The Chester County History Center's "Plagues and Pestilence" walking tour returns to West Chester this September with a slightly different route and slightly different diseases than last year's edition.
The 2026 tour runs multiple dates: Sept. 2, 12, 19, 23 and 26. It traces how cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, rabies and smallpox shaped borough life in the early 1800s. According to the CCHC event listing, the borough marketed itself as an elegant and healthful place during that era, but residents faced a grimmer reality.
The History Center describes early treatments as almost worse than the diseases themselves. Bloodletting, blistering and mercury were all part of the medicinal arsenal. The tour covers how epidemics changed burial practices and how local medical minds fought back.
Jennifer Green, the History Center's director of education, and tour guide Erica Imparato have led CCHC walking tours this summer, including the Revolutionary West Chester tour in early August. The Daily Local News reported Aug. 12 that the Plagues and Pestilence series would run through September, followed by Chilling West Chester tours in October.
The walk lasts 90 to 100 minutes and covers 1.5 miles, mostly on sidewalks. The History Center warns that terrain may be uneven in places. Group sizes are small, and the center says tour times are likely to sell out.
Tickets cost $16 per person. CCHC members get a 20% discount. The event runs rain or shine. Service dogs are welcome; pets are not. Subject matter may not suit younger audiences. Attendees should arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled start to check in.
Tickets are available through the Chester County History Center's website.
Coming up in West Chester:
- Plagues and Pestilence walking tours: Sept. 2, 12, 19, 23 and 26
- Chilling West Chester tours: scheduled for October
