Cameron Estate

About this property

Cameron Estate is one of the five summer homes of President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War, Simon Cameron and his family from 1872 to 1959. Often once referred to as "Donegal" by the Camerons, the Estate is located in Mount Joy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Cameron Estate started out as a 314-acre (1.27 km2) tract of land north of and adjoining the Donegal Presbyterian Church and was part of the church's glebe (acreage set aside for the support of the church). James Stephenson acquired the property in 1738 from the William Penn land grant and received a patent (deed) in 1749. The land passed to James' son Nathaniel. As Nathaniel died without issue, the property passed to his sister Hannah Stevenson (great-great grandmother of President McKinley). Ann Stephenson, Hannah's sister, married into the Watson Family whose son David Watson, grandson of James Stephenson, was deeded the property in 1780. David Watson was a prominent patriot, and a justice of the Court of Common Pleas and his two grandsons, David C. and Nathaniel, became physicians with large practices in Donegal (an unincorporated area around the Donegal Presbyterian Church not Donegal, Pennsylvania). Dr. John Watson, son of David Watson, was deeded the property in 1785. Dr. John Watson owned and resided on the Cameron's "Donegal", then called the Stephenson (sometimes spelled Stevenson) farm at Donegal Springs. Dr. John Watson built the original part of the Cameron Estate farm house in 1805. At its time of construction, the "Mansion House" was the largest brick structure on the western frontier. The 1805 structure was a two-story Federal style classic four-square with a dining wing thus forming an L-shaped structure. The front porch of the farm house faced south overlooking the Donegal Presbyterian Church and Donegal Spring. The house rests on a knoll rising from Donegal creek and surrounded by ancient poplars, oaks, black walnuts, hickory and maples. Dr. Watson owned and occupied the farm until his death, which occurred on November 16, 1843 (buried at Donegal Presbyterian Graveyard, grave No. 43). His son, Dr. Nathaniel Watson, sold the farm to the Hon. Simon Cameron in 1872. In 1872 Cameron bought the estate which contained the red-brick farmhouse built in 1805. Simon Cameron and his family transformed it into one of the most magnificent estates in Lancaster County. The estate was one of the summer homes of Simon Cameron and was affectionately referred to as "Donegal" by the Cameron family. Simon Cameron was President Lincoln's first secretary of war and four-time United States Senator. His son, James Donald Cameron was Secretary of War to President Ulysses S. Grant and U.S. Senator from 1877 to 1897. Although Simon Cameron had already amassed several estates near Harrisburg prior to the Civil War, he set to work purchasing the old glebe farms surrounding the Donegal Presbyterian Church on which his grandfather and great-grandfather had worked.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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