Step up on the old front porch of the Sanderson Museum, if you dare! On Halloween Night, the Sanderson Museum on Creek Road in Chadds Ford will be open from 6:00-8:30pm featuring some of the more bazaar and creepy items in the collection.

More than one museum volunteer has heard footsteps or felt a presence in the c.1838 house when no one else was there – perhaps spirits from past residents such Horace Quimby or Willard Sharpless, the one-legged blacksmith.

Visitors will be invited to find items such as the leather change purse in Jenny Wade’s apron pocket when she was killed by a snipers bullet at the Battle of Gettysburg; a piece of bandage from Lincolns mortal wound; part of the bunting draped over Lincoln’s casket; a penny run over by Lincoln’s funeral train as it passed through Philadelphia; a noose used to hang a murderer on Gallow’s Hill in West Chester in the late 1800’s; an “X” made on a card at midnight December 31, 1899 as the 19th century became the 20th; a1943 photo of Hanna Sanderson on her death bed, which later became the subject for a painting “Death on Christmas Morning” by Andrew Wyeth; sand from under the first atom bomb blast; Pieces of the U.S. Army B-25 bomber that crashed into the Empire State Building in the early 1945; a china mug showing General Douglas MacArthur with a symbolic sword in his back; a tombstone made for Chris Sanderson as a joke; the American flag that was placed over Hanna Sanderson at her death; a hyena head and an old bear’s head.

The museum is always free and the first 100 visitors will receive mementos of their visit.

IF YOU GO:
Friday, October 31, 2008
6:00 – 8:30 PM
Creek Road, Chadds Ford, PA.
Free Admission

View the creepy and bazaar in the Sanderson collection. Step up on the front porch if you dare!

On Saturday, October 18, 2008, from 1-4:30pm, the Sanderson Museum welcomes author Bruce E. Mowday for a book signing of his latest two works:

• Eyewitness to the Settlement of the West: Jacob Wright Harlan
• Chester County Mushroom Farming

Eyewitness to the Settlement of the West: Jacob Wright Harlan by Bruce Mowday

Eyewitness to the Settlement of the West: Jacob Wright Harlan explores the life of Jacob Harlan (1828-1902) of Wayne County, Indiana and San Leandro, California. During his seven decades of life, Jacob took part in many of the historic events that led to the settlement of the West, including the gold rush and the fight for California’s independence.

Chester County Mushroom Farming by Bruce Mowday

Chester County Mushroom Farming explores the mushroom industry in Chester County, Pennsylvania. From the book cover: “Chester County is well known for its sprawling scenic views, rich farmland, the Main Line, and mushrooms. Chester County, and specifically the village of Kennett Square, is known as the mushroom capital of the world because of the quantity and quality of mushrooms grown there. Mushrooms have been around for centuries, with the French beginning cultivation in the 1600s, and mushroom farming began in Chester County more than 120 years ago. The earliest farmers were Quakers, but over the years members of the Irish, Italian, and Hispanic communities have joined the ranks of Chester County mushroom farmers. The local mushroom farmers were responsible for the forming of the American Mushroom Institute more than a half century ago.”

Other books by Bruce Mowday include:
• September 11, 1777: Washington’s Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia
• Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware’s Prison Community in the Civil War
• Along the Brandywine River
• The Chester County GOP- 150 Years of Public Service
• West Chester- Six Walking Tours
• Downingtown
• Coatesville
• The Selling of an Author

Join us for this special book signing and enjoy fiddle and blue grass music on the porch by The Brandywine Friends and folk ballads by Sally Jane Denk.

By Sally Jane Denk

Members of the Sanderson Museum formally recognized the 40th Anniversary of its founding on Sunday, October 12 in the Garden Room of the award-winning Mendenhall Inn.

After President Sally Denk and Second Vice President Dean Camp offered » Continue reading “Sanderson Museum Members and Friends Celebrate 40th Anniversary”

By Sally Jane Denk

When the young artist and playwright Rea Redifer arrived in Chadds Ford some 50 years ago, he soon struck up a rather odd friendship with Chris Sanderson and Chadds Ford antiques dealer Lenore Young. His one-act play The Last Waltz portrays that friendship with Sanderson and Young. Though the play premiered in the 1980’s, it was charmingly presented by the Kennett Area Theater Society in Anson Nixon Park’s open air theater to a large crowd on the beautiful moon-lit Friday evening of July 20, 2007.

The play might be termed a romance, but » Continue reading “Sanderson Museum Waltzes Home A Winner”

By Chip Lohmann

The 30 minute documentary Cannonballs, Anecdotes and Artifacts: The Wonderful Life of Christian Sanderson had its world premiere in Wilmington, Delaware Monday evening, October 23, 2006. Members of the Sanderson Museum board of directors as well as museum volunteers were invited to the private event.

Producer Karen Kuder organized the event, held in a » Continue reading “Museum Board & Volunteers Guests at Sanderson Museum Documentary Premiere”