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Petersburg Tollhouse

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c. 1835, Captain Richard Delafield. 830 National Rd. (U.S. 40)
  • Petersburg Tollhouse (Lu Donnelly)
  • (Michelle Krone)

During the nineteenth century, Pennsylvania charged travelers a toll every fifteen miles to pay for the continued maintenance of the National Road. The tollhouses consisted of three main parts: the first, a two-story octagonal tower for the business of collecting money; the second, a rectangular living space for the official and his family; and third, a gate across the road to slow traffic and insure that no one passed without proper payment. Sadly, not one of the gates remains anywhere along the road, and only three tollhouses still stand. This is the only tollhouse built from stone that survives. It was constructed c. 1835 by civil engineer Richard Delafield from the standardized plan drawn by British engineer Thomas Telford. Today, the tollhouse is owned by the Great Crossings Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and has been restored by Frens and Frens, an architecture firm specializing in historic renovation. The second tollhouse stands in Fayette County and is known as Searight's Tollhouse ( FA8), while the third is in Ohio.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

KAESE MILL
Knobloch Farm (Brook Farm)
JAMES DRANE LOG HOUSE

Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "Petersburg Tollhouse", [Addison, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-SO15.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 397-398.

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