Milestones, August 2019
September Events
The Ninth Annual Bryn Mawr Day celebration will be held, rain or shine, on Saturday, September 7th, from 9:00am to 2:00pm, in the municipal parking lot #7 at Lancaster and Bryn Mawr Avenues (just across Lancaster from Ludington Library). This a free family day event; taste the restaurants, visit the shops, ride the fire trucks, see the traveling zoo, watch the circus, shop the Farmer’s Market and hear musical performances.
Do not miss the opportunity to take the history trolley tour of the Bryn Mawr 100 with our Bobbie McElroy of the 24 local landmarks.
Trolley Tours begin at 10:00am, 11:00am and 12:00 noon.
This will be the Eight Annual Run on the trail where boxing Joe Frazier trained!
It takes place on Saturday, September 14th starting at 9:30am.
Click here to sign up. The race begins and ends at the Mander Playground
at 33rd and Diamond Streets in Philadelphia. The race is held in conjunction
with Strawberry Mansion Day.
This is a fun walk and run with portions on a dirt trail through the woods.
All participants will receive a Boxer’s Trail t-shirt.
All proceeds benefit the community youth programs at the Mander Recreation Center and East Fairmount Park.
Do stop by for a run/walk of this historic trail
and say hello to our Martha Moffat!
This Annual Meeting and Banquet takes place on Saturday, September 21st
from 9:00am until about 3:00pm at the Goshen Fire Company at
1320 Park Avenue in West Chester. Trucks will be on display.
A crown jewel of Lower Merion’s local industries, The Autocar Company moved from Pittsburgh to Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore in 1900. It was founded by three brothers named Clarke; Louis, John, and James. For more than 50 years it employed as many as a thousand men and women a day to make cars and trucks until 1911, after which date they made only trucks until it was bought by White Motors and moved to Exton, PA in 1954. For reservations visit this website.
Our Ted Goldsborough will be there sharing his expertise and our photos
of this once-proud Lower Merion industrial giant.
This Third Annual event is Saturday, September 21st from 12:00pm to 5:00pm and visit the six historic and picturesque houses of Fairmount Park.
These early country estates built along the Schuylkill River are Cedar Grove, Laurel Hill, Lemon Hill, Mount Pleasant, Historic Strawberry Mansion, and Woodford Mansion. Click here to purchase your tickets.
There will be transportation house to house, food trucks and live music.
At each house, you will have an opportunity to sip on samples from some
of the best 20 Pennsylvania hard ciders.
Be sure to say hello to our John Sigmund who is the host for this event.
This fair is scheduled for Saturday, September 28th, 10am to 4pm (rain or shine).
This major event in Lower Merion Township features crafts, antiques, pony rides, historic house tours, children’s games, muskets and soldiers, blacksmiths, stone carvers, cabinetmakers, spinners, skep [beehive] weavers, Bluegrass music, falconry and other birds of prey, and much more!
The Fair also features the Harriton Attic Treasures Booth, which is the best flea market on the Main Line, the Harriton Farm stand featuring flowers and organic produce (some of which is from the Harriton garden). Lapps Country Market will be roasting chickens and ribs for lunch.
The historic 1704 house will be open for tours during the day. Don’t miss the day and be sure to say hello to our notable Bruce Gill.
William Penn’s 375th Birthday will be celebrated at Merion Friends Meetinghouse and Activities Building, 615 Montgomery Avenue, Merion PA 19066 on Saturday, October 12th from 1:00pm-3:00pm with a lecture by biographer Andrew Murphy who is a historian and professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ and author of William Penn, A Life.
Mr. Murphy will discuss Penn and his relations with the
Welsh Tract and the Lenape.
Treasures from Our Archive
This is the seventh of a series of articles that highlight some of the rare and more interesting items in our archive collection. As a community, we’re proud of our Quaker roots and William Penn’s influence in molding our form of government. We’re fortunate to have in our Archive collection source materials that relate to William Penn. Two Penn memorabilia items in our collection are:
The Seal of William Penn
When the Governor of Penn’s Woods signed a document, William Penn would
affix to it his official seal. We have one such original seal in our collection.
His most notable document was dated October 28, 1701 when Penn signed his “Charter of Privileges for the Province of Pennsylvania and its Territories,” formally establishing a stable frame of government that, for its day, was remarkably liberal.
In this document, Penn granted a set of individual rights to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, codifying the freedom of conscience and that the inhabitants were never to be “molested or prejudiced” for their religious beliefs or practices. Before William Penn returned to England, he wrote to the Welsh settlers: “You shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free people.”
“The Works of William Penn” by William Penn
This publication is a complete set of Penn’s writings and epistles which was published in 1726. It is printed in an oversized format in 2 volumes;
Volume 1 is 911 pages, Volume 2 is 916 pages.
The formidable title of this anthology is “The Works of William Penn: The Guide Mistaken, & Temporizing rebuked: or, A Brief Reply to Jonathan Clapham’s Book, intitled, A Guide to the True Religion In Which His Religion is Confuted, His Hypocrisy is Detected, His Aspersions are Reprehended, His Contradictions are Compared.” This publication offers us a window into the past and an account of Penn’s beliefs and dreams.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Lower Merion Historical Society is an organization dedicated to Preserving Our Past For The Future. This is accomplished by stewardship of local history, education of the community, preservation of historic resources and outreach to promote awareness of the cultural heritage of the Township of Lower Merion and the Borough of Narberth.
