As part of "Operation Cookie Drop," the local Girl Scouts are sending cookies to military personnel who are deployed
overseas. My friend Karen asked me to share the following: "If you know of anyone who is stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan,
Korea, Bahrain, Africa or any areas that do not have access to Girl
Scout Cookies, please send their address to suzyknightly@aol.com or
kdagusto@aol.com."
Operation Cookie Drop has been going on for over 10 years.
Not even a power failure could stop a Kennett Y exercise class. The lights, microphone and music died right in the middle of a Body Pump class in the gymnasium the morning of Monday, Feb. 25, but the quick-thinking instructor just switched to the music on her phone and all the athletes continued sweating away in the semi-dark. The power returned within a minute or two, although the gym lights were slower to reach full brightness.
Yes, it's happening here. There will be a presentation about the "opioid epidemic" that is killing so many young people even here in Chester County at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, at the Kennett Township Municipal Building, 801 Burrows Run Road, Chadds Ford. The program is sponsored by the Kennett Township Police Department and the Chester County Overdose Prevention Task Force. Topics will include how the situation developed, the use of the opioid reversal agent naloxone, and available treatment services.
The Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Foundation is hosting a magic and comedy show by the "Amazing Spaghetti Magician" at the Patton Middle School auditorium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23. Doors open at 2:10 and the show will last about 45 to 50 minutes. According to an email I received, "The show will be fun for the whole family with a mix of silly comedy, super-cool magic, ventriloquism, gags and more!" Proceeds benefit the Education Foundation's programs across the district.
My friend and former newspaper colleague Cathy Quillman of West Chester is giving a talk about "Indian Hannah" at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, as part of a lecture series sponsored by the Chadds Ford Historical Society. Hannah Freeman was a 19th-century Leni-Lenape who lived in our area. In Cathy's lecture, entitled "Chester County’s Early 'Celebrity' Resident, the Myth and the Reality," she will also discuss William Penn's treatment of the tribe. The talk will be held at the CFHS headquarters at 1736 Creek Road, Chadds Ford. Admission is $10 per person at the door; CFHS members are free. The Thursday, April 11, lecture also sounds interesting. Don McKay will discuss "Lost Lenape Park: Remembering the Once Bustling Recreation Destination." A lot of us have vivid memories of going to the park as kids, riding on the wooden roller coaster and the swings, stretching to get a brass ring on the carousel, and seeing warped reflections of ourselves in the mirror in the fun house.
My dear parents were friendly, outgoing people and would talk to anyone. I must have absorbed this lesson thoroughly, because I have no problem chatting with strangers. The other day at the Giant I saw a man with two young kids in his shopping cart and asked him in what aisle he had found these adorable children. "Oh, they were on special. Buy one, get one free," he replied, not missing a beat. "But no returns!"
A lot of folks had high hopes that an Aldi supermarket would move into the former Sears Hardware at 817 East Baltimore Pike (next to PetValu), but it turned out that there would not be enough parking to accommodate the expected shoppers. Now an entity called Clark Kennett Realty Partners and CAP Realty Partners is applying to convert 9,000 square feet of the 27,700-square-foot shopping center into a medical office. The East Marlborough supervisors will review the plan at a conditional use hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5 at the township building.
With a glum face, I visited Staples for the first time since the Longwood store closed. The nearest one is now in Concordville Town Centre, one of those new shopping centers on Route 1 between Routes 202 and 322. It's a lot like the Main Street at Exton complex: sprawling and confusing. Even after I got into the shopping center, I needed my GPS to locate the Staples store.
The PTO's annual used book sale at Unionville High School seemed especially well organized this year. I was there on Saturday morning and volunteers were all over the place consolidating boxes and tidying up the tables of books. I overheard one volunteer asking her supervisor if it was OK that, while working, she was also finding books to buy for herself (it was). I started my shopping in the CD and DVD section and within minutes had my arms full. An observant volunteer came up to me and offered me two paper bags, thoughtfully telling me where more were available should I need them. I ended up contributing about $35 to the coffers. New this year at the sale was a volunteer group, Arts Holding Hands and Hearts (AHHAH), that builds and stocks mini-libraries around Kennett Square. You could donate kids' books to them or you could give them $10 so they could participate in the "bag sale" at the end of the final day. I'm told that the volunteers collecting the books were quite single-minded about stuffing as many books as they could into their bags (which is, after all, the point).
The conversation about "roads that aren't there anymore" continues. Unionville native Laura Deckman confirmed that Highbrow was the name of the road that branched off Hilltop View Road in Newlin Township and eventually joined McCorkle's Rock Road. She also writes, "Also
you mentioned the road just north of Blow Horn. I do not have a name for it but
the road went to Mortonville and there was a house in the field that was once
called Green Lane school. So I have been told." You're correct, Mrs. Deckman. West Marlborough's unofficial historian, Don Silknitter, tells me that the now-abandoned road was called Mortonville Road. It branched off Route 82 between William Hannum's grist mill (now "Blow Horn") and the home and office of Dr. Joseph Palmer. Dr. Palmer hosted the Doe Run Literary Society and the Farmers' Club, and the Doe Run Library was located in his office. The Green Lane School, which operated in the early 19th century, was located a little farther east on Mortonville Road. One of the pupils was James Smith, whose grandson, William Gordon, went on to become a superintendent of the Coatesville schools. Moses Coates was the Green Lane schoolmaster; his family gave Coatesville its name.
