TH HE W WEA ATHE ERV VANE NE

TH
HE WEA
W ATHE
ERV
VANE
NE
A Newslettter for the Members
M
a
and Suppo
orters of
The Friend
ds of the Caleb Pu
usey Hou
use, Inc.
V
Volume 34, No.
N 1
Spring 2014
The
e FCPH’s first annual Sprin
ng Plant & Herb Sa
ale – May
y 10, 2014
4
Th
he Spring Plant
P
& Herb
b Sale fund
draiser that was held b
by the Frien
nds of the C
Caleb Puse
ey House on
n
Mayy 10 was a resounding success, garnering $364 in sa
ales revenu
ue and ano
other $57 in
n donations
s
from
m supporte
ers, while giving FCP
PH board members a good excuse to show offf their new
w
emb
broidered golf
g
shirts. The day provided an
a opportu
unity for so
ome bonding and team-building
g
amo
ongst board
d members, and gave our visitors
s a chance tto save som
me money o
on high-qua
ality plants..
Th
he FCPH is
s extremely
y grateful to
o the scores
s of local g ardeners w
who turned out to supp
port historic
c
presservation, and
a
also to
t the own
ners of We
edgewood Gardens on Route 352 in Ed
dgmont, for
delivvering such
h impressive
e plants and for giving
g us sound a
advice and
d a flexible p
payment pla
an.
Ju
udging from
m the positiv
ve comments received
d, it’s a good
d bet that tthe second annual Spring Plant &
Herb
b Sale will be held at Landingforrd Plantatio
on in May 2
2015, so pe
encil us in o
on your callendar now
w!
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To support the work
k of The Friendss of the Caleb Pusey
P
House, In
nc., please be kin
nd enough to seend your tax-deeductible contriibution.
Pleasee fill out this don
nation form for The
T Friends of th
he Caleb Pusey House,
H
Inc. and select your prefe
ference:
________________ Ch
heck is enclosed for annual mem
mbership contribu
ution.
(This entitles you to copies of future issues of The Weeathervane and an
a invitation to oour Annual Meetting in Decembeer)
________________ Ch
heck is enclosed for the Endowm
ment Fund.
(This fund is invested and only the inv
vestment earning
gs are used)
________________ Ch
heck is enclosed for the Capital Maintenance
M
Fun
nd.
(This fund is directed toward required
d maintenance off the Landingforrd Plantation bui ldings,
includding new Pusey House
H
roof)
Your nname: ________
______________
_____________
______________
_______
Your aaddress: ______
______________
______________
_____________
_______
Mail ddonations to: Th
he Friends of th
he Caleb Pusey House, Inc.
P.. O. Box 1183
Upland,
U
Pennsylv
vania 19015-1183
useyhouse.hom
me.comcast.net
Vis it our website aat http://calebpu
When Dorothy MacQueen posed for a 2012 Town Talk Newspaper Profile photo, she held a watercolor painting of her beloved Pusey House. Dorothy MacQueen A True Friend to the Pusey House
Dorothy MacQueen, the devoted and loving wife of the
late Reverend David MacQueen, passed on March 28,
2014 at the age of 92, closing a memorable chapter of
Pusey House history.
Rev. MacQueen officially became the pastor of Upland
Baptist Church on May 1, 1947. He and Dorothy both
became heavily involved in the preservation effort
surrounding the Pusey House in the 1960s, when an
archeological dig at the cottage greatly enhanced the
story of the colonial settlers who lived there.
Dorothy MacQueen was always quick to give credit to
other local preservationists, including Mary Patterson,
Sarah Brock, John Mayer, and Jo Albrecht, all of whom
helped launch and sustain the restoration effort that
saved the deteriorating 1683 structure and founded the
Friends of the Caleb Pusey House (FCPH) as the nonprofit overseer of the National Historic Register site.
"We were kind of hangers-on at first, then once we got
our feet wet, we starting really working in earnest,"
MacQueen said of her household's involvement.
David MacQueen served as FCPH President for a
number of years, while Dorothy served as FCPH
Secretary and was among the first members to give free
guided tours of the Pusey House to the general public.
Rev. MacQueen retired from his ministry duties in 1984,
and died of a chronic heart condition on Jan. 27, 1989.
In the wake of her husband’s death, Dorothy carried on
many aspects of her community involvement.
By the 1980s, the FCPH had evolved to the point where
free guided tours of the Pusey House were being offered
on a semi-regular basis, and Dorothy MacQueen was at
the forefront of that public outreach effort.
"I started out by just doing a few tours there, but as time
went on, I just got more and more involved," Dorothy
said of the gradual evolution. "The first tour was nothing
scheduled, but probably just someone who showed up
and wanted to know something about the house."
Even after Mrs. MacQueen moved to Riddle Village in
Middletown in 1997, she continued to pour her heart and
soul into the Pusey House.
Over the course of the last three decades, a rough
estimate of the number of tourists who heard Dorothy
present the history of the Pusey settlement would be in
the neighborhood of 2,500. During this period, if Dorothy
wasn't actually giving the guided tour (usually wearing a
custom-made colonial-style dress), she was scheduling
the other FCPH volunteers who helped do the same job.
In recent years, tours have been given every weekend
from May through October, and that tradition continues
today, with free tours offered every Saturday from
1-4 pm or by appointment.
Enduring hot and humid summer afternoons in a 300year-old, non-air conditioned, two-room, stone and brick
cottage, especially on days when no visitors showed up,
was by far the worst tour guide experience for Mrs.
MacQueen.
The best of touring times involved children. In fact, many
Pusey House tourists were entire classes of gradeschool students, some of whom grew up to be teachers,
who now regularly bring their own students to visit the
historic site.
One day that MacQueen fondly recalled was a day-long
camp out at the Pusey House by a group of students
from a local Friends School, who gathered to celebrate
Caleb Pusey's birthday.
"I was always glad when the kids behaved themselves,
but the teachers were usually pretty good about keeping
them in line," the veteran guide recalled. "I was often
impressed by the mothers who came with their young
children. They were the ones who most appreciated the
stories of colonial sacrifice and hardship.
"The women were always fascinated to learn that the
number one cause of death for women (in colonial
America) was childbirth, and the second was fire burns,
because they worked so close to the fireplace."
Dorothy was an active member of the FCPH until 2011,
when her failing eyesight forced her to retire.
Today, the Caleb Pusey House continues to stand as a
testament to the loving devotion and steadfast
dedication of the MacQueens.
Open House Celebrates
Display of Historic Documents
On April 12, the FCPH held an Open House to herald
the public display of four recently-framed historic
documents, all of which are tied to Landingford
Plantation. The four documents are now hanging on the
first-floor walls of Crozer Schoolhouse No. 1.
The most important document is a 1690 deed that
transfers ownership of 20 creekside acres from William
Penn to Caleb Pusey. The additional land was needed to
rebuild the mill further downstream than the original mill.
The deed is written on vellum (animal hide) and is
signed by both men.
This Penn/Pusey land transfer was donated to the FCPH
in 2012 by Pusey Family descendant John Pusey, of
Kennett Square. The deed helped the FCPH determine
the precise location of the third Pusey mill to be built on
the banks of Chester Creek.
Another document that was donated to the FCPH back
in the 1980s is the wedding certificate of Lydia Pusey,
Caleb’s youngest daughter. The official record of the
Quaker marriage is dated 1706/7, and is signed by all
members of the Chester Friends Meeting in attendance.
A pair of property deeds that involve the sale and resale
of the same 17.5-acre parcel were procured by FCPH
President Ray Peden in 2006, when $600 was paid to
document collector James Reis of Philadelphia for the
two legal documents. The first land transfer is dated
1710, and involves a sale from Caleb Pusey to John
Salkeld, while a deed dated 1716/17 transfers the same
tract from Salkeld to Tobias Hendricks.
All four historic documents are behind special UVfiltering glass, with cut-outs provided on the backside
where information is written. The first-rate framing job
was done by Kent Studios of Woodlyn.
FCPH Treasurer Harry Jackalous (far left) holds the oldest framed
document, a 1690 deed transferring 20 acres from William Penn to
Caleb Pusey, while FCPH President Ray Peden holds Lydia
Pusey’s wedding certificate. On the wall is one of two deeds
transferring 17.5 acres. A translation from old English to modern
English also hangs on the wall (behind FCPH Secretary Joanne
Peden), allowing readers to better understand the content.
Pusey House Needs New Roof
One of the inescapable burdens of home ownership is
the occasional replacement of a roof, and the 341-yearold Caleb Pusey House is no exception to the rule. The
current hand-split cedar shake roof is about 20 years old
and is starting to show its age, with a few minor leaks
springing up in recent months.
The total cost of the roofing project is yet to be
determined, but maintaining the rustic look of hand-split
shakes could cost as much as $45,000.
As stewards of the Pusey House, the FCPH will be
striving to finance a roof replacement, as funds become
available. To cover such a large bill, the FCPH will be
counting on its network of donors and supporters to
provide the necessary funding to complete this important
project. We must act soon to protect the period
furnishings and artifacts that we keep inside the Pusey
House for the enjoyment and edification of our visitors.
As John F. Kennedy once so wisely suggested: “The
time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
*****
Join Us For Our
7th Welcome Day Celebration
On Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014
Noon to 4 PM
Come and enjoy the colonial crafters,
food & beverages, and free guided tours
of historic Landingford Plantation
*****
Colonial crafter Lou Boughner, of Aston, demonstrated the
intricacies of chair caning at the 2013 Welcome Day Celebration,
where a good turnout on a sunny day made for a great event.
Pennock Loghouse Gets Facelift
The ongoing process of giving the Pennock Loghouse a
much-needed makeover began last fall.
Frustrated by damage from the repeated flooding of
Chester Creek and a lack of grant funding to pay for
restorative repairs, the FCPH was recently forced to take
a hard look at the future of the Pennock Loghouse at
Landingford Plantation. The 2½-story, Modified Penn
Plan loghouse is not original to the site, having been
built in Springfield in 1790, then disassembled and
moved to Upland in 1965 to save it from a developer’s
wrecking ball. In the half century that the Pennock
Loghouse has sat 100 feet across Race Street from the
Pusey House, the FCPH has embraced the building for
its connection to the Pusey family, and hence it has
become a valuable part of Landingford Plantation.
A modern kitchen was once added to the Loghouse, to
allow the structure to be used as a residence and for
special FCPH events, but the utilities were disconnected
and removed in 2012, primarily so that the FCPH would
be spared the cost of utility repairs that each successive
flood brought with it.
By 2013, the uneven settling of the building and the
warping of floors and doorways made the Loghouse
unsafe for public tours, forcing the restoration issue.
Research found that a company called 18th-Century
Restoration would charge about $80,000 to replace
some logs and repair the chinking between others.
Unable to handle such a bill, the FCPH ultimately
enlisted two local craftsmen to do the necessary work at
an affordable price.
Nick Stoccardo did the masonry work, re-pointing the
chimney and re-chinking the logs inside and outside.
Tom Bryant then followed up the masonry repairs by
coating the exterior of the Loghouse with a special
weather-resistant Behr polymer paint that cost $120 per
five-gallon
bucket.
The
current
white-washed
appearance of the building is probably what the Pennock
Loghouse once looked like in Springfield.
This spring, Bryant also gave the doors and window trim
a fresh coat of colonial red paint to really set off the
bright white walls.
If Bryant’s schedule will allow this summer, he will be
applying the same protective white paint to the interior
walls, at least on the oft-flooded first floor of the
Loghouse.
Professional painter Tom Bryant spent many hours on a
ladder last fall, applying a coating of special protective
white paint to the exterior of the Pennock Loghouse.
*****
THE WEATHERVANE
The Friends of the Caleb Pusey House, Inc.
P.O. Box 1183
Upland, Pennsylvania 19015-1183
Non-Profit Org.
U. S. Postage
PAID
Chester, PA
Permit No. 45

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