The Route 1 traffic signals in Chadds Ford now have pedestrian push buttons. Press one and the light changes so you can cross on foot. ChaddsFordLive reported the change as part of Walkable Chadds Ford, the trail project the township opened with a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 29. Saturday is two days after this post goes up, and it begins the trail's first real test. Holidays at Brandywine opens that morning, and Brandywine Battlefield Park hosts a 250th-anniversary talk at noon. On Dec. 5, the township tree lighting takes place at one of the trail's own access points, and the museum display runs through Jan. 10.
For years, every one of those stops meant a separate drive and a separate parking lot. This is the first holiday season in which all of them sit on, or a short walk from, one connected path.
What crews actually built between August 2025 and October
Connect Chadds Ford traces the idea to the early 2000s. It picked up again in 2014, when the township partnered with the Brandywine Conservancy, and a village master plan was finalized in May 2015. Allan Myers won the PennDOT contract and broke ground on Aug. 11, 2025. The master plan aimed to slow traffic, add walkways, and reconnect the village's two National Register Historic Districts.
Here is what the finished project includes, as described in the same post:
- A paved trail from Ring Road at Route 1 to Creek Road at Route 1. It has elevated boardwalks, including a wetland boardwalk, and two new pedestrian bridges between the Township Building and Creek Road.
- A paved trail from Creek Road toward Hoffman's Mill Road, in the direction of the Brandywine Museum of Art.
- A paved trail from Hank's Place to the Chadds Ford Historical Society.
- New curbs, sidewalks, and ADA-accessible ramps around Station Way, Creek Road, and Ring Road where they meet Route 1.
- Pedestrian push buttons on the Route 1 signals.
The township's project page lists four access points: the Township Building at 10 Ring Road, Brandywine Battlefield Park on Baltimore Pike, Creek Road at Baltimore Pike, and Station Way at Baltimore Pike. It asks visitors to use designated public parking because lots at businesses and museums may be for customers only. Connect Chadds Ford suggests parking behind the Township Building near the playground.
The project cost roughly $4.3 million in federal, state, and county grants. As ChaddsFordLive reported, $2.8 million of that came from PennDOT transportation set-aside funds. At the ceremony, state Sen. John Kane listed what the trail now connects: "You've got the battlefield, you've got the museum, you've got the municipal building, and now pedestrian walking trails." Supervisor Kathleen Goodier credited the vision of Deb Reardon, a former chair of the township Open Space Committee.
The battlefield, the museum, and the municipal building on Kane's list are also where this season's holiday events take place.
Saturday, Nov. 14: the battlefield end
The battlefield end of the trail is busy on opening weekend. Brandywine Battlefield Park has a 250th Revolutionary Speaker Series event with Don N. Hagist from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 14. The visitor center and the timed tours of the Ring House, which served as Washington's headquarters, and the Gideon Gilpin House run Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays the grounds are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. without tours. Public parking sits next to the picnic areas just past the visitor center.
That parking is the reason to start here. Park once at the battlefield, walk down to the village, and the rest of the day follows the trail.
The museum opens its holiday display that same morning. Holidays at Brandywine runs Nov. 14 through Jan. 10, 2027. The centerpiece is the Brandywine Railroad, a holiday tradition since 1972: an O-gauge layout with 2,000 feet of track and more than 1,000 pieces. Trains by Lionel, Williams, Atlas, Mike's Train House, K-Line and others run past a village, a farm, factories, a drive-in movie theater, and a carnival. Visitors can work some of it with push buttons and foot pedals. Dollhouses and trees hung with handmade Critter ornaments fill the rest of the display.
New this year is Greeting Seasons: Wintry Joy in Children's Illustration, with work by Micha Archer, Kevin Henkes, Chris Raschka, and Audrey Helen Weber. It is included with holiday admission. Holiday admission is $25 for adults, $23 for seniors, $10 for students and ages 4 to 17, and free for children 3 and under and museum members. Regular-hours tickets are not valid during the holiday season.
Two ways to walk to the museum
Connect Chadds Ford describes the paved segment from Creek Road toward Hoffman's Mill Road as the route to the Brandywine Museum of Art. The township page lists the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art among destinations near the trail, with nearby recreational trail connections that include the Harvey Run Trail.
The other way in is the Harvey Run Trail, which the Brandywine and the township built together. It connects the museum's main campus to the Township Building parking lot. It runs about 2 miles round trip and takes about an hour out and back from either the township lot or the Creek Road trailhead. The surface is natural path with wooden bridges over the creek. Creekside sections can be muddy after rain, and the trail is for hiking only, with no bicycles. The township says Harvey Run is open sunrise to sunset and is not maintained in winter.
That shapes how a December visit works. A morning visit to the trains can use Harvey Run in good weather. An evening visit should not, because the trail closes at sunset.
Critter Sale week, and a stop for lunch
The second big date at the museum is the Holiday Critter Sale in the second-floor Waterview Room. Members get a preview on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Public hours are Thursday, Nov. 19 through Sunday, Nov. 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Items run $10 to $35, specialty pieces $50 to $250, and the sale takes credit and debit cards only.
Between the village and the Historical Society is Hank's Place at 1635 Creek Road. The township describes it as sitting along the pedestrian route between the village and the Historical Society. The Barn Shops directory lists its hours as 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The same directory lists OsoSweet Bakery Cafe, Green Meadows Florist, and The Naked Lady Gallery & Shop among its tenants. The newest is Punctuate Your Style, a home and decor shop from interior designer Ashley Dowse. ChaddsFordLive reported that it took over the former Chadds Ford Gallery and Barbara Moore Fine Art space and held its grand opening Oct. 17.
The paved trail ends at the Chadds Ford Historical Society. Its Barn Visitors Center is at 1736 Creek Road, and tours of the John Chads House and Springhouse are by appointment year-round. The Christian C. Sanderson Museum's 2026 season runs through the end of November, weekends from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adult nonmembers, $5 for ages 6 to 12, and free for members and children 5 and under with an adult. That leaves three weekends to see it before it closes for the season: Nov. 14 and 15, Nov. 21 and 22, and Nov. 28 and 29.
Dec. 5: the tree lighting at the trailhead
The township tree lighting is the one holiday event held at a Walkable Chadds Ford access point. The Chadds Ford Community Association's 2026 Holiday Tree Lighting is Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Township Building, 10 Ring Road. Santa is due around 5:15 p.m., and the tree lights at 6 p.m. Hot chocolate, apple cider, and s'mores are on the program. The association asks guests who are able to bring a new, unwrapped toy for the township's Toys for Tots drive.
The township lot is the same one Connect Chadds Ford suggests for trail parking, and the paved segment from Ring Road runs to Creek Road over the new boardwalks and bridges. For people coming from the village side, the lighting is the first scheduled evening event that sits on the trail itself.
Late weekends through Jan. 3
From Dec. 18, the museum stays open until 8 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through Jan. 3. On other days, holiday hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The museum is closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day and closes at 1 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
| Date | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Brandywine Museum of Art | Holidays at Brandywine opens, 9:30 a.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Brandywine Battlefield Park | Don N. Hagist talk, noon to 1:30 p.m. |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | Brandywine Museum of Art | Critter Sale member preview |
| Nov. 19 to 22 | Brandywine Museum of Art | Critter Sale, public, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Nov. 28 and 29 | Sanderson Museum | Last weekend of the 2026 season, noon to 4 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Township Building, 10 Ring Road | Tree lighting, 5 to 6:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 18 to Jan. 3 | Brandywine Museum of Art | Open until 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays |
| Sun., Jan. 10 | Brandywine Museum of Art | Holidays at Brandywine closes |
On those late weekends, the paved trail is the way to get around on foot after dark. Harvey Run follows the sunrise-to-sunset schedule the township sets, and a train visit that ends at 8 p.m. falls well past sunset. The paved stretch from Ring Road to Creek Road, with its boardwalks and two bridges, plus the push-button crossings on Route 1, is the part built for the trip into the village. At the ceremony, PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll called it "the place to walk and bike," according to ChaddsFordLive.
If you walk the new route this season and want to know which streets it now puts within walking distance of the village, Gary Scheivert & Associates knows the Route 1 corridor parcel by parcel and is glad to talk it through. Contact Us.
