As I mentioned in last week's column, the response was swift to the fundraising campaign set up for the family that lost its Dean Drive house, possessions, and pets in a Thanksgiving night fire. The initial goal was $25,000; within nine days 549 people, many of them anonymous, had donated a total of $40,263 and the campaign was ended.
One of the fire victims wrote what I thought was a beautiful message of thanks: "The kindness of our community, including many of you whom we have never met, has been immeasurable and has continued to fill our hearts. You have truly made a difference in our lives and given us hope for the future. We are witnesses to the good that exists in this world and that alone has provided more mental and emotional healing than you’ll ever know."
Sunday, December 3, 2017
WEST MARLBOROUGH: Ready for winter
West Marlborough Township's new road grader arrived on the morning of Nov. 27, and it is so big it barely fits in the township garage. Hugh Lofting Jr. and "Brother" Wilson of the township's road crew were happy to show me the features of the yellow 2007 John Deere grader, including its gigantic side plow. They said it's much quieter than the old grader.
The township used $70,000 in state funds to replace its 1973 Caterpillar grader, which will be sold to neighboring Newlin Township. The new grader came from Jackson County, Iowa, where it was used to maintain the county's 550 miles of dirt and gravel roads.
The township used $70,000 in state funds to replace its 1973 Caterpillar grader, which will be sold to neighboring Newlin Township. The new grader came from Jackson County, Iowa, where it was used to maintain the county's 550 miles of dirt and gravel roads.
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| "Brother" Wilson and Hugh Lofting Jr. with the new grader. |
BIRDS: Late arrivals
Finally the birds have found the seed and suet in my backyard! I've been filling the feeder regularly, but only the squirrels have been enjoying the seed. This week I was happy to note that numerous chickadees have shown up, and just this morning I spotted a red-bellied woodpecker at the suet feeder. Maybe the birds' tardiness has something to do with the warm autumn?
QUAKERS: Sing we now of Christmas
If you're looking for somewhere to sing Christmas carols, with no new-fangled inflatables, glitz or projected lights, here are three "Friendly" suggestions from the local Quaker community.
Bradford Friends Meeting will hold its annual Christmas sing at its meetinghouse in Marshallton at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 17.
Marlboro Friends Meeting will hold its annual Carol Sing at its meetinghouse in Marlboro Village at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17.
And West Grove Friends Meeting is holding its annual Carol Sing at "New" West Grove Meeting, which is actually a very old, mostly unused meeting house at 609 West State Road. There's no electricity, but there are candles and a red-hot pot-bellied stove. It's at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18.
I can tell you from experience that all receive a warm welcome at these events.
Bradford Friends Meeting will hold its annual Christmas sing at its meetinghouse in Marshallton at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 17.
Marlboro Friends Meeting will hold its annual Carol Sing at its meetinghouse in Marlboro Village at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17.
And West Grove Friends Meeting is holding its annual Carol Sing at "New" West Grove Meeting, which is actually a very old, mostly unused meeting house at 609 West State Road. There's no electricity, but there are candles and a red-hot pot-bellied stove. It's at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18.
I can tell you from experience that all receive a warm welcome at these events.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
LONDON GROVE: Solomon's Temple
On my travels the other day I was heading west on West London Grove Road at Guernsey Road when I saw what looked like an old cemetery and the remains of a church.
A quick Google search and I learned that it was the site of the African Union Church of London Grove Cemetery, also known as Solomon's Temple Cemetery. The small church building's fieldstone foundation remains. Most of the grave markers are from the late 1800s or the early 20th century. Several are marked with American flags to honor veterans who fought for the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War. According to John Ford's stone, he fought in Company C of the Third Regiment of the Pennsylvania Colored Troops. (The regiment saw action at Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina, and then spent the rest of the war fighting in Florida.)
According to the findagrave website, for a time in the 1980s a local Boy Scout troop maintained the site; in fact, the wooden staircase and wooden fencing on the Guernsey Road side were installed as part of somebody's Eagle Scout project. Now London Grove Township keeps the grass mowed, but several tombstones have fallen over, parts of the ground have sunk, the wooden steps are rickety, and there were a few fallen branches on the ground. Perhaps another Scout project?
A quick Google search and I learned that it was the site of the African Union Church of London Grove Cemetery, also known as Solomon's Temple Cemetery. The small church building's fieldstone foundation remains. Most of the grave markers are from the late 1800s or the early 20th century. Several are marked with American flags to honor veterans who fought for the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War. According to John Ford's stone, he fought in Company C of the Third Regiment of the Pennsylvania Colored Troops. (The regiment saw action at Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina, and then spent the rest of the war fighting in Florida.)
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| Civil War veteran John Ford died on March 28, 1915. |
According to the findagrave website, for a time in the 1980s a local Boy Scout troop maintained the site; in fact, the wooden staircase and wooden fencing on the Guernsey Road side were installed as part of somebody's Eagle Scout project. Now London Grove Township keeps the grass mowed, but several tombstones have fallen over, parts of the ground have sunk, the wooden steps are rickety, and there were a few fallen branches on the ground. Perhaps another Scout project?
GARDEN: Ready for winter
It was such a warm autumn that I just put my garden to bed last weekend, uprooting the now-slimy celosia, harvesting the purple potatoes (thank you, Vincent), lifting the gladiolus and hymenocallis for the winter, and marvelling as usual about how two-inch-diameter, ten-foot-tall sunflower stalks can grow from a tiny black-and-white-striped seed.
I didn't get a chance to order my usual exquisite, expensive tulip bulbs from White Flower Farm, so I fell back on Plan B: Lowe's. And sometimes it pays to procrastinate: they were 75 percent off, and the clerk told me they'd been marked down that very morning. (My experience with Lowe's bulbs has been very positive, especially since I treat tulips as annuals.)
I didn't get a chance to order my usual exquisite, expensive tulip bulbs from White Flower Farm, so I fell back on Plan B: Lowe's. And sometimes it pays to procrastinate: they were 75 percent off, and the clerk told me they'd been marked down that very morning. (My experience with Lowe's bulbs has been very positive, especially since I treat tulips as annuals.)
INFERNOS: A generous community
Like so many others, I was saddened by the tragic fire at Barclay Friends in West Chester. When the call went out seeking donations for the displaced residents, we headed to the Kennett Walmart and filled a cart with toiletries, towels, underwear, clothes, slippers and socks. We were about to head to the donation drop-off point in West Chester when I checked online and found out that they'd been overwhelmed with donations and had to close down early because there was nowhere to store everything. (Perhaps you saw the photographs of the stacks of donated walkers and wheelchairs.)
We went back to Walmart and returned everything. Selfishly, I was grumbling a bit because I really wanted to pitch in, but I was also pleased that the community was so generous.
Sadly enough, another chance to help out arrived just days later, and even closer to home, when a family on Dean Drive in the Cedarcroft neighborhood lost their house, possessions and dogs and cats to a quick-moving Thanksgiving night fire. The next day, a relative started an online donation site with a goal of raising $25,000. Within a day more than $32,000 had been raised, thanks to more than 450 donors.
We went back to Walmart and returned everything. Selfishly, I was grumbling a bit because I really wanted to pitch in, but I was also pleased that the community was so generous.
Sadly enough, another chance to help out arrived just days later, and even closer to home, when a family on Dean Drive in the Cedarcroft neighborhood lost their house, possessions and dogs and cats to a quick-moving Thanksgiving night fire. The next day, a relative started an online donation site with a goal of raising $25,000. Within a day more than $32,000 had been raised, thanks to more than 450 donors.
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