Christian C. Sanderson Museum

The Christian C. Sanderson Museum is a historic house in Chadds Ford housing a collection of artifacts spanning more than 200 years of American history. The building itself is a preserved residential space designed to present the objects within their original domestic context.

The museum opened in 1967 when Andrew Wyeth assisted in preserving the collection assembled by a local teacher named Christian Sanderson. This educator had gathered historical items across many decades, linking the region to major national events.

The collection includes original sketches by members of the Wyeth artistic family and personal objects from the Civil War era. Visitors can examine letters written by veterans and signatures of notable figures, connecting local history to larger American events.

The house opens on weekends from March through November and offers an intimate tour through a small collection. A visit typically takes one to two hours, since the rooms are limited in size and the artifacts reward close attention.

The museum preserves a fragment of bandaging from Abraham Lincoln's assassination and a pocketbook belonging to Jennie Wade from the Battle of Gettysburg. These two deeply personal objects connect visitors directly to watershed moments in American history.