Tag Archives: chester springs

grist for the mill

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A really cool place in Chester County is the Anselma Mill.  As per their history on their website:

The Mill at Anselma is an   extraordinary artifact of 260 years of Chester County’s industrial heritage. The Mill   stands as the most intact, authentic example of a custom water-powered grain   mill in the United   States and has been so honored by the U.S.   Department of Interior as a National Historic Landmark.

The Mill illustrates the   impact of changing technology on the milling industry over the course of three   centuries and celebrates Chester   County’s role as the breadbasket of   colonial America.

Totally cool – it is close to the Village of historic Yellow Springs at 1730 Conestoga Road in Chester Springs and they have a farmer’s market (at the mill every Wednesday from 2pm-6pm).  I did not know until today that I could actually buy flour from them, and to me that is very cool!  I can’t wait to check out the mill some day soon!

The Mill at Anselma has a fundraiser coming up I thought I would post because I for one would like to attend, and I think it sounds like fun. It would be *helpful* if one knew how much this fundraiser was going to cost to attend, but anyway:

Save the Date for The Mill’s 10th Annual

Fall Party and Auction

On Saturday, September 22, 2012, The Mill at Anselma will hold its tenth annual fundraising party and auction. The auction provides continuing support for the educational programs and ongoing preservation of The Mill, a National Historic Landmark.

The fundraiser will be held for the first time at the working grist mill located in Chester Springs. Come and join us for a beautiful evening in and among the historic buildings and landscape of The Mill. The event is from 5:30-9:30pm and features both a silent and live auction. A light dinner, cocktails, and beverages are included.
For more details and to purchase tickets, please contact us at 610.827.1906 or visit us at www.anselmamill.org.

historic yellow springs…additional thoughts

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I wrote a post recently about Historic Yellow Springs Village looking like a dust bowl run down ghost town.

I keep receiving comments.  Like for example:

You ask  the questions that many  wonder about.  Join the HYS Board, and continue to ask these good questions. They need you.

Uhh no.  My role is one of provocateur.  I am someone who admires the village.  So I blogged about it. I photographed it. I visit it.  The village has a board that should be doing more and can do more.  If they are unwilling to do so, they should move on.  But to be on the board of Historic Yellow Springs I would have to have the time to commit and  the coin to donate in the degree they need in that village desperately.  I do not right now, plus I also have not decided where exactly I want to volunteer in Chester County.   And if you want to consider thinking about this in a different way, my taking the time to write about the plight of Historic Yellow Springs Village and photograph it  is like volunteer work.

Now I did have a nice exchange back and forth with the new-ish Executive Director Eileen McMonagle.  She has the heart and the smarts but she is not an island of one.

One thing she wrote to me, I would like to share:

I read that you feel  the village is falling apart.  Sadly many of the historic sites in our area are struggling because there is no funding on the federal, state or local level.  HYS however has been blessed with a great group of volunteers and members who are working hard to turn the village around. As with all major projects, everything cannot be done at once.

 

I still say her board needs to step up.  I also think they need to cross pollinate with other preservation boards, and consider the other amazing people they have living close if not in  the Historic Village of Yellow Springs who want to see the village survive and thrive.  As in Chester Springs people.  Maybe they aren’t people who have been there for decades or centuries, but sometimes you need fresh blood.  And I can think of a few people right off the bat.  But it is not my job to find people to help this board and village.  They have the tools and creativity to do it themselves.

And they have a very cool art show starting August 2nd that runs through August 31st.  It is a weekend thing or by appointment during the week:

Historic Yellow Springs Presents :

The Lost Generation of Pennsylvania Impressionists

 

When: August 2nd through August 31st 2012

Where: First Floor Lincoln Galleries, Historic Yellow Springs, Chester Springs, PA

Open: Opening Thursday August 2nd at 5:30 as part of Chester County’s Town Tour.  Gallery is open weekends Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 12-4.  Weekdays open by request.

Cost: FREE

Historic Yellow Springs (HYS) will be hosting a diverse collection of work by talented students who attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) Country School from 1917 to 1952.  The PAFA Country School is now the village of Historic Yellow Springs, Chester Springs, PA.

The beautiful landscape of Yellow Springs prompted then PAFA president John Fredrick Lewis to open a summer school for artists at the turn of the last century. The Country School provided the much needed en plein air (in the open air) style of art training to these already accomplished Academy artists. The foundation of the PAFA Country School’s teaching philosophy was the 19th century French Impressionist movement. The magnificent grounds and scenery of the Country School attracted some of the area’s best art instructors and students, including Daniel Garber, N.C, Wyeth, Albert Laessle, Roswell Weidner and Albert Van Nesse Greene. In addition to landscapes, Country School artists were educated in portraiture and sculpture.

The artwork is from Historic Yellow Springs’ own archives and various private collections. Many have not been seen in over a decade.  The collection of artwork features work by well known artists who attended the Country School such as Darce Boulton, Lucus Crowell, Albert Van Nesse Greene, Roy C. Nuse, Francis Speight, Dorcas Kunzie Weidner, Roswell Weidner and Paul Wescott.  A number of the works were saved from destruction by Country School instructors Dorcas Kunzie Weidner and Roswell Weidner.

About Historic Yellow Springs: Historic Yellow Springs (HYS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 and dedicated to the visual arts, the environment, and the village’s  300-year old history. The mission of Historic Yellow Springs is to share, preserve, and celebrate the unique living village of Yellow Springs. Focusing on the visual arts, history and the environment, HYS enriches the lives of all who come here.

 

And if you know anyone on the board of Historic Yellow Springs get them to get those trails in order.  Those springs made the village, and people still want to see them! And right now you really can’t.  Things are too overgrown.

 

the historic village of yellow springs is falling apart.

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I do not want to upset anyone. Or deliberately offend any volunteers.  But Historic Yellow Springs Village is falling apart. And there was a lot of activity not so many years ago.  I know Congressman Jim Gerlach got money for the village around 2009. And he honored the village around then too.

Not to be blunt, but WHAT HAPPENED?

Take for example, what is known as “Vaughn House”.  It is at the end of the village right before the West Pikeland Township Building.

It had a fire at least two years ago.  I have been digging around on the Internet and in 2009 I found a reference in some West Pikeland report:

K.  H istoric Yellow Springs Vaughn House – Mrs. Matthews reportedthat the Township has not received a response from Historic Yellow  Springs regarding the current status of repairs needed to the  abandoned Vaughn House. A discussion ensued regarding the need   to have the property secured by fencing to assure public safety.

Maurie Kring offered to allow Historic Yellow Springs to use fencing from his recent demolition. The Township Public Works  employee will transport the fence for Historic Yellow Springs.

Then I saw this report which mentions it:

February 12, 2010.

1.Mr. Ross stated he has spoken to Prudence Haines, Director of Historic Yellow Springs in regards to the fire damaged Vaughn House. Ms. Haines informed Mr. Ross that Historic Yellow Springs has secured the facility and does not have funds for maintenance and repair and would consider selling the property.

Then I find another reference from June of this year, 2012:

PERSONS WISHING TO BE HEARD

Barbara Miller of Art School Road stated that she has observed two properties damaged by fire; one being the Vaughn House owned by Historic Yellow Springs and the other a private home located in the eastern most portion of the village. Ms. Miller stated that the properties are blighted and are unattractive and asked if they were going to be repaired. The Board informed Ms. Miller that the private home has been sold and is plans are presently being made for renovation. Eileen McMonagle of Historic Yellow Springs was present and stated that Historic Yellow Springs is currently working on a solution to restore the property.

I dug a little more and this is what Historic Yellow Springs has to say on it’s website today even as Vaughn house is all boarded up and half covered by tarps:

Connie’s, Vaughn, Jenny Lind, and Yeaworth Houses

Connie’s House dates to the late 1800’s and was originally a post office and general store. It is now owned by the Chester Springs Studio and is used for exhibitions and artists’ residencies. The building was given to the Studio by Yellow Springs Founder Connie Fraley, hence the affectionate name. The Vaughn House, named for its last resident, is a charming small farmhouse built in the 1830’s. Historic Yellow Springs completely restored the house in 1989 and it serves as a tenant residence.

Mrs. Holman, the retiring owner of the Yellow Springs Spa property, built the Jenny Lind House in the early 1840’s as a boarding house – it has eight bedrooms!

The Yeaworth House, also named for its last resident, was built in 1899 as an infirmary for the Soldiers’ Orphans School. It was converted to a residence in the 1950’s, extensively renovated in 1987-88, and now serves as another tenant residence.

The English actress Fanny Kemble describing her visit to Yellow Springs during July 1843 in her book Records of Later Life, 1882:

“This morning the children took me up a hill which rises immediately at the back of the house (the Jenny Lind House), on the summit of which is a fine crest of beautiful forest trees, from which place there is a charming prospect of hill and dale, a rich rolling country in fine cultivation – the yellow crops of grain, running like golden bays in the green woodland that clothes the sides and tops of all the hills, the wheat, the grass, the variegated patchwork covering of the prosperous summer earth.”

Vaughn House is no charming tenant property now.  I took a good look at it on Sunday.  It is a wreck after a fire, and how embarrassing that Historic Yellow Springs can’t be honest about it.

I dug around and was told Historic Yellow Springs  did collect insurance post-fire,but it was not enough to effect historic preservation repairs.   Given the June 2012 meeting minutes I quoted above, I would say they are in a fair pickle when it comes to this property.

Someone I know who looked at the house recently said it was not beyond redemption but would be soon if they did not get busy.

The irony is everyone knows there is some serious money in and around Yellow Springs, so why can’t some of those people rescue this house and preserve it?  What happened was a tenant fire, I am unsure of the timeline, but I noticed on West Pikeland’s website a last name that is the same as that general store, or Harold M. Hallman III.   From what I have been told years ago, this family has been around forever and own a lot of land?  Couldn’t a family like this help Historic Yellow Springs?

See this is what I do not get about this place: those who can’t don’t.

Yellow Springs has an amazing history and still has three mineral springs: magnesium, sulphur, and iron.  The whole village grew up around the medicinal value of these springs. There are references to them in Colonial Times and Washington hung out there…and they can prove it.  People used to travel up the Schuylkill by packet boat from Philadelphia to Pottstown/Phoenixville and then by coach to the Inn for taking the waters in the springs.

On their website, the iron spring gazebo is in a field neatly cut.  It is practically drowned by brush and rushes right now.  There used to be these amazing walking trails that you could take to check out the springs.  I could not see any of the trails this weekend, as things are that overgrown.

I totally get Historic  Yellow Springs  currently seems to be  swinging toward a more public revenue stream with using the village for  weddings, rentals,  and sponsored events. I have done enough work with small non-profits to know non-profit funding is there but grantors want specific results over the long-term.  However, when I say the place needs donor angels I am not kidding.  They are advertising the old inn “The Washington” as being event ready, and maybe it is o.k. but I have heard from people who inquired that you have to bring in a kitchen to do an event, there is no longer a kitchen. That adds significantly to what you have to rent.

This place is like a ghost town now.  The life comes from the restaurant in the Jenny Lind House, The Yellow Springs Inn.  But that is privately owned, and the care taken to do a restoration there is obvious.  So should Historic Yellow Springs consider selling some of the properties provided they can ensure they can, and will be preserved?

This is the list of HYS board members as per their website and if it is not current that is their issue:

Mark Ashton, President

Anne M. Congdon

Stephen P. Cottone

Polly Gable, Secretary

Karin E. Gedge

Rita Kaplan

William LaCoff, Vice President

Edward A. Meltzer, Treasurer

Terri Moran

Moira Mumma

Matthew E. Roberson

Brendan J. Sherman

Robert C.F. Willson

I do not know any of these people but is this board active?  Or are they a board that treats their non-profit as a private club?

Here is the staff list:

Heidi Brett, Arts Program Manager – 610-827-7414 ext. 16 hbrett@yellowsprings.org
Callie McGlone, Office and Events Manager – 610-827-7414 ext. 10   cmcglone@yellowsprings.org

Eileen McMonagle , Executive Director – 610-827-7414 ext. 14 emcmonagle@yellowsprings.org

Sandra S. Momyer, Moore Archivist – 610-827-7414 ext. 19 smomyer@yellowsprings.org

Diane Peterson, Business Manager – 610-827-7414 ext. 17       dpeterson@yellowsprings.org

John Shaw, Volunteer Coordinator jshaw@yellowsprings.org

I have been told the Executive Director is fairly new and very nice and really into preserving the historic village.  Maybe they need some new board members then?

The history from the springs, the Revolutionary War Hospital, the who artist colony history makes Yellow Springs cool.  But it does not matter how many volunteers it has if no movement is occurring.

They used to do so many events, and that has dwindled.  You need events to bring people to town, not just putting the event for rent sign out on the village.  Bring back the antiques show, for example.  That drew thousands to the village.

They could host re-enactment events.  There are tons of people who live to come to these things in correct period costume and share their knowledge of particular periods in United States History – I have seen it at places like Historic Goshenville.  I have seen it at various Civil War re-enactments.  Also things like Farmers’ Markets will draw people to a community – look no further than the markets we all go to every week in Chester County during growing seasons. Or flower shows.  Or old-fashioned things like quilt shows.  Open air antiques and crafts markets.  Partner with local farms for farm table dinners in the Village or haunted hay rides in the fall. People love those too. There are a lot of things that can be done, but the people controlling this historic village need to want to do things to better the lot of the village.

And what can the West Pikeland Township people do that is positive for the village to encourage and entice people to support the village.

I know so many areas that would kill to have history like this.   Don’t squander it Historic Yellow Springs.   People care about the village.  I watched a guy cutting really long grass just to make things look better.  I asked someone if he worked for the township.  The answer was no, he is just a resident who cares about the land.

Look at the historic homes inventory in and around Yellow Springs Village. (Mind you one thing I found interesting on that list was the 1083 Bodine Road owned by The Barnes Foundation.)

If Chester Springs is supposed to be one the most affluent sections of Chester County, then I wish some of them would wake up and see that Historic Yellow Springs gets a shove.

No one wants to write a donation check in this economy that is not going to be accounted for, I get that.  So what about targeted donations?  Or very specific fundraising efforts?  Like how much needs to be raised to restore Vaughn House?

What kind of special events (not just recurring ones)  can the board of Historic Yellow Springs bring to the Village?  If those people want to sit on the board then are they responsible for helping raise a certain dollar amount in donations?  Face it, this place needs not only an active board, but a proactive board.  And if these board members aren’t bringing in a certain amount of donations each year, or giving it themselves, they need that board freshened up a little more often.  Who can they partner with in neighboring communities or other areas of historic interest to raise awareness?

And the walking trails.  People love walking trails, especially when there is not only beauty, but a lot to look at.  And face it, those springs are still cool a couple of hundred years later!  But the trails seem to be lacking maintenance.  Why not invite boy scout troops from Chester County to adopt the trails as service projects?  Maybe let them camp once in a while  in one of the fields like the one being used for parking of studio vehicles.

O.k. rant over.  Sorry, but I think this is worth saving and the people in control do have the tools to do so.  Only I can’t figure out what they are waiting for.

chester springs

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things are starting to happen down on the farms in chester county!

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Two farms I think are awesome are Yellow Springs Farm and Stratton’s Wynnorr Farm.

At Yellow Spring’s Farm they have just announced their 2012 Goat Cheese CSA, open farm days on Sat/Sun, May 5-6; May 12-13; Sat, May 19; 10 am to 4 pm.  They also have the most amazing plants they raise.  I have actually purchased plant material from them in the past and can honestly say their plants are amazing and healthy.

Yellow Springs’s Farm is located at 1165 Yellow Springs Road in Chester Springs.  Their phone number is 610-827-2014 and they have a website. They are by appointment only if you care to visit the farm, and it is a little slice of heaven.

Moving over to Westtown, Stratton’s Wynorr Farm has announced their 2012 CSA .  In addition, did you know they offer small farm consulting services?

Much like Yellow Springs, Stratton’s is a beautiful working farm.  I love visiting there.  They have in the fall, pretty much my favorite corn maze.  Their phone number is 610-399-9080.  They have a website. They are on Route 926, East of Rte. 352.

Another fun thing here is the yarn they sell out of their own sheep.  So if you are a knitter, check out their yarns. I am not a knitter, can’t crochet, but am perfectly happy to receive…..

transition

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So here I am, making the transition to one of the places I always wanted to live: Chester County.  Now it’s all about git r’ done.

I started in Society Hill, transitioned to the Main Line, but let’s face it, the Main Line she ain’t what she used to be.  I am discovering more and more the kinds of people I used to prefer on the Main Line have actually moved to Chester County.

In Chester County, you have room to breathe, and you can actually see things like open space, farms, horses…and oh yes lots and lots and lots of deer.

I am not so jazzed about all the deer, truthfully. But the rate of development is taking away their habitat and their natural predators.  And every time a deer hunt is proposed to cull the herd the caterwauling and protests I read about are just silly.

One thing I worry about in Chester County is that the many municipalities out here becoming afflicted with the non-listening-we-know-best government disease.  This disease is ruining parts of the Main Line, Lower Merion in particular.

You see when local government starts to believe its own hype, it all goes into the crapper.  The government becomes so full of itself, it completely starts to forget what attracted people to an area in the first place.  A lot of this is caused by unnecessary development.

Unnecessary development starts out like a gleam in a municipalty’s eye.  Ahhh the savoring of future ratables.  But what municipalities seem to forget is you can’t just build it and assume they will come.

I see a lot of what can only be described as wanton careless development in Chester County.  I am fuzzy on where all the boundaries from community to community lie, but truthfully it’s a little startling to see quite so many plastic houses being planted all hodge podge.  And a lot of them are planted on top of busy, noisy highways.  I don’t get the whole leave the hectic pace of a more urban lifestyle to hear urban noises in quasi-rural areas. And Chester County definitely needs no more malls.  They are replete with strip shopping centers and malls.

Now recently there was a failed eminent domain for private gain attempt in Chester County.  At Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Grounds, which is West Vincent Township.  When I first heard about it, I was appalled.  Here we go again – the last time I heard about something that turned my stomach quite so much is when Coatesville tried to seize Dick and Nancy Saha’s farm.  I got to know the Sahas a few years back, and they are the loveliest people.  Kind and neighborly.  They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect their land.

At the crux of the West Vincent debacle seems to be a lot of political shenanigans and of course, a Disneyland-esque Redevelopment Plan.  The funny thing is, as is the case with many of these plans is I can’t figure out who asked for it. Or why they think they need it.

One development which concerns me greatly was the Toll Brothers one approved by Willistown Supervisors approved on Paoli Pike in 2011.  Applebarf, err Applebrook Meadows. This development is right up against Willistown’s border with East Goshen.  Close to one of the most awesome park spaces I have seen (East Goshen’s park and walking trails are lovely.)

Lots of plastic houses in the new make me barf affected style of “carriage homes”.  Yeah really?  Do they even know the genesis of the carriage house and yet they re replacing horses with….you got it, plastic houses.  I never saw much coverage on Willistown’s mistake except in the Malvern Patch.  Malvern Patch also has reported on the planned super-sizing of Malvern.

In cute Malvern, a developer named Eli Kahn has plans and apparently governmental blessings to super-size Malvern.   Look at the renderings for this plan – does that even look like it belongs in Chester County?  To me, it will just make Chester County experience some of the over-developed ugliness of North Jersey.  This developer also has his sights set on West Chester according to Malvern Patch .

Chester County if it is not careful will become like the congested, over developed Main Line.  It’s beauty is in what it is, not some plastic vision of people who just are going to make their investments pay for them and move on.

How do people in Chester County in whatever municipality want their county to look like?  Do they envision lots of plastic houses and plastic (turf) fields to go with it?   I think people overall want to preserve the integrity of the county, so maybe a lot of these residents from various small and large municipalities need to get together and work with one and other.  One of the largest problems I see in Chester County is the hodge podge of zoning.  Commercial and residential all higgeldly piggeldly.  Why layer on more development when the obvious solution is to deal with what they have?  Look at all the little crossroads towns that need a little love.  They don’t need a strip mall or plastic houses down the road a piece, they need restoration.

Chester County is a gem and I am so loving exploring it.  I would just hate if Chester County  ended up looking as bad and over-developed as parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties in particular.

I am but an auslander at this point hoping that Chester County learns again to preserve the land and a way of life before it’s overly “improved”.  Appreciate and preserve the charm of crossroads communities and nature that draws people here in the first place.  After all, there is nothing natural about plastic.