Throughout November, we have been counting down to Thanksgiving by posting daily thanks on Facebook. There is some overlap with our lists from Thanksgiving in 2012 and 2014, and so much more to add – it is amazing how much there is to be grateful for! Here are those daily posts – these were in no particular order, and it is by no means a complete list!

Day 1: … long-time park supervisor James Stokes, Jr. for his years of care for the park. He started work on October 31, 1935 and continued for at least 25 years, and by all accounts really loved Glen Providence Park. He served as park guard, caretaker, supervisor, and park ranger – personally building picnic tables, preparing for concerts, planting trees & flowers, teaching visitors about the plants & wildlife, and creating the 1941 Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park!

Day 2: … the local schools that use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom and for service learning, teaching their students a love of nature, science, art, and more. Thank you Media Elementary School, Springton Lake Middle School, Media Providence Friends School, Penncrest High School – and homeschoolers!

Day 3: … Delaware County Parks & Recreation, for resurfacing the historical WPA stage last summer in time for the park’s 80th anniversary celebration, for their support of our events and activities, and for their many years of caretaking and managing their 621 acres (and growing!) of open space for the public.

Day 4: … all that Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association has done since 1970 to protect, conserve, and restore the watersheds throughout its 132 square mile stewardship area! Its initiatives include annual streams cleanups, riparian reforestation, advocacy, education, and stream monitoring. We are honored to receive their Organizational Stewardship Award this year!  

Day 5: … our Nature Walk guides and monthly event leaders who volunteered their time in the past two years: the ever-helpful Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County, Gary Stolz, David Hewitt, Shannon Davidson, Marcia Tate, Stephanie Gaboriault, Kyle Loucks, George Tate, the Media-Upper Providence Free Library, Holly Hoffmann, Aura Lester, and Charles Randall.

Day 6: … Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Wallingford, for generously growing and donating native trees and shrubs each year for habitat restoration plantings by other organizations – including for our past four National Public Lands Days!

Day 7: … the Delaware County Institute of Science, an amazing organization that has been all volunteer since 1833.  It has wonderful scientific and historical collections, and is well worth a visit. Its members have been studying Glen Providence Park since before it was a park – a 1928 Chester Times article about the valley indicated that “Naturalists, from all over the country, attending the Delaware County Institute of Science, make a study of it.”  

Day 8: … EllieReed Lewis and Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandchildren of park donors George and Eleanor Butler –  for sharing their recollections from childhood in Glen Providence Park, and for celebrating the park’s 80th anniversary with us last summer!

Day 9: … our Invasive Plant Removal volunteers, who meet most Friday mornings to work in the park. In the past 4 years, they have cleared over 250 packed contractor bags of invasive plants – keeping trails clear, liberating native plants from strangling vines, improving habitat, and beautifying the park.

Day 10: … those who have made our historical research possible, including the Media Historic Archives, the Delaware County Historical Society, and the Newspaper Archives of Delaware County Library – and Delaware County, PA History for sharing our history-related facebook posts.

Day 11: … the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for their years of involvement in Glen Providence Park going back to at least 1939 – with hikes, cookouts, award ceremonies, meetings, and community service. In the past few years, Brownie Troop #5248 and Minquas District Boy Scouts have volunteered, and Girl Scout Troop #5037 and Pack 503’s Webelos II have had meetings and outings in the park!

Day 12: … our wonderfully generous Concert Sponsors: Media Recreation Board, Media Rotary Foundation, Diego’s Cantina, Seven Stones Café, Shere-e-Punjab Indian Restaurant, Sterling Pig, and Tagine, who made it possible for us to revive the decades-long tradition of free summer concerts in Glen Providence Park.

Day 13: … Media Lions Club and McCarrin Chiropractic, for continuing Glen Providence Park’s longest-running tradition – the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt started in 1954! The Lions have worked since 1917 to fight blindness, and on many other community projects.

Day 14: … the American Chestnut Foundation, for their work to restore this once-majestic native tree, decimated by blight in the early 1900’s. Chestnuts were called the Sequoias of the east, and we know from T. Chalkley Palmer’s 1889 writings that the park’s eastern hill was once “continuously wooded with oaks and chestnuts.” We have found two surviving trees so far!

Day 15:  … all of the volunteers who have spent their free time working for Glen Providence Park through the years – our dedicated committee members, the dozens of people who have helped at our 17 volunteer days, and all those who volunteered in the park before us.

Day 16: … the Pennsylvania Amphibian & Reptile Survey (PARS), for their work to gather data for the study and conservation of our amphibians and reptiles, and for leading 3 Herpetology Walks in Glen Providence Park! We’ve documented 18 species in the park so far…

Day 17: … Samuel L. Smedley, who with great foresight and wisdom in 1927 urged regional planning for open space, and spearheaded the creation of Delaware County Parks & Recreation, which was used as a model nationally for its excellent planning. He personally helped create and plan Glen Providence Park.

Day 18: … all of those who appreciate our efforts to preserve and enhance Glen Providence Park – whether by reading our newsletter and website, attending our concerts and nature walks, or saying a kind word when they see us in the park – and of course our Facebook fans!

Day 19: … the Delaware County Conservation District for their guidance, mini-grants, donations, use of their Conservation Trailer, and support for our native plantings over the past 5 years – helping us to combat streamside erosion, restore habitat, provide food for wildlife, and  beautify the park.

Day 20: … our donors, whose generous support enables us to continue our work to improve the park and plan future concerts, plantings, events, and activities!

Day 21: … the array of wildlife, native plants, and all living things in the park, which with the changing seasons provide something new to discover on every walk in Glen Providence Park.

Day 22: … Hedgerow Theatre, for their enchanting performances at the WPA stage – enacting the park’s historical Newlywed Ghost and Witch Stories for Glen Providence’s 80th anniversary last year, and bringing Shakespeare to the park this summer!

Day 23: … T. Chalkley Palmer, 1860-1934, for writing in loving detail about Scroggie Valley in 1889, enabling us all these years later to read about the geology, landscape, flora, and fauna of Glen Providence Park as it was in the 1800′s. He also had remarkable environmental insights for his time. What a gift!

Day 24 of Thanks: We are so thankful for George and Eleanor Butler, who with great generosity and foresight in 1935 donated most of the land for Glen Providence Park as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum, to be preserved for future generations. There would be no park without them – we are incredibly grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Join Hedgerow Theatre and Friends of Glen Providence Park for a ghostly Halloween celebration of Glen Providence Park’s 80th birthday! Get your trick-or-treaters ready, and bring them for spooky songs and poetry, and a visiting witch at the historical Glen Providence Park stage – then celebrate with birthday cake (what’s a little more sugar on Halloween?). Trick-or-treaters can head off when they like, or stay with older kids and adults for Hedgerow’s staging of fantastical folklore from the park’s past.

Saturday, October 31, 2015
5:30-6:45 (leading into trick-or-treating!)
Glen Providence Park Stage, State Street, Media
* Rain date Sunday, November 1 

Free, family-friendly, & open to the public – costumes welcome!

Work started on Glen Providence Park on October 31, 1935 – so this Halloween is Glen Providence Park’s 80th birthday! It’s a fitting birthday considering the glen’s haunted past, as recounted in 1909 in a scrapbook of prominent local physician and historian Dr. Anna Broomall: “Back in the early days of this region before civilization had turned too strong a light on things occult, the neighborhood was peopled with its full quota of goblins, ghosts and witches…”

Two accounts of local folklore documented in that scrapbook took place in Glen Providence Park long before 1935, back when it was called Scroggie Valley: a 1700’s Newlywed Ghost Story and the 1800’s Witches Ride. Hedgerow will enact both of those strange and eerie tales! Darkening skies, jack-o-lanterns, and majestic trees by the historical stage will lend to the atmosphere:

• As the shadows deepen at 5:30, we’ll start with Spooky Halloween Songs with Grey Kelsey, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven with Brock Vickers, and Witches’ Play with Susan Wefel.
• At 6:00 we’ll have cake to celebrate the ghostly birthday of Glen Providence Park. Trick-or-treaters can head off when they like.
• As darkness falls, at 6:15 the Hedgerow Ensemble will enact the Newlywed Ghost Story and Witches Ride, with Hedgerow Executive Director Penelope Reed as Dr. Anna Broomall!

Let’s bring goblins, ghosts, and witches back to Glen Providence Park for its Halloween birthday!

Presented by Hedgerow Theatre & Friends of Glen Providence Park
Sponsored by Sterling Pig & Friends of Glen Providence Park
With support from Delaware County Parks & Recreation

Thank you:

• Event Sponsor Sterling Pig, the exciting new restaurant and brewery located on the border of Glen Providence Park, just one block from the main entrance!
• Hedgerow Theatre, our wonderful partner for this community event. This historical theatre in Rose Valley is America’s first repertory theatre!
• Delaware County Parks & Recreation restored the historical stage this summer for the park’s 80th anniversary. They have cared for Glen Providence Park since its creation in 1935, and their support makes our events possible.

* If the weather is questionable, we will post on Facebook and on our website by noon Saturday whether we will use our Sunday rain date.

Dr. Anna Broomall’s scrapbooks are preserved at the impressive Delaware County Historical Society in Chester, PA.

Our first clue of a mill having been in “Scroggie Valley,” now Glen Providence Park, was in local historian Dr. Anna Broomall’s 1700’s Newlywed Ghost Story – a bit of local folklore with details that launched much research about the valley’s early history, and yielded the discovery that the park had once been called Scroggie Valley! I gradually found more evidence of a mill in early newspapers, maps, and local history books. It turns out the 1800’s shingle mill was the site of some unfortunate events – and there is possibly even an 1864 photograph of the mill!

A millrace through Glen Providence Park?

The 1700’s Newlywed Ghost Story had this intriguing hint of a mill having been in the park: “The ghost of this unfortunate woman was for many years afterwards reported to walk up and down the valley to the west of Media along the old race bank which extended from Scroggie about as far up the valley as the present Broomall’s Lake. The remains of this race bank are still visible.” These sentences led to a determined search for any reference to a millrace (mill stream) or mill in Glen Providence Park, and the eventual compilation of several pieces of evidence that it existed!

A 1909 map shows the residence of the Little family, at the southwest end of Glen Providence Park in Upper Providence, named Scroggie. The 1948 obituary of Louis Little indicates that his family estate Scroggie “was named for an old shingle mill that was located in the valley where Glen Providence Park is now situated.” According to this, the Scroggie home and Scroggie Valley were named after the shingle mill!

1855 Close-up showing the Shingle Mill Stream that was diverted from Broomall’s Run within what is now the park – to power the shingle mill near Ridley Creek.

This seemed anectodal until discovering the shingle mill stream clearly marked on an 1855 map of Media, starting just below 3rd Street (the future location of Broomall’s Dam), and running along the western (Upper Providence) side of the valley, while the natural stream continued along the Media side of the valley. An 1860 map of Chester County marks the location of the shingle mill near Ridley Creek!

So what is a shingle mill, and when was it built?

A shingle mill is used to slice a section of log into tapered wedges to make wooden shingles. Before asphalt shingles, most roofs were covered in wooden shingles. You can see photos and videos of antique shingle mills in use on the Ontario Steam Heritage Museum website. Being water-powered, the Scroggie Shingle Mill used a millrace that diverted a portion of water from the natural stream. The millrace would be engineered to accelerate the water down a manmade channel through the valley, turning the water wheel that powered the sawblade at the mill.

According to Dr. Anna Broomall’s notes from 1909, in 1848 John Hill “built the mill for splitting shingles, but, owing to some deficit in the method, the work was soon abandoned… It is not known with whom the name “Scroggie” (pronounced Scrogie, long o and hard g) originated, it dates, at least, as far back as the Hill ownership.” It would seem the shingle mill caused Mr. Hill some headaches over the next decade…

1861 drawing of the Scroggie house – from Anna Broomall’s collection at Delaware County Historical Society

Media’s first fire, and a lawsuit!

The shingle mill was the location of the first fire in Media on June 20, 1851, which, according to the 19th century historian Henry Ashmead, was “the first untoward event in the infant village” (Media was founded in 1850). He indicates “There was no similar disaster until after the lapse of eight years.” The newspaper reported, “The shingle factory of John Hill, at Media, together with a quantity of lumber was destroyed by fire on Friday last. We have heard no estimate of the loss.”

Mr. Hill apparently rebuilt the mill, only to be sued by his neighbor in 1857 over its operation. The outcome of John R. Lewis vs. John Hill is detailed in the local papers. Mr. Lewis alleged that he was entitled to ½ the water of Scroggie’s stream (according to an undocumented 999-year lease), but that the flow of water was frequently interrupted by the defendant placing gates in the run to power his shingle mill. The judge ruled that Mr. Lewis had the right to only about 1/6 of the stream’s water, for the purpose of watering his meadow, and for which he paid an ear of corn annually. The jury returned a verdict of $5 in damages for the plaintiff. It is unknown whether Mr. Lewis was satisfied with this outcome.

The shingle mill location… and an 1800’s photograph?

I have found no records of the Scroggie Shingle Mill in operation after 1861, but I did come across an intriguing photograph on Facebook of a “lumber mill on Ridley Creek in 1864.” The origin of the photo is unknown, but I decided to visit the likely site of the shingle mill within Glen Providence Park to compare the landscape to the 1864 photo. This is the location where the millrace that hugged the Upper Providence side of the valley would have been funneled by topography to join the natural stream, making it the logical location of the mill. The result is similar topography, as shown in these photographs!

“Lumber Mill on Ridley Creek in 1864” posted by Harvey Martin on “I Grew Up In Media” Facebook page – origin of photo unknown.

Probable Shingle Mill location in Glen Providence Park in January 2015 – the shingle mill would be just behind the large tree in the center of the photo

If this 1800’s photograph is of the Scroggie shingle mill, this would make the latest documentation of the mill in 1864, which, according to Anna Broomall, is the same year that Judge John M. Broomall purchased the Scroggie estate, then razed the original wooden house and built the current stone house in 1867. It is plausible that he would have razed the property’s shingle mill around the same time.

If anyone has more information on the source of the 1864 photograph, please contact us! Even if it were not an actual photo of the Scroggie Shingle Mill, it would be an example of a local mill during the same time period.

Observant hikers may find what seem to be signs of the old millrace along the western edge of the valley, bordering the wetlands. You can see the approximate location of the shingle mill marked on our 2011 Annotated Trail Map, which includes the “Shingle Mill Trail” nickname for the path leading to the mill site.

Click on the photos below for more evidence of the Scroggie shingle mill. Coincidentally, the Scroggie name seems to originate from the 1840’s, the same decade in which Charles Dickens was inspired by the gravestone of Ebeneezer Scroggie to write “A Christmas Carol.” 

Sources:

• 1848 Map of Delaware County by Joshua W. Ash, M.D. from original surveys with the farm limits, courtesy of Delaware County Institute of Science, Media, PA
• 1855 Map of Media the Seat of Justice Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Thos. Hughes, C.E., courtesy of Media Historic Archives, Media, PA
• 1860 Map of Chester Co Pennsylvania by T.J. Kennedy, on display in the 2nd floor lobby of the Delaware County Courthouse, Media, PA
• 1909 Map from the “Property Atlas of Delaware County East of Ridley Creek,” courtesy of Media Historic Archives, Media, PA
• “Burned, ” Delaware County Republican, June 27, 1851
• “Error,” Delaware County American, June 17, 1857
• History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Henry Graham Ashmead, L.H. Everts & Co.,Philadelphia, 1884, p. 590
• “Lumber Mill on Ridley Creek in 1864,” I Grew Up In Media PA Facebook page, posted by Harvey Martin September 9, 2013, origin unknown.
• “John R. Lewis vs. John Hill,” Delaware County American, June 10, 1857
• “Local “Witches” of Long Ago Described by Dr. Broomall,” Chester Times, May 15, 1931
• “Louis Little, Rifle Expert, Broker, Is Dead,” Chester Times, November 13, 1948
• Ontario Steam Heritage Museum, http://woodgears.ca/steam_museum/shingle_mills.html
• Photograph album collection of Dr. Anna E. Broomall, Delaware County Historical Society, Chester, PA
• The Rose Tree Families, Jane Levis Carter, KNA Press, 1984

Throughout November, we have been counting down to Thanksgiving by posting daily thanks on Facebook. There is some overlap with our list from Thanksgiving 2012, and so much more to add – it is amazing how much there is to be grateful for! Here are those daily posts – these were in no particular order, and it is by no means a complete list!

27 Days of Thanks in Glen Providence Park
We are thankful for…

Day 1: … the local schools who use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom, teaching their students a love of nature, science, art and more. Thank you Media Elementary School, Springton Lake Middle School, Media Providence Friends School, Penncrest High School – and homeschoolers!

Day 2: … Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandson of park donors George and Eleanor Butler – for his generosity in sharing his grandparents’ photo albums with us and donating their golf clubs to Springhaven Country Club (which they founded!), and for sharing his recollections from his childhood in Glen Providence Park.

Day 3: … Delaware County Parks & Recreation, for repairing the concert stage (damaged in July from a fallen 110-year-old tree) in time for our August concert this summer, for their support of our events and activities, and for their many years of caretaking and managing their 11 parks with over 600 acres(!) of open space for the public.

Day 4: … Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Wallingford, for generously growing and donating 75 native trees and shrubs this year for habitat restoration plantings by Friends of Heinz Refuge, CRC Watersheds, and Friends of Glen Providence Park.

Day 5: … our wonderfully generous Concert Sponsors: Media Recreation Board, Media Rotary Foundation, Diego’s Cantina, Seven Stones Café, and Shere-e-Punjab Indian Restaurant, who made it possible for us to revive the decades-long tradition of free summer concerts in Glen Providence Park!

Day 6: … Samuel L. Smedley, who with great foresight and wisdom in 1927 urged regional planning for open space, and spearheaded the creation of Delaware County Parks & Recreation, which was used as a model nationally for its excellent planning. He personally helped create and plan Glen Providence Park.

Day 7: … all that Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association has done for 44 years to protect, conserve, and restore the watersheds throughout its 132 square mile stewardship area! Its initiatives include annual streams cleanups, riparian reforestation, advocacy, education, and stream monitoring.

Day 8: … our Nature Walk guides who volunteered their time to lead our walks this year: the ever-helpful Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County, John Wenderoth, Ted Cavey, Stephanie Gaboriault, Marcia Tate, Aura Lester, Kyle Loucks, Holly Hoffmann, Chris McNichol, and Charles Randall.

Day 9: … our donors, whose generous support enables us to continue our work to improve the park and plan future concerts, events, and activities!

Day 10: … the Delaware County Conservation District for their guidance, mini-grants, donations, and support for our native plantings over the past 3 years – helping us to combat streamside erosion, restore habitat, provide food for wildlife, and  beautify the park.

Day 11: … the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for their years of involvement in Glen Providence Park going back to at least 1939 – with hikes, cookouts, award ceremonies, meetings, and community service. In the last 2 years, Brownie Troop #5248 and Minquas District Boy Scouts have volunteered in the park!

Day 12: … the wonderful bands who have performed at our Summer Concert Series the past 3 years: Philadelphia Brass, Springfield Clarinet Quartet, the Obsoleets, Me3, Ken Delmar & the Cheers Big Band, Perseverance Jazz Band, Sonoma Sound, and ViVaCe Strings!

Day 13: … T. Chalkley Palmer, 1860-1934, for writing in loving detail about Scroggie Valley in 1889, enabling us all these years later to read about the geology, landscape, flora, and fauna of Glen Providence Park as it was in the 1800′s! He also had remarkable environmental insights for his time. What a gift!

Day 14: … our Invasive Plant Removal volunteers, who meet most weeks to work in the park. In the past 2 years, they have cleared 179 packed contractor bags (and counting!) of invasive plants – keeping trails clear, liberating native plants from strangling vines, improving habitat, and beautifying the park.

Day 15: … the Delaware County Institute of Science, an amazing organization that has been all volunteer since 1833!  Its members have been studying Glen Providence Park since long before it was a park – a 1928 Chester Times article about the valley indicated that “Naturalists, from all over the country, attending the Delaware County Institute of Science, make a study of it.”

Day 16: … Delaware County Planning for their thoughtful work on the Delaware County Open Space, Recreation & Greenway Plan, and on our neighboring Mineral Hill Area Master Plan. Glen Providence Park and future generations will be better for it!

Day 17: … Transition Town Media, for all they do to build community and resilience, from their FreeStore, to workshops, to their lovely Annual Candlelight Gratitude Banquet for local nonprofits.

Day 18: … long-time park supervisor James Stokes, Jr. for his years of care for the park. He started work on October 31, 1935 and continued for at least 25 years, and by all accounts really loved Glen Providence Park. He served as park guard, care taker, supervisor, and park ranger – personally building picnic tables, preparing for concerts, planting trees & flowers, teaching visitors about the plants & wildlife, and creating the 1941 Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park!

Day 19:  … all of the volunteers who have spent their free time working for Glen Providence Park through the years – our dedicated committee members, the dozens of people who have helped at our 11 volunteer days, and all those who volunteered in the park before us!

Day 20: … those who have made our historical research possible, including the Media Historic Archives, the Delaware County Historical Society, and the Newspaper Archives of Delaware County Library – and Delaware County, PA History for sharing our history-related facebook posts.

Day 21: … the American Chestnut Foundation, for their work to restore this majestic native tree! Chestnuts were called the Sequoias of the east, and they were once the dominant tree species in Glen Providence Park. We have found two surviving trees so far!

Day 22: … the Pennsylvania Amphibian & Reptile Survey (PARS), for their work to gather data for the study and conservation of our amphibians and reptiles! We are glad to have chosen PARS for our 2014 citizen science project.

Day 23: … Media Lions Club and McCarrin Chiropractic, for continuing Glen Providence Park’s longest-running tradition – the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt started in 1954! The Lions have worked since 1917 to fight blindness, and on many other community projects.

Day 24: … the Academy of Natural Sciences, for preserving and researching a wondrous amount of natural history, including early 1900’s microscope slides from Scroggie Run (now Broomall’s Run), and for their generosity and hospitality in showing us those slides.

Day 25: … the array of wildlife, native plants, and other living things in the park, which with the changing seasons provide something new to discover on every walk in Glen Providence Park!

Day 26: … all of those who appreciate our efforts to preserve and enhance Glen Providence Park – our Facebook fans, those who read our newsletter and website, and those who have attended our concerts and history & nature walks!

Thanksgiving Day: We are so thankful for George and Eleanor Butler, who with great generosity and foresight in 1935 donated most of the land for Glen Providence Park as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum, to be preserved for future generations.  There would be no park without them – we are incredibly grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving!