September 9, 2023

September 9, 2023

From Philadelphia, PA we drove an hour and a half northwest along the Schuylkill River National Heritage Area through the forests of Eastern Pennsylvania to Reading, PA to visit a Fabric store that Aimee buys from online. All sewers want to touch fabric.

After waiting patiently, we then drove a half hour back towards Philly and stopped at the very rural Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site.The signage leading to the park is confusing. The Visitor Center said they are aware of it and are working on improved signage. I have to be patient as this park is only 85 years old. Government?!?!

This part of Pennsylvania was an early iron-making region because of the abundance of wood and iron ore. Making iron in the old days was very labor intensive and needed a town to support, feed, supply, and house them. Hopewell was one of the largest and was reconstructed by the CCC during the Depression. One of the specialties of this iron mill was the casting of iron stoves. Since Hopewell was far from civilization, low-cost transportation, and the coal needed for new steel-making technology, Hopewell closed in 1883.

Since it is Saturday, there are a bunch of volunteers manning demonstrations. One is the making of Apple Butter. Unfortunately we would need to stick around for another six hours to see the end result.

We walk around the hilly property passing the owners mansion and several barns, to the old iron smelting furnace with its waterwheel-driven air bellows. Before leaving Aimee tries her hand at picking a few apples for the road. She is a city girl and this stuff is new to her.

We make our way back to Philadelphia and next stop at the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial. This Polish military engineer helped us win the American Revolution. He was unsuccessful trying to do the same for his homeland. Wounded trying to free Poland from Russian occupation, he came back to this house in Philly to recuperate. We watched the mediocre park film and then looked through the exhibits.

The Kosciuszko house is in an area called Society Hill. It is a posh reconstructed colonial neighborhood. Hungry we find a nice pizza restaurant around the corner to have an early dinner.

Because of Aimee’s heritage, she wanted to visit the Gloria Dei Church National Historic Site. This NPS affiliate has the nickname of Old Swedes Church because it was established by this immigrant group. It is the oldest church in Philadelphia.

Our next stop was Elfreth’s Alley, a small street of well-preserved houses from the colonial era. We found street parking just outside the home of Samuel Hopkins. He was awarded the first US patent in 1790. I was happy to read it was for a new chemical process.

We started walking to the Benjamin Franklin Museum but got waylaid by a sudden downpour. We hid out under an overhang but finally decided to make a run for it. Unfortunately the National Park hid the museum inside an alley and we got drenched before we found it.

Ben was a man I could really admire. He had very similar interests and priorities as I do. After saving his money from his printing business, he retired at the age of 42. In retirement, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence and was instrumental in getting France to support our war effort financially and materially.

We drove back to our airport hotel in the rain splashing through many puddles.