Did you know that one of the Revolutionary War’s original spy rings was based out of Newtown Square? The Chester County History Center will host Spy Day on Saturday, July 23 from 11 AM to 2 PM to educate visitors about how George Washington’s colonial spies conducted their missions.

In April 1777, George Washington realized that if the British succeeded in occupying Philadelphia, he would need men and women in the city that could pass information to the American forces. Washington instructed General Thomas Mifflin, a Philadelphia merchant and politician, to establish a spy ring in the area.

By the time the British occupied the city in September 1777, a patriot spy network was already in place. 

Cadwalader Jones and William Dunwoody, both from Chester County, became founding members of Mifflin’s new spy ring. In addition to Mifflin’s formally trained spies, there were other men, women and even children that contributed to intelligence-gathering during the Revolutionary War.

One such spy was Lydia Darragh, an Irish-born Philadelphian whose front parlor was used as a meeting space for British officers. When she overheard information from the men meeting in her home, she sewed messages into the cloth-covered buttons on her son John’s coat and sent him to the American lines.

Another Philadelphian woman, “Mom” Rinker, would knit for hours atop a high rock overlooking the Wissahickon Valley, watching British troop movements and recording the information on notes she hid in skeins of her knitting yarn.  

These ordinary Pennsylvanians did extraordinary work during the Revolution, gathering and passing along their information by means of false identities, codes, ciphers, dead drops, and even invisible ink.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children ages 6+. Members and children 5 and under are free. Registration is required, and tickets include all-day access to the museum. The event is sponsored by the Protection Bureau.