London Purchase Farm
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London Purchase Farm, also known as the John Chapman House, is located on Eagle Road in historic Upper Makefield, Pennsylvania. A portion of the stone structure dates to circa 1735, however, the land was purchased by the London Land Company prior to 1718, thus the name London Purchase. At some point between 1718 and 1733 John Chapman purchased the land. This is known from a tax list of 1733 upon which his name appeared. In 1736 his name appears on a road survey. After his death in 1743, the property was willed to his son of the same name. During the American Revolution, the property served as headquarters for General Alexander Hamilton and Colonel Henry Knox. In 1781 the estate was cited on an Upper Makefield map as being about 265 acres on "Road Over Great Hill". The second John Chapman was a doctor as well as a farmer. Little is known about what occurred there during the nineteenth century. In the summer of 1948, the owners rented the house to the Percival family. The Percival daughter reported seeing a ghost in the old wing of the house. In 1957 the Nelson and Nondas Case bought the house and maintained ownership for three or four years. The James J. O'Brien family lived there in 1971. In the 1980s the Norman Flojo family owned the estate and continued to do so into the early 1990s. Since then the house has been sold twice. The current owners built or are building an addition onto the house. The property includes the main house, a barn, a carriage house, and a pond. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
