HISTORIC HOME  / 151 WEST MAPLE AVE.

Submitted and published in the Langhorne Ledger  by Sally Valone of the Historic Langhorne Association      

Across the street from Historic Langhorne Assn. Headquarters is the home of Jack & Elsie Knight at 151 West Maple Ave. The Knight home was at one time called Linden Hall, named for the row of Linden trees planted in front of the house.

The plot of land of 112 acres dates back to the late 1600’s and early 1700’s purchased by William Hayhurst and then sold to Henry Huddleston.  Built in sections, the original structure was built in 1740 as a Huddleston family house.  Several years later about 1814,  a section was added to the original structure and this serves as a first floor apartment today. 

About 1834, Dr. Thomas  Allen, a descendent of Nathaniel Allen, Penn’s Agent, bought from the Huddlestons several acres of their land, with a wide front now Maple Avenue and he built  the house later.   Dr. Allen built this house of brick from the local brickyards.  This house in its large lines represented the highest ideals of the permanent building at the time.  Its spacious rooms were lined with hand made chestnut woodwork,  fire places in every room with  marble mantles and fire backs. 

All the openings in the house are fortified with dressed brown stone, also the gutters and drains.  The kitchen and servants quarters were connected with, but off from the house.  It had a brown stone coping along its front surrounded by a heavy ornamental iron fence, with iron hitching posts topped with horse heads in front. 

The lawn was very large, planted with trees and bushes, and had a terraced garden with a sundial in the middle. It had a charming view from the north.  They entertained often and this was the outstanding property in the village, and there has been nothing built since that exceeds it. 

In 1901, the home was purchased by Dr. Thomas where he and his wife lived and died; and was then occupied by a member of his family until 1946.  The Knights have owned the home since 1978. 

The section of the home that serves as an apartment, features two unusually large and beautiful fireplaces.  One, in the living room, can be seen in its entirely.  This was the fireplace of the kitchen-meeting room of the 1790 addition.  The partitioning of a room off the rear hallway has split a similarly sized fireplace.  It is believed that horses pulled logs for these huge fireplaces from the rear door through what is now the den door.  The kitchen was once a pump house as it is immediately above a well in the basement of the house.  A former tenant of the apartment related stories of a ghost in the apartment.  The heavy double locked front door would open for no reason.  The tenant would re-lock the door, and then hear the locks unlock and the door creak open, or be awakened at 3:00 am when the radio suddenly started playing. This is but another interesting story of the historic homes in Langhorne.