About Cliveden

Cliveden is a historic site that preserves and interprets over 200 years of American history through the lives of the Chew Family and their staff, both enslaved and in service. Cliveden produces engaging programming for children and adults to connect the past and the present.

OUR MISSION

Know It. Feel It. Share It.

Cliveden’s mission is to help people understand our shared history and motivate them to preserve it. We achieve this by:

Preserving our buildings, grounds, and collections;

Researching and interpreting Cliveden meaningfully to the public;

Working with our local community to promote preserving and reusing historic buildings;

Promoting our community’s cultural life and preservation efforts; and being a model of historic site management, preservation and interpretation.

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Our Team

The Cliveden Staff and Board Members are always interested in your feedback. Contact us if you need any information or have any questions.

Cliveden Staff

Nancy VanDolsen: Chief Executive Officer

Libbie Hawes: Preservation Director

Carolyn Wallace: Education Director

Jocelyn Rouse: Marketing & Development Coordinator

Victoria Best: Community Outreach Coordinator

Piper Burnett: Curatorial Housekeeper & Facilities Custodian

Jamie Davenport: Gardener

Michelle Carter-Bailey: Interpreter

Felix Haase: Interpreter

Shiloh Mugar: Interpreter

Board of Directors

Conrad Person: Board Chair

Ahsan Nasratullah: Treasurer

Darryl J. Ford: Secretary

Brian Ames

Glenn Bergman

Joan Countryman

Garth Herrick

Alan Keiser

Susan Leidy

Violette Levy

Randall Miller

Theodore Reed

Brad Roeder

Seri Worden

Cliveden Grounds

Our grounds are open, except for national holidays or special events. Please feel free to roam and picnic during your next visit!

Cliveden grounds

Found in historic Philadelphia, the 6 acres of lawn, garden, tree and brush at Cliveden often fascinate arborists, horticulturalists, and visitors alike.

Investigation by the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania uncovered the Cliveden Tree chronology. This historic foliage can still be found today, contributing to the beautification and desirability of the Cliveden Grounds:

Late 18th or early 19th century (Blair McClenachan or Benjamin Chew, Jr.) Includes one tulip poplar and one sycamore

1870s (Centennial Sam and Mary Chew) Includes numerous sycamores, tulip poplars, beeches, ash trees and Kentucky coffee trees.

1915-1920 (Mary Chew or Elizabeth Brown Chew) Includes red maples and Norway maples.

c. 1930 (Elizabeth Brown Chew) Includes most of the property’s hemlocks and some dogwoods

1935-1939 (Elizabeth Brown Chew) Planting date for Franklinia alatamaha.

1959-1965 (Sam and Barbara Chew) Includes shrubs such as rhododendron, azalea, kalmia, pieris, privet and holly

Post-1972 (National Trust era) plantings Includes rhodendrons, azalea and other shrubs, plus new or replacement trees.

Discover Germantown

Our grounds are open, except for national holidays or special events. Please feel free to roam and picnic during your next visit!

At various times a countryside village of German and Dutch yeomen, a retreat for Philadelphia’s well-to-do, a stop on the Underground Railroad, and a haven for African Americans looking for the American Dream, Germantown has been there for all of America’s social, political and economic revolutions and evolutions. Cumulatively, Historic Germantown is one of the richest geographic concentrations of historic resources in the United States, a place where history, memory and everyday life exist side by side.

Historic Germantown Preserved is a consortium of eighteen historic sites, museums, historical organizations and an arboretum located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. These organizations are joined by a common mission to foster an appreciation of the diverse character and meaning of their cultural heritage in order to preserve and revitalize their community.

Together, they provide knowledge and resources to help preserve Germantown’s historic sites, interpret them to the public, and incorporate them into the life of the local community.