Part 1

Arranged and Printed by the Germantown Independent-Gazette Germantown, Pa.

GERMANTOWN _OLD AND NEW_

Its Rare and Notable Plants

_1904_

_BY EDWIN C. JELLETT_

_To CLARA HELEN BAUMANN a native of Germantown whose ancestors beautified it in the past as their successor honors and enriches it in the present._

_PREFACE_

This outline sketch of our “rare and notable plants” was prepared at the direction of “The Germantown Horticultural Society” and was read at its public meeting of May 9, 1904,--the same later appearing in the columns of the “Germantown Independent-Gazette.”

At the time of writing, there was no thought of publishing the paper, it being hurriedly assembled outside the time required for daily positive duties within the limits of one week,--and was intended only for a simple address.

This will partly explain, if it does not excuse obvious defects, and since I have been urged by several members of the Society named to present the paper in print, I have concluded to send it forth with all its faults from the same types by which it first appeared, asking only that the circumstances be remembered, for no one, I feel confident, is able to satisfactorily present the plants of Germantown in an article so brief,--or more definitely,--I am not able to do so. To the original paper I have added an index, which I hope may not be found superfluous.

For the illustrations which grace our pages, I am indebted to S. Mendelsohn Meehan,--who suggested this paper,--and to Horace F. McCann--who printed it. The faces which familiarly greet us I have added to dignify our work, for past and present they represent the “stuff” which built our town,--preserved it,--and now keep it,--forever famous. Last, but not least, I feel sure we all are pleased with the appearance of our book, and to Erwin W. Moyer, whose skill and good taste reared upon a sub-stratum apparently hopelessly unpromising a structure so creditable, I wish to record my heartiest thanks.

E. C. J.

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

_FRONTISPIECE_

Oak tree on Rabbit Lane, near County Line Road. Photograph by Charles Edward Pancoast.

_PAGE 23_

The “Morris-Littell” House, at southeast corner of Main and High streets. The rear part of this house I believe to have once been the residence of Dr. Christopher Witt.--(E. C. J.) Photo by J. H. Russ.

_PAGE 30_

George Redles. A remarkable botanist, whose knowledge of our native and cultivated plants is unsurpassed, and whose modesty is equal to his acquirements. Photograph by Mrs. George Redles.

_PAGE 33_

Wakefield, a notable historic mansion, whose surrounding grounds exhibit many of our finest plants. Etching by Joseph Pennell. Penna. Magazine.

_PAGE 44_

Naglee Houses. Original houses, exhibiting to the present the stone dwellings of the early settlement. Photograph of “The Philadelphia Times.”

_PAGE 48_

Weeping Elms. Beautiful specimens shading the entrance to Meehans’ nurseries. Cut from “Meehans’ Monthly.”

_PAGE 51_

Louis Clapier Baumann, in his day the leading Florist of Germantown, and the first “wholesale grower of cut flowers” for the Philadelphia markets. Photograph copy by E. C. J.

_PAGE 57_

Hemlock Glen of the “Monks,” situated on the Wissahickon, above Kitchen’s Lane. Photograph by E. C. J. From “Meehans’ Monthly.”

_PAGE 64_

Charles J. Wister, who preserves the traditions of “Grumblethorpe,” and following in the footsteps of an illustrious line, is honored and beloved wherever known. Photograph by Samuel R. Gray.

_PAGE 72_

Elliston P. Morris, the owner of the “Deshler-Morris” mansion which President Washington occupied, and the possessor also of one of the finest gardens in Germantown. Print of “The Germantown Independent-Gazette.”

_PAGE 74_

R. Robinson Scott, an eminent Germantown horticulturist, and the discoverer of the famous fern known as “Scott’s Spleenwort.” Photograph copy by E. C. J. Print of “Fern-Bulletin.”

_PAGE 78_

Thomas Nuttall, a noted naturalist, lecturer and explorer. An exceedingly rare spleenwort keeps before us his name. From “Botanists of Philadelphia,” by John W. Harshberger, Ph. D.

_PAGE 79_

“Wyck,” a marvel of quaintness and exquisite beauty. The oldest house and garden in Germantown, and the richest in intellectual associations. Photograph by Gilbert Hindermyer. From “Home and Garden.”

_PAGE 83_

Johnson Homestead, at northwest corner of Main street and Washington lane, a house renowned in local history, whose garden is its equal in absorbing interest. Print of “The Germantown Independent-Gazette.”

_PAGE 88_

Cliveden, the centre of the Germantown battle ground, and the home of many beautiful plants. Print of “The Germantown Independent-Gazette.”

_PAGE 90_

Upsala, celebrated for its stately beauty, and its possessions of rare and unique plants. Photograph by J. H. Russ.

_PAGE 94_

Joseph Meehan, a noted botanist and horticulturist, whose writings form an integral part of our best floricultural magazines. Print of “Floral Exchange.”

_PAGE 100_

Prof. Thomas Meehan, a noted scientist, educator and writer, the author of the greatest books upon our native flora, and the nestor of American Horticulture. Print of “Meehans’ Monthly.”

_GERMANTOWN_

_RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS_

In the presentation and consideration of our home plants of special interest, it should be kept in mind that nearly all, if not quite all, were transplanted to the positions they now occupy, and that there is here no disposition to compare or contrast with other plants of greater age, of more historic worth, our rare and notable plants of “nature” and cultivation.

Our purpose is rather to show that, with our town’s increase in girth and years, we have had a like advance in intelligence and culture, and that our old mansions, gardens and those who keep them have earned for Germantown the title,--“the most beautiful suburb in America.”

We have no yew trees 3000 years old, no oak trees of 2000 years’ growth, no “Burnham beeches,” nor have we other plants of great age equal to those of older countries and especially England, but such as we have we shall in outline endeavor to present, and direct attention to the fact that they have merited and received the attention of visitors, who have had opportunity for observation abroad. About ten years ago, George Nicholson, curator of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew, London, was the guest of Prof. Thomas Meehan, and spent some time here. After leaving he said:

“Germantown is a place which every foreigner interested in American trees should visit, as the people of this suburb of Philadelphia one hundred years ago were especially interested in the introduction and cultivation of rare trees, and the first cultivated specimens of several American trees were originally planted here, and may still be seen. The roads of Germantown are shaded with beautiful rows of native trees, and behind them stretch the green lawns of innumerable villas.”

John Walter, editor of the London Times, while here expressed similar views, and many other visitors and writers who passed through Germantown have left us a record of their “impressions.”

To name all our worthy plants were a hopeless task, and one which I shall not attempt. Our efforts shall be rather to trace the thread of development, and by examples of past and present conspicuous plants to illustrate its growth. To do this properly we should go back to the settlement of the town itself, know the causes which gave it birth, understand the character of its founders and their pursuits--its growth material and intellectual, before we may be able to meet its merits with an equal appreciation.

Alway while walking along our Main street I am reminded of the popular, well-known thoroughfare of Oxford, England, which it strangely suggests, and I sometimes wonder if it was not this ancient street, and not the central highway of Philadelphia, which to our own principal thoroughfare 150 years ago gave us High street, a name by which it was long known. Be this as it may, our Main street in a very striking way resembles its more widely known namesake abroad, a highway Hawthorne described as “the noblest street in England,” and to which “Wordsworth devoted a sonnet to the stream-like windings of that glorious street.”

As I follow our “avenues” pleasing course, I am further reminded of old Edinburgh’s hallowed hill, and as I picture its steep ascent, its numerous historic buildings, its atmosphere of antiquity, I see Sir Walter Scott from his carriage strenuously discoursing upon its wealth of interests to the delight of his guests and his own apparent satisfaction, for to him Edinburgh was home, and to so entertain his friends was “very heaven,” and as I look into the future, I see our own “cannongate” of not one whit less historic value, by one as illustrious, made as widely, and as permanently known.

In olden time it was the custom to approach Germantown only by the “Great Road,” for indeed for a period there was no other way. The original survey map of Germantown, dated October 24, 1683, now in the possession of Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, is void of side roads or lanes, but this defect immediately after the settlement was remedied, maps following showing lanes to mills, and later maps showing other roads connecting Germantown with important near-by pikes east and west. After Rittenhouse Mill road, and Roberts’ Mill road, one of the most important of later roads was Bensell’s or School House lane connecting our Main street with Ridge road, a favorite route with travelers when the quagmires and quicksands of “3-Mile Run” proved troublesome.

In a letter dated March 7, 1684, which Francis Daniel Pastorius wrote his parents, he gave them this information: “As relating to our newly laid out town Germanopolis or Germantown, it is situated on a deep and very fertile soil, and is blessed with an abundance of fine springs and fountains of fresh water. The main street is 60 feet wide, and the cross streets 40 feet in width. Each family has a plot of ground for yard and garden 3 acres in size. The air is pure and serene, the summer is longer and warmer than it is in Germany, and we are cultivating many kinds of fruits and vegetables, and our labor meets with rich reward.”

The ground of which Pastorius wrote was not the immigrants’ first choice, but after a difference with William Penn was selected on account of its elevation, and also because it was open ground with only here and there groups of trees. After the survey lines were established farms and gardens, and of course, houses, were located on each side of the main road, the farm boundaries extending in parallel lines from the “great road” east to Bristol township line, now Stenton avenue, and west to the Roxborough line, now Wissahickon avenue. In other respects these lines, however, were never strictly drawn, and places on York road to the east, and Roxborough on the west, were nearly always referred to as “Germantown.”

The Main street farm lots began a few feet north of “Lower Burying Ground,” now Hood’s Cemetery, and were plotted northward in divisions of “half lots” of 115½ feet front each, or “whole lots” of 231 feet front each, to a point adjoining “Upper” or “Concord Burying Ground,” located a few feet north of Kyser’s, now Washington lane. The original settlers of “42 persons in 12 families” were located upon this road, for so it had been planned. In “a further account of the Province of Pennsylvania,” published in 1685, wrote Penn:

“We do settle in the way of townships or villages, each of which contains 5000 acres in square, and at least 10 families; many that had right to more land were at first covetous to have their whole quantity without regard to this way of settlement, tho’ by such wilderness vacancies they had ruined the country and then our interest of course. I had in my view society, assistance, busy commerce, instruction of youth, government of people, manners, conveniency of religious assembling, encouragement of mechanics, distinct and beaten roads, and it has answered in all those respects, I think, to the universal content.”

Our first settlers were not tillers of the soil. Pastorius records they were “mostly linen weavers, unaccustomed to husbandry,” but “yeomen” closely followed, and soon

“The meads’ environed with the silver streames”

were planted, and by a gracious providence stimulated to transmit to us the increase. William Penn quoting Robert Turner, wrote--“the manufacturers of linnen by the Germans goes on finely, and they make fine linnen. Samuel Carpenter, having been lately there, declares they had gathered one crop of flax, and had sowed for the second and saw it come up well.”

This Samuel Carpenter was a busy resident of Philadelphia, and the holder of 500 acres of ground in the vicinity of present Branchtown.

Very early in the growth of the new colony the importance of Germantown was recognized, and although its founders were disappointed, desiring ground upon a “navigable stream,” they made the best of what they considered a poor bargain, and losing no time, they, under the direction of Pastorius, gave life and vigor to the new “town,” planted, and eight years after the settlement, Oldmixon stated, “the whole street about one mile in length was lined with blooming peach trees.” Soon the hastily constructed log cabins gave way to substantial buildings of stone, and much of the stone, I doubt not, came from the quarry of Godfried Lehman, located at what is now Main and Price streets, where the old round-house once stood. Those who remember the Heivert Papen or Jansen house, built in 1698, and which about 25 years ago was removed from the northwest corner of Main and Johnson streets, may picture the houses “built of stone which is mixed with glimmer,” observed by Peter Kalm in his visit here in 1748.

About this time the character of Germantown began to change, although this change did not become pronounced until 50 years later. An influx of settlers of means and the improved conditions of the natives created new desires, houses became larger and more elaborate, “plantations” or “estates” began to take the place of farms, trade stimulated by wealth became of more importance, and the commingling of commerce and culture gave to Germantown an atmosphere not enjoyed by those who planted the settlement.

With the advent and accumulation of gain came those luxuries which only wealth and culture are able to accommodate, and the severe simplicity of those who for conscience sake, left the Fatherland to aid in the “holy experiment” and found a commonwealth, slowly gave way to an expanding era of change.

There were writers of this period who give us other impressions. One of the most unsympathetic of these was Silas Deane, who in 1775 wrote:

“Germantown consists of one street built mostly of rough stone, two miles nearly in length, and the houses resemble the appearance of the inhabitants, rough children of nature, and German nature too.” This writer doubtless was an ancestral connection of Lewis Carroll, who, in “Hunting of the Snark,” wrote,

“The crew was Dutch, and behaved as such.”

But though rather uncomplimentary, Deane’s account is extremely interesting, and as Townsend Ward reports him, is as follows:

“The greatest improvement on nature is that on their groves, owing by no means to luxury, but to penury and want. The growth is red oak (quercus rubra), interspersed with black walnut (juglans nigra), etc. The poor are allowed to cut up the brush and trim the lower limbs; this leaves the groves in the most beautiful order you can imagine. All is clean on the ground; removing every shrub and bush, leaves the wind full play to sweep the floor, and the soil, by no means luxuriant, shooting up the trees rather sparingly, so much grass starts as to give a pale green carpet; while the trees are trimmed up ten to fifteen feet on their trunks, and give the eye a prospect far into the grove, and the footman or horseman free access.”

As we may readily imagine, the original Germantown settlers were a busy people, so with the exception of Pastorius, Godfried Lehman, and a few others, we have little from them, and for our information we are obliged to depend upon visiting travelers. Ten years before the time of Deane’s report Major Robert Rogers wrote thus of Philadelphia:

“In short, scarce anything can afford a more beautiful landscape than this city and adjacent country, which for some miles may be compared to a well regulated, flourishing garden, being improved, as I have been informed, to as great advantage as almost any lands in Europe.”

In 1799 Duke de la Rochefoucault described Germantown as “a long village near 2½ miles in extent. The houses to the number of about 300 are all built on the side of the highway, and are erected pretty close to each other.”

Of the planting of the people he wrote:

“They raise a good deal of wheat, and still more Indian corn, but very little rye or oats.”

Rev. John C. Ogden, who visited here in the same year, describes the village in much the same way, and noted, “the road is muddy and dusty when rains or droughts prevail. The houses in Germantown are very universally shaded with weeping willows, the Lombardy poplar, and other ornamental trees. The gardens are under excellent cultivation, with valuable fields in their rear.”

Several visitors of importance we shall pass, for the purpose is merely to expose the line of continuity to enable us to form a better idea of the floral life of old Germantown, and with a recollection of Edward H. Bonsall, who, as Rev. S. F. Hotchkin reports, lived here from 1819 to 1835, we will turn aside into another path. Evidently the last-named was a poor observer, for he said, “in a circle of six miles with Chew’s house as a centre outside of Main street, there would not have been found 5 houses superior to an ordinary farm house,” a statement so absurd as to require no consideration.

This brings us to days which Robert Thomas and Joseph Murter, venerable residents living with us, remember, and we shall now endeavor to follow the development of our many fine estates enriched by mansions, gardens, rare shrubs and notable trees, and with these note as much as we possess or remember of data and lore as may give promise of interest.

To me it is extremely interesting that original holdings are yet held by families whose ancestors first occupied them, and I doubt if there be another settlement in America where uninterruptedly so many generations have occupied the same ground. Names which come readily to mind are Pastorius, Logan, Rittenhouse, Johnson, Keyser, and a group of other names of early settlers represented by the Wisters. Yet we have with us “Wyck,” its original house built by Hans Millan its original settler, standing surrounded by its original garden, and its occupant and owner, Miss Jane R. Haines, a direct descendant of its first owner--a house whose only local competitor for age with the possible exceptions of Rock-House, and Naglee’s Houses, is the “Fraley House,” clearly of later construction, which stands in what was once Dr. Christopher Witt’s garden, later Miss Elizabeth C. Morris’ garden, situated at the southeast corner of Main and High streets, a building which may be seen to the rear of Mrs. Farnum’s charming latticed residence.

Local history, to me at least, is alway alluring, and it is with difficulty that I hew to the proper line, the temptation being to venture a little more. But we shall leave Dr. Witt and these pleasant shades to follow in the footsteps of others perhaps less well known.

By an unwritten law, observed from the days of Godfried Lehman to those of Charles F. Jenkins, our latest guide, Germantown has been approached from the south by way of Main street, and a custom so honored I hope not to be the first to disturb. Many of us, indeed most of us, I think, are able to recall Germantown village of 2½ miles or more, when the large buttonwood tree (platanus occidentalis) at Naglee’s house stood entire, shading on late afternoons “Turnpike Bridge” near; when horse-cars, ignoring schedule, halted at the temporarily deserted tree at the fork, in waiting for “Jake,” who was somewhere out of sight northward on the hill, and no more in a hurry than those in the car, who looked upon as an unwarranted innovation a noisy train which passed to disturb their restful meditations; when laden wagons unfortunate jumped the track, seriously interfering with suburban traffic; when on “market days” long lines of wagons laden with hay, straw and other commodities numerous, twice a week struggled through and oft-times blocked the busy road. Time was, and that not long ago, when Charles J. Wister, the well-known beloved father of Grumblethorpe’s present owner, under the shade of his street trees, dined upon the sidewalk, with none to wonder nor molest; and Conestogas with other vehicles numerous, which James Stokes records, passed and re-passed as naturally as present day trolleys, to whose inveterate clash and bang we have become accustomed. Those were the days when gardening was a pleasure if not an “art,” and the planting of the good old plain gardeners, who never dreamed their calling would be elevated to a “science,” is before us to judge.

At the house of Isaac Norris, until a generation ago standing on Germantown road, near Tenth street, and widely known as “Fairhill,” was one of the finest gardens in the colonies. This garden was of the formal type, and “Francis Daniel Pastorius, of Germantown, himself a man of taste, pronounced Fair-hill garden the finest he had seen in the whole country,”--so wrote Thompson Westcott in “Historic Mansions” of Philadelphia, and this same writer continues: “Some of the trees and plants came from France. There were catalpas from the Southern States, and it was here were grown the first willow trees (salix alba) in Pennsylvania, the introduction of which is told by Franklin in his account of noticing the sprouting of a willow which had been used in a basket which he saw on board a ship which came to a wharf on the Delaware. Franklin took the sprout, and presented it to Debby Norris, who planted it, where it became the parent of many trees of the same species which have since become so common.”

There are many white willow trees about Germantown, two fine specimens each with trunks 4 feet in diameter by 70 feet in height, being located on East Coulter street, corner of Cumberland street; but nearly all our best weeping willows (salix babylonica) have disappeared. Now no vestige remains of the rows of willows which lined both sides of Church lane, east of Willow avenue, notable trees which Thomas MacKellar described for Rev. S. F. Hotchkin. Under one of these trees, which stood prominently in the middle of the road, tradition says General Washington was accustomed to spend an evening hour in its shade. There yet remains to us, however, interesting willows near the entrance to Vernon, at Wyck, and several large and beautiful specimens are on the estate of Charles Weiss, East Washington lane, near Stenton avenue.

As you may remember, the weeping willow is a native of China, and by the Dutch was introduced to Holland. By these same people it was also introduced to England, one of the first specimens in that country being planted at Hampton Court.