USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Blockley > Historic Lower Merion and Blockley; also the erection or establishment of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lower Merion > Historic Lower Merion and Blockley; also the erection or establishment of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 2
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Almost opposite the "General Wayne" stands a time- worn blacksmith shop. It was here that Lord Cornwallis had his horses shod during the Revolution. The shingle roof and the woodwork have been renewed, for the shop was burned out, but the stone walls, with the old stone milepost outside the door, stand as they did more than two centuries ago.
This tavern has always been kept up to the standard of the old wayside inn, and is in no way to be confounded with the modern saloon. It is considered quite as proper, for ladies, while driving, or riding in their automobiles, to stop on the broad porch and rest while drinking a cup of coffee, chocolate, or cooling lemonade, as it was in "ye olden time" when the stagecoach ran down to Philadelphia in the morning and back in the evening. The coach always stopped at "The General Wayne." and invariably took up or set down passengers. This Tavern was first owned by Anthony Tunis and is so marked on Scull & Heap's map, 1750. It was sometimes called "The Wm.
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
Penn" and "Streeper's Tavern," but was always called "The General Wayne" after Wayne slept there.
Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolu- tion. held its inauguration here in April 17, 1895. The members of the Chapter appeared in Martha Washington costumes. A fine display of historical implements and Colonial relics was a feature of the program. "Revolu- tionary Tea" was served in "Ye setting Roome." The old hostelry was profusely decorated with flags and bunting. while a massive oil painting of Washington draped in red. white and blue bunting, with a wreath of laurel suspended above it, was hung over the main entrance.
The Ford Road
The west bank of the Schuylkill, at the foot of the hill above Greenland, in Fairmount Park, in the early days was known as "Garrett's Ford." Opposite, on the east bank, as "Robin Hood's Ford." In 1824, when the Fair- mount Dam was built the water was backed up as far as Pencoyd, covering these fords and the Falls of Schuylkill. The Ford Road which crossed the river here extended east- ward to the Delaware, and westward to the Susquehanna, on the line of a prehistoric Indian trail. It is the oldest road in the State of Pennsylvania. A part of this ancient road may be traced in Hunting Park Avenue, and in Nice- town Lane, between North and South Laurel Hill Ceme- teries, where it reaches the east River Drive. (Here was Robin Hood's Ford.)
The Ford Road can also be traced through the West Park from the river to Bala. It came up from the Ford in a ravine just above Greenland, and can plainly be seen from the Park trolley. It passed "The Lilacs," the old Garrett mansion, still standing. When the Park trolley was built and a new and winding drive, to avoid the steep hill, was laid out to the trolley bridge at Greenland, this end of the road was closed. The Ford Road appears again in front of "Brunnenwald," the old stone house used as the Drivers' Club House, for the Speedway, passes
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
through "Woodside," out by the "Five Points" School, to City Line at Bala. From Bala, through Cynwyd, the original roadbed extends along what is now Montgomery Avenue, to "Bowman's Bridge," or Merionville. This settlement is now almost lost in the constantly-growing settlement of Cynwyd. Here it forms one side of the "flat- iron," and unites with the Old Lancaster Road-it then ran on out past Merion Meeting, through the "Welsh Tract" to the Susquehanna.
By the Ford Road William Penn traveled from the Treaty Tree, at Shackamaxon, out through his newly- acquired domain with his Indian guides. By this road the Pennsylvania Militia, under General James Potter, and the Georgia Continentals, under Colonel John White, marched up into Merion to join the main body of the Continental Army in the summer and early autumn of 1777. When General Howe threatened an attack, in September, 1777, a body of Pennsylvania Militia, under Colonel Jonathan Bayard Smith, was set to guard the Ford.
"Robin Hood Ford" and "Robin Hood Tavern." which stood on the Ridge Road, are mentioned in Scharf and Westcott's History of Philadelphia, in connection with the American Revolution. In Volume I, page 346, it is stated that when General Howe, on August 25, 1777, began dis- embarking at the head of Elk, with the intention of attack- ing Philadelphia, the State Militia was called out immedi- ately to defend the city. Colonel Bayard Smith's regiment was posted at Robin Hood Tavern on the Ridge Road. On page 348, we are told that, during the progress of the Battle of the Brandywine, the guard was strengthened at Robin Hood and other fords to protect the cannon at these points.
A few days previously Washington encamped near the Falls. (See Memorial History of Philadelphia, Vol. I, page 345.)
In writing of old roads Miss Margaret B. Harvey said "But we must not think of these old roads as traveled only by contending armies. If we fail to think of them as
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
highways of peace and pleasure and profit we shall utterly fail to appreciate our Colonial and Revolutionary history."
When Pittsburgh was the "far West" there were no railroads. All goods sent westward were "teamed" over the Alleghenies in big Conestoga wagons, some drawn by four or six horses. The Old Lancaster Road, and later the Lancaster Turnpike, were the great arteries of commerce. Over these traveled immense wagon-trains. The "wag-
CONESTOGA WAGON
oner" was a picturesque figure of early days. Thomas Buchanan Read, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania (and his home marked by the Chester County Historical Society), gives us a vivid picture of those same early days in his beautiful poem "The Wagoner of the Alleghenies." The poem deals entirely with Revolutionary events, and the scenes are laid in and adjacent to Philadelphia.
The Old Lancaster Road
The Old Lancaster Road is one of the oldest in the United States. The land on the west bank of the Schuyl- kill, at the Middle Ferry, where the Market Street bridge now stands, belonged to the Welsh Friends. Almost as soon as the City of Philadelphia was founded a Quaker Meeting House, known as "Schuylkill Meeting" stood near the present site of the Abattoir. In 1690, the Welsh Friends of Merion laid out a road from Merion Meeting House to the Middle Ferry. The ferry was under the care
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
of the Friends, and they had their own boat. This road is now Lancaster Avenue, below Fifty-second Street. It curved to the right at "Heston-Villa," coming up over the hill at Jesse's George's place. "Heston-Villa" was where Colonel Edward W. Heston, founder of Hestonville lived. V
When the Schuylkill Valley branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad was built the roadbed below George's Hill was changed, and a portion of it was obliterated.
Wynnefield, a pretty suburban settlement has grown up along this portion of the Old Lancaster Road, just below City Avenue, and the name of the road, in Wynnefield, is now called Fifty-fourth Street. One of the original mile- stones still remains, between City and Wynnefield Ave- nues. Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revo- lution, placed a bronze tablet on it, April 14, 1917. The Regent of the Chapter, Mrs. Dora Harvey Develin (the writer) said in her address, on that occasion :
"On the Blockley and Merion Turnpike, as upon all early roads, the miles were indicated by milestones. The stone we mark today is the sixth on this old roadway. Merion Chapter places a tablet here because the City has grown up all about it, and we feared that, within a few years, the Old Lancaster Road or Blockley and Merion Turnpike, would be entirely lost and forgotten in the unromantic and prosaic name of Fifty-fourth Street."
The tablet reads as follows :
ORIGINAL, MILE STONE MARKING OLD LANCASTER ROAD, OR BLOCKLEY AND MERION TURNPIKE, LAID OUT IN 1690 TABLET ERECTED BY MERION CHAPTER D.A.R. 1917
An interesting program was given. The opening address and invocation was by Major Henry A. F. Hoyt.
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
D. D., Chaplain, N. G. P., Retired. The Salute to the Flag ; "America ;" historic paper, Mrs. Dora Harvey Develin, Regent, Merion Chapter; Unveiling of Tablet, by Beulah Harvey and Louis H. Buek, Jr., members of the Martha Williams Society, Children of the American Revolution ; "Red, White and Blue," followed by the Benediction, closed the exercises.
2
€
-
UNVEILING TABLET MARKING ORIGINAL MILESTONE Reading from left to right-Charles Harvey Buek, Louis H. Buek, Jr., and Rheba Harvey, of the Martha Williams Society, C. A. R., and Miss Adelaide V. Harvey, of Merion Chapter, D. A. R.
The Old Lancaster Road, or Blockley and Merion Turnpike, also called Blockley and Merion Plank Road, Old Conestoga Road, and Montgomery Pike, united with the Ford Road just above "Bowman's Bridge," and beyond Merion Meeting followed an ancient Indian trail.
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
In 1770 the Lancaster Turnpike was opened to accom- modate increasing traffic westward and to avoid several hills and the curves in the Old Lancaster Road. The "Pike," as it is familiarly called, began at "Hestonville" (Fifty-second Street), where the Old Lancaster Road curved to the right and climbed George's Hill. Through Lower Merion Township the two roads are close together, and run nearly parallel. They join beyond Wayne for a space, then diverge, but finally come together beyond Berwyn. From City Line the Lancaster Pike is now called "The Lincoln Highway." Although the Old Lancaster Road was laid out in 1690, and was in use for almost a century (and the newer road was opened in 1770) it was not turn- piked, as a whole, from Philadelphia to Lancaster until years later. In 1791, the Pennsylvania Legislature authorized a company to construct a turnpike from Philadelphia to Lan- caster. This was the first of the kind in this country. In June, 1792, subscriptions were taken up in the State House, Philadelphia, at $30 each for establishing a turnpike road from Philadelphia to Lancaster. The stock was largely over- subscribed. As the number of shares for this project was limited by law to six hundred, a lottery was instituted. the names of all subscribers being put into a wheel and drawn. The turnpike was completed in 1796, and a line of stage- coaches began running between Philadelphia and Lan- caster.
For several years Lancaster Avenue or the "Pike," between Fifty-eighth and Sixty-third Streets, has been closed to traffic. The original roadbed beyond Fifty-eighth Street curved to the right, passed under the Pennsylvania Railroad and wound around through Overbrook to Sixty- third Street. The roadbed was straightened and its course altered in order to make a direct route from Fifty-eighth Street to Sixty-third Street. This newly-made portion of the road was completed December 5. 1922, and opened to the public with impressive ceremonies. A Floral Gate. which crossed the roadway, was thrown open by Mayor
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
Moore, signifying that the highway was again open to traffic.
The Old Lancaster Road is one of the most famous in the country. On this road Cornwallis marched Decem- ber 11, 1777, to attack General Potter; and when defeated returned by the same route to Philadelphia. In 1781, Gen- eral Wayne marched by this road to York on his way to Georgia ; and again in 1793, on his way to the Northwest territory. He encamped near Merion Meeting House, and slept in the old inn, which has ever since borne his name.
From Merion Meeting westward along this "great road to Lancaster," on the morning of September 15, 1777, the Continental Army marched to Paoli. Congress imme- diately "adjourned to Lancaster" September 18th. This means that they fled in stagecoaches and on horseback along this highway westward. All official documents were safely conveyed in large wagons by the same road under the direction of Abraham Clark, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Lieutenant James McMichael says in his Journal (See Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Volume 15, page 221) "September 14, 1777, we reached the great road to Lancaster at Merion Meeting House, etc." The Army then encamped in an "open field." This was five days before the massacre of Paoli. This camp ground was marked by Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in 1896.
The Old Lancaster Road and the Lancaster Pike were toll roads until 1917, when the State purchased them.
On Scull and Heap's Map, 1750, under the "Table of Distances" we find the following :
Garrig's Ferry (Garrett's-at the Ford) 4-6.
Levering's (Where Manayunk Bridge stands)-7-6 x
Merion Meeting-7-5. (Meaning 7 miles and 5 fur- longs.
The seventh milestone is still standing at the inter- section of Levering Mill Road and Old Lancaster Road. The eighth milestone is beyond Merion Meeting, above the
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
memorial stone marking Washington's Encampment, near the Old Gulph Road. These distances are from the "Court House."
The events of Whitemarsh, Barren Hill, Valley Forge and the Crooked Billet, transpired in Montgomery County, and all that precedes and follows the Battle of German- town. Within our limits, during the memorable struggle, Washington and his army remained nine months, lacking nine days, very probably a longer time than was spent in any other county during this period, said William J. Buck, of Jenkintown, a well-known historian. The several houses used as his headquarters are still standing, and the remains of entrenchments, thrown up on our hillsides can be traced to this day in many sections.
Old Gulph Road
One of the oldest in the State starts from the Old Lancaster Road (sometimes called Montgomery Pike, and Old Conestoga Road), a short distance above Merion Meet- ing and extends to Mill Creek, thence along the creek, and on to the Gulph Mills, whence it continues through Upper Merion Township to Valley Forge. This road was laid out by William Penn, himself, who rode the whole length of it on horseback and superintended the erection of the milestones. A number of them are still standing. Upon each is carved three balls, copied from the Penn Coat-of- Arms (these balls have been facetiously called "three apple dumplings").
Near the ninth milestone, on the left, is an old farm, long the property of the Penn-Gaskill family. The Penn- Gaskills are said to be the last descendants of William Penn to hold any part of his landed possessions in the neighbor- hood of Philadelphia. (Several members of this family are buried at the Lower Merion Baptist Burying Ground.)
As we approach Mill Creek, we see the antiquated saw- mill belonging to the Robeson family. Up the creek a little further we reach the road branching off to the left in the direction of Ardmore. Here we see an ancient log
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
cabin, built 1690. The original logs are boarded over to preserve them, greatly disguising its age. This cabin was at one time occupied by a civilized Indian. Nearby is the "Kettle-Mill," believed to be the oldest rolling mill in the United States. Here were made the old-time copper kettles and brass buttons.
On the right, high upon the crest of the hill, stands the fine old residence of Dr. R. J. Dodd. It was his wife, Mrs. Hannah M. Dodd, who founded the gold and silver medals to be given to the two most meritorious graduates at each commencement of the Girls' High School. Mrs. Dodd also founded several scholarships in the Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia.
The old stone mansion adjoining the Dodd place is very historic. Before the American Revolution this was occupied by John Roberts, who afterwards became notorious as a Tory, and the only person in Lower Merion attainted as a traitor-and hanged. John Roberts' property was confis- cated. It was afterwards purchased by the patriot Blair McClenahan, a member of the famous City Troop. He lived in this old house and his children after him. (Mem- bers of this family are buried at the Baptist Burying Ground.) A stone tablet gives the date 1746, on the old grist mill. The initials "I. R. R." stand for John and Jane Roberts.
The Sheetz paper mill was one of the first paper mills in the colonies. During the Revolution the Sheetz mill- the "Dove Mill." was run by Frederick Bicking, who made the Continental notes, or "Shinplasters." In return for his services Congress offered Frederick Bicking a tract of land in the "Northern Liberties," Philadelphia County. Bicking refused to accept "barren commons"-many of the finest properties on North Broad Street are built upon these same "barren commons."
The Sheetz paper mill is believed by many to have been the first paper mill in the colonies. If not the first, it certainly was second. The Rittenhouse paper mill on the Wissahickon was in existence in 1690. In the same year
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.
And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
several brothers named Schutz, or Scheetz, arrived in Ger- mantown. According to William J. Buck, historian of Montgomery County, one of these brothers, Henry, imme- diately settled in Whitemarsh. (The late Miss Kate Sheetz, who lived all her life in the old house on Mill Creek, dying there in 1896, aged 80 years, said that there were five brothers. Two of them settled in Merion before the Rittenhouses settled on the Wissahickon. Horatio Gates Jones wrote a history describing the Rittenhouse paper mill as the first. He afterwards became convinced that the Scheetzes could claim a few months' priority.)
In the "Minute Book of Property," Pennsylvania Ar- chives, Second Series, Vol. XIX, it is recorded that a Scheetz purchased a tract of 500 acres west of the Schuyl- kill in 1717. On Scull and Heap's map of 1750 appears "Schultz's Paper Mill." At this old mill was made the paper for Franklin's printing presses. Later the Govern- ment paper, the paper for the Continental notes, and the United States bank note paper. At the Dove Mill was also made the paper used for Government documents, when the United States capital was in Philadelphia. The water- mark was a dove with an olive branch.
Water Mark of the Old Dove Mill Paper. Drawn by Margaret B. Harvey.
By leaving the Gulph Road at the tenth milestone, and passing up the creek by the ruins of the Dove Mill, and the
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
beautiful dam in the woods, we reach what was once called the Black Rocks .* From prehistoric times the Black Rocks were known as the site of an Indian Graveyard. The tract was the last Indian reservation in Montgomery County. Old residents of Merion, as the late William Miles and James B. Harvey, remember seeing Indians encamped here and displaying their skill in shooting arrows. When white people were present the targets were often copper pennies.
Miss Margaret B. Harvey, a well-known botanist, author of "The Flora of Lower Merion," said "The Black Rocks" were a curious outcropping of a vein of serpentine. (This same vein appears in the Black Barrens near Oxford, Pennsylvania, and in the high cliffs on the Potomac, at Sheppardstown, West Virginia.) The formations at this spot were so fantastic, so strange, so weird, as to remind one of all the old legends he had ever read about "Devil's Walls," and "Ogre's Castles." The wild luxuriant vegeta- tion, overrunning the rocky tract, heightened the effect.
This was a rich botanical locality. Here were found thirty-two species of ferns, as many as are known to occur in the whole Schuylkill Valley. As many, with the excep- tion of about two principal species, as are found on the whole Atlantic Seaboard. Among the rare ones may be mentioned the "walking fern," or Camptosorus rhizo- phyllus, with a rooting tip at the end of its leaf. Some years ago Miss Harvey said she found a small specimen of the much-discussed Asplenium ebenoides, said to be a hybrid between the "walking fern" and the common, little black stalked "ebony fern."
The late Mr. Hamilton Egbert, who lived at the Black Rocks, said there were thirty-two kinds of Talc-"just as many kinds as species of ferns."
Now we strike the Old Gulph Road again. It crossed the creek by a ford at the Scheetz mansion, and continued
*Note .- In 1895-1896 the owner of the land where this wonderful formation appeared, destroyed, to quarry the stone, one of the most remarkable natural curiosities in the whole country-mutilated the famous Valley of Mill Creek!
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
up to this point, past the woods skirting the Dove Mill Dam. (William Penn's eleventh milestone.)
At Bryn Mawr the later Gulph Road comes up from the Old Lancaster Road and joins the Old Gulph Road at this point. Here is the Gulph Mill, where the American ammunition was stored during the autumn of 1777. Here General Potter was stationed in November and early December of that year. Here Washington's Army en- r
GULPH MILL. Erected 1747
camped a week before proceeding to winter quarters at Valley Forge-from December 12-19, 1777. This spot has been marked by the Sons of Revolution. Tablets on the Memorial Rock read as follows :
"The main Continental Army, commanded by General George Washington encamped in this immediate vicinity from December 13, to December 19, 1777. Before going into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Erected by the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution 1892."
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
On the back towards the mill another Tablet reads : "This Memorial to the Soldiers of the Revolution stands on ground presented by Henderson Supplee Owner of the Gulph Mill, erected in 1747."
"Hanging Rock" is near the Memorial stone at Gulph Mills. In 1917, the State Highway Department contem- plated removing this historic rock. The following item from the daily papers tells us that the project fell through :
Hanging Rock is Spared
Norristown, July 12 .- District Attorney Anderson has been advised by the State Highway Department that the opposition which he headed
HANGING ROCK
against the department's move to demolish the historic hanging rock at Gulph Mills has proved effectual. The rock will not be removed because of its historic connections.
Gulph Church is over the line in Upper Merion. A number of Revolutionary soldiers are buried in the grave- yard.
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia and Western Railway passes through the gulph between the hills, and runs close to the Old Gulph Road here at this point. A station called "Gulph" is quite near the Hanging Rock. Close to the foot of the station steps, going west, stands a fine old mansion. It was not there in Colonial times, but is very old, having been built in 1803. The "plantation" of which it was the "Great House" was owned by a famly named Macfarland. This locality was also called Balligo, derived from the longer name Bal- ligomingo. Balligomingo was in Upper Merion, but is now incorporated in the borough of West Conshohocken.
Continentals frequently traveled the Gulph Road. Mr. Roberts galloped along it on June 18, 1778, to carry the news to Washington that the British had evacuated Phila- delphia. Down the Old Gulph Road immediately came Captain Allan McLane and a detachment of Light Horse from Valley Forge, to occupy Philadelphia. He entered the city close upon the heels of the departing British. He came so quickly, and unexpectedly, that several who lin- gered to say adieu to acquaintances were captured by the Americans.
Retracing our course and proceeding down Mill Creek, past Penn milestones to the Saw Mill-thence leaving the Old Gulph Road and following its newer continuation down the creek, past old-time mills and dams, amid romantic landscape beauty, we come to an antiquated village called Toddertown. Here was a Revolutionary powder mill. operated by Henry Derringer, who is frequently mentioned in Pennsylvania Archives and Colonial Records, both as a soldier and powder-maker. Henry Derringer was an an- cestor of the inventor of the Derringer pistol, and here at Toddertown the first "Derringers" were made. (The name Toddertown is derived from Todd, the name of relatives of the Derringer family, who afterwards lived on the prem- ises.)
If we take the road over Fairview Hill we can pass the old family graveyard where are interred the remains of Frederick Bicking, the Revolutionary patriot and paper-
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
maker, who was buried with military honors, also John M. Kuhn, another Revolutionary soldier. The land surround- ing this has within recent years been acquired by Percival Roberts. Mr. Bicking said in his will that this graveyard should not be disturbed, and that there should be a "right- of-way" from the road. When Mr. Roberts bought the
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THE BICKING FAMILY GRAVEYARD Mill Creek, Lower Merion
old Bicking property, Mr. Frank Bicking, a great-grandson of Frederick Bicking wrote asking that he might still have the right to visit the old family "God's Acre."
Mr. Roberts answered, giving the desired permission.
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