wilcox Library. The specific documents referenced are:

1. "Untangling the History of the Pawling/Wetherill House at Walnut Hill Estate, Pawling Road, Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania." A Thesis in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation [University of Pennsylvania] by Thomas Clinton McGimsey, 1992

2. Kurz, Walnut Hill/Flatland. Ford archeological investigations. Unpublished document.

The date information on the barn reads:

Erected by
Samuel Wetherill 1826
Addition by
John P. Wetherill 1845
Solomon Kreible - Carpenter
John Place - Mason