Built in 1738, Wright’s Ferry Mansion reflects the sophisticated tastes and panoply of interests of its original owner, Susanna Wright. A dynamic force in establishing colonial self-sufficiency, she encouraged industry, especially the production of silk and linen; implanted her Quaker beliefs; and stimulated a literary current through her poetry and correspondence. She quickened her intellect with some of the most inventive minds of eighteenth-century Philadelphia, like James Logan, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Thomson.
Wright’s Ferry Mansion has been restored and furnished by The von Hess Foundation with meticulous care to the time that Susanna Wright lived in the house, from 1738 till 1750, and is the only Pennsylvania English Quaker house that has been furnished exclusively to the first half of the eighteenth century. The collection of ceramics, glass, metals, textiles and Pennsylvania furniture made from 1700 to 1750 is one of the most complete and representative in the country, creating the impression that its eighteenth-century inhabitant had just left the room. The von Hess Foundation has produced a rare combination: a house permeated with the atmosphere of another age and a rich academic milieu that emanates the artistic, cultural and spiritual aspirations of early eighteenth-century America.