Penn Farm

The 112-acre Penn Farm is the last surviving farm of the 1,068-acre New Castle Common. William Penn, Proprietor and Governor of Pennsylvania, made his warrant in writing under his hand and seal in October 1701, granting the New Castle Common “to lye in Common for the accommodation of the Inhabitants of the Town of New Castle for their onley use and behoof forever”. The Common served as both pasture land for livestock and a source of wood for inhabitants of New Castle. It is held in trust and managed by the Trustees of the New Castle Common, a private land trust first chartered in 1764. In 1792, the Board of Trustees divided the Common into eleven tenant farms for lease. The first tenant was a local businessman and Trustee, John Crow, who constructed a house upon the historic farmstead in stages between 1799 and 1828. A granary and dairy barn date to the mid-19th century. This tract of land was later named in honor of the proprietary Penn family and today is a combination of original farms No. 6 and No. 11. The Penn Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.