A story of Tories and treason
On a high bluff overlooking the river, discover a beautiful Georgian house that was the summer home of a Mayor of Philadelphia – and a property seized and regained during the American Revolution.
Rebecca Rawle, a wealthy widow with three young children, built this small country house around 1765. Her second marriage was to the British Loyalist and former Mayor of Philadelphia Samuel Shoemaker. Shoemaker’s collaboration with the British led to the confiscation of her home during the Revolution, and the years that followed were difficult for Rebecca and her family.
Other owners of the house included Rebecca’s distant cousin Philip Syng Physick, the “Father of American Surgery” who added on the house’s Federal style octagonal music room.
History
Francis Rawle, a wealthy Quaker, purchased the land Laurel Hill stands on in 1760. In 1761, he was killed in a hunting accident. His widow, Rebecca Warner (1730-1819), later remarried Samuel Shoemaker in 1767. The center of the house, a two story Georgian building, was built by Rebecca around 1767 as a summer home for her and Samuel’s families.
Formerly Mayor of Philadelphia in 1768, Shoemaker was both Quaker and a British Loyalist. When the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, he served as Magistrate of Police in the civilian government, causing the revolutionary Pennsylvania Assembly to declare him a traitor after the British evacuation in 1778. To escape imprisonment, Samuel returned to England taking his son, Edward, and step-son, William Rawle, while Laurel Hill was confiscated and sold at auction by the state legislature. The years that followed were difficult for Rebecca and her family. Rebecca spent several years trying to reclaim her house, which was sold in 1782 to Major James Parr. She was able to buy back Laurel Hill and pay off some debts in part by using some of the profits on the produce raised at the home, including strawberries, cabbages and vegetables.
Rebecca’s son, William Rawle, inherited the home upon her death in in 1819. A successful lawyer and committed abolitionist, he was the founder of the Philadelphia Bar Association and involved in many of the city’s civic and cultural organizations. Rawle sold the property in 1820 to cover a debt to Philadelphia physician Philip Syng Physick, nicknamed the “Father of American Surgery.” Physick spent summers with his family at Laurel Hill until his death in 1837, leaving the house to his daughter Sally Physick Randolph. Either Physick or Sally Physick Randolph added the federal-style octagonal music room on the north side of the house.
In 1869, the house was purchased by the City of Philadelphia as part of the formation of Fairmount Park, serving for some years as a headquarters for the Fairmount Park Guards. Known as Randolph Mansion during the early twentieth century, the house was restored for America’s bicentennial celebrations in 1976 by the nonprofit service organization Women for the Bicentennial. At the close of 1976, the organization changed their name to Women for Greater Philadelphia, Inc. and has continually maintained the mansion so it can be open for tours, concerts and education programs.
Visit
Hours:
Thursday - Sunday from 10 am - 4 pm
Address:
3487 Edgley Dr
Philadelphia, PA 19121
Contact:
Phone: 215.235.1776
Admission:
Adults: $8.00
Seniors | Students: $5.00
Children under 12 free.
COVID-19 PROTOCOL:
Face masks are encouraged, but not required
If you or anyone in your household are exhibiting COVID-19 systems, please stay home.
Please maintain social distancing
Tours last about 45 minutes. If there is a booking in the next hour, the tour cannot exceed 45 minutes in order to provide time to clean and prepare the space
If you wish to schedule a visit for a group of 15 or more or tour the house outside scheduled tour times with a smaller group, please see our group page here.
We welcome K–12 and college school groups to visit Laurel Hill. To schedule your visit, please call the house at 215.235.1776 or sign up here. School tour reservations should be made at least two weeks before your visit.
Website:
http://laurelhillmansion.org
Rentals:
See Laurel Hill’s rentals page here.