On Sunday, March 12 Pennsylvania will be celebrating the 336th anniversary of the granting of the founding charter to William Penn by King Charles II. The original charter was granted on March 4, 1681 in fulfillment of a debt of about 16,000 English pounds (over 2 million of today’s money) which the crown owed to […]
Happy New Year! As the holidays wind down and we nurse those hangovers from our New Year festivities, it’s comforting to know we’re in good company as we reach for the bottle of aspirin. People worldwide, no matter what race or religion, celebrate the new year in some form. There are many customs and traditions […]
When we last left off, about mid-day on Friday, August 24, the lower slope of the south side was about half done. And if you’re a Facebook Friend, then you saw where they were at the end of the day on Friday – about 2/3 done. […]
Well, after much anticipation, and an official state bidding process, the new roof project has begun on the Keith House. The existing oak shingle roof was put on in 1989 (to replace the first roof the state put on the house back in the 1960s) and was really starting to show its age – both […]
Happy Bastille Day everyone! Today it seems appropriate to take a break from our Celtic Festival preparations and quickly look at Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson’s interest in the French Revolution, which followed so closely on the heels of American independence. In 1793 Elizabeth sent a bundle of her poems and writings to fellow writer Annis Stockton. […]
The following notice ran in the “gossip column” of the June 2, 1922 Evening Public Ledger: Mr. and Mrs. Welsh Strawbridge of Graeme Park, Hatboro, have issued invitations for a dance on Saturday evening, June 17. The Library of Congress has made historic newspapers, dating from 1836-1922, available in their Chronicling America Series. Papers are […]
Excerpted from The Most Learned Woman in America by Anne Ousterhout: Emotionally exhausted and physically weakened from the relentless pregnancies and deaths [of her children] and her own illnesses, Ann Graeme had long anticipated and been preparing for death. As early as 1752, she had planned her funeral. She had woven her own burial linen, to save […]
The grass and shrubs that were planted around the wedding tent back in April are starting to green up and bloom quite nicely in the little amount of time they’ve been here. For review, here is the back area of the tent when it was first planted and seeded…. […]
On December 7, 1771 Elizabeth’s friend Benjamin Rush brought a Scotsman named Henry Hugh Fergusson to one of her attic evenings. Well-educated and handsome, Henry did not own property, nor was he in a position to inherit any. This, and their age difference (he was 11 years younger than she) made him a bad match […]
It stood on the corner of Keith Valley and Davis Grove Roads for some 277 years, originally providing shelter for Joseph Kenderdine and his family who built and operated the mill on the opposite corner. The success of the mill meant the opening of Keith Valley and Davis Grove Roads so as to provide the […]