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Tag: Keith Valley Road

Governor Sir William Keith

Sir William Keith Sir William Keith (1680-1748) was the deputy governor of the province of Pennsylvania under William Penn’s widow, Hannah Callowhill Penn. “Keith was descended from that great feudal family of that name, the head of which, for about six hundred years, was Marischal to the King of Scotland, in ancient times sitting with the Constable at the monarch’s right hand in Parliament.”89 William Keith was the eldest son of Sir William Keith of Ludquhairn, and was born at the family home of Boddam Castle, near Boddam in the extreme north east of Scotland. He studied at Marischal...

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Keith Valley Road

Keith Valley Road, which currently extends north from Horsham Road to County Line Road, is a central artery in Horsham. It was originally a path connecting Sir William Keith’s Fountain Low (Graeme Park) to the Kenderdine Mill.48  An 1893 map of Horsham shows Keith Valley Road either as a road or a path going from Davis Grove Road across the Kenderdine Mill Stream and across Park Creek near Governor Road and extending to County Line Road. It was extended from Davis Grove Road to Horsham Road sometime in the 1990s. The Kenderdine Mill at what is now Keith Valley Rd and Davis Grove Road was...

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Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson

Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson Dr. Thomas Graeme acquired what was to become Graeme Park in 1739 sort of from his mother-in-law Lady Ann Keith (see Graeme Park timeline). The estate, then called Fountain Low, was pretty much wilderness with a large building which may have been sitting vacant due to Governor Keith’s and Lady Anne’s never ending financial problems. Dr Graeme, over time, transformed the estate by adding gardens, a 300 acre deer park, and converting this building into the beautiful, colonial mansion we know today as Keith House. The Graemes used Graeme Park as a summer retreat...

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Governor Road

Governor Road Governor Road is the original entrance to Graeme Park and the Penrose-Strawbridge House. It currently exists as a gravel road extending only a short distance from Keith Valley Road southeast to Gate 9 of the former Willow Grove Naval Air Station, but its history dates back almost 300 years. Governor Sir William Keith authorized a road to be built from Philadelphia to his “new building” (Graeme Park) in Horsham from Round Meadow (now Willow Grove) in 1722. The road became known as The Governor’s Road Governor Road ran north from the Horsham...

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Joseph Kenderdine House

The Joseph Kenderdine House previously stood near the intersection of Davis Grove and Keith Valley Roads on the corner of what is now Commonwealth National Golf Club. This land was originally purchased by Richard Kenderdine from Samuel Carpenter in 1713, and Richard’s son Joseph built the original grist mill here c1735. The belief is that part of this house was built at that time but Charles Harper Smith in his “Settlement of Horsham Township” states that Joseph Kenderdine moved to Horsham c1738 and that a foundation discovered a few yards south of the Alcorn House may mark the...

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Green Hill Day Camp

The Navy Fury Jet Crash The Green Hill Day Camp operated along Keith Valley Road from 1957-July 1963 when it became the site of what is probably the worst tragedy in the history of Horsham. A Navy Fury jet lost control and crashed into a Sunday picnic killing 8 people and injuring 17 more as the plane lost its wings as it plowed through trees and then hit a bath house sideways where the picnickers were waiting out a sudden thunderstorm The site was several hundred yards short of the runway in an area listed as having the among the highest potential for crashes. Eight people were...

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