Monthly Archives: March 2020

the mystery of the rotting old country house on dorlan mill road, downingtown

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Reader submitted photo – more recent



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Reader submitted photo from early 2000s when it was still lived in

 

I am completely out of my depth here. I do recall going past this abandoned farmhouse on Dorlan Mill Road.

I am told this house was owned by James and Elizabeth Dorlan who owned the neighboring paper mill. I think I took photos of this once upon a time myself but I can’t find them

I’m not sure what township this is in. It’s Downingtown and when you look at maps it looks like Upper Uwchlan. The address is 770 Dorlan Mill Road. Is it historically listed anywhere? Or is it just significant due to the family that owned the paper mill?

So this is near Struble Trail? It says so on Chesco Views.

Everyone keeps asking me what the deal is with this old house. People had hoped it would be preserved and become something like a nice little B&B or even a single-family home. But it’s just rotting isn’t it? I seem to recall a few years ago this location being in the paper. And people being upset. (See this old Marsh Creek Forum post)

So who knows what, including history of the area right there? Please leave a comment!

morgantown and beyond

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Morgantown is in Berks County. It flows into Lancaster County.

And a tacky casino is coming to Morgantown. And a Super Wawa…across from a Turkey Hill on 23 just at the Berks and Lancaster County line.

Change is coming and I don’t think it’s good. I think the casino is a mistake and I also think no one really cared what residents which included generations of Amish and Mennonite farmers think. I think the state is completely disrespectful here. I think it’s going to bring more problems in the long run.



And no I don’t like casinos. Any of them. And Penn National? They are doing the Morgantown Casino and how about their former director of benefits who had a penchant for stealing?



I think small towns like this are at risk all over the state. Farming communities too.

But does anyone care?

more stupid human tricks

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Canadian Geese.  We have a love hate relationship with them.  They can be dirty birds and they will defend their nests and CAN pick odd unexpected places to nest.

BUT.

They are wildlife. You can read about them on the Pennsylvania Game Commission Website.

Canadian Geese mate for life. In Pennsylvania we have migratory and non-migratory populations.

58922_157217640957862_2520117_nPeople get all pissy about them on their properties.  So they buy those metal predator cut-outs. And wonder why they don’t work. Ummm maybe they should occasionaly MOVE them around?  I see these cut-outs at Immaculata and they have never moved since they were put up…which is why you can see the geese right next to them.

Today on NextDoor a thread popped up.  About geese and they are off and running (only sharing this much):

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They are talking about East Goshen Township in this thread.  Yes this stuff – goose birth control – exists.  But if the wrong or grossly uneducated try to use this do you all think it will affect JUST geese?  If this were an alternative it would have to be very specifically administered, not just tossed out onto fields by crews cutting fields in parks.

But because it is NextDoor and most of the people on NextDoor seem to think no one else sees their crazy (which is why I blotted out the names of those commenting), these comments popped up:

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Ok can I be horrified now? First the whole Vaseline of it all, and oh hell you deserve to be pecked and attacked if you do that.  Secondly the profoundly disturbing pronouncement of someone witnessing “township officials” pour oil on wild goose eggs at some spot at Route 3 and 252.  This is cruel and inhumane on ALL counts.

If this is true at Route 3 and 252, which municipality is this?  Marple? And would they REALLY do that?  I actually e-mailed the township to ask.  Don’t know that they will reply. But I am hoping this is just some thing that DOESN’T actually happen.

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An easy way to manage them is to let humans who train field dogs clear the fields of geese.  They used to do that down at Haverford College years ago. And plenty of places employ the services of those who remove the poop.

No solution is perfect but hey don’t we live in Chester County at least partially for the nature? Open space (what’s left of it) etc?

Anyway, the cruelty of humans combined with stupidity is always a dangerous combination, isn’t it?

 

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the joseph price house in exton is in really bad shape.

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Yes again, I am writing about the Joseph Price house in West Whiteland Township. It’s really starting to deteriorate badly in my opinion. (And I say that from observing it across the street today- I have not been invited to be on the property so I would not presume.)

This house is on S.Whitford and Clover Mill Roads in Exton. The Joseph Price House in West Whiteland Township.

(Here is a wonderful little slide show presentation on prezi. )

This house is historically listed. It was built in 1878 and altered in 1894 by the house namesake inhabitant at the time. It was altered from a Gothic style to a Queen Anne style.

I was also told in the 1990s it was separate apartments inside and there were also cottages around it which were rented out as well.

In the 1950s and 60s there was a large barn there that was a sale barn for cattle run by Bayard Taylor —a blog reader told me that. He knew because his mother did bookkeeping for that business while she was in college.

This house is not completely deserted I am told there is still a caretaker who still lives there. However, this house has an uncertain future at best and nobody seems to know what will happen to it. Which is a shame because it’s very cool.

There are so many amazing houses like this throughout Chester County from all eras of time.

I am told the house is owned by two people in Ambler. Chesco Views confirmed that today.

This afternoon I had some time so I pulled into the business parking lot across the road on Clover Mill Road. I took some photos from across the road and I just looked at the house. It has been historically listed since the 1980s. And yes I know I’m being repetitive, but it just blows my mind that these gorgeous houses that are historically listed not just locally but nationally rot like this.

Things are just crumbling and the property also seems to be quite the haven for dead car bodies.

Truly (and sadly), the house is becoming so decrepit, more decrepit. I really wish these owners would sell to somebody who could restore it.

It is just so crazy to me, as this could be the most fabulous property. It’s big enough and there is enough land left that it could be a great restaurant or even a boutique bed-and-breakfast which is not a stretch considering there is one up the road from it on South Whitford – the Duling-Kurtz House and Country Inn.

Anyway, I continue to be obsessed by this property which is not for sale. It’s just that this is a historically listed property (since 9/6/1984) and is this demolition by neglect? I really hope someone will save this place.

#thisplacematters