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Weekly News September 11, 2017Description
Bayard Taylor (1825-1878): Taylor was born in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (4 miles from Auburn Heights), the eldest surviving son in a large family spanning the years. His youngest brother Frank, a lieutenant in the Union Army, was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg at the age of 21. Bayard was a poet, novelist, travel writer, and American diplomat. He traveled the world, visiting most countries in Europe and many in Asia, the headwaters of the Nile, and had accompanied Admiral Matthew Perry on his historic 1853 visit to Japan, that opened that country to the outside world. If the top 10 American poets of the mid-19th century were listed, Taylor might not be among them, but he was definitely in the top 20.
Before he was 21, he had hitchhiked all over Europe and sent back well written accounts of his travels, which were published by various newspapers, including Horace Greeley’s New York Herald. His first full-length novel, Hannah Thurston, was published in 1864, followed by his locally-popular Story of Kennett in 1866. The latter was a story laid in 1796 of Kennett area Quakers who were robbed by “Sandy Flash,” an actual notorious highwayman. Taylor took wide-ranging poetic license with this story, keeping intact some real-life family names, while changing others (including that of his own father), mixing up generations, and inventing a fictitious hero, Gilbert Potter. Sandy Flash (James Fitzpatrick) was hanged at Chester for aiding the British in 1778, eighteen years before the story took place. Nevertheless, the book was highly successful, and several editions followed the first.
Taylor continued to write and travel throughout his life. In 1857 he married a Danish-German, Maria Hansen, and she often traveled with him during the 21 years of their marriage. They lived in Germany for some of the time. After a trip to Iceland just before his 50th birthday, he returned home to Kennett Square and to his elaborate new home north of the borough called “Cedarcroft.” During this time he was honored at the Mount Cuba Picnic Grove of the Wilmington & Western Railroad on October 22, 1874. Soon thereafter, the Taylors returned to Germany, and in 1877 President Hayes appointed him as U.S. Minister to Prussia. He died in Berlin in December 1878. Several weeks later he was buried from Cedarcroft. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. asked Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write a poem for the occasion, which he did. The story goes that the first carriages in the funeral procession arrived at Longwood Cemetery before the last had left Cedarcroft (a distance of about 3 miles). Kennett had lost its most famous citizen of the 19th century. Baseball great Herb Pennock of the Yankees would fill that role in the 20th.
Except for technical books, engineering drawings, newspapers of the day, and Sears catalogs, my father was not a great reader, but he always liked the Story of Kennett. With his new Stanley in 1915, he went to many local scenes around Kennett Square to photograph sites mentioned in the book. Many of the buildings were still standing, and a few still are. These included (in 1915) the Anvil Tavern (at the entrance to Longwood Gardens), Old Kennett Friends Meeting House, the Barton Barn on Walnut Street, the Hammer and Trowel Tavern in Toughkenamon, the Fairthorne house (actually Taylor) on the south side of Kennett, the Gilbert Potter house at Clifton Mills, and New Garden Crossroads with its Quaker Meeting House. It has always puzzled me how Gilbert Potter could have a house when he was a fictional character, but the house is still there.
In June 1933, the American Legion Post in Kennett Square presented the Story of Kennett as a pageant at Longwood’s Open Air Theatre. (They did it again in 1940 and 1955.) Prominent local citizens took the featured parts. I remember some of them, as it made an impression on this 9-year-old. Mary D. “Miss Mame” Lang was Betsy Lavender, Muriel Swift was Deb Smith, Scott McMurtrie was Sandy Flash, Alice Lang was Mary Potter (Gilbert’s mother), and Knowles “Bus” Bowen was Gilbert Potter. My father photographed many of the scenes and had them tinted on glass plate slides for his Magic Lantern. These, together with his 1915 pictures, provided the illustrations for his several lectures on the Story of Kennett. The last time he did this presentation was at his and my mother’s 70th birthday party on the lawn of Auburn Heights in August 1955.
Work Report: On Tuesday, September 5, 10 volunteers were on hand: Larry Tennity (in charge), Mark Bodenstab, Steve Bryce, Bob Jordan, Ted Kamen, Dave Leon, Tom Marshall, Jerry Novak, Tim Ward, and Lou Mandich. Lou Mandich was the hit of the evening with his “Tuesdays at the Museum” program about his newly-acquired 1924 Willys-Knight with its 4-cylinder sleeve-valve engine. With questions from Jerry Novak and others, he explained his interest in this particular car (his grandfather had owned one like it) and, with a cut-away model, showed how a sleeve-valve engine works completely free from conventional inlet and exhaust valves, cam shafts, and push rods. The nicely restored car, in our museum during his talk, will be one of the cars displayed at our Auburn Heights Invitational on September 24.
Two tubes were plugged in the boiler from the Model 725, and it was successfully hydro-tested to 600 p.s.i. The burner was removed from the Model 76 to investigate its back-firing problem. The right front tire on the Model 607 was observed to be low, and a new Shrader valve was inserted, with the hope that this will correct the problem. A seat cover was installed on the front seat of the ’37 Packard to protect the original upholstery.
On Wednesday afternoon, September 6, eight volunteers turned out, viz: Jerry Lucas (in charge), Bill Schwoebel, Tom Marshall, Steve Bryce, Dave Leon, Jared Schoenly, Richard Bernard and Bob Koury. To the Model 725’s boiler, a degreaser solution was added, with the hope that this may dissolve some of the heavy oil deposited on the inside. The windshield was removed from the Model 76, in preparation for replacing the cracked glass. The 735’s windshield with its new tempered glass was installed on the car (the old glass was badly scratched). The boiler was filled on the Mountain Wagon, as it had not syphoned after its use on September 3.
The covers were removed and the engine and differential were well-oiled on the Model K. The brakes were checked for drag on the 740, and found to be good. The front differential cover was installed on the Model H-5. On this car, the pilot vaporizer was choked, and a lot of heat was required in order to remove the cable. This is an original vaporizer and it needed some welding to cover a small hole and strengthen the unit, with the hope that it will last several more years.
Bob Koury continued his construction of the A.V.R.R. car shed.
On Thursday, September 7, eight volunteers showed up: Mark Bodenstab (in charge), Steve Bryce, Geoff Fallows, Jim Personti, Bob Jordan, Tom Marshall, Kelly Williams, and Bob Stransky. Through the persistence of Bob Jordan and Ted Kamen and the expertise of Jim Personti, the windshield wiper on the ’37 Packard is working as it should, the first time in 65 years. A NOS wiper motor from a ’37 Buick Limited was found and adapted. More degreaser was added to the 725’s boiler, and an electric heater was placed underneath to get it hot, after which it will be agitated and then drained and washed out. The door on the storage cabinet for volatile fuels was repaired.
The H-5 vaporizer was welded by Jim Personti and a new cable was made. The unit is ready for installation in the burner of the car. On the Model EX, the water column and expansion indicator alongside the boiler were cleaned and the try-cock was checked for a leak. In moving the Cretors popcorn machine to the museum, the defective rear wheels collapsed and are not repairable. New wheels, slightly heavier, have been ordered.
On Friday, work on cleaning the 725’s boiler continued with more heat and agitation. The boiler must now be rolled before the solution is drained. Bob Koury continued construction of the railroad’s car shed. The Stanley Model 87 and the ’32 Packard were prepped for their trip to Chadds Ford Days on Sunday, September 10. The fuel automatic on the Model EX was taken apart and examined and found to have carbon deposits near its needle valve.
On Sunday, the fuel automatic on the Model EX was taken apart again, and possibly a slight improvement was made, although not much was found wrong with it. The pressure system is now holding, but the final adjustment to the automatic will have to be done when the car is fired up. Air was added to the right front tire on the Model 607- it still leaks. The 725’s boiler was heated again and rolled for the degreaser to reach every surface between the tubes. Then it was drained and thoroughly washed out with water. We know it is much cleaner now.
Steve Bryce with our Model 87 and Jerry Novak with our ’32 Packard, along with Anne Cleary, attended Chadds Ford Days on Sunday, Sept. 10. Jerry made out fine, but Steve had pilot trouble with the 87, and the front end shimmied on the way home. These will be addressed this week.
Nine of our cars are entered in the annual Hagley Car Show on September 17.
