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 […]
Did your ancestors immigrate through the Port of Philadelphia in the 1700s? If so, they may have crossed paths with Dr. Graeme! As both a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1731 through at least 1750, and the Port Physician for the Port of Philadelphia from 1727-1741, Dr. Graeme encountered thousands of immigrants. As […]
(Paraphrased from The Most Learned Woman in America by Anne Ousterhout). On the evening of February 11, 1801, while she sat up writing, Elizabeth suffered a chill. Her friend Betsy Stedman persuaded her to go to bed. By morning she was suffering a stranguary, but she refused to allow Betsy to call a doctor because […]
Edward Lamson Henry painted “Drafting the Letter,” the painting in the photo at left, in 1871. You may recognize certain elements in the room as being similar to the master bedroom in the Keith House at Graeme Park. In fact it is based on this room – Henry painted what was called “historic fiction,” so […]
Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson led a life of wealth and privilege, romance and intrigue, heartbreak, poverty and sorrow. She was the youngest child of the prominent and wealthy Dr. Thomas Graeme and his wife, Ann Diggs Graeme, and the step-granddaughter of Sir William Keith, Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania. She spent her summers at idyllic Graeme Park […]
With the New Year upon us, I thought it appropriate to revisit Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson’s essay on the tall case clock that had been in her family most, if not all, of her life. The clock was meaningful to Elizabeth in that it marked […]
One of the things we frequently hear at Graeme Park is how much bigger the house seems once you’re inside, but did you know that Graeme Park was the inspiration for more than one miniature version? The earliest we’ve encountered were models created by architects employed by the Works Projects/Progress Administration (WPA) as part of […]
Everyone loves a good home improvement project with lots of before and after photos right? In cleaning out some computer files, I came across some old photos of the Keith House at Graeme Park from before the restoration work was done and thought they might be of interest to our readers. First up is an […]