Heritage Conservancy has recognized nearly 700 local properties in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, adding them to its Register of Historic Places.
Among its newest “inductees” is the Thomas Ellicott House on Aquetong Road in Carversville, Solebury Township. The home is a notable, well-preserved example of vernacular architecture.
This historic stone home has also been associated with a number of locally prominent individuals. Among its owners were Joseph Carver, who was instrumental in the founding of Carversville, and others, like Thomas Ellicott.
Thomas Ellicott
The current house appears to have been constructed by Thomas Ellicott, who purchased a tract of 80 acres from the estate of Joseph Pryor in 1783. Pryor had operated an early mill on the creek there.
The Ellicotts were a prominent family who built and tended mills around Bucks County. Documents called Thomas Ellicott, the fourth son of Andrew and Ann Ellicott, “a man of distinguished mechanical abilities, and contributed largely towards bringing mills for the manufacture of flour to the perfection to which they have arrived in the United States.”
The Ellicotts were a mill family. Ellicott’s brothers would gain milling fame later in the Baltimore area, where they made important contributions to the start of the milling industry in what became known as Ellicott City.
Thomas Ellicott was said to have been a fine-looking man of amiable manners and disposition. At least one source states that Thomas Ellicott replaced the earlier Pryor’s Mill with a three-story mill in 1784 on his Bucks County property. He married twice and died in 1799.
The Carvers
After Thomas Ellicott’s death, the property was sold to Jesse Ely and Joseph Carver. This sale was the impetus for the development of Carversville. The two men divided the property, and ownership moved around their families until it all came into the ownership of Thomas Carver.
Thomas Carver retained much of the property until his death. After his death the executors of his estate offered his real estate for sale. Documents noted various lots, acreage that included stone houses, a blacksmith shop, a barn, and other things: “a large quantity of hay and straw, a platform hay scale made by Ellicott & Abbott, nearly new, and in good order; a large lot of Earthenware, Glassware, chests, boxes, and many other articles to close out the concern.”
William Evans
While William Evans only owned the property briefly, he was an important figure in the history of Carversville, owning several other properties in the area. Evans purchased the Carversville Boarding School and reopened it as the Excelsior Normal Institute, “where old and young may find the most favorable conditions essential to health, intellectual, and social enjoyment, recuperation and rest of the body and mind.”
Another important property bought and transformed by Evans was the Crystal Spring Creamery Farm, where Spring Gilt Edge Butter was made.
Evans ran into financial difficulties later in life and died in Philadelphia in 1890 of heart troubles. An obituary in the Newtown Enterprise reported: “Mr. Evans was a well known and highly respected citizen, who years ago kept the store at Carversville. He afterwards bought the old Carey farm, which he carried on, and added to it a creamery. He was at one time quite wealthy, but injudicious investments made him poor. He was 73 years old at the time of his death. His wife survives him, also several children.”
Living in History
Since 1854, the Ellicott House and less than an acre of land have undergone numerous sales, with various owners living in, altering, and caring for the property. Its current owners were pleased it was accepted by Heritage Conservancy’s Historical Review Board Committee for recognition.
Thanks to former Heritage Conservancy President Jeff Marshall for the research and information in this article. If you have a historic home in Bucks or Montgomery County that you think deserves recognition, contact Mary Lou McFarland, Senior Preservation Specialist at Heritage Conservancy. Learn more about Heritage Conservancy’s historic preservation work.
