Chester County Historical Society Archives - Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine

Indian Hannah

Posted by Karen Galle on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off Hannah Freeman is a name rarely found in history books, although her story and legend live on in southern Chester County. Known more popularly as “Indian Hannah,” Freeman is remembered in local lore as the last Lenape living in Chester County at the time of her death in 1802. She was born about 1730 on the Webb farm in Kennett Township not far from the Delaware border. Today the farm is part of...
read more

On the Trail of Frank Furness

Posted by Anne Cook on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off An historic sites survey is rightfully likened to a treasure hunt. A game of discovery, it relies on clues obtained from old maps, diaries, photographs, newspapers and countless other sources to lead to the awaiting bounty. Rather than finding a pot of gold, the historic sites survey, through its identification and documentation of old buildings, is rewarded by the discovery of pattern and...
read more

Delaware County: Where Pennsylvania Began

Posted by Nancy Webster on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off Delaware County is part of the densely populated belt around Philadelphia, stretching from the city’s western boundary to the circular Delaware state line. Covering approximately 185 square miles, it is the third smallest Pennsylvania county yet the fourth largest in population. Its southern boundary is formed by the Delaware River, from which the county takes its name. The site of early...
read more

Pennsylvania’s Gift: The Decorated Tree

Posted by Nada Gray on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Tall, nearly touching the ceiling, its branches pungently spicing the room, the stately tree awaits its final array – twinkling lights, shiny ornaments, sparkling tinsel, as well as a few precious treasures from years gone by. The Christmas tree is Pennsylvania’s gift to the nation, and the story of its arrival, the struggle for its acceptance and the development of its decorations...
read more

Chester County Welcomes Thee

Posted by Robert Carlson on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off The history of Chester County constitutes a significant part of the history of Pennsylvania, both province and commonwealth, and of the history of the United States of America. At the beginning of our nation’s Bicentennial and on the threshold of our state’s and our county’s tricentennial celebrations, Chester County looks proudly upon its past accomplishments and with...
read more

Currents

Posted by PA Heritage Staff on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off The Gift A spectacular collection of nearly three hundred and fifty colorful feathered objects is featured in an unusual exhibition at The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. Designed to invite the museum visitor “to be an anthropologist” and explore culture as it is experienced by diverse South American natives, “The Gift of Birds: Featherwork...
read more

Currents

Posted by PA Heritage Staff on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off Chester County Centennial The Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, has marked its one hundredth anniversary by mounting an exhibition entitled “Presenting Your Past: A Centennial Celebration.” The exhibit highlights the extraordinary collections acquired by the historical society during its first century. Objects on view include significant pieces selected from the...
read more

No Summer Solstice: War Stories of the Home Front Survivors

Posted by Catherine Quilman on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off War stories. Before epic movies and documentaries changed its connotations, the phrase once implied a personal exchange, the kind that took place in barber shops, on porches, or in front of the court house on hot summer afternoons when the fish weren’t biting. They were the kind of stories that grew better in the telling, each time preserving another aspect, perhaps, of a day in a...
read more

Commemorating a Centennial by Revising a Vision

Posted by Beverly Sheppard on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off The American museum was and is an idea. The European museum was a fact. Almost without exception the European museum was first a collection. With few exceptions most American museums were first an ideal,” Philadelphian Nathaniel Burt wrote in his 1977 history of the American museum, Palaces for People. Unlike their European counterparts, which were usually created to house the great...
read more

Shorts

Posted by PA Heritage Staff on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off On Saturday, May 14, 1994, guides at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site will demonstrate traditional sheep-shearing methods with both period and modern hand-held tools. They will also discuss the importance of farms and farming practices to an 1830s industrial community. To obtain additional details, write: Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, 2 Mark Bird Ln., Elverson, PA 19520; or...
read more