All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Biographical Bytes from Bala #013

Who doesn’t love ice cream?  Philadelphia has made huge contributions to the history of this delectable warm weather treat.  If you’re from the area, you grew up with Bassetts and Breyers; maybe you got some nonpareils or sprinkles on your soft serve; or you looked forward to going into a center city drug store so you could sit at the counter and have an ice cream float.  All of these have a Quaker City connection – I will talk about them and more today on Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories – Every Brilliant Thing: Ice Cream and Laurel Hill

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All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #043: Henry & Thomas Voigt, Isaiah Lukens & Henry Seybert – Tick Tock, Clocks and Watches, part 1, section 4

Henry Seybert took the money left him by his father Adam and had a clock and a bell built for Independence Hall for the 1876 Centennial Celebration.  Almost 150 years later, they still stand.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #043: Henry & Thomas Voigt, Isaiah Lukens & Henry Seybert – Tick Tock, Clocks and Watches, part 1, section 3

Isaiah Lukens not only built clocks that can still be seen at The Athenaeum and the Germantown City Hall, but he also built an air gun that may have been used by Lewis & Clark during their expedition. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #043: Henry & Thomas Voigt, Isaiah Lukens & Henry Seybert – Tick Tock, Clocks and Watches, part 1, section 2

Henry Voigt built a special clock for Thomas Jefferson that he used for his astronomical experiments until the day he died.  You can see clocks made by Voigt both at Monticello and in the US Senate. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #043: Henry & Thomas Voigt, Isaiah Lukens & Henry Seybert – Tick Tock, Clocks and Watches, part 1, section 1

I talk about timekeeping in Philadelphia, from sundials and hourglasses to the clock on Independence Hall.  Philadelphia has had skilled clock and watchmakers since colonial times. 

Philadelphia has had skilled clock and watchmakers since colonial times. 

• Henry Voigt helped David Rittenhouse build his legendary orrery and supplied surveying instruments to the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

I did not have time to talk about David Rittenhouse, Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Hugh Craig's pocket watch, the bell tower at Laurel Hill West, and the clock tower at City Hall.  They will have to wait for Part 2.  

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #012

Cynthia DeLores Tucker was a Philadelphia born and raised champion of Civil Rights in the 1960s and 1970s and worked closely with such icons as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Shirley Chisholm, and Cecil B. Moore.  She chose to spend the last years of her life fighting what she saw as the pornography of gangsta rap.  She was vilified by the music community, which spared no words in trying to show how sad and out-of-date her thinking was.  She now lies in an unmarked grave at Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd. 

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All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 4

Augustus Goodyear Heaton was a coin collector who wrote doggerel poetry about his collection.  He was also an accomplished painter, as one of his works hangs in the U.S. Senate

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 3

James Ross Snowden oversaw the minting of commemorative coins which were sold to help support the expenses of running the mint.  His nephew Archibald took over where he left off.  

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 2

Robert Patterson and his son Robert Maskell Patterson were two of the innovative early mint directors that kept it from failing.