Cliveden Arboretum

The Cliveden Arboretum is located at a preserved historic site in the Germantown neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia.  Established as a country estate for attorney Benjamin Chew 1763-1767, Cliveden was home to seven generations of the Chew family and their households, including those who were enslaved by and in service to the Chews.  The property developed from an 11.38-acre country estate in the 18th century to an estimated 60-acre gentleman’s farm in the early 19th century.  The farm operation slowed through the last quarter of the 19th century and the property was planted as a picturesque landscape with specimen and memorial plantings.  As the estate was subdivided and the suburban neighborhood grew adjacent to Cliveden in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, the remaining five-and-a-half-acre landscape was left to represent traces of these layers of history.  The arboretum includes at least 30 species of trees and shrubs.  The property is open daily, weather permitting, for public access and use as a community park.