USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > A brief history of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with an accompanying map; > Part 10
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Returning to Main and Swede streets and going west on Main we presently pass Cherry street, originally the western boundary of the "Town of Norris." The home of the Montgomery National Bank, the oldest bank in the county, chartered in 1814, was built of native marble. Opposite the Post Office Building, across Barbadoes street, is the Lincoln Hotel, formerly the Farmers' and Mechanics' Hotel, "an old tavern, the site of the oldest dwelling in town. In 1777, Colonel John Bull of the Con- tinental Army, lived here. The British burned his barn, which stood just across Egypt street." Beyond are the buildings of the former Pennsylvania Farmers' Tavern. "Stages once started from here for Pottstown, Sumneytown, and Boyertown." The
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THE COUNTY SEAT
Main street station marks the site of an old grist and saw mill, destroyed about 1880.
The location of the former Elmwood Institute, a boarding school for boys, 1847 to 1856, and the house built by General An- drew Porter, 1787, are on west Main street. The Porter house, the farm house of a large farm, was occupied by his family until 1821. Cemetery lane, leading to Montgomery Cemetery, passes the boyhood home of General Hancock. The first burial in Montgomery Cemetery was made in 1849; the adjoining cemetery, Riverside, was incorporated, 1894. A whole day can easily be spent in these cemeteries by history hikers studying monuments and inscriptions.
Valley Route-Norristown, Bridgeport, King-of-Prussia, Gulf Road to Valley Forge. Points of Interest- Forge Bridge across Schuylkill, built 1829, style of bridge once quite common, but few left. Barbadoes Island, larger before erection of Schuylkill Navigation dam, with road from shore to shore; Swedes Ford bridge for wagons and rail- way, erected 1850. Bridge built here, December, 1777, of wagons along which fence rails were laid across which the barefoot Con- tinental troops tramped on the way to winter quarters.
Bridgeport-had less than a century ago, only three houses, a tavern, a mill and the canal built 1826, once known as Evans- ville, carved out of Mount Joy Manor, greater part once the prop- erty of Duportail, the celebrated French military engineer of the Revolutionary War, through his neglect sold for taxes, 1804. To the left, Swedeland, settled 1696, old Swede church built 1760, Swedeland furnaces, Matsunk home of Andrew Supplee, ancestor of a numerous family.
Along King road-marble and limestone region, some of the marble used at Girard College quarried here, birthplace and home of Hon. Jonathan Roberts. Stewart Fund Hall, funds bequeathed 1808, by William Stewart, managed by Board of Trustees. On Gulph Road-leaving King-of-Prussia to left, once known as Rees- ville, road travelled by troops on way to Valley Forge; Port Ken- nedy road crossed, Chester county entered.
Valley Forge-sacred, historic ground of undying interest to all American citizens-among points of interest, Letitia Penn schoolhouse, hospital building, memorial chapel and Valley Forge museum, Mt. Joy Observatory, Washington Headquarters, Sulli- van Bridge marker, desirable to use local guide book-trains on Reading Railroad from Valley Forge station.
Gulph
to Cynwyd Route-Gulph Mills: Old Gulph road-old Lancaster road-to Cynwyd. Notes are based on itinerary, pre- pared 1913 by S. Gordon Smyth. The Gulph was formed by the creek that has gnawed through the far reaching hills a deep and narrow passageway for itself and the
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AN TOILESE QU
MONTGOMERY
COUNTY
Count
CHESTER
DGRAPHIC
VIEW
Valley Forge
During the Encampment of Washington's Army. IN THE WINTER OF 1777-78. Scale 7% inches to the mile.
TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW
OF VALLEY
FORGE DURING ENCAMPMENT, 1777-1778, PUB- LISHED BY "CAMP NEWS," 1887
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SCHUYLKILL
HISTORY HIKES
171
VALLEY FORGE
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=
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WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE
ASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE-INSIDE VIEW
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HISTORY HIKES
historic Gulph road. Here the Revolutionary army of 11,000 men encamped temporarily, December 13 to 19, 1777, after cross- ing the Schuylkill, while deciding where to go into winter quarters. Among the points of historic interest here are: 1. Walnut Grove; site of residence, built 1743, of John Hughes, Royal Stamp Officer at Philadelphia, 1764-65; headquarters of Washington during en- campment. 2. Collegiate Institute, founded 1830, afterward an Academy of Natural Sciences where some of the prominent men of Montgomery county were educated. 3. Poplar Lane, erected 1765, home of Colonel Isaac Hughes. 4. Bird-in-Hand Tavern, kept as an inn, 1786, by John Roberts, who also operated the flour mill that stood near by. 5. Stone bridge, erected 1789. 6. Site of John Roberts' flour mill, now occupied by McFarland's mills. 7. Hanging Rock. 8. Site of Gulph grist mill, erected 1747, destroyed
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THE GULPH MILLS
by fire 1895; near at hand were Brooke's auger and tilt mill and other industries. 9. Memorial, erected 1893. 10. Gulph school, site of an earlier school called The Ferris School, the college where Jonathan Roberts, our first United States senator, was educated.
Along the old Gulph road we pass a Penn mile stone with its ornamental carving of the Penn coat of arms, thirteen miles from
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GULPH TO CYNWYD
Philadelphia. The Green Tree Hotel along the road replaced two earlier taverns, one of which was called Three Tuns. Farther on we come to Lower Merion Baptist Church, erected about 1800, with a Charles Thomson memorial window. Close by is the Harriton estate, patented to Rowland Ellis 1689, acquired by Richard Harri- son, 1719, whose daughter, Hannah, married Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress. Mill Creek, that drains the Harriton estate in a five mile course to the Schuylkill, at one time furnished water power for at least thirteen waterwheels, of which only one is now in service. Among these may be noted the Harriton flour mill; the Dove paper mill where the paper for the Continental banknotes and other government paper was made; Wynn mills, erected 1746, operated by John Roberts, the Tory, during the Revolution who was arrested for treason, tried and executed. He was previously accused of grinding glass into flour here to destroy the army at Valley Forge, but this charge was not established. Near by is the ancient cottage built under di- rections of Penn about 1690, with modern exterior and date in the gable.
Resuming the walk along the Gulph road, a few minutes brings us to the old Lancaster road. To the right are the Penn- sylvania Railroad and the Lancaster Pike. Beyond Haverford, the seat of Haverford College, the old road turns eastward, leaving the railroad and turnpike. Southeast of Ardmore is the historic St. Paul Lutheran churchyard, in use as early as 1765, when the first church edifice was erected. Libertyville, a cluster of houses, antedates Philadelphia, and recalls the liberty poles once erected here. In 1896, the Lower Merion Chapter, D. A. R., erected a memorial stone marking the place of encampment of Washing- ton's army on the way to Paoli, September, 1777. Lower Merion Friends' Meeting House has been a place of worship since 1695. General Wayne Hotel is near by, also the Federal Springs, an outpost of Washington's army at Valley Forge, and scene of old- time political meetings and barbecues. The Old Columbia Railroad and the old Lancaster road ran parallel from Ardmore to this point; square blocks of stone of the primitive tracks are still to be seen.
Leaving the old Lancaster road and following the Levering mill road we reach Academyville, the seat of Lower Merion Acad- emy, founded 1812, where many prominent Montgomery countians were educated. Manayunk and Cynwyd being close by, our hike will end.
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HISTORY HIKES
To
Route-Norristown, Jeffersonville, Trooper, Eagle- ville, Perkiomen Bridge.
Perkiomen
Jeffersonville Inn, a colonial tavern, was built,
Bridge 1776, by Archibald Thomson, a Revolutionary soldier. After his death his widow kept the tavern. The first election for representatives from the county after its erection was
JEFFERSONVILLE HOTEL
held here. The road to the left is the Egypt road, leading to Audubon, Oaks, and Phoenixville.
Trooper was so called because the house to the right at the township line crossroad, a hotel, had a mounted trooper on the swinging signboard. The trolley to the right runs to Harleys- ville. The road to the left leads to Port Kennedy and Valley Forge. The Lower Providence Presbyterian Church on Mount Kirk, founded 1741, is a daughter of the old Norriton Presbyterian Church below Fairview. Its adjoining cemetery should be visited. The trolley line, instead of climbing, circles the hill.
Just beyond the village, Eagleville, a stop must be made to name and locate the seven counties visible on a clear day. On the way down hill to the Skippack, idling through the lowlands, a
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PERKIOMEN BRIDGE
stop should be made at the church and cemetery of the Lower Providence Baptist Church. After crossing the Skippack creek and climbing the steep hill beyond, the Evansburg road is soon reached. A mile to the right is Evansburg, once known as Hustle- town, with the St. James Episcopal Church, organized 1721. Dur- ing the Revolutionary War the church building, like many other church buildings, was used as a hospital; more than a hundred soldiers were buried in the adjoining cemetery. This place is lo- cated on the historic Germantown pike, which joins the Ridge pike ncar the old Perkiomen Bridge, completed 1799, at a cost of $60,000. The fact that the county was reimbursed for this sum
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LUTHERAN CHURCH, TRAPPE
in five years by the bridge tolls collected, gives one a conception of the amount of traffic. The Perkiomen creek, worming its way past Yerkes, Arcola and Audubon to the Schuylkill, forms the boundary between Upper and Lower Providence. Beyond the bridge is the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel dating back to 1701, and the southern terminus of the popular Gravel Pike through the Perkio- men Valley.
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HISTORY HIKES
Perkiomen
Route-Perkiomen Bridge, Collegeville, Trappe, Limerick Square, Pottstown, Stowe. Leaving the
to Perkiomen, Cranberry stream, we soon cross the
Stowe Perkiomen Railroad, extending from Perkiomen Junction to Allentown and opened 1875. A short distance beyond was the location of Pennsylvania Female College, established 1851,
CROOKED HILL TAVERN, ABOUT 1777
by J. W. Sunderland, authorized by charter, 1853, to grant de- grees to women, and discontinued 1880. Beyond are the buildings of Ursinus College, opened 1870.
A mile beyond is Trappe, one of America's historic shrines. Here Muhlenberg lived and toiled and directed. Augustus church, erected 1743, is a reminder of old-time church architecture and con- veniences. Sixty long years people worshipped here summer and
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PERKIOMEN, STOWE
winter in an unheated building. In the adjoining cemetery rest the remains of many noted citizens.
At Limerick Square the road forks. The road to the right leads to the historic Falckner Swamp, Boyertown, and Reading. We take the road to the left, also leading to Reading by way of Pottstown. A mile beyond is Limerick Church dating back to Revolutionary days. Sanatoga lies within the famous Frankfort Land Company tract of 23,000 acres, extending across the county, which Sprogell acquired by trickery, fraud, and feeing all the Philadelphia lawyers. The old Crooked Hill, or Sanatoga Inn, where Major Andre was a prisoner of war for a time, was one of the meeting places for militia and battalion drills a century ago.
Pottstown, laid out 1752, had only a few houses and mills, including the Mill Park property, during the Revolutionary War. One of these, the home of Judge John Potts, Jr., the Tory, at High and Hanover streets, was confiscated and was bought by General Arthur St. Clair, who, while residing here, was elected to Con- gress and served as President of Congress, Feb. 2 to Nov. 27, 1787. The Manatawny creek, witness of the iron industry at its mouth, also saw on its banks the birth and infancy of the industry in America. Stowe, a short distance beyond, lies near the county line where our trip will end.
Route-Jeffersonville, Audubon, Oaks, Mont Clare, To by way of the Egypt road. A mile beyond Jefferson- Mont Clare ville the township line from Trooper to Port Ken- nedy is passed; three miles beyond, Audubon, for- merly Shannonville, is reached, noted as the home for a time of the great naturalist, J. J. Audubon. Opposite a deserted blacksmith shop is the gateway to Millgrove, the Audubon home; a little far- ther on, near Protectory station, the entrance to the home of his bride, Lucy Bakewell, on the tract called Fatlands, because it in- cluded what was known as the fat lands of Egypt. The Sullivan military bridge across the Schuylkill from this tract was built of piers of logs erected in the river on which the timbers were placed and fastened with wooden pins. The structure, erected for the benefit of the Valley Forge encampment and crossed by the army on leaving, lasted only about a year. The marker erected by river boatmen in early days, was replaced, 1907, by one erected by the Montgomery County Historical Society.
Farther on, the ruins of the historic lead and copper mines are passed. The Perkiomen is crossed on a high bridge which
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HISTORY HIKES
merits study. The Perkiomen Railroad to the left, crosses the Pennsylvania Railroad and then the Schuylkill river into Chester county, joining the main line at the Pawling bridge. Almost two centuries ago farmers and fishermen had a scrap here. The fisher- men had erected pens in the river to catch shad, but the pens caught also the laden canoes of the farmers floating down the river. The farmers after attacking the pens retreated to the mouth of the Perkiomen, where they grounded their canoes. The fisher- men destroyed the cances, repaired their pens, and caught shad as before.
Beyond Oaks a road to the left leads to Port. Providence, an important business place in the canal boat era. Mont Clare, oppo- site Phoenixville, the iron town, ends our hike. At the Fountain Inn, a noteworthy building in Phoenixville, is an important historic marker with the words: "The Farthest Inland Point Reached in the British Invasion of the Northern Colonies during the Revo- lutionary War, September 21-23, 1777."
Trooper Route -- Trooper, Fairview, Worcester, Skippack, Harleysville, Salford. To cover this outing use of to Salford trolley line to Harleysville is necessary in absence of other conveyance. After leaving Trooper, car fol- lows township line several miles, then turns to the left. Stone quarry marks location of dwelling where Christopher Sauer, Jr., the printer, spent the evening of his life, following the exile from his home.
At Fairview village a visit must be made to the historic Nor- riton Presbyterian building and cemetery. These merit study even though surroundings have been changed and tombstones de- stroyed. The grounds were originally part of the Rittenhouse farm where David Rittenhouse spent his boyhood days, erected his observatory, and studied the transit of Venus. North of the vil- lage are the Methacton Mennonite Meeting House and cemetery, where the bones of Christopher Sauer, Jr., and many other worthies repose. Along the Fairview ridge the statue of William Penn on the one side and the Berks hills on the other side may be seen.
Near the Center Point (or Worcester) creamery, well-kept farm buildings mark the former home of Hon. Frederick Conrad, a prominent citizen in his day. At Center Point our course changes to the Skippack road laid out more than two centuries ago. Here are reminders of Peter Wentz, a prominent pioneer : the Wentz homestead (now Schultz), Washington's headquarters
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TROOPER TO SALFORD
in '77, when the army was encamped a few miles to the north- east, the Wentz private burying ground, Wentz's Church, which we pass presently. Washington's army passed through this place on its way to Germantown.
Skippackville is an old settlement and a newspaper town for more than half a century. It had its licensed inn, 1742, the nearest up-country public house ten miles away. Not far distant is the Lower Skippack Mennonite Meeting House, built on land presented by Van Bebber, the proprietor-the original building being the second Mennonite place of worship erected in America. Here Christopher Dock taught, prayed, and died praying. A few miles up-stream along the Skippack was the church erected on lands of Jacob Reiff, whose membership disbanded to be embodied in other
NORRITON HOME OF DAVID RITTENHOUSE
church organizations. The country along our route, part of the far-reaching Salford district and under cultivation well-nigh two hundred years, does not figure as prominently in events and men as some other communities.
Leaving Skippackville, passing through Lederachville, we reach Harleysville, the trolley terminus on the Maxatawny or North Wales or Springhouse and Sumneytown turnpike. Turn-
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HISTORY HIKES
ing northward we will be interested in Indian creek as marking the home of the well known antiquarian and historian, the late Abra- ham H. Cassel. Branchville will interest because it used to be a transfer station in stageline days, the lighter coaches coming from the Upper End being exchanged for more capacious ones to continue the trip to North Wales. A mile beyond at the foot of a hill, Captain Philip Gable of Revolutionary fame resided. The road to the left leads to Woxall and the Old Goshenhoppen Church. The building itself has been renovated but back of it nestles the humble schoolhouse with its school-day memories. The inscriptions on the tombstones and the tablets in the church wall will be of interest. A few minutes' walk brings us to Salford sta- tion for our homeward trip.
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HOME OF SAMUEL BERTOLET, FREDERICK TOWNSHIP Staff Headquarters, September 18-26, 1777
Lucon Route-Lucon, Schwenksville, Zieglerville, Obelisk, to Stetler's store, Fagleysville. Our route lies part way along the road laid out, 1726, from Lucon to Layfield extending the Skippack road laid out 1713. Schwenksville is comparatively young as a community, although
Swamp
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LUCON TO SWAMP
two tracts in the vicinity, supposed to be rich in ores, were patented as early as 1701. Hans Joost Hite, the Dutchman, erected here a flour and grist mill, 1730, to which Peter Pennebecker added a fulling mill, 1775. These, known as the Pennypacker mills, be- came famous in connection with Washington's headquarters, 1777, while thousands of troops encamped in and around Schwenksville.
To our right is Spring Mount, and beyond it the hundred-acre tract that Dock, the teacher, owned for a number of years. The station, Zieglerville, is a mile distant from the village by that name, located at the fork of two historic roads. The location
3.153
ESER
FREEK
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS Home of the late Samuel Whittaker Pennypacker, Schwenksville, Pa.
must have brought business to the place before the railroad era. Our route brings us past the Mennonite Home, once Frederick Institute, antedating the public-school system. Stetler's store is central to a community that has been historic well-nigh two-hun- dred years. A noted road from Bucks to Chester county passes by. A mile and a half to the left were the home of Henry Antes, and the Antes-Heebner mill, erected 1736. The Moravian Church was active here. The Continental troops encamped close by. Op- posite the store was the birthplace of Chester David Hartranft, who earned international reputation as historian and theologian.
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HISTORY HIKES
Once potteries abounded, makers of earthenware now bringing fabulous prices.
Our next objective point, Fagleysville on the historic road from Perkiomen Bridge to Falckner Swamp, is close by the so- called Swamp Gate and was in the midst of Camp Pottsgrove in Revolutionary days. To the west is the birthplace of General John F. Hartranft. Two miles northwest are the historic Lutheran and Reformed Churches of the Swamp. These are on the Frankfort Land Company tract beyond which lies the tract presented to Wil- liam Penn's son, John, in 1701, who sold it to a Philadelphia mer- chant, George McCall, after which for many years it was known as McCall manor. The trolley line terminus is at Boyertown, whose iron ore played an important part in the early industries of the county.
We start at Custer station where Rev. George Wack Whitpain lived and labored and where in earlier days Andrew Knox resided on the Cassel farm, appointed by Washington to prevent supplies being carried to General Howe. By going northeast on the township-line road and southeast on the Yost road, we come to a mill on Stony creek, the old Yost homestead, where in days of yore, sickles, scythes, and guns were manufactured. Close by lived Isaac McGlathery, guide to the Continental troops on their way to Germantown.
Resuming the township line road we reach the Skippack road and turn to the left uphill to Bethel Church to visit the grave of Peter Supplee, whose young life was sacrificed in the Revolution- ary War. Not far away lived David Wagner, friend of Jemima Wilkinson, the noted religious enthusiast, under whose influence he joined others in founding Penn Yan, New York.
St. John's Lutheran Church was a military hospital during the Revolutionary War; the unfortunate soldiers were laid to rest in a trench grave in the adjoining cemetery. Where the State road crosses the Skippack road, a hotel, the "Wagon Inn," did business, 1759. Here part of Washington's army detoured. Here President Cleveland was greeted on his way to visit the Singerly farms. The Wentz (now Titlow) house, built 1763 and named the "Rising Sun Inn," was known as "The Wheat Market," because wheat was bought and sold here in early times. The High School building, a little beyond, houses the Whitpain library of several thousand volumes, founded 1817.
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WHITPAIN
Boehm's Reformed Church, founded 1740, also cared for wounded soldiers in Revolutionary days. Broad Axe once was the scene of many friendly horse races along the level Ambler road. A toss of hats decided whose horses ran; away they went, dust flying, farmers roosting on the fences, chewing, and cheering. Dawesfield, along the road between Blue Bell and Broad Axe, built 1736, and a Washington headquarters, must be visited. The army, encamped in the vicinity, brought distress to the inhabitants. Ambler, the thrifty young borough, is close by, where the outing must end.
Greenlane Route-Greenlane, Red Hill,, Pennsburg, East Greenville, Palm. Greenlane, young as a borough, to Palm is a community saw the Maybury family begin the iron industry, 1730, where the icehouse is located, pig iron being brought from the Durham furnace in upper Bucks county. The Lodge hall marks the graveyard of the slave toilers. The Schall family that built the stately dwelling house opposite the old hotel, revived the iron industry, 1833, after a period of neglect and decay.
Where the Bucks-Chester road crosses the Maxatawny or North Wales road, old Matthias Scheifele kept a hotel. Along this crossroad about a mile to the northeast and a short distance be- yond its intersection with the old Macungie or Hoppenville road, was the home of immigrant Tobias Hartranft, ancestor of a widely scattered family.
Sumneytown was named for Isaac Sumney, who kept a hotel in the fork of the road. Close by Enos Benner was operating a printing press almost a century ago. Here a hundred and fifty years ago and more, a great road traffic passed and crossed. Two streams of water meet here that once furnished power for a score of gunpowder, saw, grist and fulling mills, the places of nearly all of which are ruins now. Meetings of prominent citizens were held here, 1831, in the interest of a railroad between the county seat and the Lehigh Valley. Nestling by the hillside is the home- stead of the Hiester family, built 1757.
Returning to Greenlane and taking the train we soon pass Red Hill on our left and St. Paul's Lutheran Church to the right, known many years as the Six-Cornered Church on account of the shape of the second of the church edifices erected. Close by is the old Oberly mill property acquired by the Hillegass family before the year 1740.
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HISTORY HIKES
The towns of the upper end, strung bead-like along the old Greenlane and Goshenhoppen turnpike, Red Hill, Pennsburg, East Greenville, and Palm, situated in agricultural communities settled almost two hundred years ago, are of comparatively recent growth. Pennsburg, through the influence of Perkiomen School, enjoys a Carnegie Library, which houses a unique museum and library, the Schwenkfeld Historical Library, well worth visiting. Near East Greenville is located the historic New Goshenhoppen Re- formed Church, with its extensive cemeteries. Among the noted
NEW GOSHENHOPPEN REFORMED CHURCH, BUILT 1771
pastors who have served this congregation, was the Reverend John Peter Miller, who afterwards became prominent in the cloister at Ephrata, Lancaster county. It was he who translated the Declaration of Independence into seven languages and who made the memorable and successful winter journey to George Washington to ask pardon for his worst enemy. In the oldest of the adjoining cemeteries lie the remains of David Shultz, the prominent surveyor, scrivener, and general-utility man, with his two wives, the first of whom was murdered by a redemptioner. To the northeast of East Greenville is Kraussdale, made famous by the musical instruments built by the Krausses. Palm, a few miles
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