Sun 9/10/17 - Bluegrass, Rallies and more Rallies, Our Trip South

We departed Killens Pond State Park, after 6 relaxing days in Delaware and back tracked north toward Lebanon PA.

In Smyrna Delaware you can visit Belmont Hall, one of the most historic houses in Delaware. In 1684 William Penn granted a 600 acre parcel of land to Henry Pearman who named his property Pearman’s Choice. 

Thomas Collins purchased 91 ½ acres of the original grant in 1771 from John Moore. At that time there was a house on the property that was referred to as “The Manor House near Duck Creek”. Collins finished building the Georgian house, as it stands today, in 1773 and named it Belmont Hall. Although the brickwork appears to suggest that the entire house was constructed at the same time, family history and architectural evidence indicate that Collins enlarged the dwelling by building the large front of the house. He connected the old and new parts of the house after making extensive improvements to the two older rear wings – a kitchen and a dining room with bedrooms above.

Collins held almost every office in Kent County, including Sheriff, an Assemblyman in the Delaware General Assembly, and Councilman. From 1772 until the adoption of the Federal Constitution, Belmont Hall was the scene of many patriotic meetings. Collins garrisoned his property and built a stockade around the grounds. The tower on the top of the house were erected at his direction and used as an observation post by sentries. As a member of the Assembly, Collins agreed to raise a brigade of local militia which was maintained primarily at his own expense while the war lasted. The only person to be unanimously elected by the Assembly, Thomas Collins had the honor of serving as the 8th President/Governor of Delaware from 1786 until his death in 1789. When Delaware became the first state to ratify the Federal Constitution on December 7, 1787, Governor Collins was pleased to be able to certify and sign the document.  Collins resided at Belmont Hall until his death on Sunday, March 29, 1789. He was the first sitting governor of Delaware to die in office.

John Cloak purchased the estate in 1827 from his cousin, William Collins, Thomas Collins’ grandson. His daughter, Caroline Elizabeth Cloak Peterson, inherited the estate in 1867, and continued his work. Caroline Elizabeth Cloak married Howard Peterson in 1862. When he died in 1875, three of their four children had already died in early childhood. She married Gideon Speakman in 1876. Caroline and Gideon had one son, Cummins Elliot Stockley Speakman. Caroline began an extensive “modernization” of Belmont Hall to reflect the aesthetic of the Victorian era in the 1870’s. She painted the exterior brown, added porches, a Florida room to the dining room, and remodeled the floor plan. She also created twenty acres of gardens, installing the two boxwood formations at the front and rear of the house. Mrs. Speakman encouraged the people of Smyrna to visit the “Belmont Park and Gardens” for walks, picnics, and ice cream socials on Sunday afternoons. She also organized the Elizabeth Cook Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  It was named after her great grandmother and was the second chapter formed in Delaware. In 1916, Cummins and his wife, Marjorie, purchased Belmont Hall from his mother. After Caroline’s death in 1920 the couple began to restore the house to its Georgian origins. Unfortunately, the house endured a devastating fire in January 1, 1922 that damaged the top two stories.  Cummins and Marjorie set about the task of restoring the house with the help of friends in Wilmington, especially the DuPonts. Restoration included removing many of Caroline’s Victorian modernization. Cummins and Marjorie Speakman worked tirelessly to maintain Belmont Hall.  Even after Cummins’ death, Marjorie carried on their efforts.   

Belmont might have been sold many years earlier if it had not been for the two businesses she started in Wilmington. She treasured Belmont and its history and made sure that all of her grandchildren knew their family history and appreciated the special historic place where they grew up. She was an exceptional woman for her time. After her death in 1978, her son and daughter-in- law, Walter and Virginia Speakman resided in the house until it was sold to the State of Delaware in 1987.

Driving down the road, a 5^th wheel passed us that had lobster or crab traps strapped on the back ladder. I wonder if their trapping was successful?

Odessa, Delaware is home to the Historic Houses of Odessa. Known in the 18th-century as Cantwell’s Bridge, Odessa played a vital role in commercial life along the Delaware River as a busy grain shipping port. Today, you can stroll along tree-lined streets and admire examples of 18th and 19th century architecture. Chief among these are the five properties that make up the Historic Odessa Foundation. The properties managed by the organization include the Corbit-Sharp house, the 1769 Wilson-Warner House, 1700 Collins-Sharp House, 1822 Cantwell's Tavern, and 1853 Odessa Bank. Local patron H. Rodney Sharp restored several buildings in Odessa in the middle of the last century, helping to preserve the community's unique legacy.

The Collins-Sharp House c.1700, one of Delaware’s oldest structures, is a center for educational programming. The Corbit-Sharp House, furnished for the late 18th century period, is a historic house museum that is owned and operated by the Foundation. In 1845, a runaway slave named Sam was hidden by Mary Corbit behind this tiny door in the attic of the Corbit-Sharp house. When local authorities came looking for Sam, they did not consider checking behind such a small door. Sam was able to continue his journey north to Pennsylvania and freedom.

We crossed back into Pennsylvania from Delaware. There is a historical marker indicating that William Penn founded Pennsylvania as the Quaker Commonwealth in 1681.

We came through town, on the last day of the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square. It all began when a small group of mushroom enthusiasts decided to have a festival to celebrate their number one cash crop with the hope of raising funds to give as scholarships to local high school students. In 1986 that became a reality as Kennett Square hosted its first Mushroom Festival. It was a one day affair and just one block long. Thirty-two years later the Festival stretches a mile and features culinary events, growing exhibits, children’s entertainment, and 250 vendors with attendance calculated at up to 100,000 guests. The Mushroom Festival's Grant Program has given $805,000 in grants to local non-profits since 2000.

Driving along it is evident that mushrooms are their number one cash crop, as there are Mushroom Farms everywhere! Kennett Square is king of fresh, commercially-grown mushrooms. Not only is mushroom farming the leading agricultural pursuit in Chester County, the area is also the largest producer of fresh mushrooms in the United States. Chester County’s 61 mushroom farms account for 47 percent of total US mushroom production. This means over 400 million pounds of mushrooms are produced. 

The industry directly employs almost 10,000 workers, mostly from the area’s large Hispanic community. The landscape surrounding the region is dotted with single-level cinderblock buildings — variously called mushroom “barns,” “houses” and “doubles” — where the mushrooms are grown. The roads themselves are packed with flatbed trucks carrying baled hay for compost, dump trucks carting steaming compost to and from the barns and, of course, panel-bodied trucks racing to deliver just-picked mushrooms to nearby processing facilities. 

And when all that compost is being turned and is particularly ripe, winds carry that particular, rank aroma that says, “phew … you are in mushroom country.” Fresh-mushroom production is both labor-intensive and mechanized. Compost, once made from horse manure, now begins as hay spread on concrete slabs. Nitrogen is added, and the compost is turned for several days until it is a steamy, smelly mass. It is then transported to mushroom houses, spread on growing racks and pasteurized before the delicate, disease-prone spawn are planted and topped with peat moss, limestone and water. 

A few weeks later, tightly clustered mushrooms start to appear. About 10 weeks after a crop is sown, mushrooms are hand harvested over a period of several days. Crews start picking as early as 4 a.m., and the mushrooms are rushed to modern processing centers. Within about 30 minutes of arrival, the mushrooms are cooled to 34 degrees and by that evening they are cleaned, packaged and on their way in refrigerated trucks to markets across the country. Mushroom growing started regionally in the 1890s as an adjunct business for greenhouse owners who sold fresh flowers to Philadelphia. Nearby horse farms and race tracks supplied manure for compost. Mushrooms were an attractive crop to the thousands of Italian families who migrated to the area in the first quarter of the last century, a population used to foraging wild mushrooms, and today many mushroom companies are owned by second-to-fourth-generation Italians.

The Gap Town Clock, built in 1892, is a Lancaster County Historic Preservation Trust Site located in Gap, Pennsylvania. According to the Gap Clock Tower Association. Many traveling from Central PA to the beaches of Delaware have passed this clock along SR 41, just off SR 30. The Gap Clock Tower Association recently added a new flagpole and flag on the clock property thanks to Gap Veterans of Foreign Wars, J.P. Bair II Post No. 7418. John Hilton has tirelessly wound the clock twice a week since 1979. The Gap Clock Tower Association has been in existence since 1953, when the clock had to be moved due to the widening of Route 41. They currently have approximately 120 members who are faithful in supporting the cost of paying for insurance, electricity and ground repairs. In the future, the old Seth Thomas Clock, purchased in 1872, will need extensive cleaning and repairs. With support from the community and continued support from the faithful members, they will be able to preserve the history of our time-telling landmark for future generations.

The historical marker reads: THE GAP CLOCK TOWER. Unique on American Highways, was erected by the people of Gap in 1892. It was restored in 1953. The clock's face, long telling the time to passing multitudes on the Newport Road, Overlooks, at the Gap, William Penn's Entrance into Conestoga, now Lancaster County, in 1701. The Gap Clock Tower Association.

We turned onto Route 322 W and then onto Route 72 South, arriving at PA Dutch Country Campground, an Encore Thousand Trails park. This will be our home for the next three nights, as we play tourist in the Hershey area!