The Gables At Chadds Ford

The Gables at Chadds Ford is situated on land that was originally part of a 138 acre land grant from William Penn to Brinton King. Around 1745, a pre-Revolutionary style house was built on the property. This was one of the first homes to be built in Pennsbury Township. For the next 100 plus years, the property operated as a working farm and quietly became part of the Brandywine Valley’s history. The route along Route One is well known to have housed numerous stops for the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. It has been suspected that the King house may have been one of these stops.The house was renovated in the late 1800s by George C. King, son of Brinton King. He adopted the popular Victorian style by adding wrap around porches and twenty three gables. Two of the four original chimneys from the pre-Revolutionary style home are still visible. In March of 2002, the house was placed on the National Historic Register.The bank barn was built in 1897, and the farm became a traditional dairy farm until the late 1940s. The barn then reincarnated into Dario’s Dairy Bar and General Store. Dario’s featured Elsie the Borden Cow on the side of the building. By the 1960s, the site became the Country Kettle, a home-style diner many Chadds Ford residents may remember.The restaurant features the original frame, steel-framed doors and windows, and Benheim restoration glass. The banquet room is accented with a stunning wall of French windows and is crowned with an antique chandelier. The name for the restaurant was derived from the large number of gables, (gable n. the triangular upper part of an outside wall, between sloping roofs), that are featured on both the Victorian House and the restaurant.