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Weekly News March 17, 2014Description
QUAKER RESORTS, 1870-1970: Members of the Religious Society of Friends, often called Quakers, were supposed to be a simple folk who communicated with God without the assistance of an ordained minister. Founded by George Fox in England about 1652, Quakerism grew in popularity and soon spread to North America, especially after William Penn was able to establish his colony of Pennsylvania (1682), which welcomed minorities from many oppressive regimes in Europe. By 1700, there were Quaker Meetings (churches) in most of the northern British colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. It was not until 1776 that Quakers lost control of the Pennsylvania legislature.
Like many religious sects, early 19th-century Quakers had an unfortunate split into two groups over ideology. In Pennsylvania and surrounding states, the more liberal group called themselves “Hicksites” (named for Elias Hicks), and the more conservative ones were “Orthodox.” While not true in all cases, most city Quakers were Orthodox, and country folk were Hicksites. The division reached to even the smallest of Meetings, including Hockessin and its many Quaker neighbors. In all local areas except West Grove, the Hicksites kept the original Meeting Houses, and the Orthodox branch built a smaller place of worship less than a mile away. At West Grove, it was the opposite, and in Philadelphia the Orthodox branch kept the original Meeting House at 4th and Arch Streets, while the Hicksites built a new place of worship at 15th and Race. By 1900, the branches of the individual Meetings were getting together again, but the official division was not eliminated until 1955.
None of the above has to do with Quaker resorts. In 1870, when the Smiley brothers, Quakers from Providence, Rhode Island, fell in love with the Catskills and bought a boarding house on Mohonk Lake, one of the first and certainly the longest lasting Quaker resort in this country came into being. Greatly expanded over the next 40 years, the Lake Mohonk Mountain House is still going strong in 2014, owned and operated by descendants of the founders. It is assumed that the Smileys were Orthodox Quakers, as some of the family attended Westtown School, established in 1799; the Hicksite Quaker boarding school was the George School near Newtown in Bucks County, which opened in the 1890s.
Atlantic City was full of Quaker hotels. The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall was perhaps the largest and most famous. The Marlborough-Blenheim was another. Walter Buzby owned and operated the Hotel Dennis during the first half of the 20th century. There were several others, somewhat less prestigious, one of which was a favorite of my grandmother, Lizzie Marshall, who would spend two weeks or so each summer. Old traditions were finished when gambling came to Atlantic City in the early 1970s, and the remaining Quaker hotels were razed.
Galen Hall, on a ridge 10 miles west of Reading, Pennsylvania, was one of several spas and hotels there in the early 20th century. The Quaker owners also operated a hotel by the same name in Atlantic City. The big hotel in Pennsylvania closed during World War II and tried to re-open with an infusion of cash in the mid-1950s. Unfortunately, all is gone now except the stack next to the power house.
In the Pocono Mountains about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, the Orthodox Quakers built Pocono Manor Inn, a few miles west of Mount Pocono. My parents spent their honeymoon there in 1921. Still operating today, it is no longer owned by Quakers, and the Atlantic Indian trapshooting organization holds two tournaments there each year. Buck Hill Falls was a Quaker resort, and the big inn there was supplemented by numerous cottages, most individually owned. My wife, Ruth, was a summer waitress at the inn about 1950. Unfortunately, the inn closed, probably in the late 1970s, and the building is still boarded up. Even the exclusive Skytop Club, a few miles away, claims to have Quaker roots.
It’s obvious that many Quaker businessmen branched out from their Spartan ways and invested heavily in pleasure palaces of their time. Like most resorts that owned Stanley Mountain Wagons, their time has come and gone. Only Lake Mohonk remains intact.
Work Report: On Tuesday, March 11, nine volunteers were in the shop, and five more attended the meeting of the Events and Scheduling Committee (two were at both places).
At the work session were Steve Bryce (in charge), Ken Ricketts, Mac Taylor, Ted Kamen, Bob Jordan, Bill Schwoebel, Dennis Dragon, Jerry Novak and Tom Marshall. Illumination of the buildings on the Lionel train layout continued. Four good used tires, 33 x 5, were donated by Tom Heckman and delivered by Bill Schwoebel for use on our Model 750, and two good tubes were located in our stock for mounting two of these tires on the rear of the car.
The burner ring and then the burner were dropped again on our Model 740, necessary to repair a leak at the union that connects the down pipe from the throttle to the superheater. It was discovered that one of the union nuts was cross-threaded. Two layers of webbing were sewn together to create the proper thickness to repair one of the Gabriel snubbers on the front of the 740, and this was riveted to the brass ends. The snubber is now ready for reassembly.
At the Events Committee, those present filled more than 1,000 Easter eggs with candy while the agenda of the meeting progressed. Attendees were Anne Cleary (chair), Susan Randolph, Dan Citron, Steve Bryce, Jerry Novak, Art Sybell, and Rose Ann Hoover. Immediately following the meeting, the attendees moved to the garage below where they joined the mechanical team in celebrating Susan’s birthday. Three birthday cakes furnished by Rose Ann were enjoyed by all.
On Thursday, March 13, the following 10 volunteers were on hand: Tim Ward (in charge), Steve Bryce, Bill Schwoebel, Jim Personti, Bob Jordan, Ted Kamen, Kelly Williams, Gerhard Maute, Eugene Maute, and Tom Marshall. The Gabriel snubber for the Model 740 was wound up, secured, and installed. It is planned to do the other front snubber on this car so the front ones will match.
Also on the 740, the stripped union nut at the cold end of the superheater was replaced, and some brazing was done on the pipe from the throttle, before it was recovered with insulation. The burner ring was installed and all superheater connections properly fit. The new 3-venturi burner was “put up” on the Model K, which is now ready for “plastering” and piping to the new vaporizer.
The “new-old-stock” tubes were checked for leaks, and the rear tires are now ready to be changed on our Model 750. A heavy wooden box is being modified to ship four burner grates to Allen Blazick in California. Work continued in the FAHP library. The tail stock on our South Bend bench lathe was out of position. This was adjusted Tuesday night, and further checked for accuracy on Thursday; .015” in shims were added to the bottom to bring it into alignment.
On Friday, March 14, Steve Bryce and Jerry Novak made a very productive trip to the Boyertown Museum and to America-on-Wheels in Allentown, seeking possible cars for our Auburn Heights Invitational car show on September 21.
