My friend Janet just broke the news and I had to share. Clover Market is coming to Kennett Square in the Spring of 2017! I think I may actually know something coming to Kennett before my dear friend and fellow blogtress Tilda Tally-Ho.
So you might not have ever heard of Clover Market, but trust me those who seek vintage, antiques, local art and high end curated crafts and handmade jewelry….Clover is a gem.
I have been a Clover Market fan since it started in the spring of 2010. As a matter of fact I was one of the many people who went to meeting after meeting in Lower Merion Township until Janet got approved.
Opening day for the very first Clover Market in April 2010 was a smash! (And yes that is Miss Patti La Belle with Janet – my photo)
So Clover has been a hit ever since. 2017 will be Bryn Mawr, Kennett, Collingswood NJ, and Chestnut Hill. Chester County save the date!
The longest running house tour in the United States, Chester County Day is gearing up for its 2016 event, on Saturday, October 1. This Chester County-based event, which benefits Chester County Hospital, offers tours of historic homes, some brand new innovative ones, as well as beautiful gardens and public sites.
The 76-year-old tour was exclusive to West Chester Borough for many years but has since extended to the four quadrants of Chester County with different sections highlighted every four years. This year, attendees will be able to tour 21 homes and 14 public structures or sites in the southwest quadrant encompassing Birmingham, Unionville, East Bradford, West Bradford, Kennett Square, Pocopson, Pennsbury and East Marlborough townships, as well as Kennett Borough.
The Day will begin with the pageantry and excitement of a customary fox hunt, a Chester County Day tradition. Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds, just outside Unionville on Rt. 82, will set off promptly at 9 am.
Tour guests can begin this year’s house tour at 10:00 am at the location of their choice. Guests are encouraged to tour as many homes as possible at their own pace. Some of the routes and highlighted homes begin on Sconnelltown Road.
Sconnelltown Road has three stops, one of which is exclusively for VIP ticket holders. Participants with these passes will be provided a gourmet box lunch and a private tour of this home. There will be a shuttle bus on Rt. 322 that will transport guests to a magnificent estate on West Strasburg Road. From there, ticket holders can continue out through East Bradford Township into Birmingham Township to the famous Marley and Me house where the movie of the same name was filmed.
Traverse beautiful country roads to West Bradford Township with homes open on North Wawaset Road and then proceed into Marshallton Village which will be open for a walking tour of three private homes and many historic landmarks. The village also boasts one of the two lunch stops for guests at the Marshalton Inn.
Northbrook Road will lead guests to Historic Trimbleville where they can view a new historic marker that commemorates the village. A short drive from there takes participants to Marlborough Village in East Marlborough Township where a small walking tour will be held.
The second lunch stop will be held at Galer Estate Winery on Folly Hill Road, where tours and tastings will be available. After lunch, don’t miss a visit to Barnard’s Orchards and a stop at a large estate just outside Unionville.
Route 82 will bring day travelers to the borough of Kennett Square. Several homes here are included in a walking tour in the northern section of town.
No matter how the house visits are organized, the day will be filled with Chester County architecture and history hundreds of years in the making.
This is truly one of my favorite fall events and it reminds me of my father because he loved this tour and went every year for decades. This tour IS Chester County, and when practically every month we are faced with the news that wanton development is marching through Chester County at an accelerated place (including in areas like Marshalton and Embreeville) , if you love the history and beauty here, you will love this house tour if you have never been and make it an annual event after going once!
Chester County Day ™ — A Chester County Tradition
Regular tickets are $40 each and Be a VIP for $100 each!
Make your “Day” extra special with a VIP ticket. Your $100 VIP donation gives you exclusive benefits. Enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres at the private preview lecture. Your VIP ticket also includes your pass to see the homes on this year’s tour and an exclusive tour of the home of John and Paul Robbins, a classic stone manor home built in 1917 which was design by prominent Philadelphia architect, Charles Barton Keen, with a complimentary lunch prepared by Montesano Bros. Italian Market & Catering. For more information or to purchase a VIP ticket, please email Kate.Pergolini@uphs.upenn.edu.
Have you ever read something from a complete stranger in a group you belong to and just started to cry because it just gets you right through the heart? As in immediately at the time of reading? Well I have, and I am writing about it because my heart is so sad for this lady I don’t know, who just lost her daughter to some tragedy across the county. And the mom is a recent breast cancer survivor. So it hits me in more than one way.
In my few years living in Chester County, I have discovered this is a place with a huge heart and in Chester County we take care of our own. So at the end of this I am going to put in a couple of things on how we can help this family. Not through any non-profit, we will help because we care, deal?
So I read this post this morning from Jennifer Lynch that said:
It has been 4 days, now, since our youngest daughter was identified as the Eugene Oregon Jane Doe. Every day is different, but equally horrifying. I finally got a call, from the detective working her case. He is in the violent crime division. There has been some “creative storytelling” from the parties we believe to be involved in the circumstances surrounding the death of a beautiful, vulnerable 24 year old girl, but we are no closer to real answers, as of yet.
Sometimes, I border on ok, sometimes I am out of my mind. Other times, I am just standing in the shower, when I suddenly realize that I am putting out more water than the shower head, and I have no idea how long I’ve been in there. Time has no meaning. I have a constant flow of still frames, in my mind. How could I have stopped this? What could I have done or said differently, to convince her to come home?
I don’t know.
She was stubborn, and willful, and there were times that we went at it like two Billy goats on a log. God, what I wouldn’t do, to be able to have another argument, another hug just one more moment, frozen in time.
Hug your children, even if they think they are too old, for hugs. You never know if it could be the last time.
So I went scrolling through the group looking for more information and I found this article:
She was like a sparkle — burning bright, hot and fast.
And in an instant, she was gone.
That’s how the family of Rachel Lee Lynch described the vivacious 24-year-old who was found dead near the bike path along the west bank of the Willamette River in Eugene on Feb. 20.
It would be nearly a week before her identity would be known — police initially identified her as Jane Doe and learned of her identity only after circulating surveillance images from the Safeway store on Coburg Road, where she had shopped on Feb. 16……Most of her family, including stepmother Jennifer Lynch, lives in Chester County, Pa. They said they had no idea Rachel Lynch was even in Oregon. But they did know, they say, that she was in trouble and had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.
“She was a cheerleader, an honor student,” Jennifer Lynch said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “She made one bad decision, she trusted the wrong person and it took her across the country. It took her life.”….“It’s just been incredibly hard,” Jennifer Lynch said on behalf of the family. “She was a good kid. But she’s like any young girl. They think they are in love, and they just can’t see the danger that they’re in. Guys like that, they work these girls. And like any woman, you see what he can be and not what he is. He played her like a violin.”
According to Jennifer Lynch, Rachel Lynch graduated from high school in 2009, and attended Temple University in Philadelphia for two years before she met a slightly older and charming boyfriend.
Almost immediately, the two were inseparable, Jennifer Lynch said. Her stepdaughter quit school and began following her new boyfriend’s wishes, she said.
“He was isolating her and it just kept getting tighter,” Jennifer Lynch said. “He was controlling her. And we saw her less and less and less.”
….Rachel Lynch loved music, movies and art. Her laugh was contagious, and her family is “gutted” by their loss, her stepmother said.
“She wasn’t a Jane Doe,” Jennifer Lynch said tearfully. “She had a family and friends who loved her and were looking for her. Right now, we just want to get her home.”
I. Can’t.Even. Then I read this:
Ladies..it is with a very heavy heart that I once again am reaching out for one of our own today. As many of you read last night about the loss of Jennifer’s daughter Rachel.
Rachel’s body was found on a bike trail in Eugene Oregon on Saturday. She was only 24 yrs old.
Jennifer is currently waiting on details from the coroner as I spoke with her thismorning. At this point she is more than appreciative of all the offers of help but their priority is to get their daughter HOME.
With Jennifer’s recent battle with Breast Cancer taking a major financial toll on them they desperately need the power of our group right now.
To lose a child at any age is a parents worst pain. We are praying for you Jen❤
Ladies our PayPal is open for donations which I will get directly to Jen for her to use for arrangements ASAP!
PLEASE PLEASE…use friends and family when donating AND put JENNIFER in the notes as we also have another fundraiser going❤
2help.momadvice@gmail.com
*ANYONE NOT HAVING PAYPAL CAN PM ME FOR MY ADDRESS❤
4000 women can make a difference together! Thank you Ladies.😢
Tomorrow, a dear friend’s daughter who is a varsity cheerleader at another Chester County high school has a birthday. And seeing Jennifer’s Rachel’s photo really hit that home for me. And I am also a step-parent and a breast cancer survivor, so on so many levels I get this. And most importantly as a human being I get this.
The newspaper article which I thought had great heart thanks to the reporter makes me think back to when I was the age of Rachel Lynch. When you are that young, remember how easy it was to get stars in your eyes over the wrong person? If we are honest we all had those experiences, or a lot of us did.
As an adult we read about domestic violence all of the time. We all say “it could never happen to us” but it happens to many of us, male and female. Sometimes it is brutal and physical, sometimes it is sneaky and subversive, almost subtle as it is all about control and the bruises from emotional and mental warfare you can’t see. I think those situations are even worse than physical abuse.
When you are in an abusive relationship it’s not necessarily so easy to get out. Sometimes you do not recognize (or want to recognize) how toxic a relationship is even if friends and family express concern. That sounds almost silly to people, but if you have ever witnessed anyone go through this you know that it is true.
I don’t know Jennifer, and I never knew Rachel. But I have known women like Rachel and by the grace of God they are still alive.
Here is the information again regarding sending donations via MomAdvice founder Kelly Lammey. Donations are NOT tax deductible. They will go towards the family’s expenses and to help out with bills post breast cancer. I am still paying off breast cancer treatment bills almost five years later, so I get how this is.
Here is the information:
Use PayPal and put “JENNIFER” in the notes as the group is involved in another fundraiser
2help.momadvice@gmail.com is the email address.
If you do NOT use PayPal e-mail KINGMOM123@AOL.com
DO NOT GET THE E-MAIL ADDRESSES MIXED UP! AND ALL CHECKS WILL BE MADE PAYABLE TO JENNIFER LYNCH .
If you can contribute goods or services towards the family holding a memorial service for their daughter or know someone willing to donate a hall somewhere in the Downingtown or Kennett Square area that would also be appreciated. AND AGAIN FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN A PAYPAL DONATION E-MAIL KINGMOM123@aol.COM
Remember Rachel and her family in your prayers. And hug your kids. This can happen to anyone. A young girl smiling at us now forever a moment in time in her Downingtown East cheerleading uniform. It isn’t supposed to be like this. She is supposed to grow old, fall in love, raise her own family.
Cabinet makers, custom furniture builders, and artisan wood workers are a dying breed. It takes real artistic talent combined with years of work. Some people call themselves cabinet makers and so on, but they really aren’t. Seriously, it is an art form.
I love custom woodwork and cabinetry. It’s luscious and beautiful.
I do not often promote businesses and if I do I must have personal experience with them. I am going to introduce you to one.
Sherman & Gosweiler Fine Cabinetry and Woodworking. They have been in business since 1976 and I LOVE their work! If you can dream it, Dick Gosweiler can build it. Whether it is an urban space like a chic Manhattan apartment or townhouse; a penthouse on Rittenhouse Square; a second home in Bay Head or the Hamptons; or even a simple farmhouse in Chester County this is who you want.
In addition to making your dreams for your home come to life this company also can do period reproductions. One of my particular favorites are the mantelpieces and mantelpiece surrounds they have done over the years. I mean don’t you just hate to see people put gobs of money into either a new house or an extensive renovation only to cheap out on a stock mantelpiece and/or mantelpiece surround for a den or living room or great room?
On my wish list for my home someday I would love one of their mantelpieces.
Anyway, just was thinking about house stuff and thought I would throw this up here.
Sherman & Gosweiler have a website and a Facebook fan page. If you need their services they can be reached at (610) 270-0825. They are located at 401 East 4th Street in Bridgeport – that is their physical shop, but they travel pretty much anywhere for installations and whatnot.
What they say about themselves is as follows and utterly true:
Since our inception in 1976 we have always had the same philosophy: To craft beautiful and functional cabinetry delivered on budget and on time. We are committed to making the entire experience easy and pleasurable for our clients. From creating a great design to a trouble-free installation, we are available to answer your questions and coordinate with other tradespeople on the job. Let us show you why scores of interior designers, architects, builders and hundreds of homeowners have put their trust in us.
So I have this friend who is a wonderful artist – she does a lot of watercolor which I love and she also teaches locally. She is also part of a wonderful program called Art-Reach in Philadelphia, and has created a travelling watercolor and poetry workshop. I am so excited that she is really painting and creating for herself again, and not just teaching!
The artist’s name is Averil Smith Barone, and she comes by her talent honestly and genetically, as her mother was also an amazing artist from Chester County (Valerie Lamb Smith). I remember the first time I saw her mother’s studio at Averil’s parents’ home. It was a cacophony of beauty and color. (to this day her parents’ home was one of my favorite Chester County houses.)
Averil has definitely inherited her mother’s talent and branded her own unique and beautiful style. You can see the artists who influence her in her work: Bonnard, Matisse, Van Gogh. I think you can take the gal out of Chester County, but you can’t take the Chester County out of the gal – you can also definitely see the influence of where she grew up in her work!
So anyway, if you have the time, check out Open Studio of artist Abby McClure,with fabulous art by Abby McClure and Averil Smith Barone. 337 South Union St Kennett Square PA, 19348 – Friday, June 1st: 5-10pm Saturday, June 2nd: 1-8pm Sunday, June 3rd: 1-5pm.
Averil does watercolor commissions upon request as well as barn, house, and room portraits. (610)-633-8220. Tell her you saw her on chestercountyramblings!
Even I have entered. Show your town spirit in Chester County and enter some photos having to do with the Classic Towns of Kennett Square, West Chester, and Phoenixville. What do you have to lose? It’s fun.
What happens if you win? Lots of good stuff…even if you don’t win.
All photos have the opportunity to be included as part of a traveling exhibition that will tour select Classic Towns. Plus, there’s the chance that your photo will be used on Classic Town’s website, in one of its publications, or in the publications of DVRPC. If that happens, you’ll receive credit as photographer and can tell your friends, families, and coworkers that you’ve been published.
Let’s talk prizes.
Our judges will award one prize in each of the seven categories — community, local history, parks and recreation, seasonal, people, main street, and residential. They will also award a Judges’ Choice Award (Best of Show) worth $500. A $300 Viewer’s Choice Award is also up for grabs. The total value for prizes is $1,500 and breaks down like this:
$500 Judges Choice (overall) $300 Voter’s Choice (overall) $100 Best Community $100 Best Local History $100 Best Main Street $100 Best Parks & Recreation $100 Best People $100 Best Residential $100 Best Seasonal
Winners will be notified beginning July 15, 2012 via the preferred contact method and must respond within 7 days. Should the winner not respond, the award will go to the runner up per category. We will announce final winners no later than July 31, 2012. We ask that winners keep their success confidential until a formal announcement is made. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit of prizes…..
Contest Rules and Restrictions DVRPC’s I Love Classic Towns Photo Contest runs from February 13, 2012 through July 31, 2012 with deadlines for Photo Submission (April 14, 2012), Public Voting (April 15, 2012 – May 14, 2012), and Formal Judging (May 15, 2012 – July 15, 2012).
All submissions must be made at contest.classictowns.org using a valid email address. There is no limit to the number of photos entered per person or the number of photos one person may enter into a category. Photos must be of one of the Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia and taken on or after January 1, 2010. Photographers do not need to be residents of any of the Classic Towns to enter the contest. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
West Chester and Phoenixville? Whatcha’ waiting for? Especially Phoenixville since it faces the threat of big ugly billboards. People need to see what Phoenixville is all about in my humble opinion.
Chester County should represent here, so I hope some of you photogs in Chester County enter.
