Weld, Isaac Jr. “American Stage Waggon.” [Main Line-Strafford, PA]

After Isaac Weld, Jr.  "American Stage Waggon."  From An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive View of the United States… 

Newcastle upon Tyne: MacKenzie and Dent, ca. 1820.  4 x 6 1/4 (image).  Engraving.  Very good condition.  Snyder.  Mirror of America, 716. A/A

A charming and intriguing view from a rare history of America.  This image is based on a 18^th century publication issued by Isaac Weld which gives us a rare look at the colonial environs of Philadelphia.  It is said to show the Spread Eagle Tavern, which stood on the old Lancaster Pike at Strafford, in what is now part of the Main Line.  A coach drawn by a team of four horses is shown leaving this inn at the edge of a woods.  The print presents a clear image of what travel from Philadelphia to Lancaster would have been like long before the railroad and the development of the famed western suburbs.