Historic Yellow Springs

Date of Hike: Sunday, May 10, 2015

Total Distance:  2.21 Miles

Avg speed: 1.47 MPH

Avg moving speed: 1.76 MPH

Moving Time: 1:15:20

Total Time: 1:30:19

Conditions: Sunny, 80 Degrees

Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Difficult

This past Sunday, I went to three different places, all of which were short (or very short in one case) with my first stop being at Historic Yellow Springs in Chester Springs, PA. The be honest, this wasn't much of a hike with the exception of one steep hill that I climbed and the rest was checking out some of the historical spots within Yellow Springs. I also skipped over quite a bit since the majority of the historical places are buildings and I wasn't interested in going inside on such a beautiful day. I like learning about history but the indoor places can wait for another day.

Address:
1685 Art School Rd
Chester Springs, PA 19425
GPS: 40.100242,-75.622182

When you arrive at Yellow Springs, there are several places you can park. I parked in the parking lot of the Yellow Springs Inn. If the parking lot at Yellow Springs Inn is full, drive west on Art School Road and you'll find more parking on the north side of the street (right side if you're driving west).

Since I parked directly across the street from the Yellow Springs Inn, it was also the first place I walked past (heading west) and checked out. As you walk on the side of the road, you'll see these statues sitting back about 10 or so feet from the street.

Also, there area number of these decorative planters alongside the road in front of the inn as well.

Now that spring is pretty much in full swing, there are also flowers in bloom just about everywhere. Any time I've been to Yellow Springs, I always see some bleeding hearts.

As you walk past the inn, there's an open lawn where you can turn to the north and you'll see the remains of what used to be the Yellow Springs General Hospital. Said to be America's first military hospital, it was built in 1778 and was the only one commissioned to be built by the Continental Congress. While it served in other capacities after, the hospital was closed in 1781. In the year 1902, the building was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt only to be destroyed by another fire in 1964.

All that's left is what you see here. Before it was destroyed, the building was three stories high and had nine foot porches surrounding it on three sides on the first and second floors.

Just above the ruins of the hospital is a small herb garden that was dedicated (and still maintained) on September 20, 1987 by the Philadelphia Unit: Herb Society of America and was built to interpret the colonial medical period of the hospital.

Once I passed through the garden, I did a little bit of back and forth walking as I spotted things to take pictures of.  I headed down this walkway until I made it to the building you can see in the background to the left.

Looking back at the ruins from the walkway

When I got to this point, I was directly alongside the building and relatively close to the road so I turned back towards the hospital on the walkway I had just been on. 

Dr. Bodo Otto, who emigrated from Germany in 1755, served as the senior surgeon of the Continental Army until his retirement from the army at the age of 70.  In the spring of 1778, he was placed in charge of of the hospital at Yellow Springs where he helped to care for the sick who had endured the poor living conditions and winter in Valley Forge.

Just above (north of) the hospital and garden, you'll find a trail that runs east to west. 

When I found an opening along the trail to cut off and explore (northward), I took the opportunity to do so and it was one heck of a choice. It's hard to tell from the pictures but this trail was a steep incline and a tall hill. I had been out with friends the night before and it was pretty warm outside so this wasn't the easiest of tasks for me. I ended up having to stop to rest a few times trying to climb this hill.

After struggling up the hill, I finally made it to the top and took a shot looking back down the hill. 

When you get to the very top of the hill, you'll reach an opening where there's what looks like a cell phone tower and a power grid of sorts. This was also where I realized that I was probably not supposed to be there either. There are no signs on the trails that state "no trespassing" or anything but a while later during my hike, I found a dirt road vehicle entrance to the tower where there was a sign stating it was private property. I came up the hill on the trail to the left and after checking out the area, I headed back down the hill on the trail to the right heading southwest.

Heading back down the hill wasn't nearly as steep as the walk up. 

I also found a few side trails and decided to check them out for a distance but it didn't last long. Since it was warm outside, I had taken the sleeves off my pants and the trail wasn't in the best of condition to be walking it with shorts so I turned back.

Thankfully, the trail leading back down the hill was in pretty good shape. No walking through thorn bushes and shrubs with shorts on, thanks. 

Eventually the trail opened up even more to what looked to be a path for maintenance vehicles and turned back to the southeast.

Back to the bottom of the hill and just above the remains of the hospital. 

When I got to the bottom of the hill and alongside the hospital, I took the trail heading east. This old beat up shed (or whatever it might have been) was in the back yard of one of the buildings.

Continuing east, I found this bench that looks like it could use a little bit of TLC. 

I've never taken a picture of dandelion before, first time for everything!

A short distance down the trail, you get to an opening where it looks like there used to be a building at one time and along the back of the opening to the west, you can see the remains of what looks to be an old windmill perhaps. It's hard to tell with all the vines covering it. 

By now, the trail is directly behind the West Pikeland Township building and seems to come to an end in this area. I took a few more pictures and headed back to the west again. 

Since I had already been on this trail, I didn't take any pictures until I get to the trail where I had come down the hill with the cell phone tower.

The trail opens up to a parking lot which I also explored looking for more trail heads but did not find any. The trail I was on is called the North Ridge Trail.

Walkway leading down to Art School Road

In hopes of finding more trails, I walked down Art School Road to the east until I reached a small stream. It doesn't seem to be named but it's a tributary that runs into the Pickering Creek about a mile or so away. Once I took pictures of the tributary, I turned back to the east.

Since I was walking along Art School Road and private property, I didn't take any pictures until I was back within the Historic Yellow Springs grounds. What you see here is the Iron Spring Gazebo which contains what is said to be the original "Yellow Springs" that brought the Native Lenape to the area, then settlers as early as 1722. The Gazebo itself was built around 1839, then rebuilt in 2008 after years of exposure to the elements and vandalism.

Iron deposits on the concrete outside of the spring in the Gazebo, hence the name "Yellow Springs"

Spring fed stream leading away from the Iron Spring Gazebo and towards the pool house, more on this shortly.

Close up shot of the stained concrete from iron deposits

This building known as the pool house, was built in 1839 and served as a bath house until the Soldier's Orphans School turned it into a laundry. In 1921, it was modified to its present appearance by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Inside the building is a large open-air pool of spring fed water along with changing rooms. Unfortunately, getting pictures of the inside are near impossible since access is restricted (locked door). You could see the pool of water inside by looking through the windows but getting a decent shot would have been difficult.

This is the same tributary that I had stopped at earlier in the day. It looks like there are the remains of a dam at this spot (behind the pool house). Perhaps this was used as part of the day spa that existed up until the Civil War in 1860. 

Once I was done in the pool house area, I took a walk southward around a field, then circled back up to the intersection of Art School and Yellow Springs Roads. By this time, I was almost back to the car and close to the Chester Springs Studio.

Unfortunately, there are a few places I had forgotten about that I wanted to explore. I did get some pictures of the artwork next to the studio though. 

Walking past the studio, there were a few trees with these flowers in bloom which was pretty awesome looking. I took a close-up picture but unfortunately, it ended up being blurry...rats! 

It was a pretty tall tree, one a few in the area

Back to the parking lot at the Yellow Springs Inn

That was it for my tour of Historic Yellow Springs even though I did forget to explore a few small areas. Eventually, I'll go back to check them out but it won't be a top priority on my list since it would be a quick stop and I'm looking to hike some longer distances. I'm also making a mental note to myself not to go out with friends the night before hiking or if I do, not to have as many glasses of "fruit punch". I can't complain though, having a night out with friends left me fatigued for the hike but it was worth every minute.

In all, this is a good place for a leisure stroll through a historical section of Chester Springs, PA. Many of the buildings were open but as I mentioned earlier, I didn't want to be inside on such a beautiful day so perhaps when I return, I can take a look at and learn some more history about the buildings within Yellow Springs.

From here, it was off to explore a few trails that run alongside Pickering Creek, not far from Historic Yellow Springs.

Until next time, happy exploring and happy hiking!

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Southeastern PA Hiking