Former PA Governor’s Pennypacker Mills Estate Offers Free Holiday Deck the Halls Mansion Tours through January 9th, Victorian Décor and Traditions Abound at this Montgomery County Historical Site

By Catherine J. Barrier

Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker (1843-1916), a Republican, served as Governor of Pennsylvania for one term, from 1903 to 1907, during his fellow conservationist Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency. 

In the early 20-Century, Pennypacker Mills encompassed 135-acres and was a working “Gentleman’s Farm”.  At that time, it was fashionable to be associated with farming and to be considered hard-working and close to the land, and Governor Pennypacker embraced these ideals.

Indeed, in the early 1900’s, most Americans were still farmers (almost 50%) or came from farm families.  Horses provided the power for farming; they pulled most of the heavy farm machinery, usually in teams of two.  Certain seasonal jobs, such as preparing the soil for planting in the spring, spreading manure on the fields in the spring or summer—to fertilize the ground, and weeding the summer fields between rows of plants—to keep the crops healthy, needed to be done yearly.  Then in late summer or early autumn, the crops had to be harvested and the grains then stored to dry—in preparation for threshing, that is for the separating of the barley, oat, or wheat kernels, for example, from the stalks.  It was dirty work and often done on still very hot days.  In the winter, farm machinery was repaired, animals cared for, and buildings and fences fixed.  Winter was also the season to can or smoke meat.  There was always work to be done on a farm, and Pennypacker Mills was always bustling with activity as well.

What we know today as the Pennypacker Mansion (and Estate) first belonged to a Pennypacker family member in 1747 and was a stone German farmhouse.  The Governor bought it in 1900 and had it refurbished in what is called the Colonial Revival Style.  This style is normally characterized by things such as rectangular, symmetrical façades; gabled roofs; dormers; pillars and columns; simple, classical detailing; temple-like entrances, having porticos topped by pediment; and multi-pane, double-hung windows with shutters.  In 1980, Montgomery County purchased the Pennypacker Mills Estate, fully furnished, from a member of the Pennypacker family.



The Christmas Tree,
with Victorian Decorations

 “We have the house filled with Victorian decorations, so it looks like it did in 1900 when the Governor [and his family] lived here, and we give tours of the Mansion” said Ella Aderman, the Pennypacker Mills Site Supervisor, who has an M.A. in Historic Preservation, has worked as an interior designer, and has taught art.  She has been at Pennypacker Mills for the past 15 years. 

“The site has been open for 25 years and has been decorated and open for holiday tours each year,” said Aderman.  “The decorations change every year, but they’re all based on Victorian themes and/or on German or Dutch traditions.  The Pennypacker Family was of German and Dutch descent.”

Now through Sunday, January 9, 2011, Pennypacker Mills offers its Deck the Halls Holiday Mansion Tours.  The house is located on the Pennypacker estate at 5 Halderman Road (at the intersection of Rts. 73 & 29), in Schwenksville (19473).  See antique musical instruments, garner great decorating ideas, see Clear Toy Candy, learn about the (family) life of one of Pennsylvania’s former governors, and much more.  Guided tours are available Tuesdays-Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 1-4, but the site is closed Mondays, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day.  The last tour of the day is at 3:30 p.m.  The Mansion tour is Free, but there is a suggested donation of $2 per person for admission to Pennypacker Mills.  For more information, see http://www.historicsites.montcopa.org/; call (610) 287-9349; or E-mail: PennypackerMills@montcopa.org. 

“The staff and several volunteers decorated the house,” said Aderman.  “We have a group of 10 to 12 volunteers who decorated it, but there’s a lot of time spent planning for the actual decorating ahead of time.”

“Our theme this year is music, since we [currently] have a musical instrument exhibit,” said Aderman.  “Not all the people in Victorian times could afford to take private music lessons or knew how to read music, so there were lots of gadgets that people came up with to have music in their homes during the holidays.  And many times these required some kind of turning of a crank handle or some other simple action.”

Now through next September 1^st, 2011, during regular museum hours, samples of these popular mechanical musical devices that produced entertaining music for family and friends are on display in the second floor gallery, a two-room gallery that features changing exhibits of the kinds of things Governor Pennypacker liked and collected.  And the musical devices in this “Wind It Up & Hear It Play: Mechanical Music of the 19^th-Century” display are not only for viewing; visitors are also treated to how the individual instruments sound and to sounds of music from the past.

“For our musical instruments exhibit, we have actual antique instruments [not reproductions], and we demonstrate how they are played,” said Aderman.  “It’s a hands-on kind of thing.”  Some of the instruments on display include a barrel organ and other instruments that have either a metal projection of some sort—and work like modern music boxes—or bellows.  For the former, “. . . it’s all a matter of where the bumps are; they control the sound,” said Aderman.  These musical demonstrations are included on the regular tours of the Mansion.

“Many of these musical gadgets were fairly inexpensive, and some were even given away by companies, as promotional items, during the holidays,” said Aderman.

Ms. Aderman finds the Pennypacker Mills site to be quite unique.

“There are so many different things to talk about and do for interesting programs here [at Pennypacker Mills], and there’s incredible documentation!” said Aderman.

“We have lots of receipts, so we know what [the Pennypacker family members] were buying and what they had,” said Aderman.  “The house is full of things that [Governor Pennypacker] collected, and everything is well-documented.”

Some of the things that Governor Pennypacker collected included thousands of volumes and manuscripts, many of early Pennsylvania imprints, and many containing information about the German colonists in Pennsylvania or having been printed by Benjamin Franklin.

Holiday-Decorated Bedroom at Pennypacker Mills

“We don’t know everything [The Pennypacker Family] did during the holiday season, but we do know more than many other historical sites do [because of all the surviving records],” said Aderman.  “[And] ninety-five percent of what we have in the house is original to the house and the family, and we have the documents and receipts to prove it.”

“Many of the decorations of the [Victorian] time were imported by the family from Germany, or ordered from the Sears Catalog or from John Wanamaker’s [Department Store] in Philadelphia,” said Aderman. (The Sears Catalog had, by the turn of the century, become one of only two books some rural folks ever read—the other one being the Bible.  And Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck first produced a catalog in 1888.  Later, catalogs were introduced periodically, when they felt they had enough new items to sell.  John Wanamaker & Co., on the other hand, was the first department store in Philadelphia and one of the first department stores in the United States.)  “But they made many decorations at that time, too, and they didn’t have printed wrapping paper.”  Some of the hand-made decorations of the day included raisin and nut garland, popcorn balls, tinfoil decorations, orange baskets, and Gilded English Walnuts.  In lieu of wrapping paper, the Pennypackers and other Victorians found other, creative ways to package and present their gifts to one another.

Some of the examples of specifically Victorian decorations that can be found in the Mansion house are decorations made of what was called “scrap”, bits and pieces of all kinds of everyday things.

“There are dried branches, having color added by the placement of things such as pine cones and berries, and roses made of satin ribbon and crèpe paper—all to add color; good ribbon is key to decorating during this [Victorian] time period,” said Aderman.

One of the things visitors will find in the Mansion is samples of Clear Toy Candy.  This treat is a Pennsylvania-German tradition that dates back to the 18^th-Century when children received it as a holiday gift.

Samples of Clear Toy Candy at
Pennypacker Mills

“Clear Toy Candy is basically sugar, heated and put into antique molds to shape it into clear shapes of different kinds of toys and animals anywhere from 1-1/2” to 5” large,” said Aderman.  “The antique candy molds were made in a Philadelphia-based company, and the candy was popular especially in the Mid-Atlantic region—for example, in Pennsylvania and Maryland—during Victorian times.  The candy was usually gold, red, or green in color, and the pieces of candy often served as decorations in the home as well.  For kids, the neat thing about it was to see which shape you got, and the possibilities were endless.  There were Santa’s, frogs on bicycles, almost anything.”  One candymaker, Young’s Candies on Girard Avenue, was famous for making this Candy for more than 100 years, from 1897 through 2006.  Young Candies’ more than 250 candy molds have since been purchased by the Berley Brothers, who continue to make this seasonal candy.

Governor Pennypacker would most likely have appreciated the fact that the Victorian Era’s holiday traditions are preserved each year at his former home.

“[Governor Pennypacker] was interested in history from the time he was 11 and found some Indian arrowheads, and he was the ‘go-to-guy’ to ask about history during his day,” said Aderman.  “He was the President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and he talked about the history of Pennsylvania when he campaigned.  He started the State Archives and the State Museum.” 

Samuel Pennypacker was born in Phoenixville, and later, as a young man, interrupted his education to enlist as a private in Company F of the 26^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia.  He fought in the Civil War around Gettysburg and later studied law at the University of Pennsylvania.  He opened his own law practice in 1866.  Soon thereafter, he became the President of the Philadelphia Law Academy.

On October 20, 1870, Samuel Pennypacker married his childhood sweetheart, Virginia Earle Broomall, and they eventually had 4 children: three daughters and a son.  Before 1880, he received his Doctor of Law degree from Franklin and Marshall College.  And while he’d studied French and Latin at school, later in his life, he taught himself Dutch, German, and Spanish.

Pennypacker began his public service in 1885, with his appointment to the Philadelphia Board of Education.  Also during the 1880’s, he received several judgeships and became President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1900.  He won his bid for Governor in 1902, and while in office signed the Child Labor Act of 1905 into law.  This Act set a minimum age and standards for young workers.  Later, Pennypacker created the Pennsylvania State Police—the first statewide police force in America.  Also in 1905, he founded the Pennsylvania State Museum, and the following year vetoed a bill that would have become the first compulsory sterilization law in the United States.  Also during his tenure as Governor, Pennypacker oversaw the completion, in 1906, of the new Pennsylvania State Capitol Building (following the older one’s having burned down in 1897).

The Mansion's Dining Room,
Decorated for the Christmas Holidays

“[People should come and tour the Mansion during the holiday season] because it’s a wonderful time period, and most of our current holiday traditions came about at this [Victorian] time,” said Aderman.  “[The Mansion is] a comfortable, warm house, with a great layout, and the Christmas decorations add to the overall atmosphere.”

“It’s a stone house with deep window sills, and the fireplace is the focal point of each of the rooms,” said Aderman.

The Museum Shop is open year round, sells the Clear Toy Candy, and is the perfect place to find that unique gift and/or the seasonal Victorian Era item(s) needed to add that special touch to your holiday décor.

After leaving office, Governor Pennypacker returned to his law practice and to writing.  As a writer, he wrote about law, early local and state history, genealogy, his autobiography, and several other biographies.  And he and his family resided at Pennypacker Mills, where he died on September 2, 1916, at the age of 73.

“I love to see the expressions on the peoples’ faces when they walk into a room that they especially like,” said Aderman.  “People have a warm feeling about the house and speak of how it’s a wonderful resource in the community.  It’s a nice location, and in the winter, there are still things to see and do.”

This holiday season, why not travel back in time to the Victorian Era and experience the kind of holiday traditions the Pennypacker Family enjoyed.  It should make the season extra special.

* Photos Courtesy of the Montgomery County Department of Parks and Heritage Services

© 2010 by Catherine J. Barrier.  All rights reserved.