Not the first time I have shared an image of this barn – I love it.
There are some cows, or maybe steer (I’m not sure exactly) living there as well now. Sometimes when I go by I see them outside.
West Whiteland is very developed but then there are these throwback pockets.
And what I have also noticed throughout West Whiteland on Lancaster Avenue/Route 30/Lincoln Highway are the old historic properties, some of which have been amazingly restored and are still in use – maybe not the original use, but adaptive reuse.
On that day, I had accompanied an office friend to the World Trade Center to grab an early lunch and to check out some stores like a Hallmark store in the shopping concourse. Lunch hours go quickly as they always do and it was time to go back to the office. So there we were back outside the Trade Center buildings, getting ready to cross the street, when suddenly the ground shook and moved. There is nothing like feeling the ground shift below your feet. I remember that we were looking directly across the street at Century 21, a department store in Lower Manhattan.
Then something happened that rarely happens in New York: Everything went eerily still and quiet. We looked up at what we first thought were snowflakes beginning to float and fall from the sky. After all, it was February. Then car alarms began to go off one by one like the cacophony of many distorted bells. The snowflakes, we soon discovered, were in reality, ashes.
People began yelling and screaming. It became very confusing and chaotic all at once, like someone flipped a switch to “on.” At first, we both felt rooted to the sidewalk, unable to move. I remember feeling a sense of panic at the unknown. We had absolutely no idea what had happened, and hurried back to our office. Reaching it, we were greeted by worried coworkers who told us that someone had set off a bomb underground in the World Trade Center garage.
I will never forget the crazy kaleidoscope of images, throughout that afternoon, of all the people who were related to or knew people in my office who sought refuge in our office after walking down the innumerable flights of steps in the dark to exit the World Trade Center Towers. They arrived with soot all over their faces, hands and clothes. They all wore zombie looks of shock, disbelief and panic.
Of course, the oddest thing about the first terrorist attack on New York City is that I don’t remember much lasting fuss about it. I do remember that President Bill Clinton was newly sworn into office, but I don’t remember him coming to visit New York after the attack. Everything was back to normal in Lower Manhattan in about a month, maybe two. After a while, unless you had worked in New York, or lived in New York, you simply forgot about this “incident.”
It seems surreal that 25 years have passed. And how lucky I am to be alive and writing this from Chester County, Pennsylvania.
I took this photo of my friend Melinda in 2013 after she had finished chemotherapy and her hair was just coming back. She looked brave and beautiful because well, she is. She survived breast cancer and chemotherapy. She didn’t shave her head on a whim.
Social media is buzzing about a woman (not the woman above, she is a breast cancer survivor) who shaved her head. This other woman is not ill and undergoing chemotherapy. She does not have alopecia like a woman I went to college with. She did not shave her head to donate her hair for locks of love. She did it “just because.”
No, I am not posting this other random woman’s photo. Yes a lot of them are public, but they aren’t my photos.
Essentially she did it for the attention is my humble opinion. I don’t buy that she did it to empower herself à la G.I, Jane. We’re not talking a cute buzz cut, we’re talking shaved her head and then had a salon fix it. I guess that makes sense because the first time I clipped a dog years and years ago they looked like they were groomed by moths (as in what woolens look like when clothing moths chew them up.) Dog grooming clippers and human grooming clippers are essentially the same and they take some getting used to.
I am a breast cancer survivor. I was lucky and had radiation only, although I did have some hair loss as well as thinning and a hair texture change. However, I had to come to terms with the fact I might lose my hair before I had my surgery in 2011, and also had to come to terms with if what they found when they went in was more than they thought or worse than they thought, I might also lose one breast.
I stood in front of the mirror imagining what both might look like. For weeks. It is how I came to terms with what might happen. It wasn’t empowering, it was daunting. It was scary. It made me cry. Breast cancer does a number on your whole self body image. You come face to face with your own potential mortality. It’s hard.
I decided that if chemotherapy came to pass, I would do bald without wigs until my hair grew back. But again, I was not deciding this because I wanted to be part of a female buzz cut trend. I was not deciding this for attention, or a whim. I was deciding this because I needed a plan if I had to go there.
I have another really dear friend who has sported a gamine look for years. Not a buzz cut. But it suits her. And she has been this way for years. Her cuts are feminine and have style. They aren’t abrupt.
I have a friend who lives with metastatic or stage four breast cancer. When she has to do chemo, she loses her hair. I have never imagined that is fun for her. I do a happy dance when her hair grows back in because that means remission to me.
This other woman on social media (and I am entitled to my opinion) looks scary now. It seems like intensity and defiance emanate from her and the new photos. But she doesn’t look happy. I find that sad (also an opinion I am entitled to.)
Female buzz cuts have been a topic again (I think) since Rose McGowan emerged from the shadows with the whole Harvey Weinstein/#metoo thing. However, she has been sporting a buzz cut since 2015. Sinéad O’Connor also has sported a buzz cut forever.
I had a friend in college, a sorority sister, who had alopecia. In other words, she was born with baldness issues. I thought she was one of the bravest people I knew at the time. Like I did with my friend Melinda years later. Brave and beautiful.
But doing things like this and then seeing people that do it to make a statement and/or for attention? It just doesn’t sit right with me.
As women, we have to define what is beautiful for ourselves. I am sorry, but in this case it hits me wrong. I hope this person finds peace and comfort in their decision. But they really can’t expect everyone to be the same about it.
To me bald female heads represent chemotherapy. Right or wrong that is where it hits me. Those women represent strong and beautiful and brave to me. Somehow this other woman doing a head shave just for kicks seems disrespectful of women who have to do it because they have no other choice. As a friend of mine says, to each their own. But that is how it made me feel.
Today I went to a very cool estate sale. It was on Lenape Road in West Chester. Not too far away from West Chester University.
It is one of those places that just takes your breath away. Both from the setting and just an amazing old farmhouse.
Built in 1840, it was a very prosperous farm, as this was a very good sized farmhouse. It once, according to someone I asked, was acreage- wise quite large. It still sits on a lovely large plot of Chester County farmland, which is so awesome to see.
The older couple who lived there and their family are selling it to a young family who will love and restore the farmhouse and the property. It is so gratifying to learn of people who care enough to take on a gem like this! Historic preservation and open space preservation are so important and we aren’t seeing nearly enough of that in Chester County.
This house was a privilege to see. I wish the new family many, many decades of happiness. It’s a wonderful farm house.
This house, barn, and property are so Chester County.
I love parks. And a park naming contest is just good fun! East Whiteland Township is having a park naming contest through March 8th. And two of the finalist names involve parts of Chester County history right in East Whiteland that I feel very strongly about.
The suggestions to name the East Whiteland Township’s next park are in and the finalists are Bacton Hill Park, Woodyard Park and Patriot Park. You can vote on the next name until March 8.
Finalist Name Number 1: Bacton Hill Park
Bacton Hill is a region in East Whiteland that was an early village (and one of the largest early settlements in Chester County for African Americans. The Ebenezer AME Church and cemetery is a sacred space where at least three Civil War soldiers are buried. (Blogger Note: the ruins of Ebenezer and graveyard are currently in a somewhat precarious position due to proposed development)
To vote on the new name, please email info@eastwhiteland.org with a selection from the three finalists by March 8, 2018.
Finalist Name Number 2: Woodyard Park
Hiram Woodyard was a Township resident and former slave who served in the Union Army as a teamster. He was a leader in the African American community and is buried at the Ebenezer AME Church. His home still stands on Congestoga Road. Other homes he built still stand. (Blogger Note: the ruins of Ebenezer and graveyard are currently in a somewhat precarious position due to proposed development)
To vote on the new name, please email info@eastwhiteland.org with a selection from the three finalists by March 8, 2018.
Finalist Name Number 3: Patriot Park
This name reflects the historical significance of the Township, region and members of the East Whiteland community.
To vote on the new name, please email info@eastwhiteland.org with a selection from the three finalists by March 8, 2018.
My opinion? Please e-mail East Whiteland for either Woodyard Park or Bacton Hill Park. It is the most fitting due to the physical location of the park, and it is a VERY important piece of Chester County History, as well as East Whiteland history. Some of the dearly departed who lay in the Ebenezer graveyard have descendants who still live in and around East Whiteland, Malvern Borough, and Chester County today.
As a matter of fact, a slight segue but related to the importance of this particular area is in neighboring Charlestown on Bodine and Valley Hill Roads are the ruins of a little school for slaves and/or the children of the African Americans that settled in this area (like Bacton Hill). It is the Longwood School and the school was built in 1857 as a one-room schoolhouse for African-American children. Charlestown Township secured the ruin and stabilized it – something I wish for Ebenzer.
On March 27, 1858, the “colored” school was opened for business. It was the place where the School Board sent their “colored” children. All the “colored” children had to pay $0.04 to go to school everyday. This marked the beginning of the Longwood School. In December of 1858 the school board agreed to add a stove, and a month to the school year now making it five months. Although the school year was increased, the schoolmaster’s salary went down. In 1859, vast changes occurred for Charlestown Township Schools. For example, they required each student to purchase a textbook for every subject. This was a hassle for many parents. The board also demanded that the pupils were to bring absent notices, and be given an exam at the end of the year. These changes were attempts to make the schools more high quality learning systems. Exams were given at every school EXCEPT Longwood School. During the next five years, the School Board dropped the term “colored” school and started to call it “Longwood School”. Even though this act may have seemed more respectful, it would take a lot more for Longwood to be noticed as a school. The summer school session stopped, and the Board changed the school year to nine months. That is, in every school EXCEPT Longwood School, where it was still only five months. By 1873, all of the “regular” schools had funding for new facilities and had been completed by this time, EXCEPT Longwood School, where no funding was made. In 1879, Mary Lloyd was to be the teacher, but she didn’t remain long. After trying to get a new teacher, they gave up, and the children at Longwood School had no teacher for that term. In 1887, a new teacher, Linda McPherson began taking attendance records to the public’s attention. She noted that nearly 50% of all the students had perfect attendance or missed only one day of school. This was a step to show others what a great school this was. To show that it was just like all the others, and they didn’t slack off. They worked as hard as any other school. Finally in 1889 the Board decided to equalize the Longwood school term to the other schools, as well as the teacher’s salary. The board finally started to realize that Longwood School was a regular school. Acceptance of the school grew when a 94-1/2 foot well was built for the school in 1895. On March 18, 1895, the Pride of Pickering Council gave the Longwood School a flag and flagpole. At last, the students were beginning to feel like a respected part of the community. On April 26, 1885, a celebration was held for attendance of the pupils. They sang songs, read poems, and planted an oak tree. They named the oak tree “Bryant” in honor of a poem’s author, William Cullen Bryant. Under “Bryant” a glass bottle with the names of people who attended, as well as the pupil’s names was buried. In 1901, the final teacher was reassigned, and after serving 44 years of educational services, the Longwood School was closed. On June 1, 1902 Longwood School was sold for $2,000 dollars.
That school is so close to Bacton Hill. The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society in the late 1700s, but the church became it’s own entity founded in Philadelphia around 1816. So you can see given the age of Ebenezer AME in East Whiteland, Chester County, PA that it is truly part of the early days of a church and religion founded in Philadelphia. Bishop Richard Allen died in 1831, just months before Ebenezer came to be after Joseph Malin deeded the land.
I will freely admit it, to see Ebenezer rise like a Phoenix from the ashes at 97 Bacton Hill Road and to have people from all over recognize how historically important Ebenezer and her departed souls are is what I would love to see. I would also love to see a park named either Bacton Hill Park or Woodyard Park so the history (much of which we can no longer see) is remembered.
Photo is of the grave of Hiram Woodyard at Ebenezer. He was a freed slave and Black Civil War Soldier who resided in the village of Bacton, “Bacton Hisotric District”, AKA “Bacton African American Community”.
In 1991, Jane Davidson, the then Chester County Historic Preservation Officer certified that one of the houses attributed to him on Conestoga Road as a “County Historic Resource”. She said “The events and activities that have occurred in and around the site form a chronological record of past knowledge that portrays a history of the area.”
The historical information listed in some of the paperwork states:
This resource is part of the Bacton Historic District which is a post-Civil War, Afro-American community. This resource is also connected with Hiram Woodyard who was a prominent member of this community….Due to previous development there is an eminent potential to widen Rte. 401,this threat would negatively impact the integrity of this resource.
In other paperwork, the same author continues:
Hiram Woodyard, one of two leaders in the Bacton African-American community, has become a local folk hero in recent years. While part of the timber industry as a fence maker, he also commanded a great deal of respect for his leadership ability, not only in the community, but also in the Union army.
This history is all interconnected. Naming a park to reflect the history that took place right there, and to remember the people of Bacton Hill just seems right.
Anyway, the name for the new park, a 16-acre property off Bacton Hill Road that is currently known as the Swanenburg Property, will be announced at the March 14th, 2018 East Whiteland Board of Supervisors meeting.
To vote on the new name, please email info@eastwhiteland.org with a selection from the three finalists by March 8, 2018.
Find where East Whiteland posted the naming request on their website BY CLICKING HERE. ***Also note that in the screenshot below the information, historical information is different than what I have written or which the historic commission will provide. That is because (I guess) of whomever does the East Whiteland website is very, very busy because this is one of many historical fact errors I have found in the past couple of weeks alone. The devil is in the details as they say….. ****
I was a kid who gardened starting quite early. One of the first things I ever planted was corn. Yes corn. I was somewhere around the age of 3, we did it in school and yes I transplanted my corn plants into our walled garden in Philadelphia (lived in Society Hill until I was like 11).
Some of my earliest memories involved gardening with my father and his father, my Pop Pop. Pop Pop showed me how to plant tomatoes – Plum Tomatoes to be specific (he was Italian!) We also planted herbs. That first tomato plant yielded a tomato that looked like a little baseball mitt!
Gardening as a happy place started early for me. I also understood I had my plants I tended to, but left others alone. I learned early to stay away from the leaves of three (poison ivy, sumac,etc.)
The garden was not a place child-proofed other than a locked side gate in the garden wall that was locked to keep us in and strangers out – it was a walled garden with old brick walls almost 8 feet tall. I will admit I had a friend named Ali who was as agile as a cat who would climb her tall brick garden wall, walk over the edges of neighbors’ walls and climb down into my garden to hang out. It was quicker than walking around a long city block. I am happy to report she is alive and well and living in London with her husband and children.
I was told not to touch this subject with a 10 foot pole by a friend, but I feel I must. Yes I have certain plants that I do not plant because they are poisonous to domestic animals.
This topic comes up a great deal in my gardening group. And I do get frustrated sometimes by the questions. I understand that they are valid, but I grew up in a house that wasn’t childproofed to death, so did my stepson, and nieces and nephews. This also goes for a lot of my friends’ children.
Common sense dictates a lot of this. Watch young children carefully when playing outdoors. Keep indoor plants safely out of the reach of children. Teach kids from a young age to ask an adult before eating or drinking anything. Don’t eat wild plants in front of little kids who will mimic you.
You can have a garden and have small children. And the thing is, like teaching them to cook, or even just make cookies, they will probably have fun.
I have friends who often had a more grown up garden in the front yard, and out back where the kids played was more basic. That seemed to work.
You can give your kids their own “first garden” in a few pots, a low to the ground rectangular planter, or window boxes. Or you can give them their own section to tend in the garden beds you have already established. Start seeds early inside like sunflowers,zinnias , cosmos , vegetables or culinary herbs. Or buy starter plants somewhere.
We seem to partially live in a cotton batting world where kids are so scheduled and often overly protected. Sometimes they just need to be kids. I think gardening is one of those things that helps that along. Give them parameters like you do when teaching them other things. Most of all, remember, the garden doesn’t have to be perfect. It is a fun thing you can do together, learn together, and create memories with.
I still remember how fun it was when we planted my first tomato plant, and I learned how to tend my herb plants. As a child, I also loved learning how to make terrariums. In high school I was a Shipley Sprout and we even competed in the Philadelphia Flower Show! I won a couple of ribbons too for forcing bulbs! (Not first place, but it was still awesome!)
On the U.K.’s Telegraph website there is this article:
Anyone who has gardened with children will know what a pleasure it is to pass on skills and see the next generation developing a passion for planting.
There may be the odd moment where “weeding” decimates your new bedding plants or a snail collection is released en masse into the veg patch, but research shows we should stick with it as experts increasingly point to the value children get from gardening and being outside.
These benefits range from the chance to be active and get away from the omnipresent screens, to real mental health gains.
Back in 2000, a Texas A&M University survey of children under 12 actively involved in gardening projects in school, community or home settings, found benefits to children’s self-esteem and reduction in stress levels.
Closer to home, Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) research continues to back this up. It suggests children perform better at school if they’re involved with gardening, and many will develop a greater interest in healthy eating if they get to grow their own veg.
Caroline Levitt, who founded the Diggers Forest School and Nursery near Midhurst, West Sussex, believes the benefits of outdoor work even for the smallest children are huge. She says: “Children can learn so much and have fun, too.
“Gardening involves lots of different activities, such as design of the garden and choice of what to plant, and it can be a good team or friendship building exercise, as they take turns to water plants and share the weeding. This is also a good way to learn responsibility.
“Gardening can also be a fantastic sensory experiment, handling dry earth or gloopy mud and even worms! It is a great way for children to naturally learn patience while they watch their produce grow.”
Ms Levitt adds that gardening is useful for stimulating creativity. “We get them thinking about the design of the layout and in terms of how seeds are planted – for example, neatly in rows or thrown into a pot…”
….Gardening for children is also closely linked to feelings of well-being.
Rodale’s Organic Life also has an article on this:
Gardens are magical, fun, and always full of surprises. Watch a child pull a carrot from the earth, brush off the soil, and take a bite, or see the anticipation in the eyes of a youngster creating a bouquet of flowers she grew. There is a natural magnetic attraction between children and the earth, whether it’s making mud or discovering a germinating seed emerge from the earth. Gardening with children, from toddlers to adolescents, opens new windows in a world dominated by technology.
Whether you are an accomplished gardener or a novice, gardening with children is your chance to partner with Mother Nature to make magic. Don’t worry about achieving horticultural perfection. Just dig in and grow something beautiful or good to eat. Your garden is your treasure chest; you and your young gardener—exploring together—can discover its priceless bounty for an afternoon’s delight or for a lifetime.
Memories last longer than one season.
Anyway, just wanted to point out teaching kids to garden is a good thing.
Now, to be safe click below for lists of poisonous and non-poisonous plants:
State Sen. Andy Dinniman. Photo from Sunday 2/18/2018 courtesy of Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety’s Facebook Page
About a month ago, I wrote a post about how I feel about the pipelines tearing up Chester County. The post was titled not our pipeline.
I am thinking not our pipeline needs to be a blog category.
Why?
Chester County is under siege from gas pipelines and Sunoco Logistics/Mariner East has proven these companies don’t care about anything other than their profits, etcetera right?
And how can we say the companies are safe? Given the sinkholes, polluted wells, explosion fears and more?
Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety photo
In 2017 Chester County had a multitude of polluted wells, sinkholes, and other issues from pipeline projects. They all do that horizontal or slanted drilling and it’s being done next to firehouses, schools, too close to homes, correct? How is this all allowed again?
I am a cancer survivor. I am terrified of polluted wells. I am terrified of pipelines. They destroy our properties, have serious potential to lessen our property values, and here in Chester County we have a lot of limestone and other shifting kinds of soils that means we get sinkholes. (Remember that house that made the news because of one after pipeline drilling came to visit?)
And yes, there are people who are strangely OK with pipelines on their properties. That is their right. But if you look at it from a purely practical financial perspective, are they even adequately compensated for their land? Are they not only given a small one time paltry fee and is it not true that for subsequent pipeline owners, they don’t have to pay the land owner if new pipeline owners come in? It’s not like any affected land owners get annual compensation is there?
So economically speaking, is it ever worth it to let these gas pipeline leeches on your property? I don’t think so. To me it’s like having perpetual squatters who can cause explosions, pollute your wells, etc.
For the initial not our pipeline post I received positive comments, supportive comments, and threatening comments. To those who disagree with me I say simply: First Amendment. They haven’t repealed that yet in Washington.
The company is one I am not familiar with called Adephia. And they are going to be sailing through Chester County PA and places like East Whiteland and East Goshen Townships because they are acquiring the old Interstate Energy pipeline. (If I am reading the map correctly – plug your address in here on the Pipeline Information Center Mapping Application.
(Yes that handy interactive map can tell you where the pipelines are. I have friends who are NOT buying a house in a certain Chester County location because of the proximity of a pipeline to a property they were interested in.)
The buyer of an 84-mile, 250,000-cubic-foot capacity pipeline in the Philadelphia area plans to convert the pipeline from oil to natural gas, adding new compression and valve stations to move fuel to its Marcus Hook, Pa., destination.
Adelphia Gateway, which said in November it was buying the pipeline for $189 million from Talen Energy, filed its 1,285-page application last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Adelphia, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, announced the filing late Monday, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported…..Adelphia Gateway plans to convert the southern 50-mile portion of the line, which formerly carried oil but has been idle since 2014, to transport gas southward to customers in the state’s counties of Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware.
So these companies all seem to say this is for our benefit until we the people discover it’s not?
According to Bloomberg, New Jersey Resources is in Wall, NJ and Mr. Downes compensation as of end of 2016 was $4,875,320 and here is his bio:
Mr. Laurence M. Downes has been the Chairman of the Board of New Jersey Resources Corporation since September 1996 and has been its President and Chief Executive Officer since July 1995. Mr. Downes serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of New Jersey Natural Gas, NJR Clean Energy Ventures, NJR Energy Services, NJR Midstream and NJR Service Corporation. He has been a Director at New Jersey Resources Corporation since 1995 and Energen Corporation since May 2017. He serves as the Chairman of John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development’s National Advisory Board and Member of National Petroleum Council. Mr. Downes is a Director of the American Gas Association, Trustee of the American Gas Foundation, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Mr. Downes provides the Board with strong leadership and direction and a considerable amount of experience.He served as a Director of Questar Corporation from 2010 to September 2016. Mr. Downe has extensive knowledge of the energy industry, experience as the leader of the Company and innovative thinking. Mr. Downes’ board positions at other natural gas and energy-focused organizations have positioned him to bring experience and industry knowledge to his position as Chairman of the Board.Mr. Downes’ years of service on the Board, he has developed extensive knowledge in the areas of leadership, strategy, safety, risk oversight, management and corporate governance, each of which provides great value to the Board. He served as Chairman of the American Gas Association, Trustee of the American Gas Foundation. Mr. Downes is a Graduate of Iona College with B.B.A. in Finance and M.B.A.
Remind me again how Chester County residents are “compensated” for pipelines?
Interstate Energy Company (a subsidiary of Talen Energy) was acquired by New Jersey Resources’ Adelphia Gateway, LLC in November of 2017. As a result, the Interstate Energy Company content has been migrated to Adelphia Gateway, LLC’s website. Visit Website
The Adelphia Gateway Project, traversing portions of Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Northampton counties will convert the remaining 50 miles of an existing 84-mile pipeline in southeastern Pennsylvania from oil to natural gas delivery. The northern 34 miles of the pipeline — extending from western Bucks County to Martins Creek Terminal in Northampton County — were converted to deliver natural gas in 1996. This project will repurpose the southern 50-mile portion of the pipeline to flow natural gas utilizing existing infrastructure and will require minimal new construction. Once converted, the pipeline will transport approximately 91 million dekatherms per year of natural gas to the greater Philadelphia market.
When in service, the pipeline conversion from oil to natural gas will give customers in the greater Philadelphia area a new, “competitively-priced” source of natural gas. Adelphia Gateway intends to have delivery interconnects with local distribution companies (LDCs) and other industrial end users, such as natural gas-powered electric generation facilities, in various locations along the pipeline route.
A full project description and mapping can be viewed at the following links:
Adelphia Gateway, LLC applies to FERC for Certificate of Public Convenience
January 23, 2018 — Adelphia Gateway, LLC (Adelphia) filed an application for Adelphia Gateway Project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a certificate authority to acquire and convert certain existing pipeline and auxiliary facilities, to construct additional auxiliary facilities, and to own and operate the existing and new facilities as an interstate natural gas pipeline system. View Letter
You can also view Adelphia’s application on the FERC website. Select the eLibrary link from the left hand side (green and white image of a computer mouse), select eLibrary from the left column, and then use the “general search” for the Adelphia Gateway Project, and enter Docket Number CP18-46. You can also find information on the proposed project on the company’s website. Contact information listed for the project is 800-843-3179 or info@adelphiagateway.com.
Editor’s Note: A portion of the Adelphia pipeline passes through Lower Saucon Township.
…In an age of so many renewable and sustainable energy alternatives is it still necessary to entertain such dangerous energy enterprises as reactivating defunct pipelines? Living in the impact zone of a natural gas pipeline is no joke. Residents along the southern portion of the previously “deactivated” Interstate pipeline are in for a grave wake-up call.
The newly-named Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity on Jan. 11, 2018. This pipeline, previously the Interstate line held by Talen Generation LLC, has its own environmental impacts, risks and safety hazards, and in fact, has had anomalies occur in the recent past that have resulted in repairs to the line. Any campaign to diminish the negative impacts of this project only continues to compromise the health and safety of Pennsylvanians….Additionally, with the recent approval of the PennEast Pipeline’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, there is some discrepancy about the redundancy of projects, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order does make a record of the fact that “the expansion of existing pipeline systems was not a feasible alternative.” So, it’s interesting to find the Adelphia Gateway project submitted on the FERC docket within only a few weeks of FERC’s order granting PennEast permission to move forward with proceedings to condemn properties across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where many landowners have still refused to sign easement agreements with PennEast.
For more information please visit https://www.pipeinfo.org/adelphia. If you are concerned about the impacts of this project, please file a comment on the Federal Energy Regulatory Docket under Docket #CP18-46-000 at https://www.ferc.gov.
Adelphia Gateway plans to apply in early 2018 for project approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Operation of the existing line is regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and once conversion is complete it would be regulated by FERC…..Environmentalists are critical of the proposal. The New Jersey Sierra Club voiced concern about New Jersey Resources’ role as a member company in the PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC proposal to build a 36-inch-diameter line from the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County to Mercer County, New Jersey.
The buyer of an 84-mile pipeline encircling Philadelphia has disclosed detailed plans to convert the pipeline from oil to natural gas, saying the project would require several new compressor and valve stations to move fuel to its Marcus Hook destination.
Adelphia Gateway LLC, which announced in November it is buying the underused pipeline for $189 million from Talen Energy Corp., filed its 1,285-page applicationFriday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Adelphia, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, announced the filing late Monday.
We went to sleep to the almost silent patter of snow. I say almost silent, because when sleet is mixed in there is the little whoosh sound.
I woke in the middle of the night and went to the window to watch the stillness below. From the brightness of a snowy night, when everything has that unearthly sort of glow, I watched one of our foxes pad silently across the back garden. It was old fox, whose face is a good part white now. This fox looks like they are wearing a fur head warmer because there is a halo of fox red fur around their face, but their face now is whitened with age.
My husband laughs at me watching things in the still of the night in the back, but it’s like the woods come alive. Deer tiptoeing across the rear of the woods, along the back neighbor’s fence line. A trio of raccoons and even foxes eating the birdseed scattered on the ground for them.
A Midwinter Night’s Dream.
It’s lovely and almost lyrical as well as magical to watch. The sparkling new fallen snow and the woodland animals roaming in the night. On some nights like this if the young raccoons are out, they tumble and wrestle, enjoying the freedom of playing.
Day breaks and a pinkish orange glow grows upward as light and dawn creep in. Everything is still lush and quiet with the startling whiteness of the snow. Then dawn is gone and skies are blue. That is a whole other kind of beauty.
The luxury of open space means I look out to snow covered trees and branches and shrubs. Nature’s fine frosting. I hear the woodpeckers squabbling in the tall red oak. The mourning doves and cardinals flutter in first, followed by the other song birds.
Overhead, a hawk cries out.
This is morning in Chester County. This is what we need to preserve before developers and greedy corporate giants like Sunoco displace all of this loveliness. These are the moments individuals like the head of the Chester County Planning Commission does not get, because he hails from the land of infill development. Traffic noise and people squashed in like lemmings is his norm. He doesn’t live in Chester County, which I have always felt should be required. People like him do not get the simple joys of a snowy Chester County morning. Which, subsequently, is why we need more land and historic preservation, and less development.
It also makes me think of our Revolutionary War Soldiers. For them, a Chester County Winter wasn’t so pleasant I think. But you have to wonder, in the snow last night, did their ghosts traverse Crebilly in Westtown on silent maneuvers?
Or what about the old souls laid to rest at Ebenezer on Bacton Hill Road? What kind of winters did they see?
What did William Lockwood think when he looked out of the windows of Loch Aerie on a snowy night?
Or the fine people of Chester County’s now many historic villages? What did they see? Sugartown? Goshenville? Marshalton? St. Peter’s? Malvern? Other villages? Can’t you just hear the early morning clop, clop, clop of horses drawing carts on the old streets of West Chester and Kennett Square?
When we look out our windows at the snow in the evening, or the middle of the night, or at dawn and daybreak, who else has looked before us and what did they think?
This is probably the best home and garden tour I’ve ever taken. Different kinds of homes and gardens, all interesting. If you’re looking for inspiration in your own home garden this is the perfect opportunity to find inspiration. And I will note that a lot of these gardeners tend to their gardens themselves.
In the fall I love Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust’s Historic House Tour, and Chester County Hospital’s Chester County Day, but once spring is here? This is one of the things I can’t wait for!
This event raises money to fund the children’s programs and adult literacy programs as well.
Planning for this event starts in early fall when the committee selects a variety of homes and gardens in a particular area of southern Chester County.
The self- guided tour showcases unique homes representing a mix of styles from historic homes and estates to charming cottages to sleek modern residences. Gardens range from large, lush professionally maintained to pocket sized patches of brilliant flowers some with sculptural accents, from the simple, but endearing, to the elaborate and extravagant.
Every detail is attended to, leading to a beautiful, carefree day of explorations into homes and neighborhoods seldom seen by the public. Thanks to the generosity of homeowners, local merchants and artists and especially the visitors, over $600,000 has been raised since the tour’s inception. These funds have greatly enhanced and enriched the experiences and lives of Kennett Square area children.
If you have never made time for this tour, make 2018 your year to attend this event!
I will note for the record I purchase tickets for this event like any other attendee. I am not compensated in any way, shape, or form by the home and garden tour committee for suggesting this event to the general public. I suggest this event because it’s marvelous.
The photos I have posted are mine from one of their garden tours, and I asked permission before taking photos outside only.
Stay safe in the winter weather this evening and dream of spring! 😊
I visited my favorite grande dame in Frazer today. I had to make a stop at Home Depot, so I had to go say hello to Loch Aerie.
I did not go inside because I did not have permission, and as a matter of fact I stayed on the perimeter because it’s very muddy and I just wanted to see how the mansion looked.
Loch Aerie is looking happier. Seriously. Her new owners have accomplished so much already! This is an awesome adaptive reuse happening.
You will notice when you look at the picture of the rear that they did have to tear off that back sort of porch enclosure because it was, well, rotting. So I’m not surprised by that in the least.
Loch Aerie is going to be lovely when she is finished! I can’t wait!
25 years ago today. 
Then something happened that rarely happens in New York: Everything went eerily still and quiet. We looked up at what we first thought were snowflakes beginning to float and fall from the sky. After all, it was February. Then car alarms began to go off one by one like the cacophony of many distorted bells. The snowflakes, we soon discovered, were in reality, ashes.
Today I went to a very cool estate sale. It was on Lenape Road in West Chester. Not too far away from West Chester University.
Built in 1840, it was a very prosperous farm, as this was a very good sized farmhouse. It once, according to someone I asked, was acreage- wise quite large. It still sits on a lovely large plot of Chester County farmland, which is so awesome to see.
The older couple who lived there and their family are selling it to a young family who will love and restore the farmhouse and the property. It is so gratifying to learn of people who care enough to take on a gem like this! Historic preservation and open space preservation are so important and we aren’t seeing nearly enough of that in Chester County.
In December of 1858 the school board agreed to add a stove, and a month to the school year now making it five months. Although the school year was increased, the schoolmaster’s salary went down.
Common sense dictates a lot of this. Watch young children carefully when playing outdoors. Keep indoor plants safely out of the reach of children. Teach kids from a young age to ask an adult before eating or drinking anything. Don’t eat wild plants in front of little kids who will mimic you.
We went to sleep to the almost silent patter of snow. I say almost silent, because when sleet is mixed in there is the little whoosh sound.
My husband laughs at me watching things in the still of the night in the back, but it’s like the woods come alive. Deer tiptoeing across the rear of the woods, along the back neighbor’s fence line. A trio of raccoons and even foxes eating the birdseed scattered on the ground for them.
This is morning in Chester County. This is what we need to preserve before developers and greedy corporate giants like Sunoco displace all of this loveliness. These are the moments individuals like the head of the Chester County Planning Commission does not get, because he hails from the land of infill development. Traffic noise and people squashed in like lemmings is his norm. He doesn’t live in Chester County, which I have always felt should be required. People like him do not get the simple joys of a snowy Chester County morning. Which, subsequently, is why we need more land and historic preservation, and less development.
This event raises money to fund the children’s programs and adult literacy programs as well.
The self- guided tour showcases unique homes representing a mix of styles from historic homes and estates to charming cottages to sleek modern residences. Gardens range from large, lush professionally maintained to pocket sized patches of brilliant flowers some with sculptural accents, from the simple, but endearing, to the elaborate and extravagant.
