Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fire destroys Lenape retreat home
A weekend retreat home along the Brandywine Creek in East Bradford was gutted by fire late Saturday night.
EAST BRADFORD >> A weekend retreat home along the Brandywine Creek in East Bradford was completely gutted by fire late Saturday evening.
West Chester firefighters were alerted just after 11:30 p.m. to the call in the 500 block of Riverbend Lane near the Brandywine Picnic Park.
First arriving units reported the home fully involved. Nobody was home at the time of the fire as firefighters worked to protect a nearby home and control the blaze which caused the home to collapse, leaving only the front porch and a chimney standing.
“It was so bright, it lit up my kitchen, it looked like the sun was coming up,” neighbor Carol Seaton said. “I saw it and called 911.”
The one-and-a-half story home was owned by Gary and Sue Cleveland for the past year. On Sunday morning the couple was surveying the damage.
The couple have been improving the home and had just recently finished installing new drywall. Sue Cleveland said previous owners had raised the home to protect it from the periodic floods that hit that section of the Brandywine.
“I know it’s just stuff,” said Cleveland as she and her husband picked through the debris. “But my husband put so much work into it and the grandkids just loved this place.”
The couple talked with Seaton about the history of the area and fires which had periodically hit the close-knit community.
Seaton’s home was damaged in a fire in 2014 and three homes were damaged in a the 1990s.
Gary Cleveland said the home was built about 1900 and was part of the nearby former Lenape Amusement Park. Seaton said the trolley from West Chester stopped on the street and a ticket booth was once in her backyard.
The Lenape Amusement Park was a well-loved Chester County attraction, famous for its Dentzel carved figured merry-go-round and the former site of the Old Fiddlers’ Picnic. It was sold in the 1970s and downsized over the years. It is now the Brandywine Picnic Park.
A cause of the fire has not been determined and the Chester County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating.
All three West Chester fire companies responded with assistance from Longwood, West Bradford and Goshen. Fire crews were on the scene until 2:30 a.m. Sunday, dousing hot spots.