Quarantine, social distancing, and community spread are very much on our minds these days, but the concepts were not unknown to earlier doctors, including our own Dr. Graeme. Even though disease vectors were not always understood or accurately identified (bad air was often blamed), it was observed that those who avoided the sick escaped disease. While […]
It is not uncommon for people to live in Horsham or some place very near Horsham for years and years before they somehow happen to discover Graeme Park. But when Wendy Stanley moved here from Canada a decade ago it took her only a few weeks to find it and only minutes to become excited […]
For 355 days of the year the original 1681 Charter, by which Charles II granted Pennsylvania to William Penn, is kept in darkness in a locked cabinet in a locked vault at the Pennsylvania Archives. The cement block room has a chemical fire suppression system and is maintained at a temperature of 55-degrees and a […]
Shutter dogs, also called tie backs, are an example of a functional and utilitarian piece of hardware that also added ornamentation to the home. Unlike modern house shutters, which are often fixed open and only used decoratively, colonial shutters were opened and closed daily to help protect from heat and sunlight and to offer security. […]
Like many in 1776, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson had to make a choice. Should she throw in with some of her friends and side with the high ideals of individual liberty by supporting the revolution, or should she protect her property, position and husband, Henry Hugh Fergusson, and remain loyal to King George III? Was it […]
The Graeme family was very well-to-do, and therefore had many fine things in the way of furnishings, tableware, decorative objects, and clothing, jewelry and accessories. Some of these things are listed in the various inventories that were taken of the house and its contents and some are described in The History of Montgomery County, by […]
We spend a lot of time at Graeme Park on the history of Elizabeth Graeme, but with Mother’s Day coming up, it might be nice to delve into the history of some of the less-discussed women of Graeme Park. Ann Newberry Diggs Keith, or Lady Ann, was born in 1675 near London. Nothing is known […]
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 […]