USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Local sketches and legends pertaining to Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania > Part 8
USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Local sketches and legends pertaining to Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania > Part 8
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ladies innocently intending here to cross the hollow to go to a neighboring apple cutting. They had heard of the numberless tales of this enchanted region, but what they now saw was a spectacle to remember to their latest moments. To save themselves from this white monster enveloped in mist, and the ground trembling, as it were, beneath his galloping, accom- panied by the most terrific yelling, sent them home in the greatest alarm ; thankful in their deliverance and never again to risk themselves alone in the night to the spirits of this enchanted region. Hans got back safe, but in sad condition ; his hat and the flour spook- ed away like my grandfather's squirrel scalps and the owl. Some may say this, and some may believe that, but I tell you the infernal agent or mysterious spirit of this hollow got into that horse and did the busi- ness."
The sun was now sinking in the west and warned me that it was time that I should proceed, and as I arose from the log the old man looked wistfully at me and asked whether I could furnish him "with a twist of pig-tail." Yes, actually a twist of pig-tail! Now to save my readers the trouble, especially the younger ones, of searching through the nearly two thousand pages of Webster's or Worcester's latest unabridged for a definition, I will at this critical juncture give voluntarily my assistance as to what the old man meant. This was no other than a kind of fine and curiously twisted chewing tobacco, greatly in vogue about half a century ago. When I stated to him that
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I had never used the article, he appeared to com- miserate my condition and expressed surprise how there could be happiness without it. However, I gave him a small gratuity for which he warmly thanked me, mentioning that at the first store he came to he would procure the article of which he now stood sorely in need.
At parting he added, " I should like to have told you of the belated peddler whose pack was here spooked away, of the negro who was charmed by a monstrous black snake, the wild freaks of an Indian ghost, and a gun that was bewitched." I thanked the old man for what he had related, entered the carriage and as I proceeded onwards looked back and I noticed sure enough that he had struck across the hollow for the fields in the direction of the poorhouse. This was the last time that I saw him. When I arrived home I stated to several where I had been. "What! through Dark, Hollow? You should have taken the upper road to Concord, for in that lonely, gloomy, obscure place you could not possibly find anything of interest." Will this reply be now admitted as true? However, I was satisfied, and before I went to sleep that night I meditated over the occurrences of the day and con- cluded to fix those stray thoughts on paper. Hoping now that the reader may go and visit Dark Hollow himself, more particularly about the dreary hours of midnight, near the set of the moon and enjoy himself with its novelties.
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But I am not yet done. On a lovely afternoon of May 23, 1881, through special request a friend con- veyed me from Hatboro with his horse and carriage on another visit, to note what changes time and labor . had wrought in this hollow after so long an absence. The old school house with its briers and thistles had disappeared, as I learned, for some eighteen years, scarce leaving a trace of its former site. A prospect was opened northwards with several farm houses in view, and the country greatly improved. Some of the woodlands at its upper end had been circumscribed in area. The covered bridge having been washed away. another without a roof had been erected in its place. Near it and the mouth of the run a house had been built since 1862. Otherwise it is still as retired and ro- mantic as one could wish, and affords a splendid drive, the road being excellent and the whole distance shady.
It was my fortune to meet here with one of the resi- dents and property holders of the vicinity, of whom I received additional information. Squirrels, raccoons, opossums, owls, both large and small, copper-heads and black snakes abound, but not a fish in the stream. I noticed the sweet warblings of several kinds of birds, especially the catbird, wood robin and brown thrush, who find here a congenial home. I could not fail to notice quite a variety of our native forest trees and plants growing in wild luxuriance. He related that a company had been formed some years ago to dig in this hollow for coal, having actually run a tunnel by the roadside for some distance into the adjoining hill,
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which after some search and expenditure of money was relinquished. The landholders hereabouts, I learned, have still full faith in its existence, and that it will yet be discovered; thus reminding me of the confidence still existing by some respecting the future finding of silver in Huckleberry Hill, as has been re- lated in a previous number. As regards the existence of coal here I will apply the language of the old man, as being a mysterious neighborhood and therefore be none the easier to find. I also asked my present in- formant whether there were not still some lingering traditions respecting this being a haunted region, with reports of such evil geniuses having been seen here at various times. With a searching expression at so singular and unexpected a question from a stranger, he actually admitted that such had been the case. He informed me with some pride that among the pupils and teachers of the old school-house was one who was born and reared near by, who subsequently became a prominent member of the Bucks county bar and at- torney general of Pennsylvania.
Sampson's Ilill.
Though an inconsiderable eminence, its name for more than a century and a half in the vicinity has be- come as familiar as a household word. It is about half a mile north of Willow Grove, and the old York road passes directly in a straight line over its highest part. It is a ridge extending probably a mile east and west, and about half that distance is required in cross- ing it by the turnpike. Its ancient forests have long ago disappeared with a very trifling exception, and its surface has now become pretty well cultivated and pro- ductive. In making the survey for the turnpike its summit was ascertained to be one hundred and twenty feet above the stream at its northern base, and one hundred and four feet above the bridge at the same place.
Among those who early settled in this vicinity was Sampson Davis, who came from Pontemoile, in Mon- mouthshire, in 1718, and soon after made a consider- able purchase of all the land on the northeastern side of the hill up to the present road and bridge. He was a Welshman by birth, and on the site of the present water cure establishment built himself a dwelling, which stood not far from the fine spring of water that
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is mentioned further on. From the Votes of Assem- bly for 1728, we learn that Sir William Keith, who re- sided in Horsham, six miles distant, was an occasional visitor to his house. He was a member of Abington Friends Meeting, from the records of which we learn that a certificate of removal was granted for himself and wife to Philadelphia, dated 28th of 12th-month, 1736-7, which would make his residence here about eighteen years. It was from him as its principal owner that this hill derived its name, thus early applied by the original settlers, and which it has borne ever since, a period now approaching a century and three-quarters.
The view from its top by the road is grand. Look- ing northwards we see the whole of Hatboro, and also Lacy's battle ground and the hills of Neshaminy; cast- ward we have close at hand the valley of the Penne- pack and the picturesque scenery of Huckleberry Hill. Looking southwards we have Willow Grove, Horse- heaven, and Edge Hill. I have no doubt that from the same spot at least a hundred farm houses are read- ily discernible. These in summer, with their numer- ous out-buildings, orchards and fields, variously check- ered by the growing crops, afford to the citizens agreeable glimpses of country life.
The old York road was laid out over this hill to Philadelphia in 1711, and thus became one of our ear- liest highways to the city. A writer in Miner's Cor- respondent of June 4, 1805, says: " It is presumed that a beneficial improvement might be made at Sampson's Hill, in the county of Montgomery, by reducing the
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ascent to the common standard of turnpike roads. The natural increase of travel, especially from New Jersey, and the running of stages from Philadelphia to New York, and to Easton on that road, fully re- quire such an improvement to be made." Forty-six years elapsed, we believe, before this design was fully carried out.
Respecting this subject a friend residing in Solebury has recently furnished the following reminiscence: "I remember in the winter of 1827 accompanying my aged uncle with whom I then resided to the Philadelphia market with a load of produce. When we reached the foot of Sampson's Hill I alighted from the spring- less wagon with cramped limbs, which however soon
left me as I walked on to the Willow Grove. At that time the plank bridge was there and I well remember commiserating the condition of the toiling horses steaming from respiration as we got to the top. The morning was clear and cold, the sun having just risen, as I gazed for the first time at the beautiful view that was offered, and on many succeeding opportunities have I since lingered over the prospect there with re- newed admiration."
The Hatboro and Warminster turnpike road com- pany was incorporated May 8, 1850, and the turnpike extends from Willow Grove to the Street road, a dis- tance of four and a half miles. It was made on the bed of the old York road that year, with stone twenty feet wide and one in depth. To bring this turnpike to the grade required by law it was necessary te cut
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into the hill a considerable depth. Stone enough was thus procured here to make the road for several miles. Great blasts were made in the solid rock near the northern summit, one of which sent a fragment of near a ton weight thirty yards into an adjoining field, and another fragment of about four hundred pounds weight was lodged in the branches of a large cherry tree, where it hung suspended for five or six years some twenty feet over the surface of the road, much to the astonishment of the traveler, who as he gazed would strive to solve the mystery of its coming there.
The bridge at the northern base of the hill, and of which we have already made reference, was originally of wood, but in 1830 the county erected a substantial stone structure of one arch of fifteen feet span, which was completed the following year. The turnpike company in consequence of reducing the grade of the hill, considerably enlarged the southern wing-walls, making it now about two hundred feet long. The filling here being some eighteen or twenty feet above the water, has materially lessened the ascent. I opine that the day is not far distant when this bridge will be further raised and filled up, to the greater convenience of pedestrians and horses toiling under heavy loads.
Not sixty years ago the western roadside of the northern slope of the hill was a dense forest, which has since nearly all disappeared. A venerable look- ing mile-stone stood as late as 1850 on the eastern roadside bank, about forty yards up the hill from the present bridge. I well remember it, and had cut on
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it " 15 M to P." It came away in making the turn- pike, and it is a pity that it cannot be restored to near the same place. I have no doubt it has done duty here for all of a century.
The rock of this hill appears to be exceedingly hard and of a bluish cast, streaked with white quartz, inter- spersed with particles of glittering mica. I judge it to be granite of a trappean nature. 'Half way up the southern slope of the hill a vein of steatite or soap- stone crosses the road, which on a more thorough in- vestigation might prove valuable. A number of fine springs of purest water abound. Several of these cross the pike on the southern side, but the largest, in fact the most considerable in this section of the country, issues from its northern slope, about one hundred yards southeast of the bridge. It is suffi- ciently strong to furnish an unfailing supply to a vil- lage. The stream after a mile's journey from the bridge mingles its waters with the Pennepack.
Situated by the roadside of the hill are some six houses, and further back approached by lanes are two additional farm dwellings. Of all of these, two or three are quite old structures, but modernized, of which we will have more to say hereafter. On the summit grow several hackberry or nettle trees, which often arrest the attention of travelers; from the ex- treme abundance of black fruit these bear, when di- vested of their foliage all through the winter, they form conspicuous objects. The gigantic hornet or locust killer, a somewhat rare insect, abounds during August
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and part of September about the summit of the hill, where it has broods underground. By its threatening aspect and powerful sting it has on several occasions succeeded in frightening away intruders from their haunts.
On the morning of August 23, 1777, an interesting sight was witnessed on this hill. It was no less than the crossing of General Washington and his army, accompanied by a lengthy baggage and artillery train. They had just now broken up their encampment at the Cross Roads, near the present Hartsville, six miles distant, where they had been the previous two weeks awaiting to hear of the landing of the British. From here they marched to Philadelphia, and from thence towards the enemy, whom they finally encountered on the fields of Brandywine. This brief article exhibits the hill as not devoid of historical interest, but around it also cluster marvelous legendary associations; one of which has been selected to form a subject for the next number.
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Legend of Sampson's Hill.
In a previous number I have given the historical associations of this hill, with an illusion that it was also invested with a cluster of marvelous legends, one of which I have now specially selected for this article as handed down by those noted traditionists the Kriers and the Walkers, who as is well known have vegetated on and around here for generations, and against whom very few can find any harm. I have also stated that the name of this hill was derived from Sampson Davis or David, one of its first settlers and owners, a Welsh- man, who may have likewise brought with him a full share of the marvelous from the hills of his native land. We have the authority of ancient records that he re- sided on the northeastern slope of this hill sometime before 1720 and that he was still here in 1736.
Within the said period another settler had built himself a cabin on the edge of the southern summit, about fifty yards from the road. These two dwellings were then the only ones on the hill, or in the imme- diate vicinity. They both stood on the eastern side of the road, being apart nearly half a mile. The tra- dition is, that an Indian somewhat intoxicated applied towards evening in the midst of winter for shelter and
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a night's lodging at each of those places, which was refused him, when immediately on leaving a violent snow storm came on and continued for several days. About two weeks afterwards the Indian's body was found near the roadside, about half way between those places, where the snow in this interval had been to him a winding sheet and a grave.
In those primitive days a suicide or an accidental death was an unusual occurrence that would lead to many conjectures among the simple inhabitants. It shortly afterwards became rumored and was believed in for a long time by several in the vicinity, that on stormy, snowy nights of winter the Indian's spirit would make its appearance and keep vigils in and around the place of his death. Some, when the storm was most violent, said they had distinctly heard his wailings and upbraidings. Others related how they encountered a white-sheeted spectre here at different times, though scarcely visible amidst the surrounding gloom and dimness of the thickly falling flakes, and the frights they had received while engaged on his nocturnal missions.
It was made out too that for his treatment at. those houses, he had uttered maledictions on those places by way of punishment on their inhospitality, the effects of which should be seen and felt to latest posterity. This was no less than whenever a snow storm prevailed, he would under its cover be actively abroad all night engaged in his malicious work of collecting the snow off the hill-top and piling it up in their gateways and
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lanes. Thus would he enjoy the satisfaction of hav- ing them toil by day for what had been done in the night. The simple-minded folks could trace too in his mischievous pranks and capers with the snow, ap- pearances of winding sheets, coffins, corpses and graves. Often in vain did the inmates of these dwellings shovel through the enormous piles of snow for a passage to the highway, when in the following night perhaps it would be heaped higher than before. In vain at divers times too did they move their gateways and lanes, seeking thus to get rid of the inconvenience. Numerous other expedients were adopted that judg- ment or fancy could suggest, but all has proved un- availing, even down to this day. In spite of our boasted civilization, intelligence and progress, this nuisance does here fully maintain its ancient reputa- tion.
Now ye wise men what would you do if you were , in their places? I mean more particularly those dis- tinguished for their scientific and inventive attainments. Not to shovel open these enormous piles, would be an impossibility for farmers to get with their teams to the highways, the store, the mill, the shop or the market, or to be equally unapproachable from abroad. To open it is only to repeat the labor over and over again for four months in a year. No wonder that the former owners of these properties have assured their neigh- bors that it required nearly as much labor during the snowy season to keep open their lanes as it did to take charge of their cattle. One person suggested that a
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tunnel might be the means of saving this labor, but even if this were done, to clear and keep open the en- trance to the same, would still involve considerable labor. The owners of these properties therefore have in despair long ago given it up as worse than useless to contend with any probability of success either against angry Indian ghosts or spiteful snowdrifts ac- cumulated from the neighboring fields.
Having lived in the vicinity of Sampson's Hill a quarter of a century, and being curious in collecting materials for a history of the township, I had long heard of this old tradition of the Indian ghost and his many marvelous freaks at piling up snow at the afore- said places, which induced me to pay at least some attention to the matter. My observations have led me to confess that on the subsiding of a snow storm it is well worth any one's going a mile to witness here its curious effects. Sometimes when but little more than an inch or two is left lying elsewhere on the hill, it would be seen heaped into hillocks of from four to ten feet high before those gates and inside the lanes. Then, too, with a knowledge of the tradition, it is enough to make one smile to observe the many fan- tastic shapes it assumes. Here, rising like a miniature peak of the Alps, there in waving ridges like the swell of the ocean, then curiously contorted into wreaths, and next most ingeniously curled into cylinders, which by the winds are constantly assuming new shapes. Such, my readers, are the wild and fanciful freaks that have been so long enacted on the bleak wintry top of
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Sampson's Hill and give plausibility to the story. As entertaining or amusing as the legend and phenome- na appear, I really have a regard for the good people residing on the places mentioned, for their unprofitable labors and thankless privations so long endured and which appear to continue whether caused by super- natural or other agencies.
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Buck wampun.
This is the name given by the Indians to one of the highest hills in Bucks county, which is situated in the eastern part of Springfield township, immediately north- east of Bursonville, and adjoining the Durham line. The road leading from Doylestown to Bethlehem by way of Springtown passes near its west side, while the old Easton or Durham road winds around its eastern base. Here, between these ancient highways, it rears its towering summit high over all the neighboring hills, and thus it serves as a conspicuous land-mark for a considerable distance. Its top and northern exposure is still covered with forest, while its remaining sides are deeply furrowed by fertile glens, through which from gushing springs come sparkling streams that all day long are murmuring the sweetest music as they go hurrying on and tumbling in innumerable little cascades. Many of these go to form the sources of Gallows run, as well as several branches of Durham creek. The river Delaware at Durham Furnace ap- proaches within three miles, and the Haycock, which is a distinct range of hills, is six miles distant.
Buckwampun may be regarded from its geological structure as an outlying branch of the Lehigh or South
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Mountain, from which it is separated by Durham creek. It is composed chiefly of primary rocks of the gneiss family, and the lower sand-stones of the secondary formation. The prevailing rocks over its surface, how- ever, are white flint or quartz, and they are sufficiently numerous at several places to seriously interfere with a judicious cultivation of the soil. As is well known, wherever these stones are found we may depend on a fertile, rolling country, abounding in iron, lime-stone, chestnut timber, and lasting water-certainly confer- ring great advantages on any agricultural community.
We should suppose this hill to be fully five hundred feet above the surface of the contiguous portion of the Delaware. View it from whatever point you may, it will still have the same bold, rounded outline. A short distance east of Bucksville looking north it presents a splendid feature in the landscape, as it conspicuously stands in front with its farm houses, orchards, check- ered fields and woodlands, while on either side are lesser hills vanishing in the distance. As might be well supposed, the summit must present to the spec- tator a magnificent sight of the surrounding country. For many miles can be traced the Blue or Kittatinny and Muskenetcung mountains and the Delaware river, with almost any number of smaller hills and streams, as well as towns, villages and hamlets. The scenery even of its neighborhood is among the most romantic and picturesque in the county. No wonder the In- dians were charmed by the abundance of wild fruit, game, and copious springs of purest water, and were
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therefore loath to leave this terrestrial paradise, and so continued lingering till near the commencement of the Revolution.
Strange as it may appear, I am led to believe that this hill has never been described or mentioned by any other writer. Its position even is indicated on no map, and its grand and picturesque beauties have as yet been unsung by our native poets. This comparative neglect for the want of its being better known is no reason that it should be devoid of natural interest or deficient in legendary or historical associations. The name of Buckwampun, however strange it may sound abroad, is well known to the people of its vicinity. As aboriginal, we hope it may long be retained.
It was the fortune of my childhood to spend a num- ber of years in sight of this hill-a time that will be treasured among the golden periods of the past. Many are the days I ascended its side in search of chestnuts, whortleberries and persimmons. Once do I well re- member, when alone near its summit, a huge black- snake passing me at full speed, which made me shriek in childish terror. Around a spring near its south- western base I think must have commenced my love for antiquities; for here often and often did I search for Indian darts, and well was I rewarded by the num- ber and variety I obtained, which have only recently passed from my hands into the cabinet of a learned in- stitution. I sometimes feel as if I would still like to scale its lofty sides, again to inhale with the spirit of youth the delicious fragrance of its sweet fern, view
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the magnificent prospects lavished on every hand, and tread once more near by the homes of my ancestors. I should like to chat German with the descendants of its early settlers. From the old men I could gather marvelous legends of the past; from their sons I could be instructed in the athletic exercises of the farm, and the daughters know how to bind grain and load hay.
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