Cultural Landscape Report: Friendship Hill

Van Dyke Lecoff, Tina

Local interest in the preservation of Friendship Hill to Commemorate Albert Gallatin commenced in 1927 when Andrew Thompson, the contemporary owner, established the Friendship Hill Association. Efforts to raise money to preserve the site, or to have the site recognized by the State of Pennsylvania, failed, perhaps because of the onset of the Great Depression and World War II. In 1965, Friendship Hill was designated a National Historic Landmark because of the property’s association with Albert Gallatin and political and military history. In 1966 when the National Register of Historic Places was established by the National Park Service, Friendship Hill was automatically entered because of it’s landmark status. In 1978, the site was authorized as a National Historic Site in the National Park system. In 1980, the National Park Service purchased the property from the Trust for Public Lands. A 1986 update of the 1976 National Register nomination specified the site’s significance from 1786 to 1905 in recognition of its role in the history of American architecture, and politics and government. As work on the house and visitor facilities proceeded, the landscape in the historic store required integration into the final plans. In September of 1989, the Denver Service Center and the Mid-Atlantic Region of the NPS entered into an agreement to conduct a cultural landscape report. Laura Soulliere Harrison, Historian, and Tina Van Dyke-LeCoff, Cultural Landscape Architect, were assigned to the project. Before visiting Friendship Hill, Harrison and LeCoff reviewed management documents and met with MAR staff regarding the objectives. The main objective was to evaluate the landscape in the historic core and present recommendations for treatment. This cultural landscape report is comprised of an administrative data section, a historical overview of park development, an assessment of overall conditions as of April, 1990, a summary of Friendship Hill’s owners, histories of land use, circulation, vegetation, secondary buildings and structures, an analysis and evaluation of the landscape’s significance, and the recommendations for its treatment. The initial focus of the report was on the historic core around the Gallatin House, but the context of the overall property is included because the outlying areas are integrally related to the evolution of the core. Invaluable information for this report was gleaned from the Historic Resource Study (1981); the Historic Structure Report (1985), Architectural Data Section; the Historic Furnishing Report (1985); the Vegetation Study(1986); the Historic Structure Report, Archeological Data Section(1989) and Paul Inashima’s June 1991 archeological report. Many of the historical facts cited in this report stem from these studies rather than from original research.

Cultural Landscape Report: Friendship Hill

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