So a few days ago I saw something on my CrimeWatch email regarding a husband and wife being charged in West Whiteland. White collar crimes. Not a drug deal gone bad, etc. White collar crime.
The name sat and sat in the back of my head. Until I remembered that this guy was a chiropractor. So what exactly did he and his wife do? Here are the dockets – guess they are in Florida now? All dockets are public record, by the way, including a federal court docket.
And there was more I found. It’s ALL public record. Nothing deep throat at all. But this is all for now.
I figure the media will pick up on this because it seems interesting. You don’t often see white collar crime stuff in the local Crime Watch listings. So we shall indeed see how this shakes out. I am guessing if you have anything relevant to add to West Whiteland’s case, tell them.
Fireworks and it is not even the 4th of July but what does that even mean any longer since fireworks occur so often, right? But noooo not those fireworks, political fireworks. Bring the popcorn.
First up was what can only be described as CROSS TAWK. Did a certain Bossette Tweed not realize her microphone was open while making nervous chit chat? Her health, eye exams, lending her car out and then it not starting, work sending SUPER NURSE an Uber to pick her up, to being relieved the crowd of people wasn’t there for her we assume? And then there was referring to a certain developer who pulled his plan for 1/25/23 with some degree of familiarity, followed by what she thinks or did with a certain local reporter whom I think is a good guy? Theresa Hogan Santalucia, I am sure Bill Rettew is crushed beyond belief that you are obvs upset he was doing her job, and while no one may ever know, was “no comment” all you said? I mean you have been tots verbose recently yes? The “reality” of your life dear politician is you should quite literally shut your mouth once in a while.
Bossette Tweed apparently got her wings clipped? And listen Bossette darling, I don’t speak for your township or the supervisors with whom you are supposed to serve for the best of your residents. I am allowed to comment publicly on the behavior of politicians, capice? You keep scribbling on your “page”, you need to buy a clue don’t cha doll? You are a politician and Ginny Kerslake’s comments in this video capture are SPOT ON and THANK YOU GINNY!
So no more PSATS, eh? And only you can go? Because you are BFFs with the movers and the shakers? Damn woman, maybe West Whiteland actually need a new organization if you are the one one they greet like Norm walking into Cheers? Maybe West Whiteland would be better suited to also belong to The Pennsylvania Municipal League? For example Theresa my little dumpling, The Pennsylvania Municipal League has a Civility Campaign, did you know?
Civility Campaign
Today, civility in government is more crucial than ever.
The Pennsylvania Municipal League is proud to present an initiative aimed at fostering civility in the delivery of public services whether they be in an office setting, a public meeting or any contact with a member of the public. The Civility Campaign begins with elected and appointed officials signing the following pledge:
“As a public servant, I hereby pledge to work daily to build a stronger and more prosperous community by advocating for civil engagement, respecting others – even during disagreements – building bridges to foster relationships and respecting different viewpoints, while finding solutions for the betterment of my municipality.”
The League will be developing a toolkit that provides information on running effective meetings, addressing conflicts in the public arena, a sample resolution that commits to public civility along with strategies on communicating thoughtfully.
Let’s work together to find solutions, critique constructively and foster greater understanding in our municipalities. Taxpayers and residents deserve no less in our communities.
Now in her rebuttal or self defensive outburst, she remarked or more accurately verbally heralded an accusation inferring that I and a couple of others actually speak for other supervisors in West Whiteland Township. Shocking as this may seem, Theresa Hogan Santalucia, people are capable of independent thought, research, and that lovely thing called the first amendment. And doll, who was it you were so furiously texting? Girl you need to watch the on camera of it all, sorry.
I speak for no politicians, and your behavior draws critics like moths to a flame. YOU attract the attention because of your shenanigans. If you could just admit that as part of your 12 step political program, wouldn’t that be healthier for you in the long run? After all, stress is bad for health issues, right?
Readers, last night a politician who is a very unpleasant lame duck politician got her wings clipped. And had she not decided she had to have her say like a spoiled child, it would have mostly gone unnoticed. So Theresa, if you are not running because of your health and not because you would never survive another election season in the primary or general election, why not RESIGN NOW? They can appoint a bench warmer and you can focus on what you claim you need to focus on, correct?
Let’s talk about politicians in West Whiteland Township.
Let’s talk about a Politician in Chester County. She’s downright magical. Our own sweet Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Let’s talk about how she seems to be delaminating via social media Tourette’s? She suffers from social media Tourette’s fairly frequently, but now she seems to be full tilt fever pitch like she’s going to ride that merry go round round and round and round and round until she throws up her cotton candy all over the ride technician. (There’s a visual for you. You’re welcome.)
So folks realized recently she started a Facebook page. First she was West Whiteland Township Supervisor under the category of “Government Official”. When she was discovered and called out about her insane alternate universe she had written about, suddenly she is West Whiteland Supervisor “Blogger.” Of course that begged the question of was she the Official SpokesTroll of West Whiteland? Are there no other supervisors or anything? So she’s like Madonna and Cher or Gaga? (Boggles the mind, right?)
Next thing you know she changes her page to Chester County Politician and category “Blogger.”
Enter today’s post. She starts again with ‘Let’s talk about…”
Today it’s “Let’s talk about military service.” Apparently she has awarded herself a bronze star of martyrdom or something. Oh and she talks about how she never blurred lines. That is actually hysterical because that’s all she does. I asked if she was active duty or reserves for clarity at one point. I did not care which she was, was only curious which it was because the way she goes on and on and on.
Intermingled with the “military service” is what kind of nurse she is. I would find it personally terrifying to have her as a nurse, and she is only one nurse to me: NURSE RATCHED. I will also note nurses rock, and the ones I have known have been absolutely wonderful. So I have no issue with nurses. Just issue with insanely insecure politicians from West Whiteland who are a fascinating case study in neurotic insecurity.
Apparently I live in her head with some of my favorite people and whomever else she perceives as a threat, and it must be some crowded headspace she has, right? A sort of mental rave of people ? Who picks the music?
I have to ask however, how much of an idol/role model is Barbara Hafer? I found her mentioning Barbara Hafer utterly fascinating.
No one needs to hear about her early days, but I think she’s talking early days because she is setting the stage for her next campaign. She is being primaried by Libby Madarasz, one of the people who is a friend of mine she has been miserable too for YEARS. Theresa is SCARED. And then there is the other reality of life: will she be endorsed by her own party locally? I don’t see that, so she will be the outsider. Are we to hypothesize that this strange Facebook page her attempt at Tough Theresa The Renegade? She would be better off giving it up now and just resigning. But I don’t think she will give it up, she will ride her one-trick pony (or two trick pony if you count military and nursing) into a wall. And then she will slide down the wall into an oozing puddle of insecurity blaming everyone else with zero accountability. (We have all seen this particular brand of local politician before, after all. )
Well dear readers, here on #ToughTheresaThursday I have a simple message for those living in West Whiteland: #DitchTheresa and #VoteLibby. You will be so glad you did!
Saint Theresa is Theresa Hogan Santalucia is a Supervisor of West Whiteland. She’s a Democrat, and a bad one at that. She is what they call in the trade, a DemoCRAP.
And before we go any further, she is a POLITICIAN and I can utilize my First Amendment Rights to criticize her as a politician.
She has left herself wide open to criticism because of HER OWN ACTIONS. She’s been covered before, and I love how she contacts people at night. See this post. Maybe she’s a vampire? Also see this other post.
She goes on social media rants occasionally, and she doesn’t get the difference between public posts on Facebook (little globe) and private posts, but given how she wigs out, people take screen shots. Then she goes all pitiful pearl on people. See next screen shot as an example:
She is literally a bully as a local politician to people’s faces and at public meetings, yet ALL criticism of her is she is being bullied? The plurality, the public can criticize, berate, or compliment her. And let’s talk about HER behavior. The latest? GARBAGE GATE.
This presentation was done by new Supervisor Brian Dunn. It is a common sense approach to why in the Sam hell does West Whiteland think the residents still want cheap plastic trash bags that aren’t readily available, are cheap quality that break, and places like Wawa and other store JACK the prices to gouge residents? And have you ever driven on West Whiteland Roads and wondered why there is littler in lots of places? These bags. But oh no, Theresa can’t listen she has to make a scene at the meetings and then COMMENT into the night on Brian Dunn’s supervisor Facebook page? And Mr. Solicitor Darling, she is a PUBLIC official commenting, a politician. Just like she was when she tried to stop you from becoming solicitor in West Whiteland and basically called Brian Dunn a crook, so what gives? We know you don’t want to babysit a post menopausal child, but hey someone has to, right?
#GarbageGate also begs the question of does this woman, an elected official, actually READ her Supervisor packets before meetings? Because she is remarkably ill prepared every single meeting isn’t she? And what is her relationship to staff like for example that codes person who wears biker chick makeup and likes to fluff her hair on Zoom? And does Saint Theresa demand staff do her bidding? If various Rights to Know were submitted to their knows everything Right to Know person regarding Theresa’s correspondence, text messages, etc, to others, what ALL would turn up? I mean that whole write me a check now Bethy of it all that came out sure was interesting?
Here are various screen shots including one where she calls a resident a liar even if she can’t spell it:
So she went to the Supervisors State conference. She talked about it:
I thought for that thing you could sign up ahead of time? Doesn’t seem like she planned very well did it? Or was she too busy having a mini-break on West Whiteland Township and her residents? Hey she posted the badges indicating it was play time, so the door is wide open to ask and doesn’t it seem like she was there for HER and not West Whiteland? And her badge says “veteran” so how come she doesn’t seem to know so much? And oh apparently she did not like her accommodations.
Saint Theresa should not be in public office. #RESIGNTheresa
So the Realtor is listing this property for Church Farm School, yet records still reflect West Whiteland? How does that work?
People are funny. Especially when they are realtors and they act like an unprofessional gaggle of low class attack rats. And yes, this is all about the Benjamin Pennypacker House listing which I blogged about yesterday because I was and am concerned.
Below are screen shots of how this Realtor went live with the listing. How it was in Malvern, that it was a Colonial, etc etc. I said calling a house in Exton Malvern is just as bad as calling a house in Downingtown, Chester Springs. None of these places are bad, so just market truthfully, right?
Yesterday’s version of the Keller Williams Listing on The Benjamin Pennypacker House
Well I noticed today that the listing had ummm changed. Still not particularly well written but at least it reflected the correct town and that it wasn’t “colonial” in style or architectural classification. I mean come on, if you take two minutes to read historic resource survey forms on the property (in yesterday’s post) they tell you all about the style, etc.
But I digress. Now it’s better, but now some I know remarked was it historically hysterical or hysterically historical?
So now I have to ask if Church Farm School condones the behavior of the screen shots I am going to share at the end of this post? Because this Realtor is representing them and this property correct? So whomever provided the introduction to Church Farm, they would also have some culpability perhaps?
Church Farm School is an institution I believe in. But this behavior runs contrary to who they are. Church Farm didn’t send the “enlightened” to troll my blog’s Facebook page but because now a smudge and swirl surrounds this property and the listing, well do those of us who support this fine school in small ways need to re-think said support? I don’t think so, but it gives me pause.
Now the next things is this, Chesco Views still shows the property in possession of West Whiteland (screen shot at top of page) so did someone jump the proverbial gun here? I mean I know West Whiteland voted on it around the 26th I guess it was? But if the property still shows one thing can you list a property until that dust has settled and it reflects current ownership? (I don’t know which is why I am asking.)
So this is a curious tale, now getting more curious and there is probably much more attention on this now than Church Farm School wants. But when they are teaching their wonderful boys to be upstanding young men, and buddies of their realtor, egged on by said realtor behave oddly and unfortunately, well it gives one pause, doesn’t it?
And to have one of these buddies essentially imply I am anti-U.S. military and anti- Marine Corps because I don’t think much of this whole Pennypacker listing etc so far, well that is a step too far, isn’t it? I am not commenting on someone’s military service record (it has absolutely ZERO to do with the topic at hand and to imply that is rather offensive), I was and am commenting on that listing and issues I see, and now these other “professionals”, and they seem to be in part from Keller Williams , so how does their behavior reflect on that brand? Would you choose them to represent you?
Apparently this whole topic of the Benjamin Pennypacker house is now a hot local topic. Maybe it will keep the wrecking ball from the door? One can only hope. But Realtor and pal realtor types who left comments? Bad tactic and people will remember this, and you all did this to yourselves. Your comments were public on social media and were removed, but screenshots were retained. And they are below, as is my right.
This is my favorite of the nasty comments. This woman has trolled me on social media for years to the extent that I try to block her everywhere. Last time was in a breast cancer group because she just does breast cancer better than everyone. She still can’t spell IRE properly. And she essentially uses the same nasty comment at me every time and every time misspells IRE as EYRE and is actually using the wrong word. And it’s always drivel I write, yet she is like a human gaper delay and always has to read and comment.
This is all turning out to be quite curious. Especially since I don’t object to the property being sold, I just find things strange and really am hoping a preservation buyer finds this place.
Apparently it’s keep your friends close, and some Realtors closer? Have a good night.
Yes Virginia, #andjustlikethat apparently there is indeed a Santa Claus. The news out of West Whiteland is La Mimi is gone girl gone.
I remember when she was manager of Tredyffrin. Never thought much of her there (Terri Woodman formerly East Whiteland’s Manager was the Asst. Township Manager at Tredyffrin 1986 – 2001 as a related aside). I remember when Gleason left Tredyffrin she was doing this whole “a job is not a life” thing (What? Would I make this up? CLICK HERE)
Then of course La Mimi popped out of retirement and popped up at West Whiteland (when La Mimi left Tredyffrin, I predicted no matter what that article said, eventually she would pop up as a manager elsewhere.)
But I digress. Suffice it to say, I have not been a fan. (Just like I am not a fan of that Supervisor Theresa Hogan Santalucia and her sunny personality and vast vocabulary and I bet she wasn’t on board with not renewing the contract of La Mimi was she?))
What happened to cause the #breakup? The eternal #pipelines of it all? Over development? Being like the Red Queen / Queen of Hearts and the whole off with their heads this is my kingdom of it all? Who knows and who knows if they will ever tell right?
However, next steps also depends WHICH consulting firm will West Whiteland use to shepherd them through? I remember when a consulting firm wanted to put a piss poor interim in Radnor the year they fired Dave Bashore. (Read this article to learn more why that Radnor Manager was removed.) I forget his name but the guy was from Coatesville and had been one of the supporters of eminent domain attempt of the Saha Farm, remember? (Coatesville folk who showed up in droves to that Radnor meeting long ago might remember.) A lot of times the consulting firms use former township managers who were not the best wherever they were, so here is hoping they vet even the interim candidates carefully. And I think it would be great if the residents could view the public CVs of potential candidates.
BUT the forensic auditors who helped Radnor back in the day sure hit pay dirt. And I am NOT saying anything remotely like that occurred, it’s just common sense that if you are removing a township manager, you look at everything and the staff, right? Just in case things were not always for the good of the residents but a petty little fiefdom or corner store, right?
Happy New Year West Whiteland Township residents. Your reorg meeting next week will be one not to be missed. It will be hybrid so you can go in person or zoom it. Monday January 3rd, 6:30 PM
Today was a VERY nice day, and long overdue. A beautiful day with nice people, people who do real good in this crazy world in which we live. A day where everyone was friendly, people were fine wearing masks at a school as we are still living the COVID life. A day with no one with an axe to grind, only positivity and community in the best sense of the word.
One of my friends from Shipley is part of the development office team at Church Farms School. She told me a while back one of my friends and classmates from Shipley, syndicated cartoonist Robb Armstrong would be honored and be part of the Farm Fest parents Weekend 2021. Robb’s cartoon strip is called Jump Start.
This weekend has many activities and it was also the dedication of the buildings Church Farms has been working on and renovating and creating adaptive reuses of on campus. This school should get a historic preservation award for adaptive reuse. Greystock Hall and the Buck Family Center for the Arts were dedicated, they announced the Joseph E. Rhile Endowed Scholarship, and presented their inaugural CFS Medal to Stacey Shreiner Kley, Caroline Buck Rogers and Cannie Crysler Shafer.
So my friend Robb Armstrong was the youngest nationally syndicated cartoonist and is perhaps also today the most widely syndicated black cartoonist. I will note that I think there are only four syndicated black cartoonists. He created the interior of our Shipley yearbook, and we were all memorialized in his drawings. At Syracuse, where he majored in Fine Arts, he penned a strip in college newspaper called “Hector”. His strips are still drawn by hand, and he is also a motivational speaker.
Robb Armstrong speaking at Church Farms School, October 16, 2021
Robb spoke to the kids, and faculty, and parents, and the rest of the guests (which had a rather fun Shipley School contingent!) I am including most of what he spoke about. I missed the first few moments because of connectivity issues. I am also including the opening remarks from the Head of School, The Reverend Edmund K. “Ned” Sherrill II. I found him to be such an inspiring individual. He is a Head of School that is there for his students. He refers to what they do as “for the boys”.
It was a day that was full of good. For a few hours we left the strife and nastiness of everything locally, regionally, and in the world behind. It was so nice. It was also inspiring and soul rejuvenating. To see actually good people, spend time with them, learn what they had done and what Church Farms is about today, was just so nice. My husband and I had a wonderful time, and we also got to see a couple of our favorite teachers from high school.
If you are interested in Church Farms School or would like to make a gift, please visit their website.
I will note for the record, I was not asked to write anything, am not being compensated for this or photos. I am just paying it forward.
Enjoy the Church Farms Boys Choir, they are one of three videos I am posting.
I received a note today and like Alice down the Billboard hole I went, reading what is posted towards end of post which was sent with:
📌”East Whiteland Township is proposing to rezone the Township’s 19.45 acre open space and Ecology Park Land near Mill Lane and Route 401 to professional office. Also, the Township wants to adopt a new ordinance which would allow for the construction of large electronic billboards within the rezoned land. The Chester County Planning Commission has recommended that the township consider other areas that would be more appropriate for electronic billboards, such as the Route 29 corridor. ” 📌
Sigh….even the Chester County Planning Commission is saying BAD FREAKING IDEA to REZONE PARK SPACE and since East Whiteland shares the same solicitor as Upper Merion and didn’t Upper Merion just kill a similar plan there, why is it still alive in East Whiteland?
This is slated for February 1st when East Whiteland has two public hearings, both related to the community scourge of billboards/electronic signs.
Oh and this is more on 202, where in West Whiteland there is one of these suckers being proposed. Off Dunwoody Drive, a sign would go up on some boggy kind of weird space in an office park, right? Wasn’t that the gist of the continued West Whiteland hearing that appeared in the paper on January 8th? But the weird thing is there are two LLCs kind of close together in I guess West Whiteland? See what someone sent:
Now the West Whiteland hearing on January 27th was continued. Until February 10, 2021. The West Whiteland Township billboard hearing meeting was a complete technological cluster F. The video kept freezing but it was interesting in parts especially this lawyer who is representing West Whiteland as special counsel on this. He’s very bright. His name is Ryan Jennings. Amazing to watch. There was some discussion about whether or not a billboard application is actually land development. And then West Whiteland was referring to some other kind of litigation involving the signs and I didn’t really understand what was going on it was very unclear if it was actually related and how were the LLCs related to the parent company or something?
Of course because West Whiteland has issues with being sunshine friendly they said they don’t keep the zoom recordings and only their notes or something become the record and what kind of crap is that?
Back to East Whiteland. Just can’t help thinking about say West Whiteland signs get approved and East Whiteland is foolish enough to allow open space/park land to get rezoned, wow what will 202 end up looking like? I-95? Las Vegas? And you can’t say that residents won’t be affected because these townships all allow these developments to be built to the edge of these highways don’t they?
So one of the East Whiteland hearings February 1st is for a settlement agreement, the other is for the re-zoning. So if the billboard company deals in individual LLCs per site, are both public hearings under E. Whiteland Outdoor, LLC, or are other LLCs involved?
How many LLCs for billboards and electronic signs from these folks over the entirety of Chester County? How much litigation is going on over these signs in Chester County alone?
These public hearings are on East Whiteland’s website. They are slated for Monday, February 1, 2021 at 7 PM. It’s a public zoom hearing and the residents of East Whiteland need help, just like the residents of West Whiteland need help. These signs do not benefit residents. Residents will also be watching for residents and businesses who seem suddenly billboard supportive, won’t they?
Open space means parks and trails and preserving the area the way it used to be before development ran it over. Open space means trying to maintain an environment that will last for all of us and future generations. Do none of you remember the whole situation at Downingtown’s Kardon Park a few years ago that went to PA Supreme Court? It was all about open space, park land becoming something else…via zoning tweaks etc wasn’t it? It’s not the exact scenario but legal precedent would mean any municipality could face potential litigation that could be quite costly which would affect residents/taxpayers, right? That not so in the past case essentially told Downingtown Borough that they could not sell or lease park land, right? But it also possibly sets a precedent for all open space, doesn’t it? For open space that has been set aside as such and parks there are these pesky things in PA like the Donated and Dedicated Property Act, the Public Trust Doctrine, and our own Pa Constitution Article I, Section 27.
For reading about the Kardon Park case, just hit up Google and see these two links as well:
Back to what started this which was outreach by residents. This to follow in screen shots is what was sent to me by concerned residents. Their thoughts and a community call to action, as well as the letter from the Chester County Planning Commission. These are their words, no prompted by me, they asked me to share.
Indian Run Farm A/K/A Ashbridge House. Recent photo, reader submitted, taken September 3,2020
So…. I am trying not to be like totally “what the hell are they doing to Ashbridge House at Indian Run Farm” but is this a historic reservation? I ask because given the storms this summer and the age of this historically classified structure, what in the hell are they doing? I can understand rotting wooden porches being removed and it looks like concrete is being used to shore up walls, but wow this is startling isn’t it?
I grew up in old, occasionally historically classified houses (the house I was born in was built in 1811 in Society Hill and was historically classified in Philadelphia). West Whiteland has said all along it is to be preserved. So I am still going with that, even if it looks terrible right now.
Reader submitted photo dated September 3, 2020.
According to a 2003 Pottstown Mercury Article this was to be preserved all along, but it’s a long time since 2003. It’s now 2020 (AKA the year from hell):
Now picture another moment. A small group of scrape-kneed youngsters sat on a vantage point overlooking that same valley, many years later, pondering their destiny along with other important matters such as, perhaps, how to avoid the chore of picking the cherries ripening on the trees for their ambitious and hard-working father.
These children looked down on a two-lane Route 30 close to where it crossed Route 100, from a hilltop that no longer exists. And where there is now a new Nissan dealership, they once ran a cider stand without any particular parental oversight, selling the sweet juice from their own orchard along with vegetables from their garden, and lived carefree lives of exploration and discovery in a time when, “there weren’t any rules.”
Would that we could all be granted a childhood such as these children shared.
Then walk with these same children, now adults, among the shrink-wrapped architectural remnants of their youth, and share the memory of that time in that place on a bitter and wind-whipped day that fails to wrest from them any of the joy of those times spent together there. The centerpiece of that time was this collection of stone buildings; that springhouse, the great barn, the animals that lived, were loved and died and were buried here; those special trees; all are almost holy to them, and all will continue to speak to us of the way things were, once upon a time.
Because, whatever feelings any of us may have about “development,” we can’t be sorry that this pocket of history will be preserved much as it was in the thick of the present, so that busy shoppers can pause and view it, walk within its whispered past, and perhaps grasp something of what it all means.
Ashbridge House Exton Main Street 2017
I have been watching this house a few years. I have photos of 2018, 2019, and the generously shared 2020 photos. The reason I am concerned is because of how exposed everything is. However, it also looks like things are being shored up with concrete. So I am going to hold my breath and share photos. I will remind people I covered this in March 2018 and March 2019.
I remain curious as to what was saved or will be saved on the inside. Thanks for stopping by.
It has been a crazy decade chock-full of so much. I wasn’t sure what my last post of the year was going to look like until I started looking at some of my photos of houses that had captured my interest and fancy in the past decade.
So in all of the houses I have looked at in this decade I have decided to remain true to Chester County today and give you my three favorites.
Ironically my three house picks for the decade are not traditional 18th century Chester County Farmhouses, but three 19th-century stone houses of a certain era.
Loch Aerie on Lancaster Avenue in Frazer in East Whiteland Township enters the next decade with a guaranteed and brilliant new lease on life. She is being restored to her former glory, and will have an adaptive reuse that will ensure her place in architectural history for decades to come.
Old stone house Francis Ave, Berwyn, Easttown.
Next on my list is a house I was reminded of this morning. I know nothing of her pedigree. It is the great stone house on Francis Avenue in Berwyn.
My great friend (and Chester County historian and artist) Catherine Quillman and I stumbled upon this beauty in 2016 one fall afternoon.
We took a wrong turn somewhere after leaving Jenkins Arboretum and all of a sudden we were on Francis Avenue in front of this house. And before anyone flips out, we did not trespass. I had a camera with a zoom lens with me and I took photos from the street. This house captured my fancy for a number of reasons, including the fact that the stonework reminded me a lot of Loch Aerie.
I know absolutely nothing of the history of this house other than its 19th century and in Easttown Township . I think it probably has a name (possibly according to a 1912 atlas it appears it was maybe called “Rhydlyn” home of James G. Francis, whose sister in law I believe was famed local photographer Lucy Sampson according to census records from the early 20th century and according to the census she lived there for a while!) I don’t know if it is listed on any national registries or even a state or local registry. I couldn’t find it listed anywhere. (I am told it is mentioned HERE.)
It strikes me as a similar vintage to Loch Aerie. I also do not know the current ownership of the home but I am told it is being preserved as part of some kind of a development. I am also told that the glorious slate roof is no longer which I can’t say surprises me because old slate roofs are incredibly expensive to maintain and it’s a lost art of the craftsmanship of roof building. There are very few slaters left.
My last house which captured my fancy a great deal in this last decade is the Joseph Price house in West Whiteland Township.
Here is a wonderfullittle 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 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.
So as we lift a glass one last time to toast a crazy tumultuous decade everywhere, let us think of our future and historic preservation. There are so many cool houses like this throughout Chester County from all eras of time.
Less development. More land and structure preservation and adaptive reuse. That’s my final wish for Chester County for 2019.
Please do not trespass on these properties. Either get permission to wander around or look from the street.
