Local History: Why Is It Called Waynewood?

 

General "Mad Anthony" Wayne

Every once in a while I stumble across a piece of local history that answers a question for me. 

The following was in the Mt. Vernon At Home Newsletter a few months ago regarding the community of Waynewood which is about 56 years-old:

Waynewood - A Family Community With a Historic Past
by Anna Peterson

Even long-time residents of Waynewood occasionally wonder about the origin of its name.  It turns out that Waynewood was named after General "Mad Anthony" Wayne (1745-1796), a Pennsylvanian who was a close friend of George Washington.   



U.S. Postage Stamp Commemorating
Battle of Fallen Timbers and General Wayne

At Valley Forge, he raided the British line to obtain supplies for the Continental Army.  He fought the British in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.  He was a member of the convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. 

After being commissioned General-in-Chief of the American Army in 1782, Major General Wayne was sent to subjugate Native Americans, and his army destroyed many of their villages.  Later, Washington appointed him commissioner to negotiate treaties with them, and it was on one of these assignments that he fell ill and died in what is now Erie, Pennsylvania.

Consisting of 753 homes on about 300 acres, Waynewood was developed by the late Clarence W. Gosnell and was formally opened in 1957.  It is situated on land that was one known as River Farm, a parcel which originally consisted of 1,806 acres purchased by George Washington in 1769.

There is ton's more information on the exploits of General "Mad Anthony" Wayne on his Wikipedia page.  Apparently, his nickname had nothing to do with him being crazy.