Tulpehocken Manor Plantation

About this property

Tulpehocken Manor Plantation, also known as the Ley Home, is a historic property which is located near Myerstown, Jackson Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 12, 1975, the building now serves as the headquarters of the Hanover Rifle Battalion, Revolutionary War re-enactors. A historic home which was awarded National Register status on May 12, 1975, the Tulpehocken Manor Plantation is tied to both the late 18th century mass emigration of German Palatines to the American Colonies and to George Washington, the first President of the United States through its association with the Ley family, whose patriarch, Christopher Ley (1695-1745), came to America from the German Palatinate in 1732. A recipient of an early to mid-1700s land grant from the sons of William Penn near what is today Myerstown, Pennsylvania, Christopher Ley quickly began to improve that land and build a life with his wife, Barbara. Among their nine children was son Michael Ley (1739-1824), who first met United States President George Washington as a boy, a relationship that would continue well into Michael Ley's adult years. Still residing in the vicinity of Myerstown during his 20s and 30s, Michael Ley then became the owner of his father's land after paying 680 pounds for it on November 6, 1760. Nine years later, he finished building his own residence there. An eight-room, two-story mansion, it was initially designed in a Georgian style and would ultimately come to be known as the Tulpehocken Manor Plantation. It was also where he would raise a family with his wife, Eva Magdalena (Lower) Ley, who was a daughter of Christian Lower (1740-1806), a blacksmith who became actively involved in the American Revolution and served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Their children included son Christian Ley (1762-1831), who would also go on to serve in the Pennsylvania House from 1799 to 1802, and would also later build another of Pennsylvania's historic homes, Nutting Hall. Within a few short years, Michael Ley's residence (Tulpehocken Manor) would come to be known as a place of relaxation for President Washington, most notably during three trips that Washington made to Lebanon County between 1777 and 1794. During the first, Washington traveled to Ley's home from Valley Forge, where the Continental Army was encamped, for a brief respite from his military command duties. On two subsequent visits, he specifically visited the property to inspect work on four locks that were under construction there as part of Pennsylvania's Union Canal system.

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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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