Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night, have a passing thought, go back to sleep? Well, my weird passing thought in the wee small hours overnight was I had not been to Baldwin’s Book Barn on Lenape Road in literally about 20 years!
I am and always have been a bibliophile. A bookworm. A book hoarder. I love my books. They have moved with me thoughout my life. Even books from my childhood. Books from my parents. Cookbooks. History books. Gardening books. Fiction by Laura Ingalls Wilder to Daphne DuMaurier to Elizabeth Goudge to Marguerite de Angeli to Dickens to Robert Frost and the list goes on. I married another bibliophile. We love out books and they are all over the house in various bookshelves.
Growing up I loved the book store at Bryn Mawr College known as The Owl. The college disbanded the beloved Owl years ago to make way for progress. There is still The Title Page in Bryn Mawr (which was started originally by ladies who were at The Owl), and that is amazing, but for those of us in Chetser County, and book nuts in general, there is nothing like Baldwin’s Book Barn. Nothing.
And yes, when I popped awake in the middle of the night last night, my mind was on a big stone barn full of books…Baldwin’s Book Barn. What’s not to love? A giant Chester County stone barn built in 1822 filled to the rafters with books? Used books, out of print books, rare books, fun books, paperback books, bags of specially priced books….it’s book Nirvana…and it’s Chester County tradition.
William and Lilla Baldwin established their used book and collectible business in 1934 in nearby Wilmington, DE. In 1946 they moved to “The Barn”. The old milking house was converted into a residence for the Baldwin Family and the stone barn became the bookshop and for some years, a country store museum. We are located deep in the heart of the enchanting and historical Brandywine Valley. Baldwin’s Book Barn is one of America’s truly distinctive bookstores. Step inside and you are transported to another time and place. Today, our store is stuffed to the rafters with a treasure trove of 300,000 used and rare books, manuscripts, maps as well as fine paintings, prints, estate antiques, and other valued collectibles.
Store Hours: 10AM – 6PM Every Day Except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day Baldwin’s Book Barn 865 Lenape Road, West Chester, PA 19382 Phone: 610-696-0816 E-mail: info@bookbarn.com
So when I woke up woke up this morning and my husband asked what else I would like to do today, I said “let’s go to Baldwin’s Book Barn.” So to the Book Barn we went. And it was like visiting a fondly remembered old friend.
Ahhh the smell of books greets you still even with the door just cracked!!! And the door still creaked the same was going in. Still the same smell of woodstove fires. And still the same floor to ceiling books! I will note they still have a terrific Wyeth section and Chester County section.
We went from bottom to top, top to bottom. I bought a couple of cookbooks. It is nice that some things remain the same in this life.
I will note as an aside as I overheard this, that they could use firewood for their woodstove cut to 14″ or 15″ lengths if you can GIVE them any. There are enough woodstove folks in Chester County and so many people with firewood, how about paying it forward a little?
Here are some photos I took. I will note with amusement that I never knew Paris Hilton wrote a book. I had a lovely time and won’t wait 20 years to go back. Go buy a book!
I rarely do a retail rave. But I have discovered this boot manufacturer out of Austin, Texas called Tecova.
I love boots but I don’t wear high boots as in just below my knee, I like shorter boots and booties. I also don’t do much of a boot heel. I will note Tecova makes all heights of boots. They are beautiful western boots, not overdone in the least. Simple, handmade, classic for men and women and they also make a couple of weekended duffel bags and beautiful leather belts.
They popped up on Instagram and I clicked through to their website. I have been looking for boots that actually fit my feet properly. And as anyone knows who tries to buy boots, it can be a problem.
I chose a classic simple black bootie called “The Penny”. I ordered a half size up from my normal shoe size, because every time I buy boots I have to go a little bigger much like with heels.
These boots fit like they were hand made for me. They fit like boots that should be easily many times over what I paid for them. (I will admit one of the enticements to me was the boot that I wanted was on sale.)
These boots fit perfectly in the heel which is a problem I always have with any shoe because I have a narrow heel. When I was younger my feet were a true narrow width, and now they are more of a regular width , but my heels are still quite narrow.
The boots are buttery soft leather and they are made in Leon, Mexico and sold through this company in Austin,Texas. They have beautiful leather soles and a chestnut brown heel. I could wear these out with jeans, or dress them up truthfully. They are that attractive a boot.
I tend to choose western boots over others because ever since my knee surgery and a couple of bad ankle sprains, heels are not my friend so I have to be careful on the shoes and boots I choose. But I’m not ready for orthopedic shoes just yet. I’m half- Italian so I remember the orthopedic lace up oxfords on little old Italian ladies when I was growing up!
As per their website, company founder Paul and his partners I assume we’re tired of the exorbitant prices for leather western/cowboy boots. And also a lot of them are so extreme in design that they don’t have broad appeal. I am sure they also ran into fit issues, which is always a problem with me with boots, until now.
Another thing about this company is they only sell direct to the consumer. These aren’t a boot you are going to find in every mall or boot store across the country.
Anyway, as always I have not been compensated for my opinion. I bought a pair of boots and they are just amazing. And again they are classic and beautiful and buttery soft fine leather.
Just a couple of photos now… there will be more later…
It was a fabulous day but the poor twisty country roads were no match for some of the “tourists” from other areas. The driving on some of the roads was a bit insane, complete with beeping like it was Broad and Shunk or something.
I think the earth just moved. Yesterday Judge Mark L. Tunnell DENIED Toll Brothers conditional use appeal. Victory goes to Westtown Township and Neighbors For Crebilly Inc. It is so good when you see a municipality fight for their residents because so many don’t or won’t. Neighbors for Crebilly assumed risk when taking party status, and Vince and Elizabeth Moro and their team have worked very hard.
And a hat tip to my friend Mindy Rhodes of Crebilly Farm Friends is in order for her passion and dedication to this as well. I know full well the reality of how an issue like this just sucks up your life and time. Mindy started the rallying of the people from horseback, distributing meeting information like a modern day Boadicea.
A long overdue post prompted by amazing customer service even after I had long since left Bermuda. In July, we were in Bermuda. One of the places I visited was the Royal Dockyard at King’s Wharf Bermuda because that is where our ship docked.
Two of my favorite places in Bermuda were the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard and the Bermuda Craft Market. Located in Dockyard and very close together (the Craft Market is in the old Cooperage building and the Art Centre in a neighboring building close to it. And if you go, also make time for one of the oldest pubs right there at the Cooperage called the Frog & Onion Pub. They do delicious old school fish and chips served the proper British way and have quite the beer selection as well as some of the nicest t-shirts you can purchase as a tourist.
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The Arts Centre has a lovely book section as well as absolutely amazing plein air paintings for sale. If you are a fan of the plein air style you won’t be disappointed. I especially liked the art of Michelle Smith, Christopher Marson, Heidi Cowan, and Christopher Grimes.
Now onto the excellent customer service. When I was in the Craft Market buying some things to bring home (sherry pepper sauce and beach glass earrings from Morrell Designs) their Internet had a blip – Bermuda is an island in the middle of a rather large ocean, right? So my purchases were doubled.
The Craft Market corrected their mistake immediately and last week took the time to call me to make sure the doubled charges had dropped off my credit card statement as it had on their bank reconciliation report. I was there mid-July. That is amazing customer service when people take the time to call over one month later just to be sure.
Not to be overlooked, but Craft Market is also home to a cigar roller named Grant and the Bermuda Cigar Company.
Another place to visit for local crafts would be the Dockyard Glass Works. They have some predictable tourist stuff, yes, but also some amazing glass orbs and vases and things. They also make these feathery light glass snowflakes for your Christmas tree.
This was a relatively short trip to Bermuda, courtesy of a cruise ship, so I will have to hope to go back at some point in the future to explore more. But because I like supporting local artists and craftspeople I wanted to make sure I posted about these places.
I was not compensated in any way for this post, nor did I receive special treatment as a tourist. These are places I discovered on my own along with the National Museum of Bermuda which is also right there in Dockyard. Enjoy the photo sets. The photos at the bottom are of the National Museum and the old fort. It was super cool to explore.
Thanks for rambling briefly to Bermuda this morning!
Imagine it as the tour guides knew it growing up: a little village of charming gardens and close knit neighbors. Children running on summer days from house to house, picking fruit where they knew it to be growing (berries, black cherries, apples, peaches).
A bull in a fenced in orchard named “bossy”.’
Double daring each other to be on top of the bridge when the locomotive went under.
Walking to school in the snow.
Hoboes arriving each summer via the freight train cars and their mother would set up a card table, feed them, and tell them about God.
The old lady across the street who gave them birthday cards and made them sweet treats.
This was Fricks Locks.
And then…they were all told to leave. Progress was at their door.
The Girard Reach of Schuylkill Canal was constructed circa carry coal from the Anthracitic region to markets in Reading and Philadelphia. The two Locks 54 and 55 were constructed in the village to provide a lift of 18 feet. To guide traffic, a canal right-of-way,towpath, canal basin and aqueduct were constructed. A lock tender’s residence was also built on site. The small village— comprised of vernacular Federal style residential properties,agricultural properties, and retail structures—expanded to support
the booming transportation route. The extant Canal features and many of the associated properties contribute to the Fricks Lock National Register Historic District.
Today a friend of mine and I made the pilgrimage to the other side of the county from us, to East Coventry to go on a Fricks Locks tour. The tours run in pleasant weather months and will be open Saturdays in early fall — September 8th and 22nd, October 13th and 27th. The tour times are 10 am, 11:15 am, 12:30 pm. If they have to cancel, it is posted on the East Coventry website after 12 noon on the Friday prior to the scheduled tour.
Today we were joined by a little fawn I hope doesn’t get locked in the village without it’s mama:
Lee Ann Embrey photo
The volunteer tour guides are a bit strict, and slightly inflexible at times. And although you ‘may take photographs’ you aren’t allowed to stop and are instructed to keep moving. I mean REALLY instructed to keep moving. You also may not deviate from the path or go on the grass except where they expressly tell you to. And if you aren’t keeping up and are trying to get that perfect photo, be warned, you will be scolded. One of the guides in particular reminded me of an old fashioned school librarian watching her watch, and tour takers for infractions. The hideous and destructive spotted lantern flies were allowed wherever they pleased, however.
Although I see Fricks Locks videos all over You Tube, you are not allowed to take videos. That was a real bummer because the history of the village we learned on the tour was super interesting and it would have helped to have been able to record it.
The Limerick Power Plant looms in the background the entire tour it is that close. However, we were told repeatedly that it and the old train station which is now some grungy warehouse property was not part of the tour. I beg to differ for the simple fact that they are very much part of the history.
It is this crazy feeling as you drive down Fricks Locks Road off of Sanatoga Road. All of a sudden, while following the signs to Fricks Locks, there you are facing an abandoned village frozen in time.
As you stare at the houses and structures, in your mind’s eye (or maybe just my vivid imagination) I could swear as the tour guides spoke, I could hear the distant sounds of life as it once was in this sleepy little village.
While some buildings date from the American Revolutionary War era, the village name was a result of the “Schuylkill Navigation” canal. The canal required construction, in the early 1820s, of a set of locks at that point along the Schuylkill River.
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Locks #54 and #55 were built on farmland acquired from John Frick and the village became known as Frick’s Locks/Fricks Locks. The village thrived due to the economic stimulus of the canal. Eventually the commercial canal traffic declined toward the turn of the century and gave way to the railroad.
Fricks Locks had become the singular Frick’s Lock after the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad arrived and built a station with the latter name. The canal was filled in starting in 1942. While the railroad eventually declined after Conrail was formed on April 1, 1976, the village remained inhabited until near the end of the 20th century.
In the 1960s, the then Philadelphia Electric Company began Limerick Nuclear Power Station immediately across the river from Frick’s Lock. The station went on line in 1985.
PECO acquired all the land around the station site, which included Fricks Locks. There are possibly conflicting stories as to how the residents were bought out and relocated. All of the buildings were vacated and simply boarded up.
Fricks Locks was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 2003. In February 2011, East Coventry Township partnered with Exelon Corporation to preserve and protect the historic site. A lot of this preservation occurred because of a gentleman named Paul S. Frick who died in 2014. I will also note that State Senator Andy Dinniman has been instrumental in getting the preservation of this very cool place this far.
Before European settlement, the lands of Fricks Locks Village were rolling hills covered primarily with mature woodlands of white and black oak, hickory and chestnut trees. The level lands were mainly floodplain areas extending along the Schuylkill River. The Schuylkill River was reported as having an abundant supply of herring, sturgeon and shad. The Lenni Lenape Indians of the Delaware tribe inhabited the region and trapped beaver along the river for their pelts as a valuable trading product. The advent of change in land use can be attributed to King Charles II of England awarding the lands of the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to William Penn in 1682.
The lands of Fricks Locks Village were additions to the neighboring Grumbacher farm in land grant parcels and land purchases of 1749 and 1764. The original 117 acres of the Grumbacher farm consisted of a long narrow parcel, located to the southeast of the two parcels that contained the village area. The lands were primarily agricultural served by the river and the wagon road (theorized as the Old Schuylkill Road alignments). Historical records indicated that farmsteads usually kept a portion of their property as woodlot. Historic tax records indicate the extent of lands, buildings and livestock of the property.
The first known building in the Frick Locks Village district was the 1757 farmhouse built by the Grumbacher-Engel household on the 119-acre parcel, purchased in 1749. Presumably a barn and outbuildings were also constructed at this time. Access to this residence was presumably from the Old Schuylkill Road via a primitive dirt road eventually becoming the alignment of Fricks Locks Road.
John Frick married Catherine Grumbacher in 1781. And shortly thereafter they moved to the Gruambacher property. Through marriage and bequethment upon the death of Catharina Grumbacher-Engel, John Frick acquired the lands of the future Village. John Frick died in 1822, three years before the canal system was completed and open to travel.
The Schuylkill Navigation Company was chartered in 1815 following the March 8th authorization by the Pennsylvania Legislature to “incorporate a company to make a lock navigation on the river Schuylkill”. Roads were rough and primitive during this era and open river navigation was plagued by falls, shallow areas, and fishermen’s weirs. The Schuylkill River navigation canal was originally intended to bring anthracite coal from the deposits above Pottsville into Philadelphia.
After a ten-year construction period, the navigation system was completed for approximately 110 miles and at a cost of about three million dollars. The entire system was composed of 63 miles of canals with 34 dams and 109 locks. The section of canal through Fricks Locks Village was located about 100 feet north of the 1757 farmhouse. The double lock was located about 250 feet west of the farmhouse. The canal contributed to the growth of Fricks Locks Village as it did with all its stopover points and trading locations.
John Frick’s heirs chose to see his lands at a public auction in the spring of 1826. Jacob Frick, the eldest son purchased a portion of those lands that contained the village district. Upon his death in 1852, the village district was divided among different heirs. Over the next hundred years, the immediate area of the Village had minor “improvements” added, mostly associated with the owner’s farming operations.
In 1832, the depth and width of the canals were increased to accommodate larger boats. (The original canal dimensions had not been followed per specifications.) The new supply of coal enabled more industrial operations along the river. The coal cost seven dollars a ton and was the cheapest fuel available. Canal boats could carry up to 80 tons of coals. The locks in Fricks Locks were an important stopping place in the areas. The village hosted a “convenience” store that stayed open 24 hours a day to supply the needs of the boatmen. Passengers on packet boats stopped in Fricks Locks to go ashore for dinner or stay overnight for a stagecoach connection. The Village became an important trade center. In 1849, a covered toll bridge, the Lawrenceville Bridge, was the area’s first dry crossing of the river. This improved connection (competing with the ferry service) to Montgomery County increased the trading opportunities and growth associated with the canal and the Village.
In the 1880s, the Pennsylvania Railroad located a station in Fricks Locks and the US government established a Fricks Locks post office in the 1890s.
The canal was drained and closed permanently sometime in the mid 1920s. Improved railroad service, better roadways and trolley systems contributed to the demise of the canal by providing faster, smoother and more efficient transportation services. Without the vitality of the canal stopover/trading function, the importance of Fricks Locks Village changed to isolated farming activities.
In 1969 and 1970, PECO obtained the separate parcels that encompassed the current Fricks Locks Village area as part of their property acquisition under federal regulations for nuclear generating stations. At the time of property acquisition, most of the buildings were boarded up and vacated. The federal regulations governing the operations of a nuclear generating station exclude certain uses (including residential) within a 2,500 foot radius of the nuclear facility. The recombination of parcels under single ownership along with restrictions on possible residential use and desirable land use has contributed significantly to preserving the integrity of the Fricks Locks historic area. Its isolation from major roadway and new development affords the potential to present a highly unique example of an extant canal-ear village in context with the agricultural activities of the Schuylkill River corridors’ past history.
Here are some old Fricks Locks photos I found mostly on Pinterest:
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Here is a video from You Tube of a 1941 train accident at Fricks Locks:
I had heard about this place but today was my first time visiting. A recent Philadelphia Inquirer article brought the village to life and made me want to visit.
I will note that a problem here has been trespassing and vandalism over the years. The local police can and will arrest you. (Read about one account here.) People, there are tours. It is being preserved. Take a tour. Don’t be a tool and trespass. Respect the efforts of the folks trying to preserve this place.
We loved our time in this historic village today. It was fascinating. It was also so oddly almost unnaturally still. I wonder what all of the people who once called this place home over the course of time would think now?
I hope that the restoration continues. I hope they will bring school tours in. It is not suitable for small children in my opinion, but older kids should be fine.
I wonder. I wonder if where some of us call home today, will end up like Fricks Locks tomorrow abandoned and all but forgotten for whatever reason?
If you go…bring bug spray. Wear a hat. Bring water. Wear closed toe shoes. I saw flip flops today even on some of the guides and this is definitely a closed-toe tour.
Imagine it as the tour guides knew it growing up: a little village of charming gardens and close knit neighbors. Children running on summer days from house to house, picking fruit where they knew it to be growing (berries, black cherries, apples, peaches).
This was Fricks Locks.
The Limerick Power Plant looms in the background the entire tour it is that close. However, we were told repeatedly that it and the old train station which is now some grungy warehouse property was not part of the tour. I beg to differ for the simple fact that they are very much part of the history.
