Pennsbury Manor Welcoming Visitors for 75 Years

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Pennsbury Manor Welcoming Visitors for 75 Years The year 2014 marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of Pennsbury Manor, the reconstructed estate of Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn (1644-1718), located along the Delaware River near Morrisville in Bucks County. On March 9, 2014, in commemoration of the anniversary, the original 1681 charter from King Charles II of England granting the land that became Pennsylvania to Penn was...
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Pennsylvania Architectural Heritage: The Preservation Movement in the Keystone State, 1800-1950

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Architectural Heritage: The Preservation Movement in the Keystone State, 1800-1950 The primary focus of this series of four articles is the architectural heritage of Pennsylvania through the past three centuries. However, in the context of history, architecture is neither an isolated creation nor an assured cultural resource for the future. As buildings ore the products of the interaction of many facets of a society, so. too, the preservation of architecture is the result of...
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Okie Speaks for Pennsbury, Part I

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Okie Speaks for Pennsbury, Part I It is no secret that restoring an old house presents a number of headaches, not the least being the question of authenticity. But imagine what it is like to virtually re-create a structure that has been missing for over a century. Most architects would claim that it is impossible, even with good drawings and the best intentions. Never­theless, with a streak of optimism and the blessing of...
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Okie Speaks For Pennsbury, Part II

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Okie Speaks For Pennsbury, Part II In its attempt during the 1930s to re-create William Penn’s 1683 manor house in Bucks County, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in­advertently unleashed a storm of con­troversy over the way in which the site, its archeological evidence and its ar­chitecture should be interpreted. Long before reconstruction of the manor house was completed in 1938 (landscap­ing and furnishing occurred...
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“I Would Have… A Brew House”

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on “I Would Have… A Brew House” The quality of the beer in his new colony was important enough to William Penn for him to include it in his descrip­tion of Pennsylvania to entice prospective settlers. “Our Drink has been Beer and Punch, made of Rum and Water. Our Beer was mostly made of Molasses, which well boyld, with Sassafras or Pine infused into it, makes very tolerable drink; but now they make Mault, and Mault Drink...
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Pennsbury Manor, The Philosopher’s Garden

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsbury Manor, The Philosopher’s Garden Pennsbury Manor, William Penn’s reconstructed country estate north of Philadelphia, is a profoundly peaceful place. The Delaware River glides by the manor house’s front door, stately trees shade the site, and sheep dot the pastures. Rescued from an encroaching gravel quarry in the 1930s, the forty-three acre farm is a pastoral remnant of the founder’s original...
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Sowing a Wealth Uncommon

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Sowing a Wealth Uncommon When Pennsylvania’s thirty-seven-year-old founder William Penn (1644-1718) drew plans for Philadelphia, he specified a central park of ten acres and four symmetrically placed squares of eight acres each “for the comfort and recreation of all forever.” In his September 30, 1681, instructions to his commissioners, he also mandated private space. “Let every House be placed,...
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Dishing It Up with William Woys Weaver

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Dishing It Up with William Woys Weaver The Lamb Tavern, built in 1805 in Devon, Chester County, was restored in the early twentieth century by R. Brognard Okie (1875-1945), the historical architect responsible for the re-creation of Pennsbury Manor at Morrisville, Bucks County (see “Okie Speaks for Pennsbury,” Part I: Fall 1982 and Part II: Winter 1983). Entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the...
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Pennsbury Manor

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsbury Manor Three hundred and twenty-five years ago this autumn, on October 28, 1682, to be precise, William Penn (1644–1718) arrived at Upland, now Chester in Delaware County, to begin laying the foundations of his “Holy Experiment,” his beloved province of Pennsylvania. Nearly eighteen months earlier, in March 1681, he had received the charter for land that is now Pennsylvania from England’s King Charles...
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Pennsbury Manor Architectural Drawing

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsbury Manor Architectural Drawing Works of art featured in “Rediscovering the People’s Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices” by David Lembeck, beginning on page 28, are some examples of the legacy of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in Pennsylvania. Another is the reconstruction of William Penn’s Pennsbury Manor overlooking the banks of the Delaware River in Bucks County. A popular attraction along...
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