Excerpt from the Gulph Mills Civic Association website:
Scenic charm and historical lore combine to make the Gulph Mills and Rebel Hill region one of the most attractive in the country. The cleft through the hills, known as Rebel Hill and Widow’s Hill, in which Gulph Road was one of the first highways opened west of the Schuylkill out of the City of Philadelphia. Because of the physical surroundings the name “gulph,” the old for of the present g-u-l-f, was given to the locality by the pioneer settlers. “G-u-l-p-h” meant not only an arm of the sea but also a depression in the earth, a chasm or abyss. The English poets, Pope and Spencer, used g-u-l-p-h in their poems, but it is now obsolete.
Rebel Hill, the hill to the west, traditionally received its name from the fact that in Revolutionary times, the residents hereabouts espoused the American cause so vehemently that those who upheld the Mother Country called the locality Rebel Hill. Widow’s Hill, the hill to the west, received its name, as we are told, when after the Civil War, many of the women were deserted by their soldier husbands who may have found the charms of the Dixie Belles too enticing and remained in the south.
In many cases you will find that origin of the names of many an American town and village was based on the name of the tavern located in its midst or perhaps the original dwelling in the locality. Gulph Mills was originally called Bird-in-Hand for the old Inn or tavern located on the site of 977 Trinity Lane. The original well and spring house are still standing. The Inn was built about 1740, and it originally was a log building. However, a large stone structure was subsequently built around it.
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The bridge that crosses the creek at Arden Road was, for many years, called “Lover’s Bridge”. The road leads to the section of the village which was called “Widow Hill.”