Left: English Delft Charger, c. 1750. Woodford has an extensive collection of Delftware.

Above: Front Elevation, Woodford. Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) drawing, 1932.

In 1756-58 William Coleman, a Philadelphia merchant and close friend of Benjamin Franklin, built this elegant country home. Woodford is one of the most elegant survivors of the early “summer retreats” that were built along the Schuylkill River during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century by Philadelphia’s well-to-do.

Today, Woodford is owned by the Fairmount Park Commission and operated by the Naomi Wood Trust. The house is furnished with an extraordinary collection of eighteenth and early nineteenth century antiques begun by Naomi Wood, a Philadelphia-born collector.