Cedar Grove is administered in partnership with the City of Philadelphia through the Department of Parks and Recreation, providing visitors with a glimpse into Philadelphia’s rich cultural heritage. Cedar Grove, which was moved from its original site in the Frankford section of Philadelphia to Fairmount Park in 1926–1928, served as a summer residence for five generations of the Coates, Paschall, and Morris families of Philadelphia. In 1746, Elizabeth Coates Paschall, a widow with three children, purchased the property and within a few years began construction on a small summer house of grey native stone, consisting of the present dining room, upper bed chamber and back rooms. Cedar Grove began to evolve as the result of numerous additions made to it by succeeding generations of the family. Elizabeth’s granddaughter Sarah, who inherited the house, married Isaac Wistar Morris in 1795. Soon after their marriage, Sarah and Isaac doubled the size of Cedar Grove—adding the half which now contains the parlor and the kitchen. They also added the third floor, incorporating the original gable roof into what is now a “broken pitch” or gambrel roof. The porch, or “piazza,” was added later, giving the house its present appearance.

The interior of Cedar Grove contains innovative features such as an indoor bake oven and hot water boiler in the kitchen, and an unusual two-sided wall of closets on the second floor. The house is furnished with exceptional examples of early Pennsylvania furniture, which have descended through the Morris family. The mixture of fine Baroque, Rococo, and Federal styles seen in its interior rooms reflects the evolution of the family’s taste and their continued occupancy of the house through the mid-nineteenth century.

Through the generosity of Lydia Thompson Morris, the last of the family to possess Cedar Grove, the house and its surviving original furnishings were presented to the city of Philadelphia in 1928.