fbpx
Wikipedia

Fatland

Fatland, also known as Fatland Farm, Fatland Ford and Vaux Hill, is a Greek Revival mansion and estate in Audubon, Pennsylvania. Located on the north side of the Schuylkill River, opposite Valley Forge, the property was part of the Continental Army's 1777-78 winter encampment. On consecutive days in September 1777, its stone farmhouse served as headquarters for General George Washington and British General Sir William Howe.

Fatland
General information
Architectural styleGreek Revival
Address1248 Pawlings Road
Town or cityAudubon, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates40°07′09″N 75°26′35″W / 40.11917°N 75.44306°W / 40.11917; -75.44306
Construction started1843
Completed1845
Renovated1990s
Technical details
Materialstuccoed brick & stone
wooden square columns
marble Ionic columns
Design and construction
Architect(s)John Haviland

The farmhouse was demolished about 1843, and the mansion was completed on its site about 1845. The Wetherill Family owned the property for 121 years—1825 to 1946. A private cemetery contains the graves of some of Fatland's owners, and of Free Quakers who supported the Revolutionary War.

Fatland Farm edit

The Perkiomen Creek empties in to the Schuylkill River just north of Valley Forge. The river curves in an oxbow and forms a peninsula with the creek. Early settlers called the area the "Fatlands of Egypt" because of its frequent flooding and rich alluvial soil.[1]

James Morgan dammed the creek and built a grist mill and miller's house on the north side of the Perkiomen Peninsula in 1749.[2]: 104  He built the country seat "Mill Grove" in 1762.[2]: 104  In a February 28, 1771 advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette, he announced the upcoming auction of two adjacent properties, Fatland Farm and Mill Grove Farm:

To be sold at public venue on the 4th day of March, upon the premises, if not sold before at private sale, by the subscriber, in Providence township, Philadelphia county, two valuable plantations, one of which consisting of 300 acres (Fatland farm), bounding near a mile on the Schuylkill river, whereas a good shad fishery; it also bounds the lands of Henry Pawling, Esq., and extends along the same to the Perkiomen; there are about 150 acres cleared, 20 whereof are good watered meadow and a great quantity more may be made; the woodland well timbered and the whole well watered, with the conveniency of watering every field on the plantation; there is a good stone dwelling house, brew house, with a large frame barn, three good bearing apple orchards, with a large peach orchard bearing plentifully. The other contains 250 acres [Mill Grove Farm] ..."[3]: 180–81 

This auction took place, but neither property sold.[3]: 181  Instead, James Vaux (1748–1842) purchased Fatland Farm by private sale more than a year later, on June 18, 1772.[3]: 181 

Vaux Hill edit

 
Schuylkill River at Valley Forge, looking east, circa 1910. Fatland Island and Fatland Ford are in the background, center.

Vaux renamed the property "Vaux Hill." The 300-acre (121.4 hectares) farm spanned the middle of the peninsula.[4] Part of its western boundary, shared with Henry Pawling's farm, was the road south to Fatland Ford, a shallow crossing of the Schuylkill River, opposite Valley Forge.[5]

Vaux was an English farmer and Quaker, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1771.[6] He expanded the existing stone farmhouse in 1776,[3]: 200  and constructed its stone barn.[7] The following year he married Susanna Warder (1749–1812) of Philadelphia, also a Quaker.[6]

Vaux took no side in the Revolutionary War. On September 21, 1777, General George Washington, accompanied by a detachment of his life guard and aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman, surveilled British troops at Valley Forge from the north side of the river.[3]: 201  The river was swollen, which prevented the British from crossing. At Washington's direction, his aide urgently wrote to General Alexander McDougall—"... the River has fallen and is fordable at almost any place, the Enemy can have no Reason to delay passing much longer. He would have wrote [sic] you personally, but is employed in viewing the ground and making disposition of the Army which arrived yesterday."[8] Vaux invited Washington to dine and stay the night—the life guard secured Fatland Ford overnight.[3]: 201  Washington and his troops departed early the following morning.

That same morning, British Captain John Montroser recorded in his journal: "[September] 22nd. — At 5 this morning ... the Light Infantry and Grenadiers passed over the Schuylkill at Fatland Ford without a single shot and took post."[3]: 185  Early that evening, General Howe crossed the ford and made Vaux Hill his headquarters. Vaux dined with Howe, who asked about the rebel officer who had been spotted the previous day. When informed that it had been Washington himself, Howe reportedly replied: "Oh, I wish I had known that. I would have tried to catch him!"[9]: 412  The opposing commanders-in-chief probably slept in the same bed on consecutive nights.[10]: 192–93  As Howe slept, the British Army began a night crossing from Valley Forge. Montroser: "[September] 23rd. — Just after 12 o'clock this night the whole army moved to the opposite side, on the north side of the river Schuylkill by the way of Fatland Ford, and by 10 a. m. the whole baggage and all had happily passed it. After the principal body had got on the north side of the Schuylkill about one mile the army halted to dry themselves and rest."[3]: 185 

 
Valley Forge Park and Vicinity (1908). "Old Fatland Ford" is marked at the center top.

General Washington and the Continental Army returned to the area in December 1777, and began the six month Valley Forge encampment. Most of the troops were quartered south of the river, but Vaux's farm was the site of troop encampments and support facilities.[5] General John Sullivan supervised construction of a floating-log bridge slightly downstream from Fatland Ford.[5] This bridge provided a river crossing in times of high water, and an escape route should British attack from the south.[5] The floating bridge was destroyed by ice in 1779.[5]

The British army, in September, 1777, passed from Valley Forge to the left bank of the Schuylkill by the Fatland Ford; not many months later [June 19, 1778], when the American forces evacuated Valley Forge, they crossed at the same place, as just mentioned. Both armies swarmed over the Vaux Hill plantation like devastating clouds of locusts. Tearing down fences, destroying trees and doing thousands of pounds' worth of damage in various ways, they wrought such havoc that Mr. Vaux's estate was seriously embarrassed in consequence.[9]: 410–11 

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania paid Vaux £1,000 in compensation for damage done to his property during the war.[3]: 202  "In the 1785 assessment of Providence township, James Vaux is recorded as a farmer, owning a farm of 300 acres of land, dwelling, four horses, six cows, one servant (colored), and one riding chair."[3]: 206  He later served in the Pennsylvania Legislature.[9]: 412  Vaux sold Vaux Hill to John Echline Allen, about 1794.[4]

There are no known images of the "good stone dwelling house" described in 1771, or of the house as expanded by Vaux.[9]: 410 

Fatland Ford edit

 
William and Lucy Green Bakewell

By 1803, the farm was owned by James S. Ewing, who advertised it for sale in September. He listed its buildings: "... a dwelling-house 45x35 feet, built of stone, ... Smith's house and Shop, Ice house, spring house, poultry house, smoke house, large stone barn with stables for 40 head of horses and cows ..."[11]

Ewing sold the property to Englishman William Woodhouse Bakewell (1759–1821) who, with his wife, 4 daughters and 2 sons,[3]: 209  occupied it in January 1804.[2]: 99, n.1  Bakewell's wife, Lucy Green Bakewell (1765–1804), died during their first year living there. Their eldest daughter, also named Lucy (1787–1874), took on the duties of hostess.

Bakewell renamed the property "Fatland Ford,"[12] and operated it as a gentleman's farm. Robert Sutcliff, a relative of Bakewell's estate manager, visited in August 1804:

This plantation, consists of 300 acres of good land, 200 of which are cleared, and 100 covered with wood. On the estate is a well finished square stone house, about 15 yards [13.7 m] in length, with a wide boarded floor piazza, both in back and front. These afford excellent accommodation during the summer season ... Besides the dwelling house, there is an excellent kitchen, and offices adjoining; with a large barn, and stables sufficient to accommodate 40 horses and cows; all well built of stone. The estate extends the whole breadth betwixt the Schuylkill and Perkiomen. On the former river there is a Shad Fishery which is of considerable value ... This estate, with all its appendages, cost about 3600£ sterling, which is but 12£ per acre, the buildings included. The house is so situated that it commands one of the finest prospects in Pennsylvania, and, being on a rising ground, is dry and healthy. The whole together forms one of the most beautiful spots I have seen in the United States.[13]: 30–31 

Audubon edit

 
Mill Grove, in 2012.

Sutcliff also visited Mill Grove, then owned by Jean Audubon, a retired French sea captain living in Nantes, France.[14]: 478  Lead deposits had been discovered on the farm, and Captain Audubon formed a partnership with French businessman Francis Dacosta to mine the ore.[14]: 37–38  Sutcliff wrote: "In the plantation adjoining to my relation's, we visited a lead mine on the banks of the Perkiomin [sic], which was then worked by a Frenchman. He invited us to go down into it, where, at the depth of about 12 feet, I saw a vein of lead ore 18 inches in thickness; and as it is wrought at a very easy expense, there was a great probability of its being a very valuable acquisition."[13]: 34 

The "Frenchman" Sutcliff met may have been Dacosta, or it may have been the captain's 19-year-old son (and future naturalist) John James Audubon—they had arrived in America together the year before.[2]: xxv  Audubon and 17-year-old Lucy Bakewell fell in love, although her father thought both of them too young to marry.[14]: 37–38  Informed by letter of his son's intentions, Captain Audubon initially opposed the marriage.[14]: 40  With money borrowed from the Bakewells, Audubon sailed for France in January 1805 to sort out what to do about Mill Grove and the lead mine, and to obtain his father's permission to marry.[14]: 39  He returned to the United States in May 1806 having attained his majority and his father's blessing.[14]: 46–47  Bakewell also consented to the engagement. Audubon sold Mill Grove and his father's interest in the lead mine to Dacosta in September 1806,[2]: xxvi  and moved to New York City to work as a clerk in the counting house of Bakewell's brother.[2]: xxvi  In August 1807, he and a partner opened a pioneer store in Louisville, Kentucky.[2]: xxvii  On April 8, 1808, John James Audubon and Lucy Bakewell were married at "Fatland Ford."[15]: 28  The next morning, the newlyweds departed for Louisville, where Audubon continued his short-lived career as a merchant.[15]: 28–29 

When Bakewell advertised Fatland Ford for sale in 1813, he listed "a [steam] threshing-mill, which threshes 12 bushels of barley in an hour," and livestock of "200 Sheep of the English Morena breeds, span of oxen and other cattle, 4 asses, 7 horses, ... 30 pigs of the English Berkshire breed."[16] The sale was not successful; Bakewell was still the owner of the property when he died there in 1821.[17]: 110 

Lucy Green Bakewell had been buried at "Fatland Ford" in 1804.[3]: 208  Bakewell remarried, and was initially buried in Philadelphia.[3]: 208–09  His descendants later had him reinterred beside his first wife.

Fatland edit

 
"Fatland," from the northwest, in 1917.
 
"Fatland," from the south, in the 1890s.

Dacosta's lead mine initially was unprofitable, with costs too great to compete with imported lead from England.[2]: 115  The War of 1812 caused imports to be cut off, and the price of lead in the United States to soar.[18]: 38  Samuel Wetherill, Jr., a Philadelphia white lead importer and paint manufacturer, purchased Mill Grove for $7,000 in 1813.[2]: 169  Wetherill & Son reopened the mine, and "mined and smelted over 100 tons from small veins on Perkiomen Creek in Montgomery County, Pa., on Mill Grove farm."[18]: 36  The depleted mine was closed again in the 1820s.[17]: 108 

Samuel Wetherill 3rd (1764–1829) purchased "Fatland Ford" in 1825, and changed its name to just "Fatland." He had been his father's partner, and inherited the family business. He and his wife, Rachel Price (1766–1844), had 5 sons and a daughter.[19]: 996  Wetherill inherited Mill Grove, bought up farms owned by the Bakewells and the Pawlings, and became the great landowner of the peninsula.[5]: 46  He subsequently bequeathed the properties to his children and grandchildren.[20] "These properties were improved with stately mansions and outbuildings with beautiful lawns and surroundings. (Also erected were summer residences on some of the properties.)"[5]: 46 

Dr. William Wetherill (1804–1872), inherited Fatland.[10]: 196  He was a Philadelphia physician, and partner – with his brother John, who inherited Mill Grove – in the Wetherill White Lead Works.[19]: 1004  He and his wife Isabella Macomb (1807–1871) had 16 children, 12 of whom lived to adulthood.[19]: 1004  Dr. Wetherill demolished Fatland's stone farmhouse, about 1843, and replaced it with a Greek Revival mansion built upon the farmhouse's foundations.[10]: 196–97 [21]

Possibly inspired by "Andalusia" (1834–36), Nicholas Biddle's great Greek Revival mansion overlooking the Delaware River, architect John Haviland designed a "western counterpart" for Dr. Wetherill, "Fatland Hall," overlooking the Schuylkill River.[22] The size and arrangement of the mansion's center hall and formal rooms were similar to James Vaux's expanded farmhouse,[9] but with much higher ceilings: "Fatland is special for the scale of the portico and its juxtaposed miniature service wing."[22] The overall composition was asymmetrical,[9] the first floor of the single wing (to the east) consisted of the formal dining room, and pantries and the family dining room in the end pavilion. The kitchen was in the basement below, and servant rooms were above.[9] The end pavilion featured painted-wood-columned porticoes on the front and rear facades.[9] The great Ionic columns of the main block's porticoes were of white marble.[9] The mansion was completed about 1845.[9] A stone tablet in its south gable reads: "J. Vaux, 1776; rebuilt by William Wetherill, 1843."[3]: 200  "Bayard Taylor, the historian and traveler, claimed [the view from the piazza] was the most beautiful view along the beautiful Schuylkill river."[19]: 1006 

Fatland was inherited by Dr. Wetherill's son, Col. John Macomb Wetherill (1828–1895), a Civil War veteran who managed the family's Pennsylvania coal lands, and never married.[19]: 1004  He gave permission for William Bakewell's remains to be reinterred at Fatland,[3]: 209  and directed that he himself be buried there.[15]: 43, n.3  In his will, Col. Wetherill deeded the private cemetery to a trust, directed that it be expanded and improved, and established an endowment for its maintenance.[15]: 43, n.3 

Ownership of Fatland passed to the colonel's younger brother, William H. Wetherill, Jr. (1838–1927) and wife Elizabeth Proctor (1842–1914), under whom the property was "greatly beautified."[19]: 1006  He carried out the improvements to the private cemetery, and had Wetherill ancestors and others reburied there.

Dr. Henry Emerson Wetherill (1871–1946), the eldest son of William H. and a U.S. Army surgeon and inventor, inherited Fatland in 1927. He had been a member of Robert Peary's 1893-94 Greenland expedition, on which he collected plant specimens.[23] He also delivered Mrs. Peary's daughter Marie, whom the popular press dubbed the "Snow Baby."[24] An inveterate tinkerer, his diagnostic medical devices were awarded the 1906 Longstreth Medal by the Franklin Institute.[25] He also invented navigational instruments for ships,[26] and a musical instrument called a trombone flute.[27] Dr. Wetherill never married, and was buried in the private cemetery. He was the last Wetherill to own Fatland.

Free Quaker - Wetherill Cemetery edit

 
Free Quaker - Wetherill Cemetery, in 2017.

Samuel Wetherill, Jr. provided supplies to the Continental Army at Valley Forge, and was "read out of meeting" (disowned) by the Society of Friends in 1779, after refusing to renounce those actions.[28] Defying the pacifism of their religion, "Free Quakers" supported or fought in the Revolutionary War. Wetherill became a founder of Philadelphia's Free Quaker Meeting (chartered February 20, 1781),[28] and served as its clerk and preacher.[28] With brother-in-law Timothy Matlack, another charter member, he designed its meeting house (1783–84), at 5th and Arch Streets.[29] The meeting established its own burying ground, on the east side of 5th Street between Locust and Spruce Streets.[30] Membership dwindled as the Free Quakers died off, and their meeting house was closed in 1836.[29] As the turn of the 20th century approached, the Free Quaker Burying Ground plot became attractive for commercial development.[30] It was in anticipation of its sale that Col. John Macomb Wetherill (Samuel Wetherill, Jr.'s great-grandson) directed in his 1895 will that the private cemetery at Fatland be expanded.[30]

In 1905, remains from sixty-one graves were removed from the Free Quaker Burying Ground and reinterred at Fatland.[30] Included were those of Samuel Wetherill, Jr. and his wife and relatives, including Timothy Matlack, scribe of the Second Continental Congress—whose penmanship can be seen in the Declaration of Independence. Many of the tombstones had severely eroded, and were illegible or identifiable only by initials. The remains of Ira Allen, one of Vermont's Green Mountain Boys, had been lost with the closing of another Philadelphia cemetery, and his cenotaph also was moved to Fatland.

Numerous Wetherill family members have been and continue to be buried in the private cemetery.

Saint Gabriel's Hall edit

 
Saint Gabriel's Hall from the Pottstown Expressway, in 2017.

On November 19, 1895, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia purchased a 185-acre tract of land adjacent to Fatland, to the west.[31]: 412  Formerly part of Henry Pawling's farm, there the Archdiocese built the Philadelphia Protectory for Boys, an orphanage staffed by the Christian Brothers. Architects Wilson Brothers & Company designed its Italianate orange-brick-and-red-tile-roofed building, which included a tall campanile, or belltower.[32] Archbishop Patrick John Ryan dedicated the building on May 8, 1898, with more than 3,000 in attendance.[31]: 412  Its initial capacity was for housing 200 boys, but the capacity increased to 500 boys with additions that opened in September 1905.[31]: 412  An additional 100 acres were purchased in 1902, which extended the property to the Schuylkill River and included Fatland Island (part of Fatland Ford).[31]: 412  The name of the Reading Railroad passenger station opposite the west end of the peninsula was changed to Protectory Station, by 1898.[31]: 412  The protectory was renamed Saint Gabriel's Hall in 1962.[33]

Operated by the Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, "St. Gabe's" is now a juvenile detention facility.[33] Its border with Fatland follows the old path of Fatland Ford Road.[5]: 73 

Camiel edit

 
U.S. Rte. 422 / Pottstown Expressway (bottom right to top) makes two major curves.
 
"St. Gabe's Curve." U.S. Rte. 422 / Pottstown Expressway, from Pawlings Road, in 2017.

Antiquarian Harold Donaldson Eberlein wrote about Fatland in 1912.[10] By the time he revisited the estate in 1939, the landscape had changed: "So closely is the house screened by great ancient trees that only in winter can you catch a glimpse from a distance of its stately white porticoes gleaming through the interlacing branches."[9]: 409  Dr. Henry Emerson Wetherill died at Fatland in 1946. Later that year the property was purchased by the Philadelphia Democratic politician Peter J. Camiel (1910–1991) and his wife Nina (1913–2007).

Camiel was one of 12 children of Polish Jewish immigrants, a former boxer, longshoreman and union organizer.[34] He made himself a millionaire as a wholesale beer distributor.[35] Camiel served as a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1953 to 1964, and as chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee from 1970 to 1976.[35] He was appointed one of five commissioners to the powerful Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in 1975, serving on it until his death.[34][a]

State Senator Vince Fumo: "Pete was a pilot. I used to listen for hours in amazement, when he would tell the stories about how he found Fatland Farm, flying over it in a plane, hidden behind so many trees. He bought it and pulled all those trees out and made it into a showcase right next to Valley Forge Park."[34]: 119  The Camiels spent several years renovating the mansion, rehabilitating the overgrown estate, and returning it to being a working farm.[5]: 56  About 1950, they sold off a section along the south side of Pawlings Road, between the mansion and Saint Gabriel's Hall, for a housing development.[5]: 34 

Pottstown Expressway edit

In 1951, following 138 years of family ownership, Herbert Johnson Wetherill sold Mill Grove to Montgomery County to create a bird sanctuary and house museum honoring John James Audubon. Twenty-five years later, it was announced that the planned route for the Pottstown Expressway was to go through the Audubon property. Camiel was credited with / blamed for applying political pressure to reroute the superhighway around the bird sanctuary:

Central to the arguments concerning politicians appears to be the controversial "Camiel Loop." [Montgomery County Planning Commission associate director] Plutte said that the cost of rerouting the Pottstown Expressway around the home of Peter J. Camiel caused the price of the highway to jump from $5 million to $8 million, and most recently to more than $10 million in the past six months. As the highway leaves the connection with Betzwood Bridge and aims northwest toward Pottstown, it veers sharply south [sic west], down and around Camiel's farm, "Fatland." The parabolic dip in the road mean several miles of additional roadway, roadway that Pottstown was denied. Plutte said the Camiel loop was installed to avert a "potential challenge" arising out of an environmental study. Camiel's farm is near the Audubon Sanctuary, which according to original plans, would have had to surrender land to the highway crews. Federal funds, which pay for 70 per cent of the Pottstown Expressway, could be jeopardized by the taking of the park land, Plutte said.[37]

Whether Camiel acted from selfish or selfless motives (or a combination of both), the rerouting of the Pottstown Expressway spared Mill Grove – now a National Historic Landmark – and minimized the adverse effect on Fatland. The Camiels owned the property for 44 years, and were buried together in its private cemetery.

Vaux Hill (2) edit

External videos
 
  Selected Contents of Vaux Hill[38]
  Vaux Hill[39]

Camiel's land sales dramatically reduced Fatland's acreage—his housing development, land for the Pottstown Expressway, and his 1979 sale of 154 acres (62.3 hectare) between the expressway and the Schyulkill River to Valley Forge National Historical Park.[40] On July 16, 1990, Robert Owen Safford (1934–2011) and his wife Barbara Harvey (b. 1947) purchased the mansion on 18 acres from Camiel for $2.1 million.[41] The couple changed the name of the property back to "Vaux Hill," the name James Vaux had given it in 1772.[42]

The Saffords expanded the mansion, erecting a west wing and end pavilion that mirrored the east wing and end pavilion—thus creating an overall symmetrical building (for the first time). They remodeled the mansion's interior, and filled it with sumptuous European furniture and decorative arts.[42] Following Safford's 2011 death, his widow sold the decorative arts at Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia.[b]

In 2014, Mrs. Safford put the estate up for sale with an asking price of $9 million for the 8,900-square-foot mansion on 15 acres, with the barn on 3 acres available for a separate sale.[43] In February 2016, the asking price was reduced to $7 million.[44] The current property was sold for $2.74 million on May 28, 2021.[41]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Technically, Camiel was suspended from the Turnpike Commission in May 1980, after federal charges were filed against him for corruption. He was found guilty – United States v. Camiel, 689 F.2d 31 (3d Cir. 1982) – but the verdict was reversed on appeal. He returned to the commission in 1983.[36]
  2. ^ The September 25, 2013 auction "brought $3.9 million, more than three times the presale estimate."[42] Its top lot was a hand-painted Russian urn from Czar Nicholas I's imperial porcelain factory at St. Petersburg. Estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, it sold for $494,500.[42]

References edit

  1. ^ Thaddeus Vanderslice, Henry Pawling, a British Soldier and Some of His Descendants (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1904).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Francis Hobart Herrick, Audubon the Naturalist: A History of His Life and Time, Volume 1, (New York and London: D. Appleton and Company, 1917).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Dr. W. H. Reed, "Audubon. Its History, Tradition and Reminiscences," Historical Sketches: A Collection of Papers Prepared for the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Volume 4, (Montgomery County Historical Society, 1909), pp. 173-224.
  4. ^ a b Abstract - Vaux Family Papers, from Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j National Park Service, Cultural Landscapes Inventory—Valley Forge National Historical Park, 1999.(PDF)
  6. ^ a b Journal of the Friends' Historical Society, Volume 6, (London: Friends' Historical Society, 1909), p. 186.[1]
  7. ^ Vaux-Wetherill Stone Barn, from HABS.
  8. ^ Tench Tilghman for Gen. George Washington to Gen. Alexander McDougall, 21 Sept. 1777 (See note 2), from National Archives.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harold Donaldson Eberlein, Portrait of a Colonial City: Philadelphia 1670–1838, (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1939).
  10. ^ a b c d Harold Donaldson Eberlein and Horace Mather Lippincott, Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood, (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1912).
  11. ^ The Norristown Newspaper, September 22, 1803, quoted in Stark, p. 113.
  12. ^ The Norristown Newspaper, September 8, 1813, quoted in Stark, p. 113.
  13. ^ a b Robert Sutcliff, Travels in Some Parts of North America, in the Years 1804, 1805 & 1806, (York, England: printed by C. Peacock, 1811).
  14. ^ a b c d e f Stanley Clisby Arthur, Audubon: An Intimate Life of the American Woodsman, (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1937).
  15. ^ a b c d John James Audubon, Audubon and His Journals, edited by Maria R. Audubon, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899).
  16. ^ The Norristown Newspaper, August 7, 1813, quoted in John T. Faris, Old Roads Out of Philadelphia, (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1917), p. 198.[2]
  17. ^ a b Henry Woodman, The History of Valley Forge, (Oaks, PA: John U. Francis, Sr., 1922)
  18. ^ a b The First Century of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 1821-1921, (Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, 1922).
  19. ^ a b c d e f John Woolf Jordan, Colonial Families of Philadelphia, Volume 2, (Lewis Publishing Company, 1911).[3]
  20. ^ Stark, p. 3.
  21. ^ Linda Stein, "Fabulous antiques from Vaux Hill to be auctioned," Main Line Suburban Life, September 18, 2013.
  22. ^ a b George E. Thomas, Buildings of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2010), p. 201.
  23. ^ "List of Plants Obtained on the Peary Auxiliary Expedition of 1894,"
  24. ^ "Dr. H. E. Wetherill, Peary Arctic Aide, Delivered Child to Admiral's Wife on 1893 Expedition – Surgeon, Inventor Dies," The New York Times, March 9, 1946.
  25. ^ Henry Emerson Wetherill, from The Franklin Institute.
  26. ^ Henry Emerson Wetherill, "New Aids for Navigation," Journal of the Franklin Institute, September 1908.
  27. ^ "Dr. Henry Emerson Wetherill (photograph), from Library of Congress.
  28. ^ a b c Charles Wetherill, History of The Religious Society of Friends, Called by Some The Free Quakers, in the City of Philadelphia, (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1894).
  29. ^ a b Charles E. Peterson, Notes on the Free Quaker Meeting House, (Washington, D.C.: Ross & Perry, 2002).
  30. ^ a b c d Walter Ault, "The Fighting Quakers Cemetery," The Times Herald, September 14, 2009.[4]
  31. ^ a b c d e Joseph Louis J. Kirlin, Catholicity in Philadelphia: From the Earliest Missionaries down to the Present Time, (Philadelphia: J. J. McVey, 1909), pp. 411-13.[5]
  32. ^ Roman Catholic Protectory data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings (PAB) project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
  33. ^ a b History, from Saint Gabriel's Hall.
  34. ^ a b c "Senate Resolution [memorializing the late Peter J. Camiel]," Pennsylvania Legislative Journal—Senate, February 5, 1991, pp. 116-119.(PDF)
  35. ^ a b "Peter J. Camiel, 81, Philadelphia Chief of '70s Democrats," The New York Times, February 2, 1991.
  36. ^ Tom Fontaine, "Thornburgh: Let PennDOT run the Pennsylvania Turnpike," The Pittsburgh Tribune, March 31, 2013.
  37. ^ William G. Reinecke, "Pottstown expressway link blocked; Construction may start in 1989," The Pottstown Mercury, September 23, 1976, p. 1.
  38. ^ "Selected Contents of Vaux Hill". Freeman's Auctions on YouTube. 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  39. ^ "1248 Pawlings Road Phoenixville, PA 19460". Kurfiss Sotheby's International Realty on YouTube. 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  40. ^ Editorial: "Protecting Valley Forge," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 20, 1979.
  41. ^ a b 1248 Pawlings Rd, Phoenixville, PA 19460 - Price History, from Zillow.
  42. ^ a b c d David Iames, "The Vaux Hill Sale," Antiques & Auction News, October 8, 2013.[6]
  43. ^ Angelly Carrión, "Fatland Estate is going for $9 million," Philadelphia Magazine, September 18, 2014.
  44. ^ Melissa Romero, "Regal Vaux Hill Mansion back on market with $2M Chop," Curbed Philly, February 8, 2016.

Further reading edit

  • Jennifer Anne Stark, The Pawling Farmhouse at Walnut Hill: Valley Forge National Park, masters thesis, University of Pennsylvania, December 1992.[7]
  • Rebecca Anne Hunt, Blessed Spot along the Perkiomen: An Historical Analysis of Mill Grove, dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1994.

External links edit

  • Pottstown Expressway Historic Overview

fatland, also, known, farm, ford, vaux, hill, greek, revival, mansion, estate, audubon, pennsylvania, located, north, side, schuylkill, river, opposite, valley, forge, property, part, continental, army, 1777, winter, encampment, consecutive, days, september, 1. Fatland also known as Fatland Farm Fatland Ford and Vaux Hill is a Greek Revival mansion and estate in Audubon Pennsylvania Located on the north side of the Schuylkill River opposite Valley Forge the property was part of the Continental Army s 1777 78 winter encampment On consecutive days in September 1777 its stone farmhouse served as headquarters for General George Washington and British General Sir William Howe FatlandGeneral informationArchitectural styleGreek RevivalAddress1248 Pawlings RoadTown or cityAudubon Pennsylvania U S Coordinates40 07 09 N 75 26 35 W 40 11917 N 75 44306 W 40 11917 75 44306Construction started1843Completed1845Renovated1990sTechnical detailsMaterialstuccoed brick amp stonewooden square columns marble Ionic columnsDesign and constructionArchitect s John Haviland The farmhouse was demolished about 1843 and the mansion was completed on its site about 1845 The Wetherill Family owned the property for 121 years 1825 to 1946 A private cemetery contains the graves of some of Fatland s owners and of Free Quakers who supported the Revolutionary War Contents 1 Fatland Farm 2 Vaux Hill 3 Fatland Ford 3 1 Audubon 4 Fatland 4 1 Free Quaker Wetherill Cemetery 4 2 Saint Gabriel s Hall 4 3 Camiel 4 3 1 Pottstown Expressway 5 Vaux Hill 2 6 Notes 7 References 7 1 Further reading 8 External linksFatland Farm editThe Perkiomen Creek empties in to the Schuylkill River just north of Valley Forge The river curves in an oxbow and forms a peninsula with the creek Early settlers called the area the Fatlands of Egypt because of its frequent flooding and rich alluvial soil 1 James Morgan dammed the creek and built a grist mill and miller s house on the north side of the Perkiomen Peninsula in 1749 2 104 He built the country seat Mill Grove in 1762 2 104 In a February 28 1771 advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette he announced the upcoming auction of two adjacent properties Fatland Farm and Mill Grove Farm To be sold at public venue on the 4th day of March upon the premises if not sold before at private sale by the subscriber in Providence township Philadelphia county two valuable plantations one of which consisting of 300 acres Fatland farm bounding near a mile on the Schuylkill river whereas a good shad fishery it also bounds the lands of Henry Pawling Esq and extends along the same to the Perkiomen there are about 150 acres cleared 20 whereof are good watered meadow and a great quantity more may be made the woodland well timbered and the whole well watered with the conveniency of watering every field on the plantation there is a good stone dwelling house brew house with a large frame barn three good bearing apple orchards with a large peach orchard bearing plentifully The other contains 250 acres Mill Grove Farm 3 180 81 This auction took place but neither property sold 3 181 Instead James Vaux 1748 1842 purchased Fatland Farm by private sale more than a year later on June 18 1772 3 181 Vaux Hill edit nbsp Schuylkill River at Valley Forge looking east circa 1910 Fatland Island and Fatland Ford are in the background center Vaux renamed the property Vaux Hill The 300 acre 121 4 hectares farm spanned the middle of the peninsula 4 Part of its western boundary shared with Henry Pawling s farm was the road south to Fatland Ford a shallow crossing of the Schuylkill River opposite Valley Forge 5 Vaux was an English farmer and Quaker who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1771 6 He expanded the existing stone farmhouse in 1776 3 200 and constructed its stone barn 7 The following year he married Susanna Warder 1749 1812 of Philadelphia also a Quaker 6 Vaux took no side in the Revolutionary War On September 21 1777 General George Washington accompanied by a detachment of his life guard and aide de camp Tench Tilghman surveilled British troops at Valley Forge from the north side of the river 3 201 The river was swollen which prevented the British from crossing At Washington s direction his aide urgently wrote to General Alexander McDougall the River has fallen and is fordable at almost any place the Enemy can have no Reason to delay passing much longer He would have wrote sic you personally but is employed in viewing the ground and making disposition of the Army which arrived yesterday 8 Vaux invited Washington to dine and stay the night the life guard secured Fatland Ford overnight 3 201 Washington and his troops departed early the following morning That same morning British Captain John Montroser recorded in his journal September 22nd At 5 this morning the Light Infantry and Grenadiers passed over the Schuylkill at Fatland Ford without a single shot and took post 3 185 Early that evening General Howe crossed the ford and made Vaux Hill his headquarters Vaux dined with Howe who asked about the rebel officer who had been spotted the previous day When informed that it had been Washington himself Howe reportedly replied Oh I wish I had known that I would have tried to catch him 9 412 The opposing commanders in chief probably slept in the same bed on consecutive nights 10 192 93 As Howe slept the British Army began a night crossing from Valley Forge Montroser September 23rd Just after 12 o clock this night the whole army moved to the opposite side on the north side of the river Schuylkill by the way of Fatland Ford and by 10 a m the whole baggage and all had happily passed it After the principal body had got on the north side of the Schuylkill about one mile the army halted to dry themselves and rest 3 185 nbsp Valley Forge Park and Vicinity 1908 Old Fatland Ford is marked at the center top General Washington and the Continental Army returned to the area in December 1777 and began the six month Valley Forge encampment Most of the troops were quartered south of the river but Vaux s farm was the site of troop encampments and support facilities 5 General John Sullivan supervised construction of a floating log bridge slightly downstream from Fatland Ford 5 This bridge provided a river crossing in times of high water and an escape route should British attack from the south 5 The floating bridge was destroyed by ice in 1779 5 The British army in September 1777 passed from Valley Forge to the left bank of the Schuylkill by the Fatland Ford not many months later June 19 1778 when the American forces evacuated Valley Forge they crossed at the same place as just mentioned Both armies swarmed over the Vaux Hill plantation like devastating clouds of locusts Tearing down fences destroying trees and doing thousands of pounds worth of damage in various ways they wrought such havoc that Mr Vaux s estate was seriously embarrassed in consequence 9 410 11 The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania paid Vaux 1 000 in compensation for damage done to his property during the war 3 202 In the 1785 assessment of Providence township James Vaux is recorded as a farmer owning a farm of 300 acres of land dwelling four horses six cows one servant colored and one riding chair 3 206 He later served in the Pennsylvania Legislature 9 412 Vaux sold Vaux Hill to John Echline Allen about 1794 4 There are no known images of the good stone dwelling house described in 1771 or of the house as expanded by Vaux 9 410 Fatland Ford edit nbsp William and Lucy Green Bakewell By 1803 the farm was owned by James S Ewing who advertised it for sale in September He listed its buildings a dwelling house 45x35 feet built of stone Smith s house and Shop Ice house spring house poultry house smoke house large stone barn with stables for 40 head of horses and cows 11 Ewing sold the property to Englishman William Woodhouse Bakewell 1759 1821 who with his wife 4 daughters and 2 sons 3 209 occupied it in January 1804 2 99 n 1 Bakewell s wife Lucy Green Bakewell 1765 1804 died during their first year living there Their eldest daughter also named Lucy 1787 1874 took on the duties of hostess Bakewell renamed the property Fatland Ford 12 and operated it as a gentleman s farm Robert Sutcliff a relative of Bakewell s estate manager visited in August 1804 This plantation consists of 300 acres of good land 200 of which are cleared and 100 covered with wood On the estate is a well finished square stone house about 15 yards 13 7 m in length with a wide boarded floor piazza both in back and front These afford excellent accommodation during the summer season Besides the dwelling house there is an excellent kitchen and offices adjoining with a large barn and stables sufficient to accommodate 40 horses and cows all well built of stone The estate extends the whole breadth betwixt the Schuylkill and Perkiomen On the former river there is a Shad Fishery which is of considerable value This estate with all its appendages cost about 3600 sterling which is but 12 per acre the buildings included The house is so situated that it commands one of the finest prospects in Pennsylvania and being on a rising ground is dry and healthy The whole together forms one of the most beautiful spots I have seen in the United States 13 30 31 Audubon edit nbsp Mill Grove in 2012 Sutcliff also visited Mill Grove then owned by Jean Audubon a retired French sea captain living in Nantes France 14 478 Lead deposits had been discovered on the farm and Captain Audubon formed a partnership with French businessman Francis Dacosta to mine the ore 14 37 38 Sutcliff wrote In the plantation adjoining to my relation s we visited a lead mine on the banks of the Perkiomin sic which was then worked by a Frenchman He invited us to go down into it where at the depth of about 12 feet I saw a vein of lead ore 18 inches in thickness and as it is wrought at a very easy expense there was a great probability of its being a very valuable acquisition 13 34 The Frenchman Sutcliff met may have been Dacosta or it may have been the captain s 19 year old son and future naturalist John James Audubon they had arrived in America together the year before 2 xxv Audubon and 17 year old Lucy Bakewell fell in love although her father thought both of them too young to marry 14 37 38 Informed by letter of his son s intentions Captain Audubon initially opposed the marriage 14 40 With money borrowed from the Bakewells Audubon sailed for France in January 1805 to sort out what to do about Mill Grove and the lead mine and to obtain his father s permission to marry 14 39 He returned to the United States in May 1806 having attained his majority and his father s blessing 14 46 47 Bakewell also consented to the engagement Audubon sold Mill Grove and his father s interest in the lead mine to Dacosta in September 1806 2 xxvi and moved to New York City to work as a clerk in the counting house of Bakewell s brother 2 xxvi In August 1807 he and a partner opened a pioneer store in Louisville Kentucky 2 xxvii On April 8 1808 John James Audubon and Lucy Bakewell were married at Fatland Ford 15 28 The next morning the newlyweds departed for Louisville where Audubon continued his short lived career as a merchant 15 28 29 When Bakewell advertised Fatland Ford for sale in 1813 he listed a steam threshing mill which threshes 12 bushels of barley in an hour and livestock of 200 Sheep of the English Morena breeds span of oxen and other cattle 4 asses 7 horses 30 pigs of the English Berkshire breed 16 The sale was not successful Bakewell was still the owner of the property when he died there in 1821 17 110 Lucy Green Bakewell had been buried at Fatland Ford in 1804 3 208 Bakewell remarried and was initially buried in Philadelphia 3 208 09 His descendants later had him reinterred beside his first wife Fatland edit nbsp Fatland from the northwest in 1917 nbsp Fatland from the south in the 1890s Dacosta s lead mine initially was unprofitable with costs too great to compete with imported lead from England 2 115 The War of 1812 caused imports to be cut off and the price of lead in the United States to soar 18 38 Samuel Wetherill Jr a Philadelphia white lead importer and paint manufacturer purchased Mill Grove for 7 000 in 1813 2 169 Wetherill amp Son reopened the mine and mined and smelted over 100 tons from small veins on Perkiomen Creek in Montgomery County Pa on Mill Grove farm 18 36 The depleted mine was closed again in the 1820s 17 108 Samuel Wetherill 3rd 1764 1829 purchased Fatland Ford in 1825 and changed its name to just Fatland He had been his father s partner and inherited the family business He and his wife Rachel Price 1766 1844 had 5 sons and a daughter 19 996 Wetherill inherited Mill Grove bought up farms owned by the Bakewells and the Pawlings and became the great landowner of the peninsula 5 46 He subsequently bequeathed the properties to his children and grandchildren 20 These properties were improved with stately mansions and outbuildings with beautiful lawns and surroundings Also erected were summer residences on some of the properties 5 46 Dr William Wetherill 1804 1872 inherited Fatland 10 196 He was a Philadelphia physician and partner with his brother John who inherited Mill Grove in the Wetherill White Lead Works 19 1004 He and his wife Isabella Macomb 1807 1871 had 16 children 12 of whom lived to adulthood 19 1004 Dr Wetherill demolished Fatland s stone farmhouse about 1843 and replaced it with a Greek Revival mansion built upon the farmhouse s foundations 10 196 97 21 Possibly inspired by Andalusia 1834 36 Nicholas Biddle s great Greek Revival mansion overlooking the Delaware River architect John Haviland designed a western counterpart for Dr Wetherill Fatland Hall overlooking the Schuylkill River 22 The size and arrangement of the mansion s center hall and formal rooms were similar to James Vaux s expanded farmhouse 9 but with much higher ceilings Fatland is special for the scale of the portico and its juxtaposed miniature service wing 22 The overall composition was asymmetrical 9 the first floor of the single wing to the east consisted of the formal dining room and pantries and the family dining room in the end pavilion The kitchen was in the basement below and servant rooms were above 9 The end pavilion featured painted wood columned porticoes on the front and rear facades 9 The great Ionic columns of the main block s porticoes were of white marble 9 The mansion was completed about 1845 9 A stone tablet in its south gable reads J Vaux 1776 rebuilt by William Wetherill 1843 3 200 Bayard Taylor the historian and traveler claimed the view from the piazza was the most beautiful view along the beautiful Schuylkill river 19 1006 Fatland was inherited by Dr Wetherill s son Col John Macomb Wetherill 1828 1895 a Civil War veteran who managed the family s Pennsylvania coal lands and never married 19 1004 He gave permission for William Bakewell s remains to be reinterred at Fatland 3 209 and directed that he himself be buried there 15 43 n 3 In his will Col Wetherill deeded the private cemetery to a trust directed that it be expanded and improved and established an endowment for its maintenance 15 43 n 3 Ownership of Fatland passed to the colonel s younger brother William H Wetherill Jr 1838 1927 and wife Elizabeth Proctor 1842 1914 under whom the property was greatly beautified 19 1006 He carried out the improvements to the private cemetery and had Wetherill ancestors and others reburied there Dr Henry Emerson Wetherill 1871 1946 the eldest son of William H and a U S Army surgeon and inventor inherited Fatland in 1927 He had been a member of Robert Peary s 1893 94 Greenland expedition on which he collected plant specimens 23 He also delivered Mrs Peary s daughter Marie whom the popular press dubbed the Snow Baby 24 An inveterate tinkerer his diagnostic medical devices were awarded the 1906 Longstreth Medal by the Franklin Institute 25 He also invented navigational instruments for ships 26 and a musical instrument called a trombone flute 27 Dr Wetherill never married and was buried in the private cemetery He was the last Wetherill to own Fatland Free Quaker Wetherill Cemetery edit nbsp Free Quaker Wetherill Cemetery in 2017 Samuel Wetherill Jr provided supplies to the Continental Army at Valley Forge and was read out of meeting disowned by the Society of Friends in 1779 after refusing to renounce those actions 28 Defying the pacifism of their religion Free Quakers supported or fought in the Revolutionary War Wetherill became a founder of Philadelphia s Free Quaker Meeting chartered February 20 1781 28 and served as its clerk and preacher 28 With brother in law Timothy Matlack another charter member he designed its meeting house 1783 84 at 5th and Arch Streets 29 The meeting established its own burying ground on the east side of 5th Street between Locust and Spruce Streets 30 Membership dwindled as the Free Quakers died off and their meeting house was closed in 1836 29 As the turn of the 20th century approached the Free Quaker Burying Ground plot became attractive for commercial development 30 It was in anticipation of its sale that Col John Macomb Wetherill Samuel Wetherill Jr s great grandson directed in his 1895 will that the private cemetery at Fatland be expanded 30 In 1905 remains from sixty one graves were removed from the Free Quaker Burying Ground and reinterred at Fatland 30 Included were those of Samuel Wetherill Jr and his wife and relatives including Timothy Matlack scribe of the Second Continental Congress whose penmanship can be seen in the Declaration of Independence Many of the tombstones had severely eroded and were illegible or identifiable only by initials The remains of Ira Allen one of Vermont s Green Mountain Boys had been lost with the closing of another Philadelphia cemetery and his cenotaph also was moved to Fatland Numerous Wetherill family members have been and continue to be buried in the private cemetery Saint Gabriel s Hall edit nbsp Saint Gabriel s Hall from the Pottstown Expressway in 2017 On November 19 1895 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia purchased a 185 acre tract of land adjacent to Fatland to the west 31 412 Formerly part of Henry Pawling s farm there the Archdiocese built the Philadelphia Protectory for Boys an orphanage staffed by the Christian Brothers Architects Wilson Brothers amp Company designed its Italianate orange brick and red tile roofed building which included a tall campanile or belltower 32 Archbishop Patrick John Ryan dedicated the building on May 8 1898 with more than 3 000 in attendance 31 412 Its initial capacity was for housing 200 boys but the capacity increased to 500 boys with additions that opened in September 1905 31 412 An additional 100 acres were purchased in 1902 which extended the property to the Schuylkill River and included Fatland Island part of Fatland Ford 31 412 The name of the Reading Railroad passenger station opposite the west end of the peninsula was changed to Protectory Station by 1898 31 412 The protectory was renamed Saint Gabriel s Hall in 1962 33 Operated by the Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia St Gabe s is now a juvenile detention facility 33 Its border with Fatland follows the old path of Fatland Ford Road 5 73 Camiel edit nbsp U S Rte 422 Pottstown Expressway bottom right to top makes two major curves nbsp St Gabe s Curve U S Rte 422 Pottstown Expressway from Pawlings Road in 2017 Antiquarian Harold Donaldson Eberlein wrote about Fatland in 1912 10 By the time he revisited the estate in 1939 the landscape had changed So closely is the house screened by great ancient trees that only in winter can you catch a glimpse from a distance of its stately white porticoes gleaming through the interlacing branches 9 409 Dr Henry Emerson Wetherill died at Fatland in 1946 Later that year the property was purchased by the Philadelphia Democratic politician Peter J Camiel 1910 1991 and his wife Nina 1913 2007 Camiel was one of 12 children of Polish Jewish immigrants a former boxer longshoreman and union organizer 34 He made himself a millionaire as a wholesale beer distributor 35 Camiel served as a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1953 to 1964 and as chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee from 1970 to 1976 35 He was appointed one of five commissioners to the powerful Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in 1975 serving on it until his death 34 a State Senator Vince Fumo Pete was a pilot I used to listen for hours in amazement when he would tell the stories about how he found Fatland Farm flying over it in a plane hidden behind so many trees He bought it and pulled all those trees out and made it into a showcase right next to Valley Forge Park 34 119 The Camiels spent several years renovating the mansion rehabilitating the overgrown estate and returning it to being a working farm 5 56 About 1950 they sold off a section along the south side of Pawlings Road between the mansion and Saint Gabriel s Hall for a housing development 5 34 Pottstown Expressway edit In 1951 following 138 years of family ownership Herbert Johnson Wetherill sold Mill Grove to Montgomery County to create a bird sanctuary and house museum honoring John James Audubon Twenty five years later it was announced that the planned route for the Pottstown Expressway was to go through the Audubon property Camiel was credited with blamed for applying political pressure to reroute the superhighway around the bird sanctuary Central to the arguments concerning politicians appears to be the controversial Camiel Loop Montgomery County Planning Commission associate director Plutte said that the cost of rerouting the Pottstown Expressway around the home of Peter J Camiel caused the price of the highway to jump from 5 million to 8 million and most recently to more than 10 million in the past six months As the highway leaves the connection with Betzwood Bridge and aims northwest toward Pottstown it veers sharply south sic west down and around Camiel s farm Fatland The parabolic dip in the road mean several miles of additional roadway roadway that Pottstown was denied Plutte said the Camiel loop was installed to avert a potential challenge arising out of an environmental study Camiel s farm is near the Audubon Sanctuary which according to original plans would have had to surrender land to the highway crews Federal funds which pay for 70 per cent of the Pottstown Expressway could be jeopardized by the taking of the park land Plutte said 37 Whether Camiel acted from selfish or selfless motives or a combination of both the rerouting of the Pottstown Expressway spared Mill Grove now a National Historic Landmark and minimized the adverse effect on Fatland The Camiels owned the property for 44 years and were buried together in its private cemetery Vaux Hill 2 editExternal videos nbsp nbsp Selected Contents of Vaux Hill 38 nbsp Vaux Hill 39 Camiel s land sales dramatically reduced Fatland s acreage his housing development land for the Pottstown Expressway and his 1979 sale of 154 acres 62 3 hectare between the expressway and the Schyulkill River to Valley Forge National Historical Park 40 On July 16 1990 Robert Owen Safford 1934 2011 and his wife Barbara Harvey b 1947 purchased the mansion on 18 acres from Camiel for 2 1 million 41 The couple changed the name of the property back to Vaux Hill the name James Vaux had given it in 1772 42 The Saffords expanded the mansion erecting a west wing and end pavilion that mirrored the east wing and end pavilion thus creating an overall symmetrical building for the first time They remodeled the mansion s interior and filled it with sumptuous European furniture and decorative arts 42 Following Safford s 2011 death his widow sold the decorative arts at Freeman s Auction House in Philadelphia b In 2014 Mrs Safford put the estate up for sale with an asking price of 9 million for the 8 900 square foot mansion on 15 acres with the barn on 3 acres available for a separate sale 43 In February 2016 the asking price was reduced to 7 million 44 The current property was sold for 2 74 million on May 28 2021 41 Notes edit Technically Camiel was suspended from the Turnpike Commission in May 1980 after federal charges were filed against him for corruption He was found guilty United States v Camiel 689 F 2d 31 3d Cir 1982 but the verdict was reversed on appeal He returned to the commission in 1983 36 The September 25 2013 auction brought 3 9 million more than three times the presale estimate 42 Its top lot was a hand painted Russian urn from Czar Nicholas I s imperial porcelain factory at St Petersburg Estimated at 150 000 to 200 000 it sold for 494 500 42 References edit Thaddeus Vanderslice Henry Pawling a British Soldier and Some of His Descendants Philadelphia privately printed 1904 a b c d e f g h i Francis Hobart Herrick Audubon the Naturalist A History of His Life and Time Volume 1 New York and London D Appleton and Company 1917 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Dr W H Reed Audubon Its History Tradition and Reminiscences Historical Sketches A Collection of Papers Prepared for the Historical Society of Montgomery County Pennsylvania Volume 4 Montgomery County Historical Society 1909 pp 173 224 a b Abstract Vaux Family Papers from Historical Society of Pennsylvania a b c d e f g h i j National Park Service Cultural Landscapes Inventory Valley Forge National Historical Park 1999 PDF a b Journal of the Friends Historical Society Volume 6 London Friends Historical Society 1909 p 186 1 Vaux Wetherill Stone Barn from HABS Tench Tilghman for Gen George Washington to Gen Alexander McDougall 21 Sept 1777 See note 2 from National Archives a b c d e f g h i j k Harold Donaldson Eberlein Portrait of a Colonial City Philadelphia 1670 1838 Philadelphia J B Lippincott Company 1939 a b c d Harold Donaldson Eberlein and Horace Mather Lippincott Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood Philadelphia J B Lippincott Company 1912 The Norristown Newspaper September 22 1803 quoted in Stark p 113 The Norristown Newspaper September 8 1813 quoted in Stark p 113 a b Robert Sutcliff Travels in Some Parts of North America in the Years 1804 1805 amp 1806 York England printed by C Peacock 1811 a b c d e f Stanley Clisby Arthur Audubon An Intimate Life of the American Woodsman Gretna Louisiana Pelican Publishing 1937 a b c d John James Audubon Audubon and His Journals edited by Maria R Audubon New York Charles Scribner s Sons 1899 The Norristown Newspaper August 7 1813 quoted in John T Faris Old Roads Out of Philadelphia Philadelphia and London J B Lippincott Company 1917 p 198 2 a b Henry Woodman The History of Valley Forge Oaks PA John U Francis Sr 1922 a b The First Century of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy 1821 1921 Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science 1922 a b c d e f John Woolf Jordan Colonial Families of Philadelphia Volume 2 Lewis Publishing Company 1911 3 Stark p 3 Linda Stein Fabulous antiques from Vaux Hill to be auctioned Main Line Suburban Life September 18 2013 a b George E Thomas Buildings of Pennsylvania Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania Charlottesville and London University of Virginia Press 2010 p 201 List of Plants Obtained on the Peary Auxiliary Expedition of 1894 Dr H E Wetherill Peary Arctic Aide Delivered Child to Admiral s Wife on 1893 Expedition Surgeon Inventor Dies The New York Times March 9 1946 Henry Emerson Wetherill from The Franklin Institute Henry Emerson Wetherill New Aids for Navigation Journal of the Franklin Institute September 1908 Dr Henry Emerson Wetherill photograph from Library of Congress a b c Charles Wetherill History of The Religious Society of Friends Called by Some The Free Quakers in the City of Philadelphia Philadelphia privately printed 1894 a b Charles E Peterson Notes on the Free Quaker Meeting House Washington D C Ross amp Perry 2002 a b c d Walter Ault The Fighting Quakers Cemetery The Times Herald September 14 2009 4 a b c d e Joseph Louis J Kirlin Catholicity in Philadelphia From the Earliest Missionaries down to the Present Time Philadelphia J J McVey 1909 pp 411 13 5 Roman Catholic Protectory data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings PAB project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia a b History from Saint Gabriel s Hall a b c Senate Resolution memorializing the late Peter J Camiel Pennsylvania Legislative Journal Senate February 5 1991 pp 116 119 PDF a b Peter J Camiel 81 Philadelphia Chief of 70s Democrats The New York Times February 2 1991 Tom Fontaine Thornburgh Let PennDOT run the Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pittsburgh Tribune March 31 2013 William G Reinecke Pottstown expressway link blocked Construction may start in 1989 The Pottstown Mercury September 23 1976 p 1 Selected Contents of Vaux Hill Freeman s Auctions on YouTube 2013 Retrieved July 17 2017 1248 Pawlings Road Phoenixville PA 19460 Kurfiss Sotheby s International Realty on YouTube 2015 Retrieved July 17 2017 Editorial Protecting Valley Forge The Philadelphia Inquirer November 20 1979 a b 1248 Pawlings Rd Phoenixville PA 19460 Price History from Zillow a b c d David Iames The Vaux Hill Sale Antiques amp Auction News October 8 2013 6 Angelly Carrion Fatland Estate is going for 9 million Philadelphia Magazine September 18 2014 Melissa Romero Regal Vaux Hill Mansion back on market with 2M Chop Curbed Philly February 8 2016 Further reading edit Jennifer Anne Stark The Pawling Farmhouse at Walnut Hill Valley Forge National Park masters thesis University of Pennsylvania December 1992 7 Rebecca Anne Hunt Blessed Spot along the Perkiomen An Historical Analysis of Mill Grove dissertation University of Pennsylvania 1994 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fatland Audubon Pennsylvania Pottstown Expressway Historic Overview Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fatland amp oldid 1209785498, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.