WHARTON ESHERICK STUDIO IN VALLEY FORGE, PA

Built over a 40 year time period, the WHARTON ESHERICK STUDIO is a local GEM!!  Who knew?  Right in my own backyard (so to speak), in VALLEY FORGE, is a MARVELOUS, QUIRKY, COLORFUL STUDIO filled with SCULPTURES, WOODCUTS, POTTERY, FURNITURE and PAINTINGS.

The Admission Office is located in what looks like a garage. I fell in LOVE with this building the minute we walked up. So many ANGLES and COLORS and TEXTURES and FADED PAINT - I mean, what's not to love?

The actual STUDIO, where WHARTON lived and worked, is set back on the hillside. Architecturally interesting with a variety of textures and materials, he used wood, stone, cement, tin and glass.

Notice the hand-picked STONE that shows so many FABULOUS COLORS! This wall is truly a work of art in itself.

The door handles - UNIQUE, INTRICATE and EXQUISITE.

Once inside the house/studio, your eyes jump from one TREASURE to the next. The HOOKS on the wall - each one hand-carved - each representing a different animal or person that meant something to WHARTON.

I had to touch this CHAIR to confirm that there was NO LEATHER or FABRIC - it's 100% CARVED WOOD.

 

Handmade SPIRAL STAIRCASES lead to the bedroom and to the kitchen.....

I was fascinated by the BEDROOM. The bed is tucked into an alcove and surrounded by BOOKS. His clothing is folded absolutely perfectly to fit into the drawers he so brilliantly designed under his bed. 

Hand-laid FLOORS in the dining area were put together from WOOD SCRAPS - forming an impressionistic pattern under foot.

The tiny KITCHEN was also designed with optimum EFFICIENCY, such as you'd find in the close quarters of a ship.

One of my favorite sculptures was the face sculpture representing THE SCREAM, a painting by EDVARD MUNCH (1893).

And the WINNIE THE POOH stone sculpture on his deck......

Quite an enjoyable outing with my 13-yr old grandniece, GRACE (standing with our wonderful tour guide), during GRACE's 4-day stay with AUNT JOAN this summer. We sure have a lot of FUN together, don't you think?!!

JOAN

THE DANIEL BOONE HOMESTEAD - BIRDSBORO,

GRACE is my 13 year old GRANDNIECE. Each summer for the past several years, she's come to my house for a week to attend the local YMCA DAY CAMP.  She loved camp, but at age 13, she decided she'd rather just visit with me instead.

She is a such a DELIGHT to be with. She didn't want to do any "ROAD TRIPS", but was excited to visit two local points of interest with me.

She arrived on Wednesday. On Thursday we drove about 35 minutes to Birdsboro, PA to the DANIEL BOONE HOMESTEAD. This has been on my bucket list for some time now because my grandmother used to say to me all the time "You know, you're a KIN to DANIEL BOONE!!". I'm just starting genealogy, so I hope to find out what she was talking about. I have two friends who are also related to Daniel Boone - I just might find more cousins than I ever expected!

Born in 1734, DANIEL was raised here before he headed off to KENTUCKY. What a beautiful HOMESTEAD!! I recommend a visit, and especially to all who love the look of CHESTER COUNTY STONE buildings (although the property is in Berks County). 

In the next two pictures, look closely at the bottom section of stone - how it's so closely knit together. This is the original base of DANIEL BOONE'S home - a log house built in 1730. The larger stones above that, were added later by subsequent owners as additions.

Below was their SMOKEHOUSE for meats and fish.

Some beautiful UTILITY buildings on the property

A local, historic, water-powered SAWMILL was moved to this property in 1972.

In 1777, the DE TURK FAMILY (Pennsylvania Germans) bought this property and are buried in the cemetery there. As you can see, two headstones remain. Their family lived at this Homestead into the 1820's.

The BOONE HOUSE interior is decorated with pieces from that time period, not from the BOONE FAMILY.  Here are the 3 rooms on the FIRST FLOOR.

A WORK ROOM (wool spinning) and BEDROOMS are on the second floor.

What a SLAVE'S ROOM would have looked like.

And the ORIGINAL BOONE HOUSE CELLAR - for food storage and their natural SPRING for fresh water.

Notice the large slice of tree in the left corner - the RINGS were counted and prove that this tree was on the property when DANIEL BOONE lived here.  

And naturally I had to have GRACE pose with the tour guides.......

LUNCH at PEDDLER'S VILLAGE BAKERY ended our outing. If you are local and haven't eaten here, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Closed on Mondays.

Stay tuned for my next Blog post - about  another local outing - a visit to the WHARTON ESHERICK STUDIO in CHESTER SPRINGS, PA.

JOAN

"HOW THINGS ARE MADE DAY" WITH THE KIDS

"THE KIDS" - that would be my niece SHELBY who is all grown up now and a mom to three - GRACE (13), NORA (12) and DEREK (9). The other two "KIDS", SADIE (9) and HAZEL (6), are children of my other niece, LESLIE. They all live in MD, so SHELBY was kind enough to drive all of them to YORK, PA to meet me. 

I had a FULL DAY of FUN planned with AUNT JOAN.

My initial thought was to take them to the HARLEY-DAVIDSON factory to see a MOTORCYCLE being made, but their age restriction is 12, so THAT was out.

I then thought we should see PRETZELS being made, but the closest one doesn't do tours on Fridays. Next time....... 

In this area of the country there are SO MANY options to see how something is made - I settled on the following three:

• VIOLINS and Other String Instruments
• ICE CREAM
• SOAP

We started out at 11 AM with LUNCH.  Feed the kids so they don't get CRANKY, right?! 

Then a quick stop at THE HAINES SHOE HOUSE, which was visible from the highway back in the 1970's when I was in college.  

Remember this nursery rhyme??........

"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

She gave them some broth without any bread;

And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed."

I never realized how NASTY this poem is until we all looked it up on Google together. YIKES!!

Several fun, individual GAMES are available outdoors.

And OF COURSE - the DOG HOUSE caught my eye.......

On to our first small company visit - BLUETT BROS. VIOLINS.

CLICK the ARROW below to hear the lovely sound from one of his hand-crafted violins!!

NEXT - THE TURKEY HILL EXPERIENCE, where the "KIDS" had multiple opportunities to learn a little something and to burn off some of their HIGH ENERGY. 

Milking a COW was OH SO MUCH FUN for SADIE and HAZEL!

HAZEL - our "HAZEL-NUT"!!!!

Fun times VIDEOTAPING a COMMERCIAL......

The HIGHLIGHT OF THE WHOLE DAY of course, was each CREATING AND EATING their own flavor of ice cream!!!

Our final stop was at the SUNRISE SOAP COMPANY, with locations in York, Lancaster and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 

Each of us picked a SOAP MOLD, a FRAGRANCE and a COLOR for our soap. Once mixed and poured into the molds, they went into the freezer for 20 minutes. We were each THRILLED with our results!! 

For a ladies event, a more detailed tour of their soap-making process is also available.

Can you imagine a more fun-filled day than this? Well, I already have the next day planned in my head!! Thanks for taking the time to join our excursion through these photos.

AUNT JOAN