Crooked Billet

In 1684, William Penn deeded this property to Adam Stedham, who built a small two-room stone house on the land. Stedham’s son, William, expanded the house into the Crooked Billet Tavern in 1702. George Washington and his troops stopped at the tavern on September 9, 1777, before facing the British at the Battle of the Brandywine two days later. The Crooked Billet closed in 1811 after construction of the new Kennett Pike shifted travelers away from the tavern. Crooked Billet became a farm, which the du Pont Family purchased in 1864 and owned until 2016. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.