May—June 2019 Vol. MMXIX No. 3 Vol. MMXIX No. 3

Happening in May Saving Our Bees & What You Can Do to Help Sat., May 11 10 am to 12 pm FREE

Happening in June Civil War Event The was a Sat., June 1 10 am to 5 pm defining time in American history. Sun., June 2 10 am to 4 pm It separated states, families and FREE points of view on what this country should be. In 2019, it is Exhibit: “War Comes to the Mills” still important for Americans to June 15 to Oct. 10 understand why we fought, but Included on all tours - FREE also how the war impacted everyone from soldiers to those Exhibit: “Family Roots” waiting at home. Come to Thru Jan. 31, 2020 Above: Confederate artillery firing Pennypacker Mills on Sat., June 1 Included on all tours—FREE and Sun., June 2 to experience the during the battle. Civil War both from military and Vintage Base Ball at its Best! civilian perspectives. See the smoke and hear the blast Sun., June 23 1 to 3 pm FREE of artillery firing, Continued on Pg. 2

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Continued from Pg. 1. dress as they cook, the smoke rings demonstrate the use of drifting in the air, and herbs for medicine and the voices of cooking, sew and show commanders shouting fashions of the 1860’s. orders to the troops. Watch as each side Visit the Sutlers where maneuvers to win the Civil War era clothing, battle each day. books, furniture, and souvenirs are available for Besides the battle, sale. The Pennypacker there will be field Mills Museum Shop artillery (located on the mansion demonstrations, Above: Confederate troops take the field. porch) will also offer a Civilian Street great selection of toys, candies, demonstrations of everyday life, See soldiers in their military and books. Of special interest is, speakers will offer special encampments and walk through to “Six Weeks in Uniform,” written presentations, and especially for ask questions and explore camp life. by Samuel Pennypacker children, the “Be a Soldier” kid describing his time in the war as enlistment activity. Music Stop by and see ladies in period a young twenty year old soldier performances will be held on each who volunteered. day, from a brass band (Saturday) to a musician playing a variety of instruments (Sunday).

Above: Participants in the “Be a Above: Civilian demonstrating Soldier” kid enlistment. baking at her tent. Above: Ladies’ fashions.

Walk through the Pennypacker mansion and discover how Samuel Pennypacker joined an Emergency Militia at age 20 and became part of the Civil War. See family memorabilia about the War including military accoutrements of his cousin, Breveted General Galusha Pennypacker. The story of this family’s involvement in the Civil War is significant and will give visitors an up-close look at how Americans were involved in the War, both as soldiers and civilians.

The mansion will be open throughout the weekend and will close just prior to the battle each day and will reopen afterwards. Free, suggested donation $2 per person.

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Lucy Cadwallader Herb Kaufman Hair Jewelry Presentation Civil War Medicine Sat., June 1 & Sun., June 2 Sat., June 1 Time: 12 pm Time: 1 pm Location: Mansion Porch Location: Classroom Bldg.

See a demonstration of hair Herb Kaufman has been a jewelry by reenactor Lucy teacher, lecturer and living Cadwallader. Using human hair, historian of the Civil War for more than 20 years. He Cadwallader creates intricate is a founding member of the faculty of the Civil War pieces of jewelry, such as Institute at Manor College, and an Adjunct Instructor bracelets, earrings, necklaces and brooches. She first of Civil War history at Camden County College. made hair jewelry 17 years ago, when she discovered The doctors and nurses who treated sick and wound- an interest in Civil War reenacting. At the time of the ed soldiers faced a daunting task: antibiotics and the American Civil War, hair jewelry became popular as science of bacteriology didn’t exist; crude sanitation women wore the hair of husbands and sons in brooches and polluted water were deadly. More soldiers died of and lockets, while soldiers may have a watch chain disease than of battle wounds. Military doctors had to made from the hair of a loved one back at home. become medical explorers. And why were there so many amputations? Find out more at this fascinating presentation. Actual Civil War surgical instruments, 28th Regimental Band medicines and photographs will be used to provide a Civil War Era Music first-hand look at medicine during this time period. Sat., June 1 Time: 3:30 pm Location: Mansion Porch

With a long history of serving during the Civil War, the Matthew Dodd 28th PA Regimental Band reconstituted in 2005 with a Songs & Stories of the focus on re-creating the field aspects and public experi- ences of their Civil War musical ancestors through living Civil War history re-enactments of GAR parades, visiting veterans’ Sun., June 2 hospitals, and participating in field events in the Greater Time: 10 am to 4 pm Delaware Valley area. The band consists of fourteen Location: Mansion Porch saxhorns and one percussionist using mainly Civil War era instruments. Dressed in period soldier's clothing, Matthew Dodd takes listeners back in time to feel what it was like to be a soldier, civilian, loved-one-at-home or escaped slave in the Civil War Era. Through period songs, excerpts from actual letters, and anecdotes (humorous and poignant) Matthew evokes the feelings and passions of that pivotal era of American history.

Matthew sings, and plays acoustic guitar, harmonica, banjo and mandolin in an informal campfire or story circle setting.

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Honey bees are absolutely fascinat- There are many ways people can ing insects. Few of us understand, help bees survive and thrive. One and more importantly, appreciate way is to learn about them and how all they do. they impact our quality of life.

Most bees are pollinators, which Scott Famous, the Pennypacker means they help plants reproduce. Mills bee keeper, will be offering an Without bees, no new plants would interactive program on May 11 grow. Plants that require pollina- where he’ll share his knowledge on tion include the fruit and the vege- saving honey bees. This is a won- tables we eat every day. From ap- There are many reasons why bees derful way to educate children too ples to strawberries, from coffee to are disappearing. Insecticides, pol- so consider bringing them along. chocolate, from almonds to toma- lution of rivers and water sources, Weather permitting, Scott will toes, all these plants need pollina- pollution of the soil which contami- have a fully-enclosed live hive so tors or bees. It is estimated that nates plants, extreme climates, lack everyone can get up close. 30% of the world crops (and 90% of open space, less wild prairies, of the wild plants!) need an insect and the expansion of lawns, which Plan to attend this informative and like a bee to thrive. Without them, lack diversity. Bees are becoming fun program in the Classroom crops would die and the world weaker and die off faster. The re- Building. Bee there! would starve. sult? 40% of bee colonies died last year!

Sat, June 15 thru Thurs., Oct. 10 Stop by to see a new exhibit George Washington ton and many of the hu- that will explore the en- brought his army onto the man interest stories that campment that took place property at Pennypacker took place. The exhibit at Pennypacker Mills during Mills. will be in the second floor the Revolutionary War. On bedroom where the own- September 26th, 1777, Phila- The exhibit will show arti- er of the property delphia fell to the British facts found on the proper- brought Washington a Army. Losing the capital ty, including an actual or- bowl of water each morn- usually meant losing the der from General Washing- ing to wash with. war. On that same day Page 5

Above: Map of the showing the route of the Transcontinental Railroad from Omaha to San Francisco. Source—Union Pacific Railroad Museum

It’s hard for us today to imagine had only a vague idea of what lay not being able to easily travel from ahead. one coast to the other in a day. Un- til the transcontinental railroad The building of the transcontinen- was completed in 1869, bringing tal railroad became America’s goods, services, and people from greatest achievement of the 19th one coast to another meant going century. No one person or business around South America by boat or could have built it. It took the feder- making a hazardous trip over the al government to provide the finan- Isthmus at Panama and it took cial assistance, two Presidents months! More locally, it was at this (Lincoln and Grant), Big Business, time that local train travel also oc- Civil War engineers, and thousands curred and led to the establish- Above: Workers lay track for the of Irish and Chinese immigrants to ment of local communities such as transcontinental railroad. Source: build what would bind the country Schwenksville. Science Photography.com together.

Today, we can see the obvious to 12 inches a day using round- Work was back-breaking. “There benefits of such a transportation the-clock shifts. Weather was a was not a fat man among them. system, however, in the mid-19th huge challenge. During the win- Their hands were tough enough for century there were numerous ter of 1866-7 there were forty- any job...no gloves!” “They were men roadblocks to be overcome and four snow storms. Frozen rivers who could move things, hammer further, no one on earth had ever couldn’t be navigated until early things in, swing things, whatever attempted such a feat. Think of April to transport material. Sur- was required, in rain or snow or manpower, not mechanized pow- veyors had nearly 2000 miles to high winds or burning sun and er. Realize blasting through gran- cover, over every kind of terrain. scorching temperature, all day, eve- ite mountains meant progressing 6 There weren’t any maps. They ry day. They didn’t Continued on Pg. 6

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Continued from Pg. 5 whine, they didn’t complain, they ment set the idea up as a race...the by politicians, how to compete, didn’t quit, they just kept working,” company that built more would what to build and what to buy, and according to author Stephen Am- get more. The Union Pacific Rail- how to order and store necessary brose in his book, Nothing Like It road (UP) started in Omaha, Ne- items that numbered in the hun- In the World. braska, going west while the Cen- dreds of thousands. tral Pacific Railroad (CP) began in It was the experiences of the Civil Sacramento, , going east. The telegraph system across the War that brought together men U.S. was built in conjunction and in with the skills to manage huge With the end of the Civil War in parallel to the transcontinental numbers of workers, engineers 1865 and the assassination of railroad. It became a key in the knowledgeable in constructing President Lincoln, there were communication link for passengers bridges, blasting granite mountains thousands of unemployed Union and just as importantly, the rail- for tunnels, laying track, managers and Confederate soldiers. This road companies. Before railroads, to acquire materials and ship them meant the unleashing of great time hardly mattered. Towns set to construction sites when there quantities of money. With almost their own time, but because rail- weren’t even roads to do this, and explosive force the industrial, fi- roads advertised schedules based also surveyors whose job was to nancial and transportation sys- on arrival and departure times, the find a path over the Rocky Moun- tems of the North were let loose. country was divided into four time tains. Thousands of soldiers were The U.S. began to take its place as zones. Later, the telegraph was used to military discipline and or- a world power. used to transmit menu information ganization. Without that military for the Pullman Company who pro- organization, it is doubtful that the vided stop off restaurants along railroad could have been built. The the route. It was the railroads that U.S. Army, under General Sherman, served as the symbol of the 19th were enlisted to provide protec- century revolution in technology. tion of workers from Native Ameri- cans. As each railroad company began building their section, they also The army was spending millions of established towns along the way so dollars building fortifications from that trains could replenish water the Plains to the Rocky Mountains for the steam engines, pull off are- and getting soldiers there and sup- as for train repairs, and places plying them was difficult. The rail- where spare parts could be stored road was critical since the end of if repairs were necessary. Because the Civil War brought rapidly in- of the rail connection, these com- creased immigration to the U.S. munities survived. Many were lo- Families were moving westward. cated in the desolate Plains which Native Americans were hostile to were not prime areas that many the military and civilians and it people would have chosen to settle was required of the army to pro- in. However, due to the railroad tect everyone. They realized a rail- and growing businesses, these set- road which allowed them to move tlements helped to establish a con- Above: Wendover, Utah, June 9. The tinuous link from one coast to an- men and materials to these remote last pole is erected on the first trans- forts was key to making them continental telephone line. Source: other. cheaper to maintain. The Vintage News The economic benefits of the rail- At the start, key business players The Union Pacific and the Central road and the telegraph to the busi- weren’t sure if more money could Pacific railroads were the first big ness traveler were obvious. People be made in the construction of the businesses in America. Except for eager to sell products in California railroad or in the running of it. the invention of the telegraph, and the West Coast now had a time Without government support in which provided instant communi- saving way to get there. Likewise, the form of land grants and money, cation, the railroads had to invent those on the West Coast could sell no company president would take everything: how to recruit, how to their perishable fruits and vegeta- such a high risk. So, the govern- sell stocks and bonds, how to lob- bles since they could get to East

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Coast markets within a week. Cali- same. It brought about the fornia and West Coast residents greatest change in the shortest referred to everything east of the period of time. Missouri River as “the States” or as “home.” They wanted to get there This ever expanding network if only to visit, and only the rail- of train lines meant that Penn- road made it possible for them to sylvania would become a key get there in a week rather than transportation link to the Mid- months, and at a cost of not much west and West. Local lines in more than $100 rather than $1000 Above: The Golden Spike Cere- Montgomery County expanded mony, Promontory, Utah. or more. and eventually linked to Allen- Photograph by Andrew J. Russell, 1869 Source: Courtesy of the town and then headed West. When the golden spike was placed Not only were there many in the last tie, it meant that the Un- National Archives and Records Administration train lines, many locomotives ion was held together, East and were also built here. It was the West. The ceremony brought to- local Perkiomen line that ena- World. The locomotive was the gether both Union and Confeder- bled Samuel Pennypacker to first great triumph over time ate soldiers. All Americans. travel from Pennypacker Mills and space. After it crossed the to his law practice in Philadel- continent of North America, The transcontinental railroad was phia each day, and later to nothing could ever again be the called the Eighth Wonder of the commute to Harrisburg.

Batter up! Come to the Mills for an afternoon of vintage base ball as the Ath- letic Base Ball Club of plays against a team from the Mid-Atlantic Base Ball League. Watch as the teams run a “four baser” or home run and more. Afterward, kids can join the team in a rousing game of “Town Ball,” the precursor of base ball. The Pennypacker mansion will be open for free guided tours. Why not stop by for a fascinating tour in air conditioned comfort!

The Pannebakker Family Association is planning a Family Reunion as a follow up to the reunion that took place at Pennypacker Mills in 1999. With a variety of activities, tours, presentations, a special genealogy ex- hibit at the Mills, and opportunities to meet family members, the Association is encouraging every Penny- packer (of whatever spelling) to attend this summer. To pre-register, please visit the Association’s website: http://www.pannebakkerfamilyassociation.com

Montgomery Board of Commissioners Valerie Arkoosh, MD, MPH, Chair Kenneth E. Lawrence, Jr. Vice Chair Joseph C. Gale, Commissioner

Pennypacker Mills 5 Haldeman Road Schwenksville, PA 19473

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Stop on the mansion porch dur- the hand-sewn quilt (Queen ing the Civil War Event for the size) is reversible. This quilt Friends of Pennypacker Mills would make for a beautiful Raffle. Each year, the Friends bed cover or a wall hanging. host a fundraiser to help this his- Raffles toric site. By purchasing a raffle or two, you are also helping the $2 for each ticket or site with education and special $5 for 3 tickets projects. An vintage doll is also included in the Raffle this year. This year,