Pennypacker Express
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The Pennypacker Express September—October 2020 Vol. MMXX No. 5 To ensure the safety of visitors, staff and site, there are a few new guidelines : On the grounds, masks should be worn and household contact groups should practice social distancing. The restroom building will be open and cleaned regularly. For tours of the Pennypacker mansion, reservations should be made in advance. Call 610-287-9349 or email [email protected]. Scheduled tours must be confirmed by a staff member prior to the tour. Tours are limited to no more than 10 people per household contact group. Masks must be worn. Saturday, September 19 9:30 am to 3 pm Admission & Parking Free Food Vendor On-Site Each September, one of the best craft marketplaces is hosted by the Happenings in Friends of Pennypacker Mills and takes place on the grounds of Penny- September & October packer Mills. With a growing number of craft vendors and hundreds of Sat., Sept. 19 people flocking to this one-of-a-kind marketplace, this is the place come Craft Marketplace for gifts for friends and loved ones, or yourself! Vendors sell a wide va- 9:30 am to 3 pm Free riety of crafts. The Pennypacker Mills mansion will be open for free Sat., Oct. 3 tours. Here is a sampling of what you'll find this year: Walk & Talk: Native Trees at Pennypacker Mills 10 am Free Fine Jewelry Pottery All Hallow’s Eve Fall Festival Doll Clothing Baby Items CANCELLED Yarn Creations Original Art Mark Your Calendars Scroll Saw Art Handbags Tues., Nov. 24 thru Seasonal Décor Honey & Beeswax Sun., Jan. 10, 2021 Concrete Castings Fabric Creations Holiday Tours Personalized Signs Nature Photography Free Scroll Saw Ornaments Refurbished Antiques Victorian Christmas Open House CANCELLED Hand-Poured Candles Crochet Scarves & Hats Hand-Dipped Candles Soaps, Scrubs & Bath Closed Bird Houses & Feeders Products Veteran’s Day Thanksgiving Christmas Eve & Day New Year’s Eve & Day Page 2 Saturday, October 3 at 10 am Free Join arborist Ken LeRoy as he offers an informative talk of the landscaped grounds at Pennypacker Mills. Hear stories about the various tree species and their unique characteristics. LeRoy has been a certified arborist since 1991 and is a graduate of Temple University, School of Horticulture. He currently works for John B. Ward & Co. Arborists. Growing up near 28th and Allegheny in Philadelphia, Ken would ride his bike at every opportunity to Fairmount Park, to see and enjoy the “urban forest.” LeRoy’s knowledge of trees led him to learn about Thomas Meehan, considered to be the father of the urban park movement in Philadelphia and a noted advocate for preserving parks, including Bar- tram’s Garden. Thomas Meehan & Sons created the landscape plan for Samuel Pennypacker’s country home, Pen- nypacker Mills. In 1902, two-thousand native trees and shrubs were transported by train to Schwenksville and planted by Meehan’s son, J. Franklin. Many of the original trees are still growing on the property and will be a focus of LeRoy’s talk. To attend this Free walk and talk, please call Pennypacker Mills at 610-287-9349 to pre-register for this free program. Attendance is limited and only those who pre-register may attend. Masks and so- cial distancing are required. All ages welcome. Celebrate the 150th Wedding Anniversary of Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker and Virginia Earle Broomall Penny- packer who were married on October 20, 1870. Samuel was twenty-seven years old and Virginia was twenty-five years old when they wed. Together they had six children, of which four survived. Samuel and Virginia had both grown up in Phoenixville where they met at the Grovemont Seminary in 1858. As young adults, Virginia helped package and send supplies to the soldiers from her town during the Civil War. One of Above: Virginia Earle Broomall Penny- those soldiers was Samuel Pennypacker who was a Pri- packer & Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, vate in the 26th PA Emergency Militia for six weeks. circa 1868-1875. In his Autobiography of a Pennsylvanian, Samuel wrote about first meeting his future wife: “dark eyes and red blood to color her lips and cheeks, more sedate but with a piece cut away from the top of her dress, as was then a fashion, caught mine (eye). Her name was Virginia Earl Broomall.” Page 3 Where it all began… A New Building for When you think about Pennsyl- Multiple Uses… vania, many people think about As would happen, the the founding of our country, the decision to build a new Continental Congress, William structure to house the Com- bill because of the state’s Penn and other history- monwealth’s valuable collec- “shaky finances.” oriented themes. We also think tions was a good one. In 1897, of Pennsylvania Governor the old State Capitol building In 1893, another bill was pro- Samuel Pennypacker’s pas- burned down. By then, most of posed to “provide for the erec- sion for collecting history in the artifacts, specimens and tion of a fireproof building for various forms. He authored nu- documents had been moved the State Department, State merous books, collected arti- into a new Executive, Library Library, and Archives, battle facts related to Pennsylvania and Museum Building adjacent flags of the state, art treasures and his family, as well as local to the Capitol Building. and geological collections.” history. Any visit to Penny- The bill passed and was packer Mills will leave no doubt Long before the current Muse- signed into law by Governor that he was a collector of all Robert E. Pattison. Philadelph- things Pennsylvania! ia architect John T. Windrim was selected to build the Mu- Historical organizations such seum in a Beaux Arts design. as the Historical Society of The new “executive” building Pennsylvania (1824) and the housed the offices of top state Academy of Natural Sciences officials, the Governor, Lieu- of Philadelphia (1812) collect- tenant Governor, Auditor Gen- ed objects that told a story eral, State Librarian and State about the natural and social Treasurer. Of particular note history of the Commonwealth. Above: The grand staircase in the was the “Museum and Flag Some of these organizations lobby of the Executive, Library and Mu- Room” with such notable arti- began donating artifacts to the seum Building (built in 1894), which housed The State Museum. facts as Rothermel’s painting state and were kept in the old of the Battle of Gettysburg, the state capitol building. They ac- um Building was constructed, a portraits of the Governors of cumulated quickly, using up proposal had been made in Pennsylvania, the war flags office space. It was due to this 1887 to appropriate a bill for and relics and a collection of crowding that caused politi- the “safe keeping of the ar- birds and animals from the cians to consider a new build- chives and early records of the Pennsylvania exhibit at the ing. Some thought a renova- State Department…valuable 1893 World’s Fair. tion of the existing capitol was historic paintings, maps, sufficient for the archives, arti- deeds, and battle flags and facts and natural science spec- other memorials…” The bill imens. Eventually, it became passed the General Assembly, State Museum cont. on Page 6 about the bureaucratic needs but never became law since of state officials. Governor Beaver vetoed the Page 4 How Cats, Rats, Bats, and More Became Halloween Animals Above: Vintage Halloween card with cat & owl: “Halloween Greetings. Just about now the ghosts are due; Beware...I see one after you.” No Halloween haunted house beings—possibly with evil Emperor Augustus were pre- is complete without a black cat motives—in ancient times. dicted by hooting owls. To lurking in the window and spi- One might think they resem- avoid evil, Romans nailed a der webs stretched across dark ble despised rats, but with dead owl to the door—a belief corners. You might see a bat strange clawed wings that en- that persisted into 19th century hanging from the ceiling to close their bodies like a dark England. greet those who pass through cape. the front door. Certain animals Cats: Black cats, are simply associated with Hal- Spiders: These especially those loween and you might wonder insects are usually who were as black why. black or gray and as night, were be- hide by day. They lieved to be the One possibility is that they are often spin their webs in dark companions of witches in me- nocturnal and predatory. We corners and in abandoned dieval Europe. Some people know most of these creatures places where ghosts might be even thought witches were re- are active mostly at night and encountered. Spiders were born as black cats. so have been associated with also feared because of their superstition since ancient poisonous bites. Toads: Long con- times. They are basically sidered ugly be- brown, black or dark grey with Owls: In ancient cause of their nighttime habits that remind us Rome and medieval bumpy, warty skin, of a sense of fear back in the Europe, it was said toads like spiders, time when there were only oil witches transformed had bodies that were known to lamps and wax candles. into owls to fly at contain toxins. The ancient night. The screech of an owl Greeks and Romans believed Bats: As the only was an omen of doom: the that toads had two livers, one mammal that can deaths of Julius Caesar and full of deadly poison and the fly, bats were con- sidered mysterious Page 5 other containing an antidote. he also tried out an owl before could take the shape of any So toads were used often in settling on the raven.