The Brandywine

The Brandywine River winds from Southeastern Pennsylvania into Delaware along a rolling, agricultural plane. Henry Seidel Canby was born along its banks into a family that has lived in the region for generations. His personal affection for the river is woven into this charming history of events that make the Brandywine one of America's most important small rivers. He explains how the Swedes built the first log cabins in America at the mouth of the Brandywine, why William Penn's Quakers later came here, that prairie schooners were built to haul grain to local flour mills, and how the duPont family started a chemical empire in these narrow gorges. The Battle of the Brandywine was a major confrontation in America's war for independence.