UNIONVILLE: The Mum Tour

About 40 antique automobile enthusiasts gathered at Primitive Hall on a warm, sunny autumn morning for a tour of the 1738 Pennock homestead, followed by a drive through the Unionville countryside. The "mum tour" was sponsored by the local Model T club and was organized by Lou Mandich and Charlie Brosius.
Standing on the mounting block at Primitive Hall, Charlie gave a brief history of the beautiful area that the motorists would be driving through. He explained how Lammot du Pont bought up 4,000 acres of land to form the Buck & Doe Run Valley Farms, where he raised cattle, hogs and horses. (Coincidentally, Mr. du Pont's nephew, Irénée du Pont, and wife Barbara were part of the mum tour.)
After World War II W. Plunket Stewart, founder of the Cheshire Hunt, persuaded Robert Kleberg of Texas to purchase the land, plus another thousand acres, to serve as grazing land for his King Ranch cattle. In the 1980s the Brandywine Conservancy was established to save the land from being sold for development; instead, the acreage was subdivided into parcels no smaller than 30 acres.
"The efforts of the Brandywine Conservancy and other private, county, and state conservation programs today have resulted in over 25,000 contiguous acres of preserved land, the area we will travel through today," Charlie said.

Just a few of the antique cars that rallied at Primitive Hall on Oct. 21. Photo courtesy of Lou Mandich.

The itinerary took the motorists, driving everything from Model T's to Corvettes, along Route 841 to Greenlawn Road, St. Malachi Road, Springdell Road, Route 82, Covered Bridge Road, Doe Run Church Road, Fairview Road, Brandywine Creek Road, Green Valley Road, Powell Road, Scott Road, Route 162 and back onto Route 82. The tour ended with lunch at Hood's BBQ.