A guide book of art, architecture, and historic interests in Pennsylvania

by Unknown

PLACES OF INTEREST EAST

East Logan Street, across Wissahickon Avenue, the picturesque Wakefield Mills and residence of Thomas and Sarah Fisher, née Logan, in 1795, granddaughter of James Logan, of Stenton; passing Wakefield, Old York Road is soon reached. Jewish Hospital on the right. Old York Road, on left, residence of Pierce Butler, bought in 1812; he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and Senator from South Carolina; his son, Pierce Butler, Jr., married Fanny Kemble; present residence of Owen Wister, their grandson; the British outpost was stationed near here. Church Lane and Wingohocking Creek, site of Roberts Mill, built in 1683; first in the country; built by Richard Townsend, a passenger on the Welcome with William Penn; back of mill, British had a small redoubt, guarding their encampment in Germantown. Northeast corner of Church Lane and Dunton Street, Spencer farmhouse; Thomas Godfrey, inventor of the quadrant, was born here; he died in 1749. Northwest corner of Haines Street and Limekiln Turnpike, Philadelphia National Cemetery, thirteen acres, founded in 1885; soldiers of the War of the Rebellion are buried here. Farther along Limekiln Turnpike left wing of Washington’s army moved down this road, and a sharp encounter occurred with an outpost of British.

II
BUCKS COUNTY

AUTOMOBILE ride of historic interest through Washington’s itinerary to New Hope. Return to Philadelphia via Bristol and Frankford.

One of the first three counties established by William Penn, 1682, named for Buckinghamshire (Bucks), England, Penn’s ancestral home. From Hatboro, Montgomery County, take the Old York Road to Warminster, site where John Fitch, in 1785, made a model of the first successful steamboat, marked by monument; he ran a boat, with side wheels, by steam, on a pond in 1786, and on the Delaware River, during session of Federal Constitution at State House in Philadelphia, 1787; twenty years before Robert Fulton’s trial trip on the Hudson; before Fitch, first model of steamboat in United States was made by William Henry, of Lancaster, 1763. Approaching Hartsville, is site of Log College, origin of Princeton University, founded by Rev. William Tennent, 1740, near Christ’s Home, where everything is obtained through prayer. Neshaminy Church in a grove of very old oak trees, where William Tennent preached, is one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania. Hartsville, Cobe Scout’s shop, on Little Neshaminy; bulk of American army was at Neshaminy Camp, with General Stephen and Lord Sterling, when Lafayette joined it, and was handed his commission by General Washington in Moreland house, near the bridge; marked, inscription,

Bucks County

“Washington’s headquarters, August, 1777, Bucks County Historical Society.” First Pike west of Hartsville, wooden covered bridge over Little Neshaminy; inscription, “Bucks County Bridge, 1821, 20 mi. to P.” Continue York Road beyond Jamison’s Corner, seven arch stone bridge over Big Neshaminy at Bridge Valley, built, 1800; beyond bridge, first left road, over Crawford’s Hill, fine view of Neshaminy Valley.

Via Pebble Hill to Doylestown, county seat, settled, 1778, population 3857; court house, native gray stone; concrete fountain in front, Renaissance, with benches and lamp posts, designed by William R. Mercer, Jr., erected by borough, 1912, in commemoration of one hundredth anniversary of the county seat. Bucks County Historical Society, Library and Museum, built, 1915, of reinforced concrete, interior groined arch construction, designed, built, and presented to the Society by Dr. Henry C. Mercer; the court, surrounded by four galleries, contains collections illustrating history of the United States by means of utensils of American pioneers; unique of its kind in America; includes Indian relics, decorated stove plates, illustrated in a booklet “The Bible in Iron”; arms and relics of the Rebellion. Former library building, now the Auditorium, brick, built, 1904; colonial, designed from “Homewood,” Baltimore residence of Charles Carroll of Carrollton; was presented to the Society by William L. Elkins, Esq.

Fountain House, Main Street, opposite National Bank, oldest hostelry in continuous use in upper Bucks County, built, 1745, rebuilt, 1758, low, two story, with porches, was the old stagehouse to Easton; contains large collection of colonial furnishings and old prints. “Aldie,” residence of William R. Mercer, Jr., has notable pheasantry, rare fowls from eastern Asia; concrete garden ornaments made by Mr. Mercer; and antique sculpture from pre-Christian era; Font Hill, outside borough limits, residence, Dr. Henry C. Mercer; beamed and vaulted ceilings; roof terraces and many windows, entirely of reinforced concrete; walls and ceilings adorned with mosaics and tiles made by Dr. Mercer at the neighboring “Moravian Pottery and Tile Works.” Living room decoration, Bible pictures in tiles, adapted from Pennsylvania German stove plates; Columbus room, ceiling and pavement tiles, discovery and exploration of America; Bow room, ceiling tiles, Cortez’ maps of ancient Mexico, pavement, Aztec picture writings; Yellow room tiles, story of Bluebeard; also collection of classical and Renaissance mosaics, and ancient tiles, from historic buildings; may be seen by writing to the owner for admission.

Near Doylestown, National Farm School, four hundred acres, pioneer Jewish institution of its kind in America, founded, 1898. From Doylestown southwest, two miles, Castle Valley, Prospect or Spruce Hill, fine view, and grave, according to county tradition, of Lenape Chief, Tammany, whose name is used in Tammany Hall, New York; continuing the automobile route, Buckingham turnpike near Doylestown, small stone bridge, said to be 179 years old; facing masonry, more modern; date stone, 1814. Buckingham, Tavern, General Green’s headquarters, lunch room restored in ancient style; Friends Meeting House, with lost graves of Continental soldiers along roadside; Buckingham Mountain and Wolf Rocks, center of runaway slave settlement, old negro church on summit; left of Old York Road, ancient limestone quarries and kilns; Holicong or “Conkey Hole” deep funnel-shaped depression with water hole in neighboring field; residence of Colonel H. D. Paxson, contains unique collection of light and fire making apparatus, and of North American Indian objects including the Lenape Stone; Lahaska, Dr. Staveley’s residence, “Bleak House.” Aquetong, Logan’s or Ingham Spring, one of the largest limestone springs in East United States, residence of Samuel Ingham, General Jackson’s Secretary of State; north of York Road, Solebury, Friends Meeting House.

Center Bridge, on the Delaware, house in which William G. Whittier, the poet, lived. Residence of Edward W. Redfield, landscape painter, many of his paintings are made from scenes in this vicinity. New Hope, summer art colony, residence W. L. Lathrop, and other artists; Parry House, “Cintra,” stone, with walls of great thickness, said to have been built by William Maris in 1816, is so strikingly like the famous Octagon House in Washington, D. C, that both were probably from the same model, a wing of the old castle “Cintra” near Lisbon, Portugal; the heavy paneled cherry doors, with silver-plated knobs, on first floor, are said to have been originally part of Robert Morris’ house, “The Hills,” in Fairmount Park; Mr. Maris is credited with several buildings in New Hope, also, near New Hope, “Spring Dale,” with octagonal entrance hall, once the home of Dr. Charles Huffnagle, who was United States Consul to Calcutta and later United States Consul General to British India; who brought a notable collection of curios from the Orient which for many years were on exhibition at Spring Dale.

In December, 1776, four brigades under Generals Sterling, Mercer, Stephen, and De Fermoy, were posted from Yardley’s to Coryell’s Ferry, now New Hope, to guard fords above Trenton. Farmhouse of William Keith above Brownsburg, built, 1763; marked, inscription, “Washington’s headquarters previous to Battle of Trenton, December 14-25, 1776.” Old Eagle Tavern to right, fine view of river, hills, and valley southward; picturesque valley of Knowles Creek along Jericho Hill, site of American Army camp. North, line of William Penn’s first Bucks County purchase from the Indians, near site of Indian town Playwicky; below, “Lurgan,” near river, named in honor of James Logan’s birthplace in County Armagh, Ireland. On December 25, Washington and army crossed the river at McConkey’s Ferry, now Taylorsville, before midnight; nine hundred-foot bridge there now; twenty-four hundred troops were transported by 3.00 A.M. December 26; marched to Trenton, in two divisions, under Generals Greene and Sullivan, conquered the Hessians, and recrossed the river same evening, with nearly one thousand prisoners, arms, and several cannon.

At Newtown, then county seat, Washington wrote of his victory to the President of Congress, December 27, 1776, in residence of John Harris; his headquarters until December 29. Old Brick Hotel, built, 1684, enlarged, 1764, called, “The Red Lion,” Hessian prisoners were brought here; in 1829, residence of Major Joseph O. V. S. Archambault, born at Fontainebleau, France, aide to Napoleon in Battle of Waterloo, member of his household at St. Helena; was visited here by Prince Murat and Joseph Bonaparte. Old Friends Meeting House; old Court House; and Bank, robbed by the Doans after the Revolution. North of Newtown, one mile, Wrightstown, Lenape monument, on site of chestnut tree, land given by Miss Martha Chapman, inscription, “To the memory of the Lenni-Lenape Indians, ancient owners of the region, these stones are placed on this spot; the starting point of the ‘Indian Walk,’ September 19, 1735, Bucks County Historical Society, 1890.” Friends Meeting House; nearby, in fields, site of cave house of John Chapman, first settler: very beautiful views beyond Buckmansville toward Wrightstown, Solebury Mountain in plain view. On Richboro Pike, at Richboro and Churchville are Dutch Reformed churches, about 200 years old; near is Southampton Baptist Church, built, 1764. From Wrightstown, through Yardleyville to Morrisville, population 3639; opposite Trenton; Island off lower part was first Pennsylvania land occupied by Europeans, 1624; first ferry, 1640. “Summer Seat,” built by Thomas Barkley, 1773, conveyed to Robert Morris, 1791, still standing; was Washington’s headquarters December 8 to 14, 1776; Lincoln Highway enters Pennsylvania here. Fallsington, Friends Meeting House and quaint old buildings.

Return to Philadelphia on Bristol and Frankford Turnpike; “The King’s Highway,” laid out by Provincial Council, first road cut through Bucks County; early milestones still standing; pass Wheat Sheaf to Pennsbury, site of William Penn’s country house, frames and other work brought from England; he lived here one year. Edgely, greenhouses where “Queen of Edgely Rose” originated; Landreth’s seed farms above Bristol, population, 10,273, named for Bristol, England, home of William Penn’s wife, Hannah Callowhill; the Keene house, built by Major Lenox, 1816, American minister to England, his niece, Sarah Lukens Keene, inherited and died here, bequeathing it to the Protestant Episcopal Church of Philadelphia, in trust, as home for aged gentlewomen; St. James’ Protestant Episcopal Church, built, 1712, has silver communion service presented by Queen Anne, church was used for stable by cavalry during the Revolution; interesting burial ground, tomb of Captain John Green of American Navy, said to have been first to carry the American flag in voyage around the world. Farmers’ Bank of Bucks County, Radcliffe Street, Grecian, Ionic, built by James Craig, nephew of Nicholas Biddle, for residence, bought for bank, 1830.

Langhorne, residence of Joseph Richardson, Esq., built, 1738, Edge Hill stone, with white oak joists and rafters, sawed by hand with pit saw, now occupied by his descendants; headquarters of Lafayette and Dr. Peter Yarnall. “Night after battle of Trenton, part of Washington’s army came to Attleboro,” now Langhorne: old Galloway House, Trevose, residence of Jeremiah Langhorne, part owner of Durham Furnace. One mile east, on Lincoln Highway, is stone mansion, one of the oldest in Pennsylvania, exterior is in original state, residence of the late A. Haller Gross, Esq., notable for its art, architecture, and landscape gardening; an addition, in French chateau style, built, 1911, has rooms and floors enriched by very beautiful tiles, designed and made by Dr. Henry C. Mercer; his work is further shown on the terraces and gardens; in a fountain of green enameled tiles; the concrete balustrade, and pavilion dragons and other devices are in the sunken Moorish garden; and in the Italian garden, with its pergola, sun dial and fountain. Byberry, birthplace Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1745, house still standing; and Friends Meeting House, with large library. Eddington, St. Francis Roman Catholic Industrial School, built and endowed by the Drexel family; Cornwells, “Castle of State in Schuylkill”; Andalusia, named by John Craig, Philadelphia merchant, in memory of successful ventures in Spain; here is Church of the Redeemer and King Free Library. Old Red Lion Inn, on the Pike, near three-arched stone bridge, over Poquessing Creek, Washington’s army encamped around it in 1781, on march to Yorktown; seven years earlier, Massachusetts delegates to the First Continental Congress stopped here.

Torresdale, Philadelphia County, place of fine residences; Eden Hall now Convent of St. Elizabeth. Bustleton, old Baptist Church, with interesting burial ground. Over Pennypack Creek, two arched stone bridge, date, 1800, style has been reproduced in the Fairmount Park trolley bridges. Holmesburg, Edwin Forrest Home, “Spring Brook,” and one hundred and eleven acres, bequeathed by him, for retired actors, men and women; bought in 1865 for his country seat; House of Correction, accommodates 1000; well-kept grounds. Over Pennypack Creek, stone bridge built 1697-8, in good repair, oldest in Pennsylvania; about a mile distant, near Rowland Station, is old Crispin Cemetery, contains monument, inscription, “In memory of Thomas Holmes, died, 1695, age 71, Surveyor General for William Penn, he drafted the plan and laid out the City of Philadelphia.” Bridesburg, United States Arsenal. Frankford, site of a Delaware Indian Camp, on banks of Frankford Creek; many arrowheads have been found in this locality; Indian names are retained at Tacony, Tackawanna, Wissinoming; an interesting Roman Catholic Church, Gothic, is at Tacony, also Louis A. Burk’s Japanese garden and orchid farm. Swedes settled here in 1667, and were followed by the English. Philadelphia delegates to the First Continental Congress came to Frankford in 1774 to meet the Massachusetts delegates on their way to the city, and held a conference here relative to the Independence of the colonies, which decided the destiny of the nation. In 1781 General Washington and his army marched through Frankford from New York to Yorktown; a stop was made at the “Jolly Post Hotel,” built, 1680, on Frankford Avenue north of Orthodox Street.

In 1824 Lafayette passed through Frankford from Bristol to Philadelphia, riding in an open carriage drawn by six cream-colored horses, with postilions; he was escorted by a detachment of the City Troop under command of Captain Albert Ashmead, Captain of the Philadelphia County Troop; the Washington Grays, and several other companies of mounted volunteers. Rooms of the Frankford Historical Society, Frankford Avenue north of Sellers Street, contain many objects of interest, illustrating this locality in old times. Residence of Commodore Stephen Decatur is on Powder Mill Lane. The old Friends’ Meeting House, corner of Unity and Waln Streets, was organized in 1682; first log church built, 1698; present building, 1775.

Rehoboth Methodist Church, formed in 1830; used the old Academy; the Supreme Court met here in 1800; now on Paul Street below Unity Street; present building Spanish architecture, dark brick, erected, 1879. St. Mark’s Protestant Episcopal Church was a Mission of Trinity, Oxford; started in 1709; present church, Frankford Avenue below Sellers Street, erected in 1908; English, Fourteenth century Gothic; Port Deposit granite with Indiana limestone trimmings; architects, Watson and Huckle; windows by D’Ascenzo and Tiffany. Frankford Presbyterian Church, corner of Frankford Avenue and Church Street, was originally German Reformed; corner-stone laid, 1770; for many years the church was supplied with a preacher from the Market Square Church, Germantown; present building erected, 1859; architect, McArthur. St. Joachim’s Roman Catholic Church, corner of Church and Franklin Streets, built, 1874; Gothic, brownstone and sandstone; has a very beautiful tower, resembling that of Magdalen College, Oxford; architect, Edwin Durang; contains three carved marble altars; also a large mosaic, and memorial windows from Munich.

Automobile, north from Centre Bridge, River Road, to Durham, commands some of the most beautiful views in eastern Pennsylvania; through Lumberville, Devil’s Half Acre; right, at Like Kiln, site of important Indian fishing village, many relics have been found here. Point Pleasant, mouth of Tohickon Creek, Indians quarried argillite rock for blade material; Ridges Island, Indian village site; grave of Edward Marshall of the “Indian Walk,” in his family graveyard. Tinicum Creek, picturesque gorges, ringing rocks, cliffs of the narrows, with fine view from Table Rock, very rare “ice plant” grows here. Hill Presbyterian Church, built, 1761, on Durham Road near Ottsville.

Kintersville, ruins of Durham Furnace, built, 1727, stone, thirty-five feet square at base, thirty feet high; large leather bellows used to give the blast, were operated by a water wheel; charcoal fuel was made in pits close at hand; in 1758, Durham was regarded as best iron works in the country; in 1773, one thousand acres were reserved for the furnace; fire backs and stove plates were made here until 1794, when it blew out; eight genuine, Durham fire backs are at “Stenton,” Germantown, home of James Logan, who was one-fourth owner of the furnace, three bear the date, 1728; cannon balls for the Revolutionary war were made here in quantities, specimens may be seen in the Bucks County Historical Society; in 1773 Joseph Galloway became first individual owner, it then comprised over eight thousand acres, and was leased to George Taylor, at one time a filler at the furnace; he later was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; scanty remains of the once celebrated Durham Cave, destroyed for its limestone as flux for iron ore. The road passes site of Indian village of Pechequeolin, jasper quarries worked by Indians for arrowheads on neighboring Rattlesnake Hill. Fine old stone arch bridges over Tohickon and Durham Creeks. Riegelsville, old Reformed and Lutheran Churches.

Places of interest in Bucks County, north and west of Doylestown, via Easton and Dublin Turnpikes, Plumsteadville, beautiful views of Haycock Mountain, and upper county, Moses Doan’s grave, marked with inscription; west, Dublin to Hilltown, two Mennonite and Amish meeting houses, stone arch bridge over Deep Run. Perkasie, Trinity Lutheran Church, mural painting in chancel, “Angel with Trinity Symbol,” the late H. Hanley Parker, artist.

Chester County

III
CHESTER COUNTY

THIRD county formed by William Penn; named for Chester, England. This is rich agricultural district; its broad well-kept farms, great gray barns, and comfortable homesteads of stone or brick, many still occupied by descendants of the original Quaker settlers; together with the gently rolling surface of the country and its many beautiful streams, all combine to give the county a character of its own, of quiet pastoral charm. Both the family names and place names indicate in a general way the character of the original settlement of the county, Birmingham, Bradford, Marlborough, and Kennett indicating the settlements of the English Quakers in the central and southern portion of the county: Tredyffrin and Berwyn, those of the Welsh in the east; while the Germans came later into parts of the north; and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians into the southwest.

The Lincoln Highway, Lancaster Pike, enters the county at Strafford; St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church, built, 1823; Eagle schoolhouse, 1772, on site of Lutheran log church, 1767, one of the cradles of the nation in education; now contains historical library and relics of the neighborhood; site, of “Spread Eagle Inn,” built, 1732, post and relay station.

Paoli, 535 feet above sea, Tredyffrin township. “The General Paoli Inn,” built by General Joshua Evans, who was elected to State Legislature, 1820; recruiting went on briskly here for War of 1812. Road southwest to West Chester, nine miles. One mile south of Paoli, colonial homestead, “Waynesborough,” birthplace of General Anthony Wayne, built, 1724, in original condition, now residence of Captain William Wayne; contains many relics of the General; Lafayette was guest here one night; marked with bronze tablet; near Paoli is Great Valley Baptist Church, second oldest in state, built by Rev. Hugh Davis, from Wales, 1722; present church, 1805; interesting burial ground. Duffrynmawr Post Office, “The Green Tree,” George King, builder and host, died 1792, native blue limestone, stopping place for Mennonites and Amish.

Malvern, terminus of the West Chester Railroad in 1833, cars were then drawn by horses; “The Warren Inn,” stopping place for Lancaster County Germans, sold to John Penn, 1776; British army quartered here before Paoli Massacre; in 1786, sold to Casper Fahnestock, member of German Mystic Community at Ephrata; three fugitive French princes were here in 1789, Louis Phillipe, Duke de Montpensier, and Count de Beaujolais.

One mile southwest of Malvern, site of Paoli Massacre, 1777; two monuments, marble, 1817, granite, 1877, same inscriptions, erected by Republican Artillerists of Chester County and citizens; here General Wayne’s company, fifteen hundred men, were surprised by a greatly superior force of British under General Grey, and charged with bayonet before they could arm for defense; Wayne saved his artillery.

Downingtown, birthplace of Jacob Eicholtz, artist.

BRONZE TABLET IN BOULDER

This is located on the farm of Dr. Thomas G. Ashton, near Willistown

Designed by Paul P. Cret

“General George Washington Inn” known as Downings, now a dwelling. Interesting colonial mansion of the Thomas family, well preserved, now, Public Library. “The Ship Tavern” one mile west, old sign perforated with bullet holes by Continental soldiers, now a residence. Old gray stone bridge across the East Brandywine, built, 1741.

Two miles north, near Guthrieville, birthplace of Thomas Buchanan Read in 1822, poet and artist; marked, bronze tablet.

On the limestone road, following Indian trail, leading from Parkesburg to Oxford and south, are Faggs Manor, six miles northeast of Oxford, classical school, established, 1739; marked, bronze tablet. St. John’s Presbyterian Church, early burial ground; Whitefield stood under the old oak trees.

An interesting early highway known as the “Street Road,” laid out in part by William Penn, has almost the directness and width of a Roman road; entering the county near Westtown, and crossing Brandywine Creek at Pocopson, to London Grove, original name, Marlborough; Street, stately old Quaker Meeting House at London Grove; wonderful oak trees.

West Chester, county seat, formed, 1786, population 11,717. In one block, High Street between Gay and Market Streets, are good specimens of the three great orders of Grecian architecture, designed by Thomas U. Walter, architect of Capitol at Washington; National Bank of Chester County, built, 1836, Doric, white marble; First National Bank, Ionic, white marble; the Court House, Corinthian, built, 1847, Pictou stone; on Court House lawn is Soldiers’ Monument to Civil War patriots, bronze figure, granite base, erected, 1915; sculptor, Harry Lewis Raul. Public Library, North Church Street, memorial to Bayard Taylor, contains interesting collection of his manuscripts; “The Story of Kennett,” his books, sketches, and other relics; also marble bust of General Anthony Wayne; sculptor, W. Marshall Swayne. The new Library of the State Normal School contains portrait of Washington by Peale, painted at Valley Forge; historic autograph letters; Indian stone relics; large herbarium; and small permanent collection of original paintings, among them works by Hugh Breckenridge and Mary Butler; annual exhibitions of modern paintings and sculpture are held; Della Robbia reproductions in auditorium; Chester County Historical Society rooms are here, containing many interesting local historical collections; addresses on subjects of local historic interest are frequently given, and published in their bulletins.

Churches noteworthy for architecture, Holy Trinity, Protestant Episcopal, South High Street, native serpentine stone, Gothic; and Westminster Presbyterian, South Church Street, tower suggests famous one of Magdalen College, Oxford. At north end of High Street, stone drinking fountain, surmounted by bronze figure of boy, sculptor, Martha J. Cornwell; placed by New Century Club. Marshall Square, a public park, contains rare collection of trees. West Chester, noted for men of repute in scientific world, was the residence of the late Dr. Joseph Trimble Rothrock; in 1893 he drew up a bill creating a Forestry Commission, to investigate and report upon the forestry conditions of Pennsylvania, this bill was passed, and in 1895 he was appointed Commissioner of Forestry.

Favorite drives, with succession of beautiful vistas, are along the East Brandywine from Downingtown south, and West Brandywine, from Mortonville south. At Mortonville, three miles southeast of Coatesville, is fine, old, gray stone bridge, with four arches, graduated in width, and rounded buttresses; built, 1826.

Following the stream, and crossing several picturesque wooden covered bridges, through Embreeville, a half mile east of which is Point Lookout, where sentries were posted to guard supplies for American Encampment at Valley Forge; marked by Chester County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; opposite is “Star Gazers’ Stone,” set by Mason and Dixon, 1764, in running a base line for boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland; here they made various astronomical observations; calculated the force of gravity; and measured a degree of latitude on the earth’s surface southward; this stone was walled and marked, with bronze tablet. Several places in the vicinity, connected with the Lenni-Lenape Indians, are also marked; in County Home, grounds, grave of Indian Hannah, last of her race in this county; site of her cabin half mile south of Northbrook; Indian cemetery half mile west of Northbrook; and Indian Rock, just west of Northbrook; from the latter point the Indian chief, Checochinican, claimed that land had been reconveyed to the tribe up to source of stream, a mile on either side; these negotiations, in the picturesque language used by the chief, are among the records of the provincial assembly; Okehocking, Indian Town, has been marked by tablet.

Just east of Northbrook, birthplace of Humphry Marshall, botanist; two miles north, at Marshallton, adjoining his old home, is interesting arboretum, still containing many trees planted by him; marked with bronze tablet.

Continue drive to Lenape, amusement park, where East Branch of the Brandywine, from Downingtown, unites with western; down main stream, skirting, just above Pocopson, a beautiful spot, Dungeon Bottom; and passing several antique, covered, wooden bridges, to Chadds Ford; here the ranks of British, Hessians, and Continentals charged to and fro at Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777; two miles northeast, old Birmingham meeting house, used as hospital by troops, and center of some of the fiercest fighting; many points connected with the battle were marked with tablets by Chester County Historical Society, in connection with State Historical Commission, in 1915.

On State Highway, six miles west of Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, birthplace of Bayard Taylor, poet and traveler, and his later home “Cedar-Croft,” built by him, one mile south, both marked with bronze tablets; he was buried at Longwood Meeting House, about two miles east; artistic monument, a cylindrical stone; at this meeting house, of “Progressive Friends,” many prominent leaders of anti-slavery spoke before the Civil War. This region was center of anti-slavery sentiment, many of the old Quaker homesteads were stations of the so-called “underground railroad,” by which fugitive slaves were protected and carried

BAYARD TAYLOR MONUMENT, LONGWOOD

northward. Half mile north of Longwood Meeting House is “Pierce’s Park,” now owned by Pierre du Pont, Esq., contains wonderful trees, planted over a century ago by Samuel and Joshua Pierce, who rode on horseback to the Dismal Swamp for cypresses and brought them home in saddlebags. Mr. du Pont has recently added an unusually beautiful flower garden and conservatory; visitors admitted free on week days.

Kennett Square, Bayard Taylor Memorial Library, contains first editions of his books, his paintings, and his drawings; also busts of Bayard Taylor and John Welsh; sculptor, W. Marshall Swayne. In Advent Protestant Episcopal Church, memorial window to Bayard Taylor. Ten miles southwest, New London Academy, founded, 1743, marked by bronze tablet; here were educated three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas McKean, George Reed, and James Smith, and other men of prominence.

Other places of interest, in north of county, are Valley Forge, chiefly in Montgomery County. Phœnixville, population 10,484; farthest inland point reached by British, September 21-22-23, 1777; marked by low granite monument opposite Fountain Inn. St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church, stone; stained glass windows by Meyer Bros., Munich, Germany; Parish House interior designed by the late George Wattress, pure English, dark oak, with tiled floors; early Iron Industry, Phœnix Iron Company, marked, bronze tablet.

Ten miles northwest of Phœnixville is Coventryville, old Coventry Forge, 1717, earliest in county, second in Pennsylvania; Mordecai Lincoln, ancestor of Abraham Lincoln, worked here and was part owner in 1725. Warwick, Warwick Furnace, Potts and Rutter, proprietors, 1737; here was cast the first Franklin stove, and others with quaint designs and Biblical verses; cannon and cannon balls were made here for the Revolutionary Army; marked. Seven miles west of Phœnixville, at Chester Springs, is summer art school of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, forty acres, with buildings for studios, and lodging houses for the students; one of these buildings was used as a Revolutionary Hospital, marked; former name, “Yellow Springs,” a watering resort in colonial days.

Marking on all places has been by the Chester County Historical Society unless otherwise stated.

IV
LANCASTER COUNTY

FORMED May 10, 1729, by request of the proprietaries, on site of an Indian village; it was named for Lancashire, England, derived from Lan-Castra, the Camp at Lan, permanent camp of Roman occupation of Britain two thousand years ago. Earliest settlers, Swiss Mennonites, who, in 1710, had warrants for ten thousand acres of land on Pequea Creek; leader, Bishop Hans Herr; his stone house, built by himself on this tract, is still standing, with initials and date cut over front door, “C. H. H. 1719.” A fine Mennonite meeting house, lately built, is here; on the grounds is huge boulder, marked by the Lancaster County Historical Society. This is the richest agricultural county in the United States, of unexampled fertility; the tourist is impressed with the mammoth barns of this region; luxuriant crops of tobacco are of special note. The Conestoga River, with its affluents, drains an area of 315 square miles, it is crossed by many bridges. On the border of the city limits is a nine arch stone bridge, built by Abraham Witmer in 1800, which leads the Lincoln Highway over the Conestoga. At Pequea is St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church, according to a quaint old Vestry Book “Built of wood in 1729, to perform Divine Adoration ... after ye manner of ye Episcopal Church of England,” the itinerant missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel of England holding service; cornerstone

Lancaster County

of present church building was laid by Bishop Onderdonk, the rector at that time being Rev. Edward Young Buchanan, brother of President James Buchanan; the parish possesses two vestry books of great historic value.

Most famous group of historic buildings are those erected by the Seventh Day Baptists, founded by Conrad Beisel in 1722, at Ephrata, on the Cocalico; monastery still in original condition, with cells and rooms; and the adjoining chapel little changed; the brothers and sisters lived, each in their narrow cell, like monks of the Middle Ages; a printing press was set up in 1743, on which were printed the largest books in America prior to 1860; first Sunday schools in America were said to have been started here in 1740; and Henry William Steigel introduced glass making. Joining the Cloister Settlement is Clare Point Stock Farm, now occupied by the Redemptorist Fathers, a Roman Catholic order, founded in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Maria Leguori, in Italy; of strict discipline and singleness of purpose, designed to work among neglected country people; this is their only mission in Pennsylvania.

County seat, Lancaster, 418 feet above sea, population 53,150; laid out by Governor Gordon in 1730; near by is the Conestoga River, named by Conestoga Indians, a tribe of the Delawares; the Dutch who lived here invented the wagon, with big covered tops, drawn by six horses, and named it for the river. It is said that here was first given to Washington the title “Des Landes Vater.” This is a square city, lines run north and south, east and west, with outlying districts; one, Rossmere, was named in honor of George Ross, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Continental Congress arrived here from Philadelphia the very day Sir William Howe entered that city; the next day they moved to York. This was the Capital of the State from 1799-1812, and birthplace of Simon Snyder, Governor of Pennsylvania 1808-1817. In center of Penn Square is a monument to soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. One block away is the court house, on East King Street, built about 1850; architect, Samuel Sloan; Corinthian; contains portraits of Hon. Isaac E. Hiester by Isaac Williams, and Hon. W. U. Hensel by Lazare Raditz, Philadelphia. Jail, East King Street, Norman castellated, red sandstone, built, 1850, architect, John Haviland. Fountain, East King Street, on reservoir grounds, made, 1905, memorial to John Williamson Nevin; bronze lion, sculptor, Blanche Nevin.

Michael Schlatter and Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, leaders of the Reformed and Lutheran Germans, were in favor of higher education, and established Franklin College in 1787, forming the beginning of Franklin and Marshall College; built on an eminence west of city; main building Elizabethan, brick, built, 1854-55, with beautiful entrance door, contains portraits. In the Watts de Peyster Library are bronze busts of the father and mother of General de Peyster. St. Stephen’s Chapel has memorial window to Rev. John W. Nevin, D.D., LL.D., made by Armstrong, New York. On the campus is bronze heroic statue of Abraham de Peyster, made in New York, 1895, replica of one facing New York Custom House. The

MAIN BUILDING FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, LANCASTER

scientific building contains oil paintings, among them one by J. D. Wiltkamp, “The Three Women of Grève-Coeur.” Buchanan Park, opened, 1905, joins the college campus and grounds of the Reformed Theological Seminary. “Wheatland,” residence of President James Buchanan, is near, on Marietta Pike, colonial, brick, built prior to 1812. St. Joseph’s Hospital and Roman Catholic Church are near college; hospital contains portrait of Henry E. Muhlenberg, M.D., by Caroline Peart Brinton; the church windows are from Munich and Innspruck.

Among Lancaster’s numerous churches are, the Moravian, West Orange Street, rear part stone, built, 1750, oldest in the city, brick front added, 1820. First Reformed, East Orange Street, brick; Romanesque; built, 1852-54; two steeples, contains lectern and other pieces of woodcarving by A. Lang of Oberammergau, nephew of Anton Lang, made, 1905; decorations by J. F. Lamb, New York; windows from Tiffany and D’Ascenzo studios; bronze memorial tablet by Martha Hovenden. St. James Protestant Episcopal, corner of East Orange and North Duke Streets, Norman, brick; main walls built, 1820, added to 1870 and 1910; chancel windows from England, others by Lamb and the Tiffany Studios, New York; oil painting, “The Crucifixion,” artist, Jacob Eicholtz; pictorial tile base at altar, by Dr. Henry Mercer; in parish house is fifteenth century oil painting, Urbanean School. St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic, East Orange Street, bronze altar and statues from Oux et Cie, Paris; frescoes by Ludwig Reingruber are adaptations of old masters. Trinity Lutheran, South Duke Street, brick; fine old Georgian style, compares with Christ Church, Philadelphia; built, 1761; tower and spire added, 1794; wood sculpture, four evangelists, at base of tower; original pipe organ built, 1771, was utilized in new organ; memorial windows by the Tiffany Company, and by Joseph Lauber, New York City.

Fulton Opera House, Prince Street between Orange and West King Streets, on site of massacre of Conestoga Indians by Paxtang boys in 1763, over entrance, life-size statue, carved wood, of Robert Fulton, made, 1852, sculptor, Hugh Cannon: the Lancaster County Historical Society placed a tablet on the wall of Robert Fulton’s birthplace, built, 1765; southern part of Lancaster County, Fulton Township, A. Herr Smith, Memorial Free Library, North Duke Street; Italian villa style; contains portraits of notable men identified with Lancaster County. Post Office and Revenue Building, North Duke Street, Italian Renaissance; Indiana limestone; built by United States Government. Guaranty Trust Company, North Duke Street, Ionic, marble, built, 1912. The Henry G. Long Asylum, corner of Marietta and West End Avenues, contains two portraits by Jacob Eicholtz. The Iris Club, founded by Miss Alice Nevin, has annual exhibition of paintings.

In Woodward Hill Cemetery, southern part of city, on the Conestoga, is tomb of President James Buchanan. Greenwood Cemetery, end of South Queen Street, has stone entrance, made, 1895, by Rothenberger. Tomb of Thaddeus Stevens, white and black marble and granite, is in Shreiner burial ground. West Chestnut Street, corner of Shippen and Ross Streets, is inclosure and small brick monument topped by stone sphere, site of George Ross’s mansion. Bountiful markets held on the curbs, as well as in the market houses, are a distinctive and picturesque feature of the town; the presence of the Mennonite, Amish, and other sects lends a peculiar aspect to the scene.

Near Rockford, south, is brick colonial mansion, built before 1775, residence of the Revolutionary general, Edward Hand, marked with tablet by local Historical Society. The birthplace of Dr. David Ramsey, historian, built, 1749, is still standing. Williamson Park, end of South Drake Street, on Conestoga River, acquired by gift in 1902, has wild scenic beauty. Long’s Park on Harrisburg Pike, two miles from city, acquired by gift, scenic, opened, 1903. Between Mount Joy and Maytown is Donegal Presbyterian Church, built prior to the Revolution, a quaint building with gambrel roof; interesting burial ground with the witness tree; Cameron family bury here.

Donegal was an early Scotch-Irish settlement. Under the oak witness tree the “Sons of Donegal” dedicated their lives to their country in the Revolutionary War. Tablet records their names, among them James Stephenson, 1770, whose granddaughter Sarah married David McKinley, ancestor of President William McKinley.

Lititz, settled by Moravians, 1748, has Moravian boarding school for girls, “Linden Hall,” founded, 1749; in the town park are the famous Lititz Springs; Lititz is also famous for pretzels, first made by William Rauch in 1710.

Manheim, laid out by Henry William Steigel, 1762, was named for his German home town; here he built a large glass factory, first in the United States; skilled workmen from Europe were employed; a few rare specimens of this glass, owned by collectors, show fineness of quality, richness of color, and a peculiar bell-like ring, some specimens are in the Danner Museum, open Tuesdays, free, to visitors, which outrivals some, more noted, in the rarity and variety of its collections: in 1772 Steigel gave to the Lutherans at Manheim a piece of ground on which to build a church; payment to be five shillings and an annual rental of one red rose; on the second Sunday in June, crowds attend the Baron Steigel Memorial Church, and at these services a descendant of the Steigels receives the red rose; the chancel is often filled with red roses dropped there individually as a tribute; in 1752 Steigel had married a daughter of John Jacob Huber, who owned a small iron furnace near Brickerville, he purchased land and became interested in several furnaces, one he named for his wife, “Elizabeth”; the Elizabeth furnace, in 1776, came into possession of Robert Coleman of Lebanon, in 1777 it was overtaxed with large orders of shot and shell for the Continental Army, and the government sent about two hundred Hessian prisoners, taken at Trenton, to work there; many remained and became good citizens. Mr. Coleman’s residence was at Elizabeth furnace, here he entertained Washington as his guest, who, at his request, sat for a portrait to Gilbert Stuart, which is now owned by B. Dawson Coleman, Esq.

Lancaster County furnaces in the Conestoga Valley, Caernarvon Township, were owned by David Jones in 1736; old mines are still there that bear his name; in 1743 David Branson built the Windsor forges, in the same township; among his partners was Lynford Lardner, who married his daughter Rebecca. On the banks of Furnace Run, near Colemanville, may be seen an old cinder heap, which is all that remains of the Martic Furnace, built 1751-52 on 3400 acres of land, with the usual houses and shops; during the Revolution, round iron was drawn under the hammer at the forge, and bored out for musket barrels; negro slaves were always employed here; among the past owners of this furnace, from 1777-93, was a Philadelphia merchant, Michael Hillegas, who became first Continental treasurer in 1775; in 1777 he was appointed first treasurer of the United States and continued in that office until 1789.

Near, just below Safe Harbor, in the Susquehanna River, is Indian Rock, with a number of inscriptions on it, the writing may be seen when water is low; same writing is found in Beaver County. The bridge over the Susquehanna River from Columbia to Wrightsville has been replaced several times, one was burned to stem the tide of the Confederates. At Elizabethtown are the Masonic Homes of Pennsylvania, on 982 acres, with Grand Lodge Hall, 437 feet long by 160 feet wide, seventeen dwelling houses, and other buildings. Georgian architecture, designed by Zantzinger, Borie and Medary.

York County

V
YORK COUNTY

FORMED August 9, 1749; named for the House of York, England. An agricultural region of great fertility. First authorized settlements were made in 1733. Before the white settlers came, the territory west of the Susquehanna River was hunting ground for the Conestoga Indians, a branch of the Mohawks, who migrated to New York State about 1750; also for the Susquehannocks and Conewagos, who had their village at present site of York Haven. When a treaty with the Indians at Albany, in 1736, gave Penn’s heirs right to the territory from west of the Susquehanna to the South Mountain, immigrants from Europe flocked into York County, in vast numbers, and proved a strong and influential part of the population. During the colonial period four companies of soldiers from this county assisted in driving the French and Indians from the western part of the province before 1758.

At beginning of the Revolutionary War it is said that the first military company from Pennsylvania that arrived at Washington’s headquarters, siege of Boston, in 1775, shortly after Battle of Bunker Hill, were from York County; this company, and one commanded by Captain Morgan of Virginia, were first American troops to use rifles; they became the terror of the British regulars, who still used the old-time flint musket. When the British attacked New York City and the Battle of Long Island followed, Pennsylvania troops camped at Perth Amboy; here two regiments from York County were formed out of the militia; and became a part of the Flying Camp, a body of ten thousand men from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, which joined Washington before the Battle of White Plains; they were also in the battles of Princeton and Trenton. Colonel Thomas Hartley, a member of York County bar, commanded a brigade under Washington at battles of Brandywine and Germantown; and after the Revolution he represented York County in Congress for twelve years; he was first member of the Pennsylvania bar to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. President Washington was entertained in his house in 1791, site marked by tablet.

Shortly before the Battle of Brandywine, September 27, 1777, the Continental Congress adjourned from Independence Hall to meet in Lancaster; they were there one day, then crossed the Susquehanna and made Yorktown the seat of government until June 27, 1778, when they returned to Philadelphia. Twenty-five Congressmen came on horseback over the old Monocacy Road, and took up quarters in the town and vicinity. The personnel of Congress was constantly changing; no less than sixty-four different members were present from first to last. The mansion, corner of Center Square, where the Colonial Hotel now stands, had been rented to General Roberdeau; quarters were found there for the leading Congressmen, Adams, Lee, Harrison, Laurens, and others. John Adams, in letters to his wife Abigail, complained of his straitened quarters, and the Dutch cooking. James Smith, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, gave his law office in Center Square to be used by the Committee of Foreign Affairs; and the Board of War.

The noted chest of papers, belonging to Congress, which John Adams declared “was worth more than Congress itself,” was kept by Thomas Paine at the Cooke’s House, a house of entertainment, still standing, in the bend of Codorus Creek, then away from town; here he wrote parts five and six of “The Crisis.” On September 30, 1777, with John Hancock as President of Congress, the first session was held in the brick court house, built, 1756; site marked by Yorktown Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution; soon after Congress assembled here, news was brought of the surrender of Burgoyne to General Gates, with six thousand British and Hessian troops, at Saratoga. A motion, made by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, to set apart a day for Thanksgiving was unanimously adopted; Thursday, December 18, 1777, was appointed, and a few days later this historic document was written, and sent by post riders to the governors of each of the thirteen original states; this was the first national Thanksgiving proclamation in America, in the sense of its observation, on the same date, by the thirteen states.

Soon after, General Lafayette arrived in Yorktown and was received in open session by Congress; the victory of General Gates had made him the hero of the hour; Washington had been defeated at Brandywine and Germantown, and gone into winter quarters at Valley Forge; knowing that a large number of the delegates in Congress at Yorktown favored a plan to displace him from the head of the army, and promote General Gates to that position, Washington never visited Congress here; he wrote a private letter to Robert Morris, saying, “If Congress adjourns, sine die, I wish it understood, I will oppose British invasion, in the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia, rather than give up our cause for Independence, promulgated July 4, 1776”; this historic letter was read at an open meeting in Zion Reformed Church.

Congress called General Gates to York, and made him President of the Board of War; he gave a banquet at his headquarters; among the guests was Lafayette, twenty-one years of age; speeches were made favoring the promotion of Gates to position of general in chief of the army, when Lafayette arose and offered the following toast: “To General George Washington, head of the American Army; may he continue to hold that position until a Treaty of Peace is signed with England, acknowledging the freedom of this country, in whose cause I am listed for its defense.” It was this incident that caused the collapse of the Conway Cabal, instigated by General Conway, opponent of Washington and friend of Gates.

Lafayette visited York in 1825, then sixty-eight years old, and last surviving Major General of the Revolution; he stopped overnight at McGrath’s Hotel, on site of the Rupp Building, where a reception and banquet were given him; among the toasts was, “Lafayette, we love him as a man, hail him as a deliverer, revere him as a champion of freedom, and welcome him as a guest”; to which he responded, “The Town of York, the seat of our American Union in our most gloomy time; may her citizens enjoy a proportionate share of American prosperity.”

At request of Washington, Baron Steuben came to Yorktown early in 1778, and was immediately appointed to the rank of major-general; from here he went to Valley Forge and began to drill and discipline the Army, in the military tactics used by Frederick the Great. In May, 1778, a nephew of General Putnam, who crossed the Atlantic in the Mercury, a fast flying vessel of Congress, which landed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, brought a letter to Henry Laurens of South Carolina, President of Congress, from Benjamin Franklin, saying, “The King of France has resolved to send $600,000 in silver, an army and a fleet, to aid the Americans in their struggle for Liberty.” The Articles of Confederation were formed here, and adopted in Philadelphia the following June. Much Continental money was ordered by Congress, which was printed in a house, at the corner of Market and Beaver Streets, marked by tablet.

Penn Park has a soldiers’ monument, to men of York County in Civil War; this has been the scene of many military gatherings; several insubordinates of the Pennsylvania line were shot here, by order of General Wayne, before the forces under him marched to Virginia; and large hospitals were built here during the Civil War, when York County was the high-water mark of the Southern Confederacy. On June 28, 1863, General Jubal Early of Virginia, with 10,000 Confederate troops, took possession of York. John B. Gordon, leading a brigade of Georgia troops, was first to enter town; he marched on to Wrightsville with twenty-eight hundred men, where a skirmish took place, and when the bridge across the Susquehanna was burned by the Union forces on the Lancaster County side; Early remained in York two days, with four brigades, and received word to fall back immediately to Gettysburg. The first engagement took place in the streets of Hanover, between Confederate cavalry under Stuart, who were defeated by Union cavalry under Kilpatrick; they were prevented from reaching Gettysburg until evening of second day of battle, which probably turned the tide in favor of the Union; this event is commemorated in the Center Square by a statue, that ranks with the best Art in Pennsylvania, a cavalryman, bronze; sculptor, Cyrus E. Dallim, Boston.

York, county seat; population 47,512; is oldest town in Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna; the general plan embraced streets forming perfect squares, with widened space in center of town, junction of Market and George Streets, for market purposes; these privileges are still used. Court house in east Market Street, classic; porch with granite Ionic columns; built, 1903; architect, J. A. Dempwolf; contains portraits of York County judges; Museum of York County Historical Society, open every afternoon except Sunday; has large collection of Indian implements, of war and peace; and etchings by Rosenthal. An annual art exhibition is held in York. Post Office, classic, Ionic. Among the many places of worship, several now standing were erected more than one hundred years ago, including St. John’s Episcopal, in which is tablet to Colonel Thomas Hartley. In burial ground of First Presbyterian Church is tomb of James Smith, the signer, who died, 1806; another

CAVALRY STATUE, ERECTED IN 1904, CENTER SQUARE, HANOVER

Cyrus E. Dellam, Sculptor

signer, Philip Livingston, of New York, who died while Congress was in session here, is buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, where also are the tombs of General William B. Franklin of the Civil War; his brother Rear Admiral Samuel R. Franklin; Judge Jeremiah S. Black; and several hundred Civil War soldiers.

In mentioning the notable men of York, we must include Colonel Hance Hamilton, first sheriff of York County in 1750; Colonel Richard McAllister, founder of Hanover, first President Justice of the County Courts under the Constitution of 1776, and later President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania; James Ross, born, 1762, served two terms in the United States Senate, making there an eloquent speech favoring the Louisiana Purchase, which led to its result; and Senator Matthew S. Quay, born in Dillsburg, 1833, whose father was pastor of the Presbyterian Church. Other places marked by tablet are, site of building of the Franklin Press, where valuable papers were published during the Revolution, and building of General Anthony Wayne’s headquarters.

In 1761, the Mary Ann Furnace was built on Furnace Creek; at the same time a road was cut from there, to connect with the road to the Conewago settlement leading to Baltimore; the furnace was started by George Ross of Lancaster, the signer, his brother-in-law, George Stevenson, a lawyer of York County, and William Thompson, later a general in the Revolution; and continued for fifty years, under other owners; besides making pig iron, stoves, and household iron ware, cannon balls and grapeshot were cast here. The Spring Creek Forge was erected by George Ross, previous to 1772, and was active many years.

Cumberland County

VI
CUMBERLAND COUNTY

FORMED January 27, 1750; named for county of Cumberland, England. One of the two or three rich agricultural valleys in the United States. Early industries were iron furnaces and forges. First settlers, Scotch-Irish, men of stout heart and wonderful nerve; almost contemporaneous with their building forts and providing means of protection for themselves and families, they established Presbyterian churches, the fine springs of the valley being selected as sites, namely, Silver Springs Church, nine miles west of the Susquehanna; Trindle Spring, now a Lutheran Church; Meeting House Spring, now First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle; curious old carvings are in Meeting House Springs burial ground; Big Spring Church, at Newville; and Middle Spring Church, above Shippensburg, a monument to Revolutionary soldiers is here; all continue in active existence. The early pioneer countenanced the institution of slavery, at one period as many as 307 negroes were held as slaves in this county, the last of them in 1840; on November 1, 1780, an act was passed, directing that all slaves and those held as such in Pennsylvania should be registered; but thereafter all should be free men and women.

Shippensburg, population 4372, first permanent settlement in the county, founded in 1730, was the only town on the line of the “Great Road” when it was laid out from John Harris’ Ferry, on the Susquehanna, to the Potomac, from 1735-44; this road was the first effort to connect the wilderness west of the Susquehanna with the civilization in the earlier settlements. First bridge erected in the county was over Letort Spring, on east Main Street, Carlisle, about 1780, replaced in 1795 by a stone bridge; several stone arch bridges are over the Yellow Breeches Creek; at the eastern end is Miller’s Mill bridge, over one hundred years old, three arch stone, in good condition; Alexander’s bridge is one mile north of Carlisle on the Conodoguinet Creek, colonial with wooden cover, one span, is very old.

County seat, Carlisle, named for shiretown of Cumberland County, England; population 10,916; the town is laid off at right angles, with a large public square in center; Bellair Park on the banks of Conodoguinet Creek is one mile from center of town; Lindner Park faces Franklin and Louther Streets, five squares from center; Mount Holly and Boiling Springs Parks are outlying, reached by trolley. The courthouse faces Center Square, Corinthian, Bryant & Witt, architects, built, 1846, one of the portico columns shows marks, in broken flutings, of the shelling of Carlisle, captured by General Lee, during the Civil War; contains portraits of judges of the local court. First Presbyterian Church also faces Center Square, main auditorium built in 1757, Greco-Roman, blue limestone with white marble linings, showing early bonding in stone masonry; tower added and parish house built, 1873. The Young Men’s Christian Association half square from Center, on High Street, French Renaissance, built, 1908; architect, M. I. Kast, Harrisburg. County jail, one square from Center, corner High and Bedford Streets, Tudor, built, 1854, brownstone, is a small copy of the Castle of Carlisle, England, note the limestone arch in east wall of the yard; architects, Myers & Gutshall. Post office, two squares from Center, corner of Pitt and Louther Streets, classic Renaissance, built, 1909, J. Knox Taylor, architect, Washington, D. C. Historical Society, corner of Pitt Street and Dickinson Avenue, brick, built 1878-80, architect, George Rice, contains historical library, papers, and museum.

Dickinson College on campus of seven acres, with law school one square south, Conway Hall one square west, and the Herman Bosler Biddle Memorial Athletic Field, with colonial gateway, made in 1909, architect, H. E. Yessler, three squares west; Main Building, “Old West,” built, 1803; blue limestone mellowed by time, with façade of fine proportions; arched doorways and windows; architect, Colonel Latrobe, first government engineer and architect, brought from England; auditorium contains portraits of John Dickinson, Dr. Nisbet, and others; the James W. Bosler Memorial Hall; Romanesque; built in 1885; George Rice, architect; contains portraits of notable alumni, including President James Buchanan and Dr. Benjamin Rush, also marble bust of James Bosler, and fine copy of Salvator Rosa’s “The Conspiracy of Cataline,” original in the Pitti Palace, Florence; the J. Herman Bosler Memorial Library, architects, Baldwin & Pennington, Baltimore; classic; built, 1899; white marble entrance vestibule, lighted by memorial window, Burne-Jones design, made by Maitland Armstrong & Company; Denny Memorial Recitation Hall, Collegiate Gothic, built, 1905, M. I. Kast, architect.

St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church faces Center Square, has memorial altar, white marble, with Caen stone reredos, and windows made by Maitland Armstrong & Company; First Lutheran Church, one square east of Center, corner of High and Bedford Streets; Italian Renaissance; yellow brick, black and white trimmings; built, 1900; J. A. Dempwolf, architect, York, Pennsylvania. The second Presbyterian Church, corner of Hanover and Pomfret Streets; Gothic; built, 1869, has memorial window over door, Moorish design; and fine fretwork choir rail. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church; east Pomfret Street, has rose window of Tiffany glass; and other windows from Munich; also memorial marble altar.

Ashland Cemetery, York Street, nearly a mile east from Center, contains bronze statue, “Angel and Child,” made by Lamb & Co., in James W. Bosler’s lot. The “Old Grave Yard,” three squares from Center, on east South Street, contains Mollie Pitcher’s grave and monument; bronze portrait figure standing, on granite pedestal, with bronze reliefs of battle scenes extended on both sides; sculptor, J. R. Schweizer, Philadelphia; a Civil War cannon is in front; old English and German carvings from the year 1700 are in this cemetery. At Mount Rock, five miles west of Carlisle, is the Ionic Monument, in memory of Governor Ritner from 1835-39; erected by the state in 1902; architect, J. W. Ely, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

DICKINSON COLLEGE, “OLD WEST,” CARLISLE

The Indian School, one mile northeast from Center, was formerly a military post, buildings were destroyed by Fitz Hugh Lee in 1863, excepting the old guard house, built by the Hessian prisoners during the Revolution, in 1777; this was the original “West Point” for the training of officers and artisans, and for the manufacture of arms and munitions. In 1776, and throughout the War, anthracite coal was taken down the Susquehanna River from the Wyoming mines to the armory at Carlisle, said to have been the first shipment of anthracite coal in this country; there are now about twenty-five or thirty buildings, brick, of varied architecture, on twenty-five acres of ground; gateway, Georgian, M. I. Kast, architect, built, 1910; native Indian art is on exhibition in the Leupp studio. George Washington joined the army of 15,000 men, as Commander in Chief, at Carlisle, for suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794; he was the guest of Ephraim Blaine; the army was located on the opposite side of the town from the military post.

The Civic Club of Carlisle is placing classic art prints in the public-school buildings. Interesting colonial houses: residence of Ephraim Blaine, built, 1795, now law office and dwelling of Edward Stiles, built, 1815; of Stephen Duncan, built, 1815, used by the Fraternity of Owls; and that of Isaac B. Parker, built, 1820, the home of the Elks.

In 1762, Richard Peters of Philadelphia obtained a patent for 388 acres of land at Boiling Springs, and executed a deed to John S. Rigby & Co., for twenty-nine acres on which they had already commenced the erection of a blast furnace, they bought two ore banks at the foot of South Mountain, and soon after added 1614 acres of land, and called the property “Carlisle Iron Works”; it passed through several ownerships, until, in 1792, Michael Ege became sole owner; the furnace produced twelve to fifteen tons of metal a week, mostly pig iron, but they also cast stoves, fire backs, and hollow ware. William Denning, in 1776, made two wrought iron cannon in Mount Holly Gap, about six miles south of Carlisle, the first ever made; one in use at the Battle of Brandywine was captured by the British and deposited finally in the Tower of London; the British Government offered a large sum of money and an annuity to William Denning, to instruct them how to make wrought iron cannon, but he refused; he died in 1830, age ninety-three, at his home near Newville, his monument there, given by the state, shows a square marble base surmounted by a cannon. Pine Grove Furnace was built on Mountain Creek, halfway between Carlisle and Gettysburg, the recorded ownership dates from a proprietary grant in 1762 for 450 acres on Mountain Creek to Thomas Pope; it is now part of the State Forestry reservation.

VII
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY

FORMED March 11, 1752; named by Thomas Penn; prior to the Revolution comprised all the northeast section of Pennsylvania; chief industries, Bethlehem Iron and Steel Works, where 15,000 men are employed day and night; silk mills, graphite works, and other manufactories. Here were Washington’s storehouses along the Delaware River, with supplies for all branches of the army; a point of attack by the British battling between West Point and Trenton, buildings are still in evidence. The famous backwoods rifles used by two thousand Pennsylvanians against the British at Boston were made here.

County seat, Easton, founded by Thomas Penn, 1751; at “The Forks of the Delaware, where the water is deep and smooth,” population 33,813. In center of the public square is the monument to soldiers of this county in the Civil War, on site of the old Northampton court house that stood for a hundred years; on its threshold was promulgated the Declaration of Independence, the same day as in Philadelphia; the old court house bell, that rang out then, is still doing public service. The first flag, combining stars and stripes, as an emblem of a new nation, was made here, showing thirteen eight pointed stars and thirteen stripes in the field, this flag is said to be the one now in the Easton Public Library, deposited in 1821, after being used in the War of 1812; in a special room of the

Northampton County

library is the private collection of Samuel Sitgreaves, with rare volumes of American history. Next to Sitgreaves’ office was the home and shop of Henry Derringer, a gunmaker of the Revolution, whose son invented the Derringer pistol. On the public square, Light Horse Harry Lee, from Virginia, recruited his troop of Pennsylvania Germans, and horses. Valuable papers and moneys belonging to the state and national government were placed in the custody of Robert Levers, during British occupancy of Philadelphia.

The old Union Church, now the Reformed, on North Third Street, stone, colonial, built, 1775-76, was used as a hospital in the Revolution; this is the principal residential street, and entrance to Lafayette College, founded, 1832, by James Madison Porter, Secretary of War; has interesting collection of portraits of Lafayette, in oil and black and white, also valuable old engravings; on the campus is statue of Lafayette, by Daniel Chester French, given by Morris L. Clothier, Esq. In the New Century Art Club, New and Porter Streets, lectures on art and exhibitions are given. A bridge leads across the Delaware to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, first wooden bridge built, 1797; north of the bridge is Riverside Park, leading to North Delaware Road and the Delaware Water Gap; the Wind Gap has precipitous sides; very beautiful scenery is on the River Road.

In July, 1782, Washington came from Bethlehem to Easton. Bethlehem, in Lehigh County, is the seat of government of the Moravian economy, from Moravia in Bohemia, in the western hemisphere, dating back to 1740; these pioneers belonged to the Church of the Brethren, organized in 1457 by followers of John Huss about forty years after he had been burned at the stake for conscience’ sake; the little church was revived in Saxony in 1722; to this church Count Nicholas L. Zinzendorf granted an asylum on his own estate; the count visited the Brethren here in 1741. On July 25, 1782, Washington, with Colonel Trumbull and Major Welker, stayed overnight at the Sun Inn; Brother Ettwein and others of the Fraternity called to pay their respects; the Sun Inn was built in 1761, Peter Warbas the first host; the suite occupied by General Washington and his wife is still shown to visitors. During the Revolution the Moravian settlement experienced many horrors and discomforts of war; the tramp of armed men through its quiet streets began in July, 1775; in December most of the houses were taken for hospitals, being on the main route of travel from the eastern states; many distinguished soldiers were here, Greene, Knox, Gates, Stirling, Sullivan, Schuyler, von Steuben, De Kalb, Pulaski, de Chastelleux, also Samuel and John Adams, Hancock, Laurens, Livingston, Boudinot, Reed, Rittenhouse, Gerard; in autumn of 1777, Lafayette, under careful nursing of a Moravian sister, Liesel Beckel, rapidly recovered from a wound received in the Battle of Brandywine. General hospital of the Continental Army was here, 1776-78.

The Moravian Church, plain and dignified architecture, after a German model, is full of sunlight within, contains Moravian archives and Schussele’s large oil painting, “Power of the Gospel,” showing Zeisberger preaching to the Indians; the organ and vocal music is exceptionally fine. The Moravian College and Seminary for young women includes instruction in housekeeping; moral training is a particular feature. The Widows’ house, built, 1768, endowed by John Jordan, Jr., Philadelphia, for widows and daughters of Moravian ministers and other women who have served the church. The Sisters’ house, formerly first Brethren’s house, was used for home of unmarried women of advanced age; now a boarding house. Second Brothers’ house, where unmarried men could live and still gain independent support, is now “Colonial Hall,” a part of the Seminary. Corpse house still stands with its weeping willow tree; because of the small rooms of the houses, the body was taken from the home to the corpse house for three days; the trombone choir announced a death from the church steeple by a particular choral that designated whether it was for man, woman, or child; at the burial the trombone choir met the procession at the cemetery gate and took part in the service at the grave; in the Moravian burial ground are graves of many Indians, among them that of Uncas, in Cooper’s “Last of the Mohicans,” inscription, “In memory of Tschoop, a Mohican Indian, who, in holy baptism, April 16th, 1742, received the name of John, one of the first fruits of the mission at Wycomico, whereby he became a distinguished teacher among his nation. He departed this life in full assurance of faith at Bethlehem, August 27, 1746.” The graves are in rows, sisters and brothers separate, with small stone markers. Bethlehem had the second waterworks system in the United States, 1760.

A covered wooden bridge over one hundred years old, to be replaced by modern structure, crosses the Lehigh River to South Bethlehem, Northampton County, seat of Lehigh University, built, 1866; in 1865, Asa Packer gave $500,000 for founding a free technical college for boys in South Bethlehem, largest single benefaction any American college had received up to this time; this was the beginning of Lehigh University, opened the following year; later a classical department was opened at Mr. Packer’s direction, who gave the University $1,500,000 during his life, and left it by will another $1,500,000, to ease the struggle upwards of boys with whose ambitions he sympathized; this University is particularly noted for its course in engineering, with the Fritz Engineering Laboratory, endowed with over $1,000,000; there are also a gymnasium with swimming pool, and a stadium.

The Bach Festival, announced by the trombone players from the tower of Lehigh University Chapel, has been held annually since 1911, first performance was in 1888. In 1780, the settlement had an orchestra, said to be the first in America, flutes, horns, viols, and trombones were permanent factors in their church music, which undoubtedly led up to the present development; frequently referred to as the American Bayreuth; a quartet of trombones summoning the people, as do the trumpets in Germany; in 1901, the Christmas Oratorio was given in its entirety, first in America; they have also given the Passion, and the Mass in B Minor; J. Frederick Wolle, pupil of Rheinberger, organist of the Lutheran Church, has charge of the music; choir consists of 200 voices, natives of Bethlehem, excepting leading soloists; the orchestra and instrumental soloists vary, the Philadelphia Orchestra has played here. Location of Bethlehem is scenically quite as beautiful as Eisenach in the Thuringian forest, where the famous Wartburg, with memories of Tannhaeuser, Bach, and Luther attract thousands of tourists and pilgrims. In Nazareth are old stockaded forts of the Indian wars, where were maintained 365 settlers from beyond the mountains, now used by the Moravian Historical Society for their collection of relics, curios, and portraits of noted Indians. Whitfield house, built, 1755, old English, contains Moravian Historical Collection; Nazareth Hall, built, 1748, was school for young men. At Boulton, near Nazareth, is Benjamin West’s first tragic painting, “Death of Socrates.”

Berks County

VIII
BERKS COUNTY

FORMED March 11, 1752; reduced to present limits, 1811; named for Berkshire, England, where Penn family had large estates; has broad, fertile plains and valleys, intermingled with rough hills and mountains containing mineral wealth in iron. First settlers were Germans, and Friends from England, 1704-12, among whom was George Boone, ancestor of Daniel Boone of Kentucky, who was born here, in Exeter Township, 1735. Mordecai Lincoln, great-great-grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, also lived in Exeter Township; he owned one thousand acres of land, had interest in iron forges; and built a small stone house in 1733, that now forms one end of the present homestead, which remained in the Lincoln family until 1912; the Lincoln men of Berks County were all men of note, several holding public positions; one, Abraham, married Anna Boone; he died, 1806.

In 1729, Conrad Weiser came over with Germans from the Palatinate and settled near Womelsdorf, where he is buried in the family burial ground; marked by boulder; his granddaughter was married to the “Patriarch” Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg; farm and burial ground of Conrad Weiser, purchased by the Burks County Historical Society, is to be maintained as a Memorial Park. The Dutch came in 1730; their descendants still reside on their ancestral estates; they named the river, flowing through the county, Schuylkill (hidden creek); Indian name was Manai-unk. When war was declared between England and France, the French found the Indians eager to join them against the British, and after Braddock’s defeat at Fort Duquesne in 1755, they devastated these peaceful settlers, by fire and slaughter, until 1778, when they were driven beyond the Alleghenies. This region has become famous for wine making; vines are grown on Mount Penn, Neversink, and the Alsace Mountain slopes; over fifty years ago, George L. Reiniger left the fertile vineyards of Wurtemberg and settled here, where the soil, scenery, and environment seemed so much like the fatherland; these vineyards are now used for the cultivation of dahlias.

Reading, county seat; population 107,784; was laid out in 1748 by agents of Richard and Thomas Penn; named for Reading, in Berkshire, England. Courthouse on Penn Common, Fifth and Penn Streets, built, 1762; present building in 1840, on north Sixth Street; colonial with Ionic porch; cupola eighty-four feet above the roof. In the park are equestrian statue of General David McMurtrie Gregg, by H. Augustus Lukeman, New York; the Firemen’s Monument; “The First Defenders”; and Frederick Lauer, all designed and made by P. F. Eisenbrown, Sons & Company, Reading; the bronze statue of President McKinley, reliefs and eagles, was designed by Edward L. A. Pausch, Buffalo, New York. Prison, Penn Street and Perkiomen Avenue, red sandstone, castellated Gothic, built, 1846; architect, John Haviland. A two story building, northeast corner of Fifth Street and Penn Square, was built in 1764 for a tavern; Washington stayed here in

THE JAIL AT READING

John C. Haviland, Architect

1794, en route to join troops against the Whiskey Rebellion; now Farmers’ Bank; it is marked as the oldest building in town. The Hessian camp ground, southwest of Reading, is also marked.

Trinity Church, most important Lutheran Church in this country, is a fine example of Georgian architecture, northwest corner of Sixth and Washington Streets; was built, 1791. Christ Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, Gothic, brownstone; built in 1864; architect, Potter, New York; has good windows. The Reading Museum and Art Gallery, Eighth and Washington Streets, has a good collection of paintings, representing foreign and American artists, including sixty paintings given by Mrs. William Littleton Savage, as memorial to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George DeBenneville Keim, and other works of art and natural history; it is open free to the public. The Historical Society of Berks County, 38 North Fourth Street, has a good historical collection. Among the notable artists who have lived in Reading are Christopher H. Shearer, represented in permanent collection at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Benjamin F. Austrian, noted still-life painter, born here, 1870; James A. Benade, landscape; F. D. Devlan, animal painter and cartoonist; during the Civil War he furnished many cartoons for Frank Leslie’s illustrated newspaper; George Seiling, mural decorator, born in Bavaria, 1818, his paintings are in St. James’ Church, “The Transfiguration,” and Calvary Church, “Christ Bearing the Cross.” Calvary Reformed Church has stone mosaic decoration in chancel by H. Hanley Parker.

Charles Evans Cemetery, acquired by gift in 1864, has Gothic gateway, dark sandstone; made in 1847; architects, Calver & Hall, Philadelphia; the chapel is brownstone, Gothic, built, 1854; architect, John M. Gries, who was a major in the Union Army, killed in battle of “Fair Oaks”; here is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, with bronze tablets; erected, 1889.

Reading was the resort of many fugitives families from Philadelphia while British were there in the winter of 1776-77, and became the scene of much gayety. General Mifflin, afterwards governor, had his country seat at Cumru, three miles southeast of Reading, now used as the County Almshouse and Hospital buildings. In the different wars of this country Berks County men were among the first to offer their services; the Ringgold Light Artillery, Captain James McKnight, is said to have been the first company that reported at Harrisburg in response to President Lincoln’s Proclamation in 1861, and was one of five Pennsylvania companies to arrive first at Washington in defense of the Capital.

At Kutztown, settled by Germans in 1733, is the Keystone State Normal School, originally Maxatawny Seminary, but since 1866, the Normal School, enlarged after most improved models of school architecture. Four miles distant is Virginsville; here is a natural curiosity, the “Crystal Cave,” of vast dimensions, with crystal formations in every shape and color; it is lighted by electricity. Boyertown, with two large academies, and Birdsboro, with fine churches and residences, are noted for their iron furnaces. Hamburg is the home of the Berks County State Sanatorium No. 3 for tuberculosis; Spanish architecture. Berks County has several picturesque old bridges, the oldest, with one arch, stone, built in 1822, spans the Wyomissing Creek at its mouth, opposite Reading. Thirteen other stone arch bridges, the longest, over Maiden Creek, four arches, built in 1854; and twenty-five wooden covered bridges, are decided artistic assets.

Historic iron furnaces in Berks County are at Birdsboro, Hay Creek Forges, built, 1740, by William Bird on land obtained by warrant and survey; he also erected Hopewell Furnace in 1759, and the Berkshire Furnace in Heidelberg about 1760; his son, Mark Bird, inherited the property, and built Spring Forge and Gibraltar Forge; in 1796, John Louis Barde became the owner; his daughter was married to Matthew Brooke, who subsequently purchased the property, which has become an extensive iron works. Colebrookdale, famous as the seat of the first blast furnace in Pennsylvania, was on Iron Stone Creek, named for the Colebrookdale furnace, in Shropshire, England; it was founded by Thomas Rutter and Thomas Potts in 1720: in 1724, the output was forty-eight tons of pig iron per annum, each ton valued at £5; this was the first furnace to cast pots, kettles, and other hollow ware by the use of sand moulds; it had a long and prosperous career. Hopewell, a cold blast, one stack furnace, employed one hundred and seventy men and boys, the iron ore was obtained from the Hopewell mine, about two miles away, water from Hopewell Creek formed the motive power; a dam was constructed a quarter of a mile above the furnace and conveyed by a race to the big water wheel; the property covered 5163 acres, chiefly woodland; stoves were cast here with much detailed design, marked with the name of Bird; also cannon for the Revolutionary Army; Hopewell furnace, although idle for many years, is not dismantled, and the village street of iron-workers’ homes is much the same as it must have been in early times.

Oley Forge, south of the little hamlet called Oley Churches, and about ten miles from the confluence of the Manatawny and Schuylkill rivers, was organized by John Ross in 1744, and was in active operation for one hundred and twenty years. In 1760, a valuable deposit of iron ore was found in Oley Township, and in 1765 Dietrich Welcker erected Oley Furnace, near the mountain; it was owned by General Daniel Udree during the Revolution. Pine Forge was among the earliest of those erected in the Manatawny district, on land conveyed by William Penn to Thomas Rutter; the original patent is in possession of the Rutter family. There is every evidence that the group of early forges and furnaces had a general interchange in their business affairs, as the owners of the plants were almost identical; William Bird, in 1733, was cutting wood for the use of Pine Forge, at two shillings ninepence a day. Ten years later we find him renting one-eighth of Pine Forge at £40 per annum.

The management of the old forges was patriarchal in its character; grist mill, sawmill, and the village store were all under control of the company, and the records of the old forges and furnaces are filled with human interests of an earlier day. Windsor Furnace,

TRINITY CHURCH, READING, BUILT IN 1791

on Furnace Creek, under shadow of the Blue Mountains, besides making pig iron and the usual hollow ware cast in colonial times, was noted for remarkable artistic work under the management of Jones, Keim & Co.; one casting, being a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” is now in possession of the Philadelphia Exchange.

Bedford County

IX
BEDFORD COUNTY

FORMED March 9, 1771; named by Governor John Penn, in 1776, from fort of this name in the county. Is widely known for its mineral springs. When first established it embraced entire southwest part of the province. Mean altitude 1100-1200 feet above sea level; in northwest at Blue Knob, near Blair and Cambria County line, is highest elevation in Pennsylvania, 3136 feet above sea level. Surface is broken by parallel ranges of mountains, with narrow, beautiful valleys, in a high state of cultivation. Chief industries are farming, stock raising, and apple growing. It is said that the most important fields of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania are largely in the northeast of this County known as “The Broad Top Coal Fields.” Population Scotch-Irish, German, and English.

First permanent settlement was made in 1750, by a Scotchman named Ray (McRay), an Indian trader, near present site of Bedford, then Raystown. In 1755, Colonel James Burd was appointed by the province to construct the first wagon road, from Fort Louden, Franklin County, to join Braddock’s road near Turkey Foot, Somerset County, passing through Raystown (Bedford), practically identical with the Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike, now Lincoln Highway. On western border where this road crosses main range of the Alleghenies, at a point two-thirds of the ascent, is a view unsurpassed in the picturesque charm of the landscape, stretching far and wide. The highway follows the main course of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata, crossing this stream at least four times; bridges are iron or old wooden ones.

The fort at Raystown was constructed in 1758 by the vanguard of General Forbes’ army; it embraced about seven thousand square yards, occupying the bluff now bounded on the east by Richard Street; south, Pitt Street (Lincoln Highway); west, Juliana Street; north, the Raystone River; it was the most prominent military stronghold in the central part of the province, and the principal rendezvous of troops forming the right wing of General John Forbes’ army in his expedition against Fort Duquesne, 5850 men, besides wagoners; largest single contingent was 2700 Pennsylvania provincials under Colonel Bouquet, who had chief charge of entire force, until General Forbes arrived; the 1600 Virginians were under command of Colonel George Washington and Colonel William Byrd. In 1759, General John Stanwix, then in command of the garrison, had the name changed to Fort Bedford, in honor of the Duke of Bedford; now no trace of the fortification remains.

In 1794, Bedford became the headquarters of General Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia, who was commander in chief of the army of 13,000 troops raised to quell the Whiskey Insurrection; President Washington, after reviewing the troops at Carlisle and Cumberland, came to Bedford and made his headquarters in a stone house on Pitt Street, house still standing.

Bedford, county seat, population 2330; laid out, 1766, by Surveyor General John Lukens, with a commodious square, in the most convenient place. Courthouse erected, 1828, colonial with clock tower, architect and contractor, Solomon Filler, faces the square. Opposite is the United States Post Office, built, 1915, Indiana limestone, classic, Doric columns, architect, Oscar Wenderoth; also facing the square are the Presbyterian Church, colonial, built, 1828, on site of an earlier one built in 1810; and the Lutheran Church, fine two-story building and parsonage. The Soldiers’ Monument in honor of Bedford County volunteers in Civil War occupies center of square. Handsome memorial colonial gateway forms entrance to Bedford Cemetery, stone, with bronze tablets.

The therapeutic qualities of the Mineral Springs are believed to be second to none anywhere in the world, and justly entitle Bedford to the name of the Carlsbad of America; one and one-half miles south of the borough, within an area of a few square rods, several varieties of water are to be found; most famous is the Magnesia Spring, efficacious in disturbances of the digestive organs; others are known as the Black Sulphur, Limestone, Chalybeate, and Sweet Water Spring. Colonial Hotel has a colonnade of Doric columns, twenty feet high, made of native solid trees; the links for the Scottish game of golf are on a place earlier named Caledonia. The Bedford Chalybeate Springs, about one mile northeast of the town, contain waters showing analysis of carbonate of calcium, magnesium, iron and sodium, and sulphite of calcium. Ten miles southwest of Bedford are the White Sulphur Springs in Milliken’s Cave, second largest health resort in the country; waters are unexcelled in health-restoring properties.

Northumberland County

X
NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY

FORMED March 21, 1772; named for the Duke of Northumberland. Mountainous, with great amount of fertile land, watered by the Susquehanna River and tributaries. Chief industry is coal mining.

County seat, Sunbury, population 15,721, on site of a populous Indian village named Shamokin, occupied variously by different tribes; in 1745, the town contained about fifty houses and three hundred inhabitants; the Six Nations used it as a tarrying place for their war parties against the Catawbas of the South.

It was the residence of Shikellimy, an Oneida chief sent by the Iroquois, who claimed the land by conquest in 1728, he was the Indian diplomat, and land agent of the three great tribes of Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware, with supervision of the Delaware, Shawnee, and other tribes. He also had to look after all matters relating to the settlement and purchase of Indian lands by the whites. In 1742, Count Zinzendorf, with Conrad Weiser and others, came to Shamokin; Shikellimy gave them a hearty welcome, and promised to forward their design of having a Moravian Mission there; it was established in 1747 by Martin Mack and his wife; Bishop Cammerhoff and Zeisberger visited the town the next year. In 1748 Shikellimy died; “the Chief who never swerved in his friendship to the Province”; he had been baptized in the Christian faith in Bethlehem, and was buried just outside of what was later Fort Augusta; James Logan, his second son, was perhaps the best known of his children; made so by the murder of his family, near the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the Ohio, in 1774, and the famous “Logan’s Lament.” A large boulder, with memorial tablet, marks Shikellimy’s grave; it was placed, in 1915, by the Fort Augusta Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Pennsylvania Historical Commission; the boulder is of very close grained rock, of the kind used by the Indians for their hardest and strongest implements; it was quarried near Wapwallopen, about forty miles above Sunbury; this rock boulder, from our local mountains, will resist the forces of nature for centuries to come, as it has done for ages past.

Shamokin (Sunbury) was also the residence of Allummapees, or Sassounan, the head chief of the Delawares, so that this place was, in every sense of the term, the Indian capital of Pennsylvania from 1728-48, and was deserted in 1749 on account of a severe famine along the Susquehanna. At the north of Sunbury, along the river drive, is site of Fort Augusta, built in 1756 by Colonel Miles and Captain Trump of the Second Pennsylvania Battalion; it was the frontier, after Forts Muncy, Brady, and Freeland were destroyed in 1779 by British and Indians; the powder magazine, and well, built of brick, are still intact and in good preservation. This was said to have been the most strategic point in the whole section; a monument on either side of the roadway marks the place. On the site of the fortifications is a brick mansion; within are many relics taken from the fort, and draft of original plan. Visitors are welcome. Site of Fort Freeland on north side of Warrior’s Run, four miles east of Watsontown; it was a large stockaded log house, built in 1773, enclosing about half an acre.

Sunbury was laid out 1772, by William Maclay and John Lukens, by order of Governor Richard Penn, who named it. William Maclay, first United States Senator from Pennsylvania, built his stone residence, still standing, on the river bank in northwest part of town; the city plan is like that of Philadelphia, and many of the streets have the Philadelphia names; Market Street faces a public square between Second and Third Streets, known as Cameron Park, in which is the Civil War Soldiers’ Monument, granite shaft surmounted by a life-size, granite statue of Colonel James Cameron, who organized a regiment from this county. Courthouse, Second Street, facing west side of Cameron Park, originally built in 1866; Georgian; brick with Hummelstown brownstone trimmings; was remodeled in the same style in 1915 and enlarged, in the rear, with a cross wing, giving two fine courtrooms, last architect, William H. Lee, Shamokin. The prison, one block away, at the corner of Second and Arch Streets, medieval castle style, built, 1878, dark gray stone, with stone wall twenty feet high, surrounding the whole structure, has wing used as a penitentiary, where prisoners serve out their sentences; they weave carpets and make coarse hosiery.

Northumberland, settled, 1772, population 4061. Dr. Joseph Priestly, chemist and philosopher, was its most noted inhabitant; he emigrated here in 1794, to be with his son, and died, 1804; in 1874, Scientists of America celebrated here the centennial of Dr. Priestly’s discovery of oxygen; his house, built, 1796, is still standing, in excellent preservation; a portrait of Dr. Priestly, by Gilbert Stuart, is owned by Miss Priestly. The Academy was erected in 1803, mainly through the efforts of Dr. Priestly; Rev. Isaac Greer, first principal.

XI
WESTMORELAND COUNTY

FORMED February 26, 1773, named for the County of Westmoreland, England. Chief industries, coal, coke, gas, and manufactories. Ruins of old furnaces abound in this section, relics of the iron industry about 1800. The Lincoln Highway crosses this county, formerly the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Turnpike, entering near Laughlinstown, at the base of Laurel Ridge, elevation, 2700 feet; here is a museum of relics, shown in an old tavern of stage coach days, built about 1800, where Daniel Webster is said to have stopped, and Zachary Taylor, in 1848, held a reception. Three miles west is Ligonier, on site of a fort built by Captain Burd under the direction of Colonel Bouquet, a Swiss; named for Sir John Ligonier, a famous English general; all traces of the fort have been obliterated; a descriptive tablet, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution, is in the town square. In the High School Library is an engraving, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of Sir John Ligonier. Near by is Idlewild Park.

At Bushy Run the Indians made a furious attack on Bouquet and his company but were utterly routed and they retreated beyond the Ohio; Bouquet then marched to Fort Pitt and recovered it in 1763; next year he led an expedition beyond the Ohio River, the Indians sued for peace, and he compelled them to

Westmoreland County

bring all their captives to Fort Pitt. One and a half miles west of Ligonier is residence of General Arthur St. Clair, from 1767-72, “The Hermitage,” rebuilt, excepting one room, which is well cared for; there is a well-grounded tradition that Washington sent from Mount Vernon two expert carpenters, whose quaintly designed woodwork, mantelpiece and wainscoting doubtless saved this room from destruction; the house was marked in 1913, by the Phœbe Bayard Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Greensburg.

Four miles west of Latrobe is St. Vincent’s Monastery and Church, dedicated in 1905, brick and stone buildings, with highly decorated interiors, containing the main altar, onyx, set with jewels, and fine wood carvings from Italy. North, on William Penn Highway, is New Alexandria; here, owned by Elizabeth Craig, is a Rattlesnake Flag, in use before the Revolution, made of crimson silk; in the upper left-hand corner is the English coat of arms; on the field is a rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, indicating the thirteen colonies; underneath are the words “Don’t tread on me,” J. P. F. B. W. C. P.—for John Proctor’s First Battalion Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; by whom it was adopted.

Greensburg, population 15,033, formerly called Newtown, settled in 1782; made county seat in 1786, and name changed in honor of General Nathaniel Greene, who had died at Savannah, Georgia, that same year; many of the Westmoreland County soldiers served under him in the Revolution. It now has its fourth courthouse, a dignified building, French Renaissance, white granite, the façade surmounted by a well-proportioned dome, dedicated, 1908; architect, William Kauffman; contains portraits of judges and lawyers. Among the churches of good architecture are the United Brethren, classic, Doric, architects, Winkler & Macdonald; and the First Presbyterian on South Main Street, Gothic, stone, architects, Cram & Ferguson. Other notable buildings are the Post Office, classic, Ionic; the Y. M. C. A., an adaptation of Colonial, and St. Joseph’s Academy, with beautiful grounds, overlooking the whole town.

In St. Clair Cemetery is a monument to General Arthur St. Clair, who is buried here. About five miles distant is Oakford Park. Fells Church in Rostravor Township southwest is said to be the second Methodist Church west of the Alleghenies, built of logs in 1792; present stone building in 1834; in the burial ground are many pioneers of western Pennsylvania.

XII
WASHINGTON COUNTY

FORMED March 28, 1781; named for President Washington; originally part of Augusta County, Virginia. First court held here was two miles west on the Gabby farm, marked by granite block; inscription, “On this spot, was held in 1776, the County Court, for the District of West Augusta, Virginia; the first Court held by English-speaking people, west of the Monongahela River. Erected by Washington County Historical Society 1905.” Chief industries, between 1860-80 raising fine stock and wool growing; in 1884, oil was discovered and for ten or fifteen years this county became an oil center, with some of the largest wells; now coal is being shipped all over the country from seemingly boundless veins.

Washington, county seat, laid out in 1782, population 21,480. Courthouse, built in 1900, on Main Street, Italian Renaissance, Columbia sandstone and granite; architect, F. J. Osterling; contains portraits, also collections made by the Washington County Historical Society; ground given by David Hoge of Virginia, who owned large tracts of land where the town now is. Town Hall, corner-stone laid by General U. S. Grant, in 1869; contains Public Library, gift of Dr. Francis J. Le Moyne. Washington and Jefferson College, combined in 1870, from Washington College founded 1787, and Jefferson College founded in Canonsburg, 1802; both flourished until the Civil

Washington County

War, when many students enlisted and financial depression followed; located one square east of the courthouse; oldest part, two story, stone, erected, 1793; main building, brick, 1836, enlarged, 1875, houses the Y. M. C. A., the museum, classrooms, and laboratories; several other fine buildings of brick and stone are on the campus; chapel contains portraits.

Washington Seminary, recognized as one of the oldest and best institutions for women students, one square south of college, was built, 1836. Bradford House, first stone house in this locality, was built, 1794, by Colonel William Bradford, a leader in the Whiskey Insurrection. Residence, Dr. Francis Julius Le Moyne, native of this town, built in 1812, East Maiden Street near Main, is one of the landmarks; he was a brilliant scholar, abolitionist, and promoter of the underground railroad; he built the first crematory in America, located south of Washington, first cremation, Baron de Palen, in 1876. Dr. Le Moyne was cremated, 1879. The Presbyterian Church leads, with the other principal denominations represented, also Jewish Synagogue. West from Washington, the Campbell family founded the Disciples, or Christian Church, on Buffalo Creek.

The Cumberland Road, built, 1811, brought an almost unbroken stream of home seekers through this town, en route to the west; bridges and culverts built about the same time still stand, models of solid masonry and good engineering, one is between Washington and Claysville, town named for Henry Clay, who had an interest in the road and frequently came here.

Canonsburg, laid out, 1787, by Colonel John Canon, population 10,632, a portion of his first grist mill is on original location near Chartier’s Creek. Jefferson College chartered, 1802; oldest building erected in 1830; on North Central Avenue, highest ground in town; was outgrowth of Dr. John McMillan’s Log Cabin Latin School from 1782; first classical school west of the Allegheny Mountains, his cabin stands on the campus, marked by a bronze tablet, placed by the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, custodians; having been removed from its original site, two miles south of town; Franklin Hall, converted into a Memorial Hall in 1900, contains portraits of college presidents and professors between 1802-69, also collections of old books from several early libraries and literary societies; may be seen by applying to any of the Memorial Hall Committee. Stone edifice, opposite campus, built by John Roberts, Esq, who conducted a school and kept post office here in 1801, parts of walls are said to be part of stone Academy Building, erected by Colonel Canon, for which he donated the ground in 1790; it was merged with the Log Cabin School to form Jefferson College.

Two-story building at northeast corner of Central Avenue and Pike Street, now grocery and hardware store, was site of the Joshua Emery’s Hotel; here President James Monroe was entertained in 1817. On east side of North Central Avenue, between Pike and College Streets, vacant lot, site of Black Horse Tavern, notable as the resort of men who rifled the mail sacks, when letters supposed to contain evidence against violaters of the excise laws were stolen, en route to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh, 1794. Residence 62-68 East Pike Street, built by Dr. Jonathan Letherman, before 1830, here Dr. John McMillan died in 1833; the flower garden, with brick wall, was laid out by a landscape gardener brought from Philadelphia by Dr. Letherman, original designs still retained. The Hutchinson house, north side, West College Street, corner of Hutchinson Avenue and adjacent lots, once the Hutchinson farm, was where the “Whiskey boys” encamped in 1794, here also “musters” were held before the Civil War. Chartiers Presbyterian (Hill) Church and burial ground, one mile south of Canonsburg, is where Dr. John McMillan began his pastorate in 1775, and was buried; here, Woodrow Wilson’s father was also a former pastor; this site became a rendezvous for the Whiskey Insurrectionists in 1794.

A natural park of seventy acres, within east side of the borough, acquired by gift, is a beautiful breathing spot for the whole community. About one mile northeast of Canonsburg, at Morganza, is the Western Pennsylvania Industrial School; the Morgan Lands, eleven hundred acres, was the home of General George Morgan, Indian agent in Pittsburgh 1775-79; a portion of his residence is still standing, about midway between Morganza and Pollock; here he was visited by Aaron Burr in 1806. General Morgan and his two sons were summoned to Richmond, as witnesses, when Burr was tried for treason.

Monongahela, an important town, first called Parkinson’s Ferry, then Williamsport; the men here took an active part in the Whiskey Insurrection, 1794. It furnished its quota of soldiers, known as the Williamsport Rangers, for the War of 1812. Monument to Colonel Hawkins, and to the Philippine veterans. James Gillespie Blaine was born at West Brownsville in 1830. Amity, southern part of Washington, near county line, was the residence of Solomon Spalding, born in Connecticut, minister of the Congregational Church; here he wrote the “Manuscript Found,” or Book of Mormon; he was not a robust man, and spent many hours writing this romance, with no idea of founding a religious sect; he would read his book in the evenings to the men gathered in the general store; died, 1816, age fifty-five, grave marked by large granite block.

XIII
FAYETTE COUNTY

ORGANIZED September 26, 1783; named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette; occupied prominent place in Indian, Revolutionary, and later wars. On Jacobs Creek, a mile and a half above the point where it empties into the Youghiogheny River, stands the ruins of the first furnace for the production of pig iron, west of the Allegheny Mountains; the furnace was put in blast November, 1790, and was known as the Alliance Iron Works, operated by William Turnbull and Peter Marmie of Philadelphia; it continued in blast until 1802 using the native ores from the neighboring hillsides, and charcoal burned from the surrounding forests; in 1792 the company cast four hundred six-pound shot for the Fort Pitt Arsenal at Pittsburgh. Coal mining and coke are now the chief industries. Connellsville coke is known throughout the industrial world.

Aboriginal inhabitants were the Shawnee Indians, who made various earthworks and burial mounds, along the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers before their migration southward; it was part of the “Hunting Grounds” of the Iroquois Confederation; the “Indian Title” was extinguished by treaty at Fort Stanwix, 1768.

In 1749 Nemacolin, a Delaware Indian, guided Colonel Thomas Cresap from Wills Creek, Cumberland, Maryland, to the mouth of Dunlap’s Creek, where

Fayette County

Fort Burd was erected in 1759, on site of “Redstone Old Fort,” an Indian earthwork, now Brownsville; this was called Nemacolin’s trail, and was the best course for the Ohio Company to reach the Ohio River. It was followed by Washington, with Christopher Gist, to the French forts in 1753, the first actual step here, in conflict with France. During the “French and Indian War” Fayette County was the scene of some of the most thrilling events in American history. In 1745 Washington’s expedition to gain possession of the Ohio Valley followed this trail to drive the French from “The Forks” (Pittsburgh); he advanced to Gist’s Plantation at Mount Braddock, then retreated to The Great Meadows, Fort Necessity, marked by tablet at Mount Washington, where he was defeated by the French under M. Coulon de Villers; previous to this, Washington had met a detachment of French soldiers under M. Coulon de Jumonville, in which Jumonville was killed, grave marked by tablet; first blood shed in French and Indian War.

In 1755 Major General Edward Braddock’s expedition against Fort Duquesne followed Nemacolin’s trail to Mount Braddock, thence over Catawba trail, which enters Fayette County at mouth of Dunkards Creek; northward through Uniontown, crossing the Youghiogheny (Stewarts Crossing) at Connellsville, on through Mount Pleasant to Westmoreland County, Hunkers, Circleville, to McKeesport; crossing the Monongahela, then recrossing below at mouth of Turtle Creek. General Braddock, mortally wounded in the battle of the Monongahela, was carried back over the road he had opened to a point on the Cumberland Road, National Pike, where he died and was buried; Washington read the Episcopal burial service over him; grave marked by monument, erected by officers of his old regiment, the “Coldstream Guards of England.” Braddock’s Road became the main highway for settlers of Southwest Pennsylvania and Kentucky; the entire course is full of historic interest; sites of encampments, blockhouses and Indian forts; some are marked.

Uniontown, county seat, formed, 1776; population 15,692. Courthouse, Italian Renaissance; stone; architects, E. M. Butz and William Kauffman, Pittsburgh. Presbyterian Church has fine Tiffany windows. Mr. James Hadden, the historian of Fayette County, has a life-size bust of Washington, cut by himself from the wood of a wild cherry tree, which grew within the lines of Fort Necessity, in 1784. Washington owned the land on which the tree stood. Two miles south is Fort Gaddis, only frontier or settlers’ fort now standing in Fayette County, marked by tablet in 1908; there were sixteen such forts in this county, built of heavy logs, making durable houses for the frontiersmen, and safe retreat for neighboring settlers.

Connellsville; population 13,804. On grounds of the Carnegie Free Library is a bronze statue of Colonel William Crawford, pioneer and patriot, who, in 1765, built the first cabin home within limits of Connellsville; killed by Indians in 1782; sculptor, Charles S. Kilpatrick; tablet on base placed by Pennsylvania Historical Commission. Trinity Lutheran Church, Italian Renaissance; native white sandstone, trimmed with Indiana limestone; built, 1911; contains copy of Bougereau’s “Resurrection.” In the tower is chime of twelve bells. Architect, J. C. Fulton, Uniontown.

Lafayette was entertained, in 1825, at “Friendship Hill” near New Geneva, the home of Albert Gallatin, member of Congress, Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to two courts of Europe, signer of the Treaty of Ghent, Secretary of the Treasury in Jefferson’s and Madison’s administrations; the house was built, 1789, enlarged, 1882, and with the estate of seven hundred acres, is still of great beauty; Albert Gallatin’s library remains just as he left it, on a high eminence, overlooking the Monongahela River, on the edge of a precipice three hundred feet above the river, the view is said to be similar to that from Heidelberg Castle; the main entrance is near the old Morgantown Road, an historic highway.

Franklin County

XIV
FRANKLIN COUNTY

FORMED September 9, 1784; named for Benjamin Franklin, whose fame was then world-wide. Earliest settlers Scotch-Irish, later Germans. Chief industry agriculture, the land east is limestone and very fertile; west, slate lands prevail, abounding in pure streams and rich meadows; the Conococheague and Conodoquinet Creeks drain the central part of the county, they are crossed by many stone arch bridges of graceful architecture, the most notable is at Hiester’s Mill, three arches. The principal road, now part of the Lincoln Highway, enters the county near the historic Thaddeus Stevens Iron Works, built, 1837, at Caledonia, which comprised about 20,000 acres, now in State Forestry Reservation, and with the Mont Alto tract, makes a total of about 40,000 acres; the mill and machinery were entirely destroyed, in 1863, by order of General Early, on account of Stevens’ well-known activity as an abolitionist; this road was route of greater part of Lee’s Army to and from the battlefield of Gettysburg to Chambersburg; site of encampment before the battle, a little beyond the hospital, east from Chambersburg. Other roads leading west, of historic interest, are the Two Mountain, and the Path Valley, formerly Indian trails.

County seat, Chambersburg, settled, 1764, population 13,171. In Centre Square is a boulder with tablet commemorating the burning of Chambersburg by Confederate Cavalry, July 1, 1864. Facing the square are the brick courthouse, Southern colonial with fluted columns, cupola and clock, contains portraits of judges; and the Central Presbyterian Church, with Tiffany windows. Near are, Miller’s drug store on site of Jack Tavern, where the first court was held in 1784, large mortar in front was made from one of the pillars of the burned courthouse. United States Post Office, Main and King Streets, built, 1912, semi-classic, light colonial brick with gray stone facing. Masonic temple, built, 1823, saved by Confederate Masons when the town was burned. Zion Reformed Church, built, 1812, exterior unchanged, particularly good lines in steeple, has Tiffany windows. On King Street stands the house John Brown occupied, second from Union Baptist Church; Nicklas store, on Main Street near Queen, is site of old tavern where President Washington and Alexander Hamilton spent the night, en route to quell the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794; Market House, Second and Queen Streets, built, 1830, brick, colonial, with clock tower.

Wilson College comprises seven buildings, including Thompson Memorial Hall, built, 1904, modified Gothic, with auditorium and fine organ, architect, George C. Baum, Philadelphia. Falling Spring Presbyterian Church and Chapel, organized, 1736, services first held in Benjamin Chamber’s sawmill, present church built, 1803, chapel, 1873, native stone, has Tiffany memorial windows to Judge and Mrs. Alexander Thomson, parents of Frank Thomson, Esq. Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church, four miles northwest from Chambersburg, built, 1794 by the Scotch-Irish, colonial, with high, straight-backed pews, and original old high pulpit, with sounding board, pewter Communion service from England and ten-plate stoves. Dr. McIntosh preached here; has an interesting old graveyard, keys kept at adjoining farmhouse.

The “Mont Alto Park,” formerly a famous picnic ground, now in charge of State Forestry Commission, in the South Mountain, in old maps named “The Valley of a Thousand Springs,” contains an old Protestant Episcopal Church, near which is a native boulder, with granite tablet, marking the place where Captain John E. Cook, of John Brown’s Army of Liberation, was captured and disarmed, October 25, 1859, erected by the Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1909. The State Forest Academy is here, where the state educates its foresters, free of all cost; in 1900, the Bureau of Forestry had grown to the point where it should be raised to the rank of a department, of which the chief should be a member of the Governor’s cabinet; there was strenuous opposition, but owing to the flood of letters received by members of the Legislature, from the women of the State Federated Clubs, the change was made, and Pennsylvania takes a commanding place in the Forestry and Conservation movement. The White Pine, State Sanatorium, No. 1, free for consumptives, is also here, one of the largest in the world. South is Waynesboro; good roads and notably fine scenery in this section.

Greencastle, birthplace of Robert McClelland in 1807, see Honor Roll; directly north, on State Road, is monument, to mark where Corporal William H. Rhil fell, first soldier killed on Northern soil in Civil War.

Mercersburg, settled between 1730-35, population 1663; named for General Hugh Mercer, who was killed in the Battle of Princeton. Mercersburg Academy, Main Hall, built, 1833, used as hospital for wounded soldiers, on retreat from Gettysburg, is a notable example of Southern colonial architecture, with fine pillars and surmounted by a cupola; the ’88 Dormitory, given largely by class of 1888 of Princeton University, is Tudor Gothic, brick and white stone; Kiel Hall, the refectory, interior, baronial Gothic with frescoes and hangings by Tiffany; over mantel, in wood, carved by John J. Maene, is “The Boar Hunt” from design by A. Stirling Calder; notable collection of University shields in glass and wood; mosaic armorial design in hearth; Laucks Hall, Tudor Gothic, has mural painting in trophy room, “The Victor,” representing a Mercersburg boy being crowned victor in athletic skill, artist, Edward Howland Blashfield, also collection of portraits of distinguished men, including President James Buchanan, Thomas A. Scott, and W. M. Irvine, by William Merritt Chase; Dr. E. E. Highbee, by Carroll Beckwith; and Dr. Thomas Apple by John W. Alexander; the new gymnasium, architect, Frank Miles Day, has stained glass by Tiffany.

Historic houses on Main Street, one in which Harriet Lane Johnston was born, built, 1788, by Colonel Robert Parker, friend of Lafayette, has interesting interior woodwork; and residence of Dr. William Magaw, who dressed Lafayette’s wounds after the battle of Brandywine, grounds now in campus of Academy. Near Mercersburg, Irwinton Mills, a picturesque spot on the west branch of the Conococheague,

THE VICTOR

In trophy room of the Mercersburg Academy

Painted by Edwin H. Blashfield

birthplace of Jane and Elizabeth Irwin, who were married to the Harrison brothers; Jane was mistress of the White House in 1841, Elizabeth became the mother of President Benjamin Harrison. East of town, birthplace of William Findlay, see Honor Roll. President James Buchanan was born at Cove Gap, three miles from Mercersburg, birthplace marked by monument erected by will of his niece, Harriet Lane Johnston; the house was later removed to Lafayette Street, Mercersburg.

The famous Packer’s Path, used by pack horses, leads from Stony Batter across the mountains to Pittsburgh. Site of Fort McCord, near Yankee Gap, at North Mountain is where twenty-seven pioneer settlers were massacred or carried into captivity by Indians in 1756, and thirty-two provincial soldiers killed or wounded in their effort at rescue; marked by native stone monument 1914, erected by the Enoch Brown Association, and Pennsylvania Historical Commission. Northeast is the Enoch Brown Park, with monument sacred to the memory of Enoch Brown and eleven scholars massacred by Indians here in 1764, during the Pontiac War. Large collection of Indian curios found near here are owned by Benjamin Snively, Jr. South, is site of Fort Loudoun, marked.

Natives of Franklin County, in the World’s Honor Roll are, Samuel Adams, Senator from Mississippi; George Washington Buchanan, United States District Attorney for Dakota; James Buchanan, 1791-1868, schoolboy in Mercersburg, lawyer, member of the legislature and of congress, Minister to Russia, member of United States Senate, Secretary of State, Minister to Great Britain, fifteenth president of the United States; Edmund R. Calhoun, Rear Admiral, United States Navy; Hugh S. Campbell, United States District Attorney for Dakota; George Chambers, 1786-1866, Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Matthew St. Clair Clark, Clerk of the United States House of Representatives; Colonel Thomas Hartley Crawford, Judge of the United States Court, District of Columbia, and Commissioner for Indian Affairs; George Eyster, Assistant United States Treasurer at Philadelphia; William Findlay, 1768-1846, State Treasurer, United States Senator, Governor, Assistant United States Treasurer at Philadelphia; Henry Harbaugh, 1817-67, theologian, poet, hymn-writer; Robert Johnston, Collector of Excise, appointed by President Washington; John Maclay, member of the convention at Carpenters’ Hall; Samuel Maclay, United States Senator; William Maclay, first United States Senator from Pennsylvania, died, 1825; Robert McClelland, United States Secretary of the Interior, Governor of Michigan; James McLane, Member of the Supreme Executive Council and of the Pennsylvania Council of Censors, member of the convention at Carpenters’ Hall; John Williamson Nevin, 1803-86, President of Franklin and Marshall College, theologian, author, preacher; William M. Nevin, 1806-92, poet, teacher; James Potter, Major General of the Continental Army; John Rowe, Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania; Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, President Pennsylvania Railroad; Frank Thomson, President Pennsylvania Railroad; Joseph Williams, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa.

XV
MONTGOMERY COUNTY

FORMED September 10, 1784; named in honor of General Richard Montgomery; ranks third in state as to amount of money at interest paying state tax; notable for fine suburban residences and for Washington’s itinerary and Camp at Valley Forge, with 11,098 men. The Valley Forge Park Commission acquired, in 1893, 472 acres, partly in Chester County, to maintain and preserve forever the Revolutionary camp ground; American army here from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778; soldiers built their huts 16 × 14 feet by 6½ feet high, each to accommodate twelve men, and bore their sufferings from cold, starvation, and sickness like heroes; facts of interest are:

Baron von Steuben came from Germany with his secretary, Peter S. Du Ponceau, after having served as aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great; he was appointed inspector general of the American army, and gave them military training and discipline; Mrs. Washington came to Valley Forge February 27, 1778; on May 18, a detachment under Marquis de Lafayette moved to Barren Hill, but the British came in force against them, and they retreated over Matson’s ford, Conshohocken, on a bridge of rafts; on June 18, British evacuated Philadelphia, June 19, Washington and army left Valley Forge in pursuit.

A marker is placed where General Sullivan and soldiers built a bridge across the Schuylkill in 1778;

Montgomery County

redoubts and intrenchments have been restored; every point of interest has been marked with granite tablets by various historical societies, and by the states whose sons suffered here; bronze equestrian statue of General Anthony Wayne, sculptor, H. K. Bush-Brown, made, 1908, marks site of cantonment of his troops; near this is replica of a brigade hospital, a soldier’s hut; and the bronze statue of General Friederich Wilhelm von Steuben, granite pedestal with bronze relief; sculptor, J. Otto Schweizer, erected, 1915, by National German-American Alliance. National Memorial Arch, one of the most beautiful structures of its kind, granite, designed by Paul P. Cret, was erected by the United States Government in 1914, as a tribute to General Washington and his regiments.

Washington’s headquarters (home of Isaac Potts), open daily, 8 A.M. to 6 P.M., is arranged as when he occupied it; Washington Inn was used as army bakery during encampment, ovens in basement, originally home of Colonel William Dewees, sheriff of Philadelphia, and owner, with John Potts, of the forge; the Star Redoubt; the Defenders’ Gate; Cemetery; and View from observatory on Mount Joy are interesting; Museum of American History contains rare relics of Washington and the war.

Washington Memorial Protestant Episcopal chapel, and the Cloister of the Colonies, in which each of the thirteen colonies will be represented by a bay, in the center of each is the colonial seal in brass; ceiling, hand carved oak, in the central boss of each, the state coat of arms; the Cloister incloses the Garth in which is a bronze statue, “Sacrifice and Devotion,” by Bela Pratt, in honor of the mothers of the nation; the porch gates were wrought by Samuel Yellin, hammered in the iron are the symbols of the four Evangelists, the lock has a miniature Liberty Bell as a keeper, and the sliding bolt passes through the knapsack of a Continental soldier, guarding the lock; windows in the chapel from D’Ascenzo Studios. Waterman Monument marks the grave of only identified soldier buried here.

Across the Schuylkill is Fat Land built by James Vaux; Washington slept here September 21, 1777; the next day, Sir William Howe came here and almost caught him. At Port Kennedy, one and one-half miles east of Valley Forge, prehistoric bones of sabretooth tigers and extinct animals are found. West of Valley Forge, Mill Grove, built, 1762, still standing, residence of John James Audubon; here he studied, painted, and wrote about “Birds of America” that have made him world-famous. Near, at the mouth of Perkiomen Creek, Washington’s army encamped at Richardson’s Ford, September 21, after marching all night, wet breast-high, and hungry, one thousand men without shoes. Howe moved on west of Schuylkill toward Reading, the depot of American supplies, having burned buildings at Valley Forge on his way, and reached Phœnixville, Fountain Inn. Washington marched his troops to Upper Hanover, within four miles of Pottstown; his headquarters was residence of John Potts, built 1753; and sent General Wayne with fifteen hundred men to harass the rear of British army under General Gray, but they were outnumbered by the British, and massacred at Paoli; marked by two monuments.

PERKIOMEN BRIDGE, BUILT 1798, COLLEGEVILLE

Photograph by Fred P. Powers

Pottstown, founded by John Potts, population 17,431; noted for its iron industries since 1716; Mill Park Hotel, built, 1752, for residence of founder, who was visited here by Washington. Friends Meeting House, built, 1752, ground given by John Potts; he also gave ground for Zion Lutheran Church, Georgian, 1753. Residences of founder’s three sons, Dr. Jonathan Potts, Director General of Hospitals, Northern Department, in the Revolutionary War, “Stowe,” west of Pottstown; Samuel Potts, east of Pottstown, now “Hill School”; John Potts, Jr., a Tory judge, corner of High and Hanover Streets, center of town, later, residence of General Arthur St. Clair; Daughters of the American Revolution tablet on side. Emmanuel Lutheran Church, architects, Lechman & Murphy, windows from D’Ascenzo Studios; Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, Gothic; brownstone; good memorial windows; was received in Convention in 1827; Pottstown Hospital is controlled by Board of Women Managers, also the Library, in which art exhibitions are shown.

Not until William Penn came was any effort made to manufacture iron in Pennsylvania. Having iron furnaces of his own at Hawkhurst, England, he was interested to encourage the industry here. Thomas Rutter, Bailiff of Germantown from 1705-06, after Pastorius, moved up the Schuylkill on patent of land from William Penn, deed still in the family, and established in 1717, the “Pool Forge,” on Manatawny Creek, three miles above Pottstown; he was first in Pennsylvania to manufacture iron; ore is still being mined from the same beds. Among the great names in our early iron industry, Rutter and Potts stand pre-eminent; the list of forges and furnaces on the Manatawny and its branches, owned by their intermarried families, before the Revolution, include Mount Pleasant furnace and forge; Spring forge; Colebrookdale furnace and forge; Amity forge; Rutter’s forge; Pool forges; Pine forge and Little Pine forge.

Near Boyertown is Ringing Rocks, a natural curiosity; they make a complete octave. Michael Schlatter preached at Manatawny in 1748, also in the Reformed Church, built in 1743. McCalls, or Glasgow Forge, on Manatawny Creek, still in operation, was erected in 1725, on land conveyed by William Penn to his son, John, in 1701; 14,600 acres; sold to George McCall of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1735; who also had interest in Colebrookdale furnace managed by Thomas Potts, Jr., which supplied McCall’s forge with pig iron. Green Lane Forge, on Perkiomen Creek, notable for its excellent blooms, was built in 1733 by Thomas Mayberry; earliest settler in Marlborough township, who bought 1210 acres, supplied with pig iron from Durham Furnace, Bucks County; equipment, water wheel, huge bellows, tuyere pipe, open hearth forge, melting pots, and conelike charcoal kilns.