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 Richard Schwartzman
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
As published in the Chadds Ford Post
Reprinted with permission

Chadds Ford will be making an appearance on British television this December and it has nothing to do with the Battle of Brandywine. British filmmaker Henry Cole, host of a show on the British Travel Channel shot several interviews at the Chris Sanderson Museum on Creek Road Sunday. Cole’s guests included museum founding curator Tommy Thompson, artist and resident Karl Kuerner and resident Andy Bell.The show is “The World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides” and the current project has Cole making stops while riding a custom Harley Davidson down Route 1, from Boston, Mass., to Key West, Fla. It’s expected to air on British TV this December.

Previous shows have had Cole riding Route 66 from Chicago, Ill., to Los Angeles, Calif., and another show where Cole has ridden across Eastern Europe.

Cole arrived at the museum Sunday morning riding a Saxon, a bike that was built in Phoenix, Ariz. and shipped to Boston for him. His two-man crew was in a rented convertible Toyota.

The show host was apparently unaware of the significance of the Chadds Ford area since he showed surprise when told of the British victory during 1777 Battle of Brandywine.

He did get a mini history lesson from Thompson who told him about Chris Sanderson and the museum.

“It’s [the museum] is a tribute to Chris,” he said to Cole. “Many historians belittle him, but he was factual. He didn’t make this stuff up.”

After interviewing Thompson, Cole spoke with Kuerner on the artistic legacy of the area and then with Bell about motorcycles.

Bell wasn’t scheduled to be on the show, but he stopped by when he saw the bike Cole was riding. And when Cole mentioned a mechanical problem he was having, Bell gave him a map showing every Harley Davidson dealer in the country.

Bell, the subject of Andrew Wyeth’s “Stop,” showed up on his own Harley, the one he’s shown riding in the Wyeth painting.