The Whitall House

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This 400-plus-acre site, owned by the devoutly Quaker Whitall family since circa 1704, was where a few hundred U.S. soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment—both Black and white—repelled a British and Hessian attack on Fort Mercer. The fort itself was designed to trap incoming Hessian soldiers. In Spartan-style warfare, the Hessians were funneled into a choke point within the fort, where their superior numbers were negated. As a result, the Whitalls' backyard became the final resting place for scores of enemy soldiers. In fact, after being wounded in battle, Colonel von Donop (the Hessian commander) was “taken first to the Whitall house, just below the fort, but was afterwards removed to the residence of the Lowes, south of Woodbury Creek” where he succumbed to his wounds three days later.

“And while the battle was raging, and cannonballs were driving like sleet against and around her [Louis Whitall’s grandma’s] dwelling, a twelve-pound ball from a British vessel in the river, grazing the American flag-staff, passed through the heavy brick wall on the north gable, and with a terrible crash perforated a partition at the head of the stairs.”

Once a pre-Revolutionary, self-sustaining economic hub—where townspeople in need of food, timber, brick, and other essentials could find them—it was transformed into a military fort due to its proximity to Philadelphia and its strategic location at a choke point along the Delaware River. It was one of three forts built along the banks of the Delaware. Fort Mifflin and Fort Billingsport were the two northerly forts that made up the defensive triumvirate. Further fortifications extended deep below the river's surface in the form of ship-crippling chevaux-de-frise.

The Whitall family was one of the wealthiest families in Gloucester County, and their home reflects their accumulated wealth. The 18th century structure dominates the landscape; it is massive, even by today's standards, and reminds its guests of a time long since past. Unfortunately, by 1777 the Whitall family had lost their cumulative assets, but the home itself stands as a reminder of what 18th century riches and labor could bring to bear. 

The two-story colonial structure boasts all the charming features one would expect from an 18th-century home. A large hearth dominates the kitchen, while each room has its own fireplace—though none as imposing as the kitchen’s. Beautiful wood plank floors line every room, and each space is unique and distinct from the next, yet the layout creates a sense of flowing openness despite the absence of a modern “open floor plan.” Crown molding and wainscoting adorn every ceiling joint and wall, adding to the home's historical charm.

Now operated as a museum, each room contains historically appropriate artifacts. Buttons from soldiers' uniforms as well as lead shot and cannonballs are displayed in transparent cases, several of which were recovered during the park’s many archaeology projects. The kitchen has all the hand-wrought tools and instruments one would need to feed the many workers and the Whitalls’ large family engaged in such a bustling economic enterprise. The drafty rooms, creaking floors, and hand-wrought door keys give visitors the distinct sensation of being transported back in time.

It is the perfect place to begin the tour, as it immerses visitors in a distant era of American history while conveying that this time, its events, and the Whitall House itself are not lost to history or disconnected from the present. In John M. Whitall: The Story of His Life, efforts were made to ensure that one of the home's earliest occupants, Mrs. Ann Cooper Whitall, would not be forgotten over time; “As this Ann Cooper is one of our female ancestors of whom any records have been preserved, and she was a very original and marked character.”