News
Written by PA Heritage Staff in the News category and the September 1976 issue Topics in this article:On The Cover
Oil on Canvas. Artist is said to be Adolph Boeckling, who may have been a member of the Conrad Boeckly family, who were at Economy from 1828 to 1832. The artist was a resident of Phillipsburg. The scene shows the Beaver River flowing into the Ohio. On the left is Beaver, and on the right is Rochester. It is painted from Monaca. In the Beaver River is the dam for the Beaver Erie Canal and the bridge across the Beaver. In the foreground is a steamboat with two stacks, identified as the “Cincinnati.” The donor, Mrs. C.H. Osborne, believes the painting was done about 1846. (It hangs at Old Economy.)
Packwood House Museum
The Board of Directors of the Fetherston Foundation announced the opening of the Packwood House Museum, 10 Market Street, Lewisburg. Ms. Evelyn Jane Coleman is curator, and further Information can be obtained by contacting her.
Pennsbury Manor Forum
A three-day meeting devoted to “Decorative Arts of Philadelphia 1775-1825” chaired by Marian Carson of Philadelphia will be featured at the twelfth Annual Pennsbury Manor Americana Forum. The forum is being held at Pennsbury Manor, the re-created home of William Penn on the Delaware River about twenty-five miles north of Philadelphia, September 16-18 [1976].
Two workshops will also be held concurrently September 17 and 18 [1976]: Conservation and Restoration of Artifacts and American Prints. John W. Melody of Winterthur Museum will chair the first, and Joan D. Dolmetsch of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the second.
Dewey Lee Curtis is curator of Pennsbury Manor.
White Deer Township
White Deer Township (originally including the villages of Allenwood, New Columbia, West Milton and White Deer) in Union County is 200 years old. The township was incorporated in April of 1776.
Pennsylvania Experiment
Old Economy Village at Ambridge, Beaver County, was founded in 1824 by George Rapp as an experiment in Christian community living. Many of the original buildings remain from the once prosperous agricultural and industrial center.
Museums and Historic Sites Institute Proves Rewarding Experience
Perhaps the key to the rewarding experience of participating in the Institute of Rural Life and Culture is the spirit underlying the event.
Whether it is the season – early summer, or the participants – with varying backgrounds, or the artifacts and buildings – the effort captures the essence of life in a bygone era.
The Institute, held June 22-25 [1976], was the twentieth annual event. The site was the Pennsylvania Farm Museum of Landis Valley.
The spirit of fellowship exists from morning through evening at the Institute. Participants gather for meals in the Steam Engine Building, and evening activities include, for example, a journey on the famous Strasburg Railroad not far from the Farm Museum.
But the heart of the Institute is embodied as participants involve themselves in various seminars and workshops. Workshops included, for example, Patchwork Quilting and Traditional Tinsmithing as well as other arts and crafts from the past.
A special exhibit at this year’s Institute was the Homespun Textile Tradition of the Pennsylvania Germans.
Youth were also involved as there were special workshops for Junior Historians who received grants to participate. Museum visitors came and went throughout the Institute – all fascinated by viewing another way of life.
In fact, the essential ingredient that the writer felt during the workshops and activities was that of stepping back into a rapidly vanishing lifestyle that spanned the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The Farm Museum exists just off a major thoroughfare. The serene, rural atmosphere is located on a 100-acre complex bypassed by U.S. Route 222 to the east. Traveling to the museum via Routes 222, 230, 30 (Bypass) or 72, simply watch for the Oregon Pike exits.
George and Henry Landis started the living museum and the PHMC has expanded it. The twenty-seven buildings and exhibits depict aspects of life in rural Pennsylvania.
Over 200 persons participated in this year’s Institute. The PHMC and the Landis Valley Associates (which include approximately 1,000 members) co-sponsored the event.
Carroll Hopf is director of the Pennsylvania Farm Museum. Visiting hours at the museum during Daylight Saving Time are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays and 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. Sundays.
