Photo: Graydon Wood, HABS photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

SightseeingHistory BuffLocal Gem

Historic RittenhouseTown

Walk the stone village where the first paper mill in British North America opened in 1690, and tour the 1707 Rittenhouse Homestead on summer Saturdays.

208 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19144 · Philadelphia, PA

About Historic RittenhouseTown

William Rittenhouse and his son Nicholas built the first paper mill in British North America here in 1690, turning linen rags into paper for printers in Germantown, Philadelphia and New York. Six historic buildings survive in Fairmount Park, including the 1707 Homestead and a bake house from about 1730, and the site is a National Historic Landmark District. The grounds are open dawn to dusk. Guided homestead tours run on select summer Saturdays, and private tours cost $20 per person. Parking on site is limited; the main entrance is off Wissahickon Avenue.

#historic site
#colonial history
#paper mill
#guided tours
#fairmount park

What's around here?

The closest stops to Historic RittenhouseTown, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

Sightseeing
Johnson House Historic Site
Under $25
Historic house museum in Germantown that served as an Underground Railroad station and now runs a Center for Social Advocacy.
1.1 mi awayMore like this
Museums
Family Favorite
Please Touch Museum
Under $25
Philly's beloved children's museum in Fairmount Park's grand Memorial Hall, hands-on exhibits and a century-old carousel.
Transit: reachable by public transit
3.6 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
Attractions
Family Favorite
Philadelphia Zoo
$25–$50
America's first zoo, where the Zoo360 trail system lets big cats and primates travel right over your head.
Transit: reachable by public transit
4.0 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions
Museums
Local Gem
Woodmere Art Museum
Under $25
See paintings and sculpture by Philadelphia artists in a Chestnut Hill mansion museum, then walk its sculpture gardens.
4.1 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
Sightseeing
Iconic
Boathouse Row
No admission fee
Stroll past fifteen historic rowing boathouses on the Schuylkill River, outlined in lights after dark.
Transit: reachable by public transit
4.1 mi awayMore like this
Sightseeing
Fairmount Water Works
No admission fee
Historic 1815 waterworks on the Schuylkill that now houses an interpretive center on local watershed history.
4.4 mi awayMore like this