Highlighting the rich history of the Byberry neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia by activating four historic sites along or near the Poquessing Creek Trail through public programs and historic restoration and interpretation.
This is a new website, recently launched. Some pages do not yet have content and some buttons are not yet active.
Presentations
Native Presence on Delaware Valley in 17th Century Cartography, November 2024 Northeast Philadelphia History Network program | November 11, 2024, presentation by scholar Agnes Trouilete, Associate Professor of American Studies, Universite Paris Nanterre, on documentary examples of the Lenape being represented on 17th-century European maps and related textual sources.
Robert Purvis in Byberry, February 2022 Northeast Philadelphia History Network program | February 2, 2022, presentation by historian Jack McCarthy highlighting archival sources documenting Robert Purvis’ activities while living in Byberry, 1844-1873.
Web Resources
Delaware Tribe of Indians, Culture and Language website | A compendium of sources on Lenape history, culture, language, and life
Benjamin Rush portal, University of Pennsylvania | A portal linking to virtually everything Rush wrote in its original form, along with a wide range of contextual and interpretive content from various sources
Byberry Friends Meeting website – history page | Contains information on various aspects of Byberry Friends Meeting history
Byberry Township African American Burial Ground | Brief history of the burial ground from the Byberry Quaker Meeting.
1838 Black Metropolis | Contains a wide range of research and source material on Black life in antebellum Philadelphia
Books, Articles, and Reports
Byberry History
“Sketches of the History of Byberry in the County of Philadelphia,” by Isaac Comly | Published in Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. II, 1827.
A History of the Townships of Byberry & Moreland in Philadelphia, PA., by Joseph Martindale, T. Ellwood Zell, 1867 | New & Revised Edition, edited by Albert W. Dudley, George W. Jacobs & Co., 1901.
Lenape History
Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America, by Daniel Richter, Harvard University Press, 2001.
Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn, by Jean Soderlund, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
The Contest for the Delaware Valley: Allegiance, Identity, and Empire in the Seventeenth Century , by Mark L. Thompson, Louisiana State Press, 2013.
Benjamin Rush House
Rush: Revolution, Madness, & The Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father, by Stephen Fried, Crown, 2018
Byberry Township African American Burial Ground
Nomination of the Burying Place For All Free Negroes or People of Color within Byberry Twp to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, submitted by Joe Menkevich, 2015. Philadelphia Historical Commission.
Interpretation Plan for Byberry Township African American Burial Ground, prepared by Society for the Preservation of Philadelphia African American Assets and Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, 2024. Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.
Byberry Hall/Robert Purvis
But One Race: The Life of Robert Purvis, by Margaret Hope Bacon, State University of New York Press, 2007
“Abolitionist Dream,” 2011 Hidden City Philadelphia article by Jack McCarthy on Byberry Hall
