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

Isaac Weld, Jr.  “American Stage Waggon.”  [Strafford, PA].  From I. Weld, Jr.  Travels through the States of North America...during 1795, 1796 and 1797. 

London, [1799]-1819.  4 x 6 5/8.  Engraving.  Very good condition.  A/A

A charming and intriguing view from an early scenic history of America.  This print of the Spread Eagle Tavern, which stood on the old Lancaster Pike in Strafford, (current day Eagle Village Shops) in what is now part of the Main Line, gives us a rare look at the colonial environs of Philadelphia.  It 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.