The Hidden History of Chester County: Lost Tales from the Delaware & Brandywine Valleys

On an Oxford bound train in 1866 Mary Miles refused to move to the ‘blacks-only’ section, eighty-nine years before Rosa Parks’ famous ride. Eight years later in a West Chester courtroom photographic evidence was used for the first time. Soon after that the hills of Westtown became the testing grounds for the Flexible Flyer, America’s original steerable sled. These are among the extraordinary stories too often lost to Chester County’s history. From the humorous tale of the goat that ate a stick of dynamite to Ann Preston, M.D., leading her female medical students through a mob of enraged men, author Mark Dixon is sure to please with this beguiling collection of vignettes.