WESTTOWN TWP, PA — Preservation advocates are pressing Westtown Township to impose permanent protections on the historic Darlington Inn before selling the 203-year-old property, organizing a petition that has drawn nearly 300 verified signatures amid concerns that private ownership could leave the building vulnerable to demolition or significant exterior alterations.
The campaign, organized by former township Historical Commission member Stephen Wahrhaftig, calls for an exterior preservation easement on the 1823 stone building near the intersection of Routes 202 and 926.
The petition, created September 11, had collected 294 verified signatures as of October 12. It asks supervisors to make preservation restrictions a condition of any sale, even if those requirements reduce the property’s market value.
The township has not rejected the proposal. Officials are evaluating preservation easements and other potential sale conditions, according to Township Manager Mila Carter, who discussed the property’s future in an October 8 Daily Local News report by Bill Rettew.
No sale method, listing price, or sale date has been established.
The dispute centers on whether the municipality should permanently restrict alterations to a historically significant building before relinquishing public ownership.
Wahrhaftig and former Historical Commission member Patrick McDonough are pursuing the proposal through the Westtown-Brandywine Historical Society, an independent organization formed after township supervisors dismissed the previous commission’s members.
“We are not saying you can’t sell the building,” Wahrhaftig said in an interview with the Daily Local News.
“If it is going to be sold, can you please consider a historic easement like at Painter’s Folly in Chadds Ford.”
The advocates modeled their proposal on protections established for Painter’s Folly, a historic Chadds Ford property associated with artists N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth.
The proposed restriction would protect the Darlington Inn’s exterior without necessarily preventing private ownership, interior renovations, additions, or commercially permitted uses.
McDonough has also proposed converting the building into a visitor center for the adjoining Crebilly Preserve, with public restrooms and potential office space on the second floor.
The inn occupies approximately two acres separated from the larger Crebilly Farm property acquired by Westtown for open-space preservation.
Carter explained to the Daily Local News that the separation was necessary because federal Land and Water Conservation Fund requirements associated with the acquisition called for buildings on the preserved acreage to be demolished.
The township retained the inn on a separate parcel rather than demolishing it.
Officials subsequently rezoned the property from agricultural and residential use to commercial use, increasing its potential for adaptive reuse.
Carter said the township does not have an identified municipal purpose for the building and is concerned about the expense of maintaining another historic property.
“The Township does not have a municipal use for the building, and based on its experience owning and maintaining historic buildings, such as Oakbourne Mansion, the Board recognized the significant ongoing costs associated with maintaining an older building,” Carter wrote in an email to the Daily Local News.
She said supervisors determined that selling the property would be appropriate after considering its location and potential for reuse.
The township has engaged an appraiser to evaluate the property. Carter said any easement or other restrictions ultimately included in the sale could be incorporated into the valuation.
An auction or sealed-bid process remains possible under Pennsylvania’s Second-Class Township Code, although supervisors have not selected either approach.
“The Township is in the process of evaluating various preservation options, including easements and incentives for purchasers who agree to certain post-sale conditions and zoning provisions that would limit potential uses of the property,” Carter wrote. “No decision has been made.”
The township has also received inquiries from prospective purchasers, including parties interested in using the building for general office space.
“Those who have expressed interest to date have indicated that they would not demolish the building and would not anticipate significant changes to the exterior of the building,” Carter said.
Preservation advocates argue that prospective buyers’ stated intentions are not a substitute for legally binding restrictions that would remain in place after a transfer.
The petition acknowledges that an easement could lower the property’s sale price but asks supervisors to weigh that potential reduction against the public benefit of preserving the historic structure.
McDonough and Wahrhaftig have also questioned whether the municipality could retain the building and use open-space tax revenue to support its maintenance.
According to McDonough, the township collected approximately $1.4 million through its voter-approved open-space tax following the November 2022 referendum, including $272,000 designated for operations and maintenance.
The township has sought outside guidance on the property’s future. Representatives of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission visited the building, while the Preservation Alliance of Philadelphia provided information about preservation options.
Officials also conducted a public workshop addressing the potential sale and possible reuse of the property.
The preservation campaign follows a separate dispute over the township’s decision to dismiss members of its volunteer Historical Commission.
Supervisors Jodi Nawrocki, Tom Foster and Fred Manger voted unanimously to remove the commission members after residents and local historians criticized the proposed action.
Nawrocki disputed suggestions that the dismissals were connected to the Darlington Inn’s potential sale, calling those claims inaccurate.
She said the commission had not been working effectively with supervisors. Foster cited a history of problems between the commission and the board.
Wahrhaftig offered a different account.
“We became an inconvenience to the board’s plans,” he said in the Daily Local News interview. “They didn’t want us to do anything of substance, just lectures, books, articles and displays.”
The township has maintained that the Historical Commission was not dissolved and that former members could apply for appointment again.
For the Darlington Inn, the immediate decision remains whether supervisors will attach enforceable preservation conditions to a future sale.
The petition, Urge Westtown Township to Protect Darlington Inn With Historic Easement, is available at https://www.change.org/p/urge-westtown-township-to-protect-darlington-inn-with-historic-easement.
For more information about the preservation campaign, township officials’ responses, and the dispute involving the former Historical Commission, read Bill Rettew’s original reporting in the Daily Local News: https://www.dailylocal.com/2026/10/08/is-westtowns-darlington-inn-on-the-auction-block/.
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