Newtown Heritage Walk No. 34
The Bird in Hand (formerly the "Red Lion Inn" and "Old Frame House") has played a rich and diverse role in the history of Newtown. There is record of a tavern on this site dating back to 1686, and it is considered the oldest frame structure still standing in Pennsylvania. The Inn was the site of the only Revolutionary War action to take place in Newtown. Following the Battle of Trenton in December 1776, George Washington's Continental soldiers used The Bird in Hand as an overflow jail to hold Hessian officers before marching them to Philadelphia. This site was also the location of the Loyalist Raid of 1778. This structure remained a tavern until 1858, but the name was changed in 1817 after Edward Hicks painted a sign representing Benjamin Franklin's adage, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Over the years, it housed Newtown's first post office and the Library Company.HM Number | HMLKI |
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Tags | |
Year Placed | 2007 |
Placed By | Newtown Reliance Company, Jonathan & Elizabeth Hunt, and the Newtown Historical Association |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 at 4:56am PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18T E 505371 N 4452993 |
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Decimal Degrees | 40.22735000, -74.93686667 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 40° 13.641', W 74° 56.212' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 40° 13' 38.46" N, 74° 56' 12.72" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 215, 267 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 1-99 Mercer St, Newtown PA 18940, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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