The Cliffs stands above the East River Drive, commanding a splendid view
down the Schuylkill to the south toward Lemon Hill, and to the north
past Mount Pleasant. The house, a compact structure of stuccoed rubble,
was built by Samuel Rowland Fisher in 1741 and, unlike several other of
the park houses in the Museum group, remained in the ownership of one
family until taken over by the Park Commission in 1868. It had, however,
been leased from time to time, as a letter dated 1789 bears witness,
written by Sarah Bache to Benjamin Franklin, her father, who was then in
France. It relates that she had just moved to “this small, charming
house which the French minister (who is delivering letter) will describe
in detail.”
There is considerable panelling of a simple kind throughout the house,
chiefly occurring on the chimney wall of the rooms, the remaining walls
being plastered and wainscoted. The parlour, opening directly from the
outside, is a dignified room having exposures on two sides and a
panelled chimney wall on the third.
The Cliffs is not usually open to the public. Mr. and Mrs. Erling H.
Pedersen, the occupants, have gathered many old pieces of American
furniture suitable to the house. Particularly notable is a slant-top
walnut desk, a small Chippendale sofa and a pair of ladder-back side
chairs. Beyond is the dining room, one stair leading down into the old
kitchen with its great fireplace and beamed ceiling, the other leading
up to two pleasant chambers, furnished with four-post beds and early
walnut chests of drawers.
[Illustration: LEMON HILL, 1798 Shown on map as No. 8]