Download e-book for iPad: On the Waters of the Wissahickon: A History of Erdenheim by Eric Plaag

during this accomplished heritage of Erdenheim Farm, at the Waters of the Wissahickon separates the evidence from the multitude of fictions, revealing the advanced and interesting background at the back of this significant agricultural middle alongside the Wissahickon Creek in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. that includes a couple of hundred ancient and modern illustrations and maps, Eric Plaag’s enticing and thorough heritage of the valuables chronicles its storied earlier in addition to the inherent worth in keeping its future.

One of the final intact agricultural parcels in Whitemarsh and Springfield Townships, Erdenheim Farm was once on the middle of the thoroughbred horseracing global from the 1860s till the overdue 20th century. Its illustrious proprietors have incorporated Aristides Welch, Norman W. Kittson, Robert N. Carson, George D. Widener, Jr., and Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr., via whom Erdenheim collected a wealthy and engaging ancient pedigree and world wide realization over the last centuries. the valuables is additionally the topic of in depth lore, together with the longstanding rumor that Sirhan Sirhan labored on the farm presently sooner than his assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, in addition to legends that the farm’s visitors can have integrated the Marquis de Lafayette and as many as 8 U.S. presidents.

Once the house of the Lenni Lenape tribe, who in flip bought the valuables to William Penn in the course of the 17th century, the land that may finally turn into Erdenheim Farm handed to German immigrant Johann Georg Hocker and several other neighboring farmers by means of 1763. whereas the farm’s identify is usually attributed to Hocker (Erdenheim loosely translating as “earthly domestic” in German), and Hocker outfitted the farmhouse so much heavily linked to this identify for a lot of the 19th century, the farm’s identify most likely originates with Dr. James A. McCrea. less than McCrea’s possession through the 1850s, Erdenheim all started construction a name as a very popular farm animals farm. Its proprietor from the 1860s until eventually the Eighties, Aristides Welch, introduced nationwide consciousness to Erdenheim via his buy of significant horseracing champions comparable to plant life Temple and Leamington, reworking the farm right into a major breeding and coaching operation that produced dozens of nationwide racing champions over the subsequent numerous decades.

Under its subsequent proprietors, Norman W. Kittson and Robert N. Carson, Erdenheim’s popularity declined at the same time its barriers dramatically accelerated, yet, throughout the 20th century, proprietor George D. Widener, Jr., revived Erdenheim’s value as a world-class thoroughbred operation and cattle showplace. Upon Widener’s dying, his nephew Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr., grew to become Erdenheim’s basic caretaker and started the painstaking strategy of protecting Erdenheim while encroaching suburban sprawl threatened its survival. via a landmark contract with the common Lands belief, Dixon completely safe the oldest elements of Erdenheim. Following Dixon’s loss of life in 2006, the Whitemarsh beginning and approximately a dozen participants and companies, together with Peter and Bonnie McCausland, labored jointly to accomplish an incredible land-conservation deal to maintain completely the vast majority of Erdenheim’s nearly 450 acres as one of many final ultimate open areas in Montgomery County and a different instance of the Philadelphia region’s agricultural past.