Arranged and Printed
by the
Germantown Independent-Gazette
Germantown, Pa.
[Illustration: Oak Tree and Rabbit Lane]
GERMANTOWN
_OLD AND NEW_
Its Rare
and Notable
Plants
[Illustration]
_1904_
_BY EDWIN C. JELLETT_
_To
CLARA HELEN BAUMANN
a native of Germantown whose
ancestors beautified it in the
past as their successor honors
and enriches it in the present._
[Illustration]
_PREFACE_
This outline sketch of our “rare and notable plants” was prepared at
the direction of “The Germantown Horticultural Society” and was read
at its public meeting of May 9, 1904,--the same later appearing in the
columns of the “Germantown Independent-Gazette.”
At the time of writing, there was no thought of publishing the paper,
it being hurriedly assembled outside the time required for daily
positive duties within the limits of one week,--and was intended only
for a simple address.
This will partly explain, if it does not excuse obvious defects, and
since I have been urged by several members of the Society named to
present the paper in print, I have concluded to send it forth with all
its faults from the same types by which it first appeared, asking only
that the circumstances be remembered, for no one, I feel confident, is
able to satisfactorily present the plants of Germantown in an article
so brief,--or more definitely,--I am not able to do so. To the original
paper I have added an index, which I hope may not be found superfluous.
For the illustrations which grace our pages, I am indebted to S.
Mendelsohn Meehan,--who suggested this paper,--and to Horace F.
McCann--who printed it. The faces which familiarly greet us I have
added to dignify our work, for past and present they represent the
“stuff” which built our town,--preserved it,--and now keep it,--forever
famous. Last, but not least, I feel sure we all are pleased with the
appearance of our book, and to Erwin W. Moyer, whose skill and good
taste reared upon a sub-stratum apparently hopelessly unpromising a
structure so creditable, I wish to record my heartiest thanks.
E. C. J.
_ILLUSTRATIONS_
_FRONTISPIECE_
Oak tree on Rabbit Lane, near County Line Road. Photograph by Charles
Edward Pancoast.
_PAGE 23_
The “Morris-Littell” House, at southeast corner of Main and High
streets. The rear part of this house I believe to have once been the
residence of Dr. Christopher Witt.--(E. C. J.) Photo by J. H. Russ.
_PAGE 30_
George Redles. A remarkable botanist, whose knowledge of our native
and cultivated plants is unsurpassed, and whose modesty is equal to
his acquirements. Photograph by Mrs. George Redles.
_PAGE 33_
Wakefield, a notable historic mansion, whose surrounding grounds
exhibit many of our finest plants. Etching by Joseph Pennell. Penna.
Magazine.
_PAGE 44_
Naglee Houses. Original houses, exhibiting to the present the stone
dwellings of the early settlement. Photograph of “The Philadelphia
Times.”
_PAGE 48_
Weeping Elms. Beautiful specimens shading the entrance to Meehans’
nurseries. Cut from “Meehans’ Monthly.”
_PAGE 51_
Louis Clapier Baumann, in his day the leading Florist of Germantown,
and the first “wholesale grower of cut flowers” for the Philadelphia
markets. Photograph copy by E. C. J.
_PAGE 57_
Hemlock Glen of the “Monks,” situated on the Wissahickon, above
Kitchen’s Lane. Photograph by E. C. J. From “Meehans’ Monthly.”
_PAGE 64_
Charles J. Wister, who preserves the traditions of “Grumblethorpe,”
and following in the footsteps of an illustrious line, is honored and
beloved wherever known. Photograph by Samuel R. Gray.
_PAGE 72_
Elliston P. Morris, the owner of the “Deshler-Morris” mansion
which President Washington occupied, and the possessor also of
one of the finest gardens in Germantown. Print of “The Germantown
Independent-Gazette.”
_PAGE 74_
R. Robinson Scott, an eminent Germantown horticulturist, and the
discoverer of the famous fern known as “Scott’s Spleenwort.”
Photograph copy by E. C. J. Print of “Fern-Bulletin.”
_PAGE 78_
Thomas Nuttall, a noted naturalist, lecturer and explorer. An
exceedingly rare spleenwort keeps before us his name. From “Botanists
of Philadelphia,” by John W. Harshberger, Ph. D.
_PAGE 79_
“Wyck,” a marvel of quaintness and exquisite beauty. The oldest
house and garden in Germantown, and the richest in intellectual
associations. Photograph by Gilbert Hindermyer. From “Home and
Garden.”
_PAGE 83_
Johnson Homestead, at northwest corner of Main street and Washington
lane, a house renowned in local history, whose garden is its equal in
absorbing interest. Print of “The Germantown Independent-Gazette.”
_PAGE 88_
Cliveden, the centre of the Germantown battle ground, and the home of
many beautiful plants. Print of “The Germantown Independent-Gazette.”
_PAGE 90_
Upsala, celebrated for its stately beauty, and its possessions of
rare and unique plants. Photograph by J. H. Russ.
_PAGE 94_
Joseph Meehan, a noted botanist and horticulturist, whose writings
form an integral part of our best floricultural magazines. Print of
“Floral Exchange.”
_PAGE 100_
Prof. Thomas Meehan, a noted scientist, educator and writer, the
author of the greatest books upon our native flora, and the nestor of
American Horticulture. Print of “Meehans’ Monthly.”
_GERMANTOWN_
_RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS_
In the presentation and consideration of our home plants of special
interest, it should be kept in mind that nearly all, if not quite all,
were transplanted to the positions they now occupy, and that there is
here no disposition to compare or contrast with other plants of greater
age, of more historic worth, our rare and notable plants of “nature”
and cultivation.
Our purpose is rather to show that, with our town’s increase in girth
and years, we have had a like advance in intelligence and culture, and
that our old mansions, gardens and those who keep them have earned for
Germantown the title,--“the most beautiful suburb in America.”
We have no yew trees 3000 years old, no oak trees of 2000 years’
growth, no “Burnham beeches,” nor have we other plants of great age
equal to those of older countries and especially England, but such as
we have we shall in outline endeavor to present, and direct attention
to the fact that they have merited and received the attention of
visitors, who have had opportunity for observation abroad. About ten
years ago, George Nicholson, curator of the Royal Botanical Gardens of
Kew, London, was the guest of Prof. Thomas Meehan, and spent some time
here. After leaving he said:
“Germantown is a place which every foreigner interested in American
trees should visit, as the people of this suburb of Philadelphia one
hundred years ago were especially interested in the introduction and
cultivation of rare trees, and the first cultivated specimens of
several American trees were originally planted here, and may still be
seen. The roads of Germantown are shaded with beautiful rows of native
trees, and behind them stretch the green lawns of innumerable villas.”
John Walter, editor of the London Times, while here expressed similar
views, and many other visitors and writers who passed through
Germantown have left us a record of their “impressions.”
To name all our worthy plants were a hopeless task, and one which I
shall not attempt. Our efforts shall be rather to trace the thread of
development, and by examples of past and present conspicuous plants to
illustrate its growth. To do this properly we should go back to the
settlement of the town itself, know the causes which gave it birth,
understand the character of its founders and their pursuits--its growth
material and intellectual, before we may be able to meet its merits
with an equal appreciation.
Alway while walking along our Main street I am reminded of the popular,
well-known thoroughfare of Oxford, England, which it strangely
suggests, and I sometimes wonder if it was not this ancient street, and
not the central highway of Philadelphia, which to our own principal
thoroughfare 150 years ago gave us High street, a name by which it was
long known. Be this as it may, our Main street in a very striking way
resembles its more widely known namesake abroad, a highway Hawthorne
described as “the noblest street in England,” and to which “Wordsworth
devoted a sonnet to the stream-like windings of that glorious street.”
As I follow our “avenues” pleasing course, I am further reminded of
old Edinburgh’s hallowed hill, and as I picture its steep ascent,
its numerous historic buildings, its atmosphere of antiquity, I see
Sir Walter Scott from his carriage strenuously discoursing upon its
wealth of interests to the delight of his guests and his own apparent
satisfaction, for to him Edinburgh was home, and to so entertain
his friends was “very heaven,” and as I look into the future, I see
our own “cannongate” of not one whit less historic value, by one as
illustrious, made as widely, and as permanently known.
In olden time it was the custom to approach Germantown only by the
“Great Road,” for indeed for a period there was no other way. The
original survey map of Germantown, dated October 24, 1683, now in the
possession of Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, is void of side roads or
lanes, but this defect immediately after the settlement was remedied,
maps following showing lanes to mills, and later maps showing other
roads connecting Germantown with important near-by pikes east and west.
After Rittenhouse Mill road, and Roberts’ Mill road, one of the most
important of later roads was Bensell’s or School House lane connecting
our Main street with Ridge road, a favorite route with travelers when
the quagmires and quicksands of “3-Mile Run” proved troublesome.
In a letter dated March 7, 1684, which Francis Daniel Pastorius wrote
his parents, he gave them this information: “As relating to our newly
laid out town Germanopolis or Germantown, it is situated on a deep and
very fertile soil, and is blessed with an abundance of fine springs
and fountains of fresh water. The main street is 60 feet wide, and the
cross streets 40 feet in width. Each family has a plot of ground for
yard and garden 3 acres in size. The air is pure and serene, the summer
is longer and warmer than it is in Germany, and we are cultivating many
kinds of fruits and vegetables, and our labor meets with rich reward.”
The ground of which Pastorius wrote was not the immigrants’ first
choice, but after a difference with William Penn was selected on
account of its elevation, and also because it was open ground with
only here and there groups of trees. After the survey lines were
established farms and gardens, and of course, houses, were located on
each side of the main road, the farm boundaries extending in parallel
lines from the “great road” east to Bristol township line, now Stenton
avenue, and west to the Roxborough line, now Wissahickon avenue. In
other respects these lines, however, were never strictly drawn, and
places on York road to the east, and Roxborough on the west, were
nearly always referred to as “Germantown.”
The Main street farm lots began a few feet north of “Lower Burying
Ground,” now Hood’s Cemetery, and were plotted northward in divisions
of “half lots” of 115½ feet front each, or “whole lots” of 231 feet
front each, to a point adjoining “Upper” or “Concord Burying Ground,”
located a few feet north of Kyser’s, now Washington lane. The original
settlers of “42 persons in 12 families” were located upon this road,
for so it had been planned. In “a further account of the Province of
Pennsylvania,” published in 1685, wrote Penn:
“We do settle in the way of townships or villages, each of which
contains 5000 acres in square, and at least 10 families; many that had
right to more land were at first covetous to have their whole quantity
without regard to this way of settlement, tho’ by such wilderness
vacancies they had ruined the country and then our interest of course.
I had in my view society, assistance, busy commerce, instruction
of youth, government of people, manners, conveniency of religious
assembling, encouragement of mechanics, distinct and beaten roads,
and it has answered in all those respects, I think, to the universal
content.”
Our first settlers were not tillers of the soil. Pastorius records they
were “mostly linen weavers, unaccustomed to husbandry,” but “yeomen”
closely followed, and soon
“The meads’ environed with the silver streames”
were planted, and by a gracious providence stimulated to transmit
to us the increase. William Penn quoting Robert Turner, wrote--“the
manufacturers of linnen by the Germans goes on finely, and they make
fine linnen. Samuel Carpenter, having been lately there, declares they
had gathered one crop of flax, and had sowed for the second and saw it
come up well.”
This Samuel Carpenter was a busy resident of Philadelphia, and the
holder of 500 acres of ground in the vicinity of present Branchtown.
Very early in the growth of the new colony the importance of Germantown
was recognized, and although its founders were disappointed, desiring
ground upon a “navigable stream,” they made the best of what they
considered a poor bargain, and losing no time, they, under the
direction of Pastorius, gave life and vigor to the new “town,” planted,
and eight years after the settlement, Oldmixon stated, “the whole
street about one mile in length was lined with blooming peach trees.”
Soon the hastily constructed log cabins gave way to substantial
buildings of stone, and much of the stone, I doubt not, came from
the quarry of Godfried Lehman, located at what is now Main and Price
streets, where the old round-house once stood. Those who remember the
Heivert Papen or Jansen house, built in 1698, and which about 25 years
ago was removed from the northwest corner of Main and Johnson streets,
may picture the houses “built of stone which is mixed with glimmer,”
observed by Peter Kalm in his visit here in 1748.
About this time the character of Germantown began to change, although
this change did not become pronounced until 50 years later. An influx
of settlers of means and the improved conditions of the natives created
new desires, houses became larger and more elaborate, “plantations” or
“estates” began to take the place of farms, trade stimulated by wealth
became of more importance, and the commingling of commerce and culture
gave to Germantown an atmosphere not enjoyed by those who planted the
settlement.
With the advent and accumulation of gain came those luxuries which only
wealth and culture are able to accommodate, and the severe simplicity
of those who for conscience sake, left the Fatherland to aid in the
“holy experiment” and found a commonwealth, slowly gave way to an
expanding era of change.
There were writers of this period who give us other impressions. One of
the most unsympathetic of these was Silas Deane, who in 1775 wrote:
“Germantown consists of one street built mostly of rough stone, two
miles nearly in length, and the houses resemble the appearance of the
inhabitants, rough children of nature, and German nature too.” This
writer doubtless was an ancestral connection of Lewis Carroll, who, in
“Hunting of the Snark,” wrote,
“The crew was Dutch,
and behaved as such.”
But though rather uncomplimentary, Deane’s account is extremely
interesting, and as Townsend Ward reports him, is as follows:
“The greatest improvement on nature is that on their groves, owing
by no means to luxury, but to penury and want. The growth is red oak
(quercus rubra), interspersed with black walnut (juglans nigra), etc.
The poor are allowed to cut up the brush and trim the lower limbs; this
leaves the groves in the most beautiful order you can imagine. All is
clean on the ground; removing every shrub and bush, leaves the wind
full play to sweep the floor, and the soil, by no means luxuriant,
shooting up the trees rather sparingly, so much grass starts as to
give a pale green carpet; while the trees are trimmed up ten to fifteen
feet on their trunks, and give the eye a prospect far into the grove,
and the footman or horseman free access.”
As we may readily imagine, the original Germantown settlers were a
busy people, so with the exception of Pastorius, Godfried Lehman, and
a few others, we have little from them, and for our information we are
obliged to depend upon visiting travelers. Ten years before the time of
Deane’s report Major Robert Rogers wrote thus of Philadelphia:
“In short, scarce anything can afford a more beautiful landscape than
this city and adjacent country, which for some miles may be compared to
a well regulated, flourishing garden, being improved, as I have been
informed, to as great advantage as almost any lands in Europe.”
In 1799 Duke de la Rochefoucault described Germantown as “a long
village near 2½ miles in extent. The houses to the number of about 300
are all built on the side of the highway, and are erected pretty close
to each other.”
Of the planting of the people he wrote:
“They raise a good deal of wheat, and still more Indian corn, but very
little rye or oats.”
Rev. John C. Ogden, who visited here in the same year, describes the
village in much the same way, and noted, “the road is muddy and dusty
when rains or droughts prevail. The houses in Germantown are very
universally shaded with weeping willows, the Lombardy poplar, and other
ornamental trees. The gardens are under excellent cultivation, with
valuable fields in their rear.”
Several visitors of importance we shall pass, for the purpose is merely
to expose the line of continuity to enable us to form a better idea of
the floral life of old Germantown, and with a recollection of Edward H.
Bonsall, who, as Rev. S. F. Hotchkin reports, lived here from 1819 to
1835, we will turn aside into another path. Evidently the last-named
was a poor observer, for he said, “in a circle of six miles with Chew’s
house as a centre outside of Main street, there would not have been
found 5 houses superior to an ordinary farm house,” a statement so
absurd as to require no consideration.
This brings us to days which Robert Thomas and Joseph Murter, venerable
residents living with us, remember, and we shall now endeavor to follow
the development of our many fine estates enriched by mansions, gardens,
rare shrubs and notable trees, and with these note as much as we
possess or remember of data and lore as may give promise of interest.
To me it is extremely interesting that original holdings are yet
held by families whose ancestors first occupied them, and I doubt if
there be another settlement in America where uninterruptedly so many
generations have occupied the same ground. Names which come readily
to mind are Pastorius, Logan, Rittenhouse, Johnson, Keyser, and a
group of other names of early settlers represented by the Wisters. Yet
we have with us “Wyck,” its original house built by Hans Millan its
original settler, standing surrounded by its original garden, and its
occupant and owner, Miss Jane R. Haines, a direct descendant of its
first owner--a house whose only local competitor for age with the
possible exceptions of Rock-House, and Naglee’s Houses, is the “Fraley
House,” clearly of later construction, which stands in what was once
Dr. Christopher Witt’s garden, later Miss Elizabeth C. Morris’ garden,
situated at the southeast corner of Main and High streets, a building
which may be seen to the rear of Mrs. Farnum’s charming latticed
residence.
Local history, to me at least, is alway alluring, and it is with
difficulty that I hew to the proper line, the temptation being to
venture a little more. But we shall leave Dr. Witt and these pleasant
shades to follow in the footsteps of others perhaps less well known.
[Illustration: Morris Littell House]
By an unwritten law, observed from the days of Godfried Lehman to those
of Charles F. Jenkins, our latest guide, Germantown has been approached
from the south by way of Main street, and a custom so honored I hope
not to be the first to disturb. Many of us, indeed most of us, I think,
are able to recall Germantown village of 2½ miles or more, when the
large buttonwood tree (platanus occidentalis) at Naglee’s house
stood entire, shading on late afternoons “Turnpike Bridge” near; when
horse-cars, ignoring schedule, halted at the temporarily deserted tree
at the fork, in waiting for “Jake,” who was somewhere out of sight
northward on the hill, and no more in a hurry than those in the car,
who looked upon as an unwarranted innovation a noisy train which passed
to disturb their restful meditations; when laden wagons unfortunate
jumped the track, seriously interfering with suburban traffic; when
on “market days” long lines of wagons laden with hay, straw and other
commodities numerous, twice a week struggled through and oft-times
blocked the busy road. Time was, and that not long ago, when Charles
J. Wister, the well-known beloved father of Grumblethorpe’s present
owner, under the shade of his street trees, dined upon the sidewalk,
with none to wonder nor molest; and Conestogas with other vehicles
numerous, which James Stokes records, passed and re-passed as naturally
as present day trolleys, to whose inveterate clash and bang we have
become accustomed. Those were the days when gardening was a pleasure
if not an “art,” and the planting of the good old plain gardeners, who
never dreamed their calling would be elevated to a “science,” is before
us to judge.
At the house of Isaac Norris, until a generation ago standing on
Germantown road, near Tenth street, and widely known as “Fairhill,”
was one of the finest gardens in the colonies. This garden was of the
formal type, and “Francis Daniel Pastorius, of Germantown, himself a
man of taste, pronounced Fair-hill garden the finest he had seen in
the whole country,”--so wrote Thompson Westcott in “Historic Mansions”
of Philadelphia, and this same writer continues: “Some of the trees
and plants came from France. There were catalpas from the Southern
States, and it was here were grown the first willow trees (salix alba)
in Pennsylvania, the introduction of which is told by Franklin in his
account of noticing the sprouting of a willow which had been used in
a basket which he saw on board a ship which came to a wharf on the
Delaware. Franklin took the sprout, and presented it to Debby Norris,
who planted it, where it became the parent of many trees of the same
species which have since become so common.”
There are many white willow trees about Germantown, two fine specimens
each with trunks 4 feet in diameter by 70 feet in height, being located
on East Coulter street, corner of Cumberland street; but nearly all
our best weeping willows (salix babylonica) have disappeared. Now no
vestige remains of the rows of willows which lined both sides of Church
lane, east of Willow avenue, notable trees which Thomas MacKellar
described for Rev. S. F. Hotchkin. Under one of these trees, which
stood prominently in the middle of the road, tradition says General
Washington was accustomed to spend an evening hour in its shade. There
yet remains to us, however, interesting willows near the entrance to
Vernon, at Wyck, and several large and beautiful specimens are on the
estate of Charles Weiss, East Washington lane, near Stenton avenue.
As you may remember, the weeping willow is a native of China, and by
the Dutch was introduced to Holland. By these same people it was also
introduced to England, one of the first specimens in that country
being planted at Hampton Court.
Advancing northward by way of York road, we note on the grounds of J.
Bertram Lippincott a fine white oak (quercus alba) with a trunk four
feet in diameter and rising to a height of 80 feet. Here also is a
specially fine white pine (pinus strobus), but there is hardly a place
of importance in or near Germantown where there are not conspicuous,
if not great, white pine trees. It is a characteristic of a white pine
that it dominates wherever it is, and a plant which at a distance
appears to be of great proportions, near is found to be disappointingly
ordinary.
From “Solitude,” located east of York road, south of Fisher’s lane,
the best plants have disappeared. There yet, however, is a catalpa
(catalpa bignonioides), having a trunk three feet in diameter and a
height of forty feet; a chestnut (castanea vesca), with a trunk of five
feet in diameter and a height of 70 feet; a tulip poplar (liriodendron
tulipifera), 4 feet in diameter and 100 feet in height; and a finely
proportioned walnut (juglans nigra), 3 feet in diameter and 80 feet
high.
These trees are surpassed by others elsewhere, the walnut in particular
being excelled by like trees on Morton street near High street, on
Main street above Tulpehocken street, at Nutwold on East Johnson
street,--all superior plants, and by a wide branching tree of the same
species overspreading a spring-house on the grounds of Frank Smyth,
Washington lane, east of Chew street, a specimen 6 feet in diameter and
90 feet high, I think by all odds the finest in Germantown.
On Fisher’s lane east of York road is an exceedingly fine white poplar
(populus alba), having a trunk 48 inches in diameter and a height of 80
feet; and farther east on the same lane, with its lands bordering those
of “York Farm,”--the last American home of Fanny Kemble,--is Champlost,
a beautiful estate occupied by Miss Fox, where grow some of our finest
plants,--but it being situated beyond our proper limits, we shall with
this mention pass it, to stop at a worthy neighbor.
Bordering York road, above Logan Station, is “Clearfield,” now
“Fairfield,” a plantation which Henry Drinker purchased in 1794,
and so named because “James Fisher has a place that has been called
‘Newington’ for many years, ’twas thought best to change the name,”
wrote Elizabeth Drinker in her entertaining “journal.”
This plantation or farm was held for two years by the Drinkers, its
mistress delighting in its occupation and rewards, recording its
cherries ripe May 17; describing an odd tulip (tulipa gesneriana),
which grew in its garden, a plant “with 8 leaves, which I look upon as
a curiosity, never having seen one before with more than 6 leaves,” and
continuing she noted, “a very beautiful place it is, how delighted and
pleased would many women be with such a retreat.”
The beauty of Clearfield was appreciated by successive owners and
care was taken for its preservation. Although a railroad has cut the
place in sections, and its collections are depleted, it yet preserves
sufficient of merit to attract the most superficial plant observer.
Here at the old mile-stone--“2 M. to R. S., 4 M. to P.”--surrounded
by high trees and ivy-covered, is its secluded mansion, which one
approaches by box (buxus sempervirens) bordered walks, winding
between borders of heavy shrubbery, and about are several conspicuous
hemlock (tsuga canadensis), beech (fagus ferruginea), and button-ball
(plantanus occidentalis) trees.
Near the upper entrance gate is a white pine, and beside the house a
Norway spruce (picea excelsa), both of strange development, and as odd
as any of the grotesque growths I have seen at Wildwood, N. J., and
elsewhere on the Atlantic coast.
Here also is a curious Austrian pine (pinus Austriaca), with a
depressed crown; an unusually fine specimen of Himalayan pine (pinus
excelsa), 50 feet in height, second only to pines of the same species
at William Rotch Wister’s, Wisteria avenue; at Justus Strawbridge’s,
School House lane and Wissahickon avenue, and at Caspar Heft’s, Main
street, near Manheim street, the latter a specimen which George Redles
considers the best in our territory.
[Illustration: George Redles]
At “Fairfield” is a fine specimen of rare Japan cedar or cryptomeria
(cryptomeria japonica), the acknowledged “queen of evergreens,” 25
feet in height; also a fine white oak (quercus alba), 80 feet in
height; a white or silver birch (betula alba), 40 feet in height, the
latter a fine plant, but not equal to specimens at Fern-hill and at
E. W. Clark’s, Wissahickon avenue and School House lane. Also here,
as reported by Philip C. Garrett, the present occupant of Fairfield,
for Mrs. Anne DeB. Mears--“over the upper spring-house is an ancient
and famous catalpa tree pictured in the horticultural journals, which
still bears its beautiful crop of blossoms every year,” a tree yet
vigorous, and near the mansion, between it and the road, is a fine
cedar of Lebanon (cedrus libani), 50 feet in height. All these plants
are prominent, and may be plainly seen from the road.
“Stenton,” once extending from Fisher’s lane to Nicetown lane, from
Germantown road to York road, and situated from “Fairfield” to the
west, has been shorn of much of its wealth. A. J. Downing, who visited
it, thus describes it in “Landscape Gardening” of 1849: “Stenton,
near Germantown, four miles from Philadelphia, is a fine old place,
with many picturesque features. The farm consists of 700 acres, almost
without division fences--admirably arranged--and remarkable for a grand
old avenue of the hemlock spruce (abies canadensis), 110 years old,
leading to a family cemetery of much sylvan beauty.”
This same “splendid avenue of hemlocks,” described later by Townsend
Ward, is no more, and of interest at Stenton now is but a tulip
poplar, a large plane tree (platanus occidentalis), a few persimmon
trees (diospyrus virginiana) and a row of Lombardy poplars (populus
dilatata), plants surpassed by many with us, and by two plants of
exceptional merit, one a wide-spreading black walnut (juglans nigra),
appearing to the south of the mansion, and the other a notable elm
(ulmus Americana), having a trunk 4 feet in diameter and a top
spreading at a height of 120 feet, a plant which on part of Stenton
grounds disposed of, may now be seen in the yard of Dr. William
H. Hickok, northeast corner of Eighteenth and Cayuga streets, a
magnificent specimen said to have been mature in the days of James
Logan and William Penn.
Near-by and north of Stenton is “The Cedars,” a green grove wherein
Professor Stewardson Brown long dwelt, and where this gentleman
informed me is a fine specimen of swamp magnolia (magnolia glauca), two
rare yellow-flowering magnolias (magnolia fraseri), a lemon-scented
variety of great beauty, by many considered our finest magnolia, and a
small tree of the always rare cedar of Lebanon. Here also are several
fine specimens of swamp cypress (taxodium distichium), familiarly known
about Philadelphia as Bartram’s cypress.
Without exception, the finest grove of trees in Germantown is that
in the midst of which “Wakefield,” a near neighbor of Stenton and
Fairfield, is situated--a grove composed of immense juniper (juniperus
virginiana), chestnut (castanea Americana), white oak (quercus alba),
red oak (quercus rubra), and tulip poplar (liriodendron tulipifera)
trees. Here is a green-flowering cucumber tree (magnolia acuminata),
perfectly proportioned, having a trunk 2 feet in diameter and a
height of 30 feet. Also here on the front lawn is a tulip poplar,
measured by John Warr and George Redles, a tree 5 feet in diameter,
ivy-covered from the ground to its first limb at 40 feet, and rising to
a height of 130 feet, a noble specimen equal to celebrated relatives
growing on the Virginian mountains, where the species is said to attain
its greatest development; truly a tree, especially when in bloom,
deserving Benjamin Franklin’s designation--“King of the American
forests.”
[Illustration: Wakefield]
Passing for the present “Little Wakefield,” we halt in lower Fisher’s
lane to note a most interesting white oak (quercus alba), long familiar
to me, but which I overlooked until directed again to it by George
Redles. This is a rugged tree 4 feet in diameter and 60 feet high,
perfectly formed, and growing on the top of a rock it has cleft in
twain.
William E. S. Baker, in “Widow Seymour,” accurately locates this tree
“between the Wakefield mills in Fisher’s Hollow, close by the bank of
the Wingohocken creek, and at the curve of the lane.” “The immense
flat-rock” which supports this tree is also associated with “Widow
Seymour,” and those of a poetic temperament may here find much of
interest. Advancing to the elevation at Stenton avenue and Fisher’s
lane, we find before us at Mrs. M. H. Stiver’s two of our finest trees,
one a white oak, the other a red oak, each 4 feet in diameter and 80
feet high; both plants perfectly shaped, and with huge wide-spreading
limbs, covering an area equal to their height.
Other fine specimens of oak we have are a group of three fine white
oaks at Old Oaks Cemetery on Wissahickon avenue; a red oak at Stewart
A. Jellett’s “One Oak,” Pulaski avenue, near Apsley street; a beautiful
tree on the grounds of Francis B. Reeves, Clapier street and McKean
avenue; our most striking and picturesque oak at Judge F. Carroll
Brewster’s, Manheim street, near Wissahickon avenue; a great white
oak at Ivy Hill Cemetery, near Pennsylvania Railroad, a single finely
developed specimen 5 feet in diameter and 100 feet high; and if not
the largest, one of the finest, and certainly our most interesting oak
planted by John Wister in 1803, and now adorning Vernon Park.
There are several fine trees on Fisher’s lane, but we shall now stop
only at T. Charlton Henry’s place, where Alexander Lawson was long
gardener, to record a century plant (agave Americana), which here
bloomed a few years ago.
Retracing our steps through Wister’s woods, we pass a declivity on
which once grew a celebrated memorial beech. This tree stood to the
north of Fisher’s lane and Wakefield street, and through age and abuse
came to its end in the year 1870. The Germantown Telegraph, January
29 of the named year, gave an account of this venerable and venerated
tree. Near the earth its trunk was 3 feet in diameter, and “many very
ancient scars and markings were on its surface, and among them within
an escutcheon, deeply engraved and quite legible, were the initials D.
L. W., 1771,” cut there by Daniel and Lowry Wister. It is a pleasure to
note that this interesting work has been preserved, and is now among
the treasures of “Grumblethorpe.”
Continuing through Wister’s wood, a place where its late owner loved
to roam, we note near the upper spring an odd twin growth, to which
Charles T. Macarthur, superintendent of the Germantown Gas Works near
by, directed my attention. Here are two trees, one a red oak and the
other a tulip poplar, which for several feet together grow as one,
resembling a unity of two species, I discovered growing on Dark Run
lane, near the Asylum pike, some years ago.
Following the Wingohocken Valley southward we round the point to “Mill”
or “Valley creek,” and on our left find “Little Wakefield,” the home of
Ellicott Fisher, where a number of chestnut, butternut and tulip poplar
trees of fair proportions may be observed, but not any of which are
equal to the lofty vigorous specimens appearing on “Wakefield’s” bank
to the right, where sturdy oaks, not observable from the front, here
impressively stand. “Belfield Homestead, with its famous coffee tree
and lovely boulevard of maples,” now appears before us a perfect haven
of rest, its most prominent plants thus referred to by W. E. S. Baker,
standing conspicuous above a bordering wealth of vegetation.
From the valley we turn into Thorp’s lane, once a gem of rural beauty,
but now sadly changed, to view a beautiful avenue of silver maples
(acer dasycarpum) extending from the main entrance to the mansion where
Fanny Kemble wrote “My children were born, by first and only American
home.” In “Records of Later Life” the same gifted author, under date of
1837, notes: “The other day, for the first time, I explored my small
future domain, which is bounded on the right by the high road, on the
left by a not unromantic little mill-stream with bits of rock, and
cedar bushes, and dams, and, I am sorry to say, a very picturesque,
half-tumbled-down factory; on the north by fields and orchards of our
neighbors, and another road; and on the south by a pretty, deep, shady
lane, running from the high road to the above-mentioned factory. There
are four pretty pasture meadows, and a very pretty piece of woodland,
which coasting the stream and mill-dam, will, I foresee, become a
favorite haunt of mine.”
“The Farm” or “Butler Place” yet contains many notable plants, though
the “row of old acacia trees near the house” was removed, and “a
double row of 200 trees planted along the side of the place” show
wear. The latter, however, is of great interest to us, for in spite of
an acknowledged “combined ignorance” a majority of these plants have
lived, and from “York Farm” in 1874 Fanny Kemble wrote: “The trees I
planted along the low enclosure hedge of Butler Place, 30 years ago,
stretch their branches and throw their shadows half over the road which
divides the places.”
Though exceedingly pleasurable, we may not linger here too long, and
to all interested in Germantown and its associations, I suggest the
reading of “Records of Later Life” and “Further Records,” both books of
great interest, and mainly produced at “Butler Place” and “York Farm.”
There are many avenues of silver maples (acer dasycarpum) worthy of
record with us, among them being one in Town Hall Park, another at the
Pulaski avenue approach to “Fern-hill,” and also that leading to the
Pinckney homestead, where Judge William D. Kelly once lived.
Other striking maple-lined avenues may be seen at Justus C.
Strawbridge’s, School House lane and Wissahickon avenue; at Samuel
Welsh’s, West School House lane, both of great beauty; also that of
Garrett’s Hill on our main street, with others numerous; and on Norwood
avenue, extending from Chestnut avenue to Sunset avenue, Chestnut Hill,
is one beyond compare. At Butler Place the hemlock (tsuga canadensis)
hedge continues of more than ordinary merit, but it is surpassed by a
notable hedge of the same species at Thomas P. Galvin’s grounds, West
Walnut lane, and by the remarkable hedges of “Fern-hill.” Other plants
at Butler Place worthy of notice are a black walnut and a coffee tree,
both of immense size and majestic proportions. Distributed throughout
our territory are many large and beautiful coffee trees (gymnoclaudus
canadensis). One of these may be seen at Dr. I. Pearson Willit’s,
on West Walnut lane; another holds its place in Vernon Park; and a
specially fine specimen stands before the Welsh mansion at Spring-Bank.
At Dr. George De Benneville’s “Silver Pine Farm” is a group of white
pine (pinus strobus), which if not the largest is at least the most
imposing one among us. These trees are nine in number, are about two
feet in diameter trunk, rise to a height of from 80 to 100 feet, and
their shattered arms are familiar to every frequenter of Branchtown by
way of Green lane or York road. As these trees gave name to the place,
so we may refer to a farm house-like structure which once stood where
Masonic Hall now stands on Main street near St. Luke’s Church, a house
in 1832 the home of Bronson Alcott, and the birthplace of Louisa M.
Alcott--which from a group of trees before it, became known as “Silver
Pine Cottage.”
In this same cottage, while rector of St. Luke’s Church, Rev. B. Wistar
Morris also dwelt, and this in a measure may account for his love of
“Oregon pines,” though his old-time neighbors say he was elected bishop
for quite another reason.
Conspicuous specimens of white pine, in some respects our most
impressive tree, may be seen at Loudoun, at Toland’s, at Henry’s,
all near Naglee’s Hill; at Fern-hill, at George Blight’s and Dr.
James Gardette’s on Wissahickon avenue; at Manheim, where there is a
beautiful tree three feet in diameter and 90 feet high; at Carlton on
Indian Queen lane; at Armstrong’s on Duy’s lane, and at almost every
place on School House lane from John Alburger’s, near Greene street,
to William Weightman’s, near the “Falls;” at Jacob A. Datz’s, Stenton
avenue and Mill street, and at Alfred Williams’, near by; at Old
School, County line and Limekiln pike; at Vollmer’s, Washington lane;
at Upsala and Lutheran Seminary--indeed, so many and so generally
distributed are these beautiful plants that it is needless to further
enumerate.
At Butler Place is an odd white pine, which curiously at a height of 40
feet had its terminal bud destroyed, the result being the development
of a trinity of side buds. In like manner there is also a remarkable
specimen at Philip Guckes’ on West School House lane, a tree 2½ feet in
diameter by 70 feet high. This tree’s terminal bud at 40 feet elevation
having been destroyed, two side shoots were developed, which each
sturdily rose to an additional height of 30 feet.
Without exception, the finest and most perfect white pine in our
district is a plant growing on a knoll on “Perot’s Farm,” now Northwood
Cemetery. This tree has a trunk 2½ feet in diameter, rises to a height
of 70 feet, has a spread of 40 feet, and is vigorous, perfect and very
beautiful.
At “Outalauna,” the residence of Joseph Wharton, is an exceedingly fine
silver poplar (populus alba), and near at “Bonnenal Cottage,” the home
of Mrs. Anne de Benneville Mears, are two immense buttonwood trees
(platanus occidentalis) with trunks 4 feet in diameter, each with a
height of 100 feet, and 40 feet spread. In “Old York Road,” Mrs. Mears,
writing of “Bonnenal Cottage,” states “it was surrounded by a fine lawn
and in front still stands one of the sycamore trees whose age is over
300 years, and its companion was planted by Dr. George De Benneville,
Sr., in 1768.”
With us continue many notable buttonwood trees, although all our home
trees are inferior to specimens growing in more favorable locations.
In Case’s Botanical Index, Page 46, there was recorded in 1880 a
buttonwood tree growing in Greene county, Indiana, having a trunk
16 feet in diameter, and which rose with a clear trunk 25 feet, the
altitude reached being 160 feet, and plane trees much greater than this
are known.
It would be futile to name all our worthy specimens, so I shall
without mention pass many to locate a few which more directly appeal
to us. We all may remember the buttonwood tree within the gate to our
“Earthly Paradise,” and whose denuded trunk stands to remind us of
days when settlers first took up ground on “side land lots.” Here with
an additional story of recent growth is Naglee’s house, where James
Logan for a season dwelt, a building like the “Rock House,” a venerable
survivor and typical representative of the stone houses of early
Germantown.
[Illustration: Naglee Houses]
Recently we have lost one of two well-known sycamore trees at Wagner’s,
and the tree continuing is but a reminder of its former greatness.
Another interesting specimen on Main street is that on the grounds
of William Heft, a tree 5½ feet in diameter and 80 feet high, one of
the trees which changed the name of a public house once here from
“Ye Roebuck Inn” to “Buttonwood Hotel.” Though often so asserted by
over-zealous loyalists, these trees were not planted “by Philadelphia’s
first mayor,” but by Andrew Garret, who carried them from the banks of
the Schuylkill, and here set them in place, as “The Guide” some years
ago instructed us. Andrew Garret may be remembered as an eccentric
character, who during the latter part of the eighteenth century had a
dwelling on Indian Queen lane, near the “Falls.” Here he lived alone,
and by robbers was one night foully murdered, a sufficient warning, let
us hope, to all of like preferment.
Other interesting buttonwood trees are located at the pump on Manheim
street, where there is a specimen 4 feet in diameter by 80 feet high;
at Manheim, near the club house, where is an odd-shaped specimen with
a short trunk 4 feet in diameter, and awkwardly branching limbs rising
to a height of 100 feet; at Friends’ grounds on Main street, where is
a rare tree 4 feet in diameter by 60 feet high, and another specimen
at Market Square, now only of interest because it was planted by
Samuel B. Morris; at Dr. Ashton’s on West School House lane, where
there is a majestic tree, and several others worthy a visit are in this
immediate neighborhood. Rare specimens may also be seen at spring-house
on Cresheim road, above Allen’s lane; at William Dewees spring-house at
the bend in the upper Wissahickon, where grow two fine specimens; at
“Spring Bank,” the residence of John Welsh, where is a perfect plant,
4 feet in diameter and 100 feet high; and two trees in Wissahickon
avenue, near “Fern-hill” entrance, one 6 feet in diameter, 100 feet
rise, with a spread of 80 feet, and the other about its equal, are the
finest plane trees we have.
At National Cemetery, Haines street and Limekiln pike, are many
beautiful trees, though but few of unusual size or rarity. Here are
fair specimens of ginko (salisburia adiantifolia), but not equal to
the ginkos of Edward Hacker, Wister street; Charles J. Wister, Main
street; Lloyd Mifflin, Penn street; Benjamin H. Shoemaker, Mill street;
and that of Alfred C. Harrison, at Thorpe’s lane, Chestnut Hill. Larch
(larix Americana), but surpassed by the larch of David Pancoast at
High and Baynton streets, by that of “Fairfield,” of “Upsala,” and
several others. Silver birch and other trees of superior merit are
here, and also here is a fine white pine, while in sight is a number
of specimens of the same species at Middleton’s on Limekiln pike.
Among the best plants at National Cemetery is an arbor vitae (thuja
occidentalis) group of 12 feet in diameter spread and a 30-feet height,
and an exceedingly fine specimen of retinospora plumosa.
At one time there were several fine trees on Christopher Ludwig’s
farm, Haines street, near Chew street, but the best of these have
disappeared, and there now remains but mediocre plane and walnut trees
to halt us at the house of Washington’s doughty baker general, who
spent here several years of his honest life, and who from his “labors”
rests in St. Michael’s Lutheran Churchyard. Opposite “Ludwig Farm”
is “Awbury,” containing the homes of John S. Haines, Thomas P. Cope,
Francis R. Cope and other members of well-known families of like name,
where are many rare and beautiful plants. From “High Street Station”
which was, there extended to the Cope houses a rustic walk shaded by
a double row of silver maples, and this shortened continues to remind
one of the celebrated “walks” of Addison at Oxford and Milton at
Cambridge. Shielding Haines street, east of Chew street, is a row of
specially fine scarlet maple (acer rubrum) trees now in bloom, and at
“John Haines’ gate” grow two fine elm trees, each having a trunk 2½
feet in diameter, a height of 60 feet and a spread of 80 feet, entirely
covering the entrance to this most inviting place.
With us are several fine elm trees (ulmus Americana), one being on the
grounds of Charles Edward Pancoast, East Johnson street; another is in
the “Concord graveyard,” and two very beautiful weeping elms of the
Galena type on Chew street, opposite Church street, shade the entrance
to Meehans’ nurseries.
[Illustration: Weeping Elms]
At one time several of our largest trees were to be found at Old Oaks
Cemetery, grounds once a part of John Tucker’s “plantation.” This
burying ground was located on Township Line road, and extended from
near the toll-gate at McKean’s hill to the railroad, south. Here was a
number of immense chestnut trees, but the finest have been destroyed.
Our best, however, did not class with trees elsewhere. At Hereford,
Bucks county, Pa., there is, or was, standing on the farm of James
Schlegel a chestnut tree 8¾ feet in diameter, 90 feet high, and said
to be 200 years old. At James A. Wright’s place on Township Line road,
near Clapier street, is an imposing grove of great chestnut, silver
maple and oak trees; at “Carlton,” Indian Queen lane, is a number of
chestnut trees of immense girth, but of no great height, storm riven
and impressive; but perhaps our largest chestnut trees are located
on the grounds of Thomas P. C. Stokes and Dr. George Strawbridge,
Wissahickon avenue, near Frank street.