Chadds Ford Life Fall/Winter 2021 Edition

Fall/Winter 2021

Chadds Ford Life

Magazine

Old Iron Vintage: Giving new life to old things Page 42

Inside: • The undiscovered Chadds Ford • Christmas in Miniature • The history streets of West Chester

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Chadds Ford Life Fall/Winter 2021

Chadds Ford Life Table of Contents 8

Wyeth, Wyeth and Pyle

14 arden + james 20 Undiscovered Chadds Ford

14

28 Q & A with Brad and Cindy Eck of Wild Wisteria

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36 Christmas in Miniature exhibit 42 Photo essay: Giving new life to old things

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48 History streets: Walking tours of West Chester 6

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Chadds Ford Life Fall/Winter 2021

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In his story, “Wyeth, Wyeth and Pyle,” writer Ken Mammarella highlights a new book by W. Barksdale Maynard that explores the art of Andrew Wyeth, N.C. Wyeth, and Howard Pyle. The author of the book utilized essays, interviews and tours to develop a comprehensive portrait of the “Artists of Wyeth Country.”

This issue of Chadds Ford Life also features a story about arden + james, truly one of Chadds Ford’s distinctive businesses since it was started in 2006. The bags and accessories bearing her company’s name are all crafted in a workshop in the Chadds Ford home of business owner Briana “Bri” Brant. She is a one-woman creative dynamo.

This issue also includes a look at the big plans for this year’s Christmas in Miniature exhibit.

One of the things Barbara Moore loves about the upcoming “Christmas in Miniature Art Exhibit and moore” at her Chadds Ford gallery is the chance to introduce people to original art … especially on a smaller scale. The “Christmas in Miniature” exhibit runs from Dec. 1-31 and will showcase the smaller-sized works of 38 artists.

Visitors to the village of Chadds Ford are familiar with spots like the Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Chadds Ford Historical Society, or Hank’s Place. Yet there are several sites not far from Baltimore Pike (Route 1) that remain largely unknown. We’ve got a story in this issue that focuses on some of the undiscovered parts of Chadds Ford, with a heavy emphasis on the history of the area.

Another story focuses on the Chester County History Center, which has started taking lovers of history on local walks around West Chester. These treks back in time are very quickly becoming among the hottest tickets in town.

When Brad and Cindy Eck purchased the historic Pennsbury Inn in Chadds Ford in March of 2019, they wanted to make their new inn a retreat for rest and peace. Two years later, after extensive upgrades and renovations, that’s exactly what Wild Wisteria has become for those who stay there. Chadds Ford Life recently caught up with Brad and Cindy to discuss some of their memorable moments owning a B & B in the heart of Chester County.

The subject of the photo essay is Hillary Fabe of Old Iron Vintage as we explore how she goes about giving new life to old things.

We’re very pleased to be sharing the stories in this issue of Chadds Ford Life with you, and we hope you enjoy them as well. We always welcome your comments and suggestions for stories to be included in upcoming issues of the magazine. We’re already hard at work planning the next issue of Chadds Ford Life, which will arrive in the spring of 2022.

Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553 Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com., 610-869-5553, Ext. 13 Cover photo: Jie Deng Cover Design: Tricia Hoadley www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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|Chadds Ford Arts| New book explores art of Andrew and N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle, with tours and interviews

By Ken Mammarella Contributing Writer

O

ne subject of “Artists of Wyeth Country,” W. Barksdale Maynard’s new book, is Andrew Wyeth.

“He is the most famous artist our area has ever produced – or will produce,” the Greenville resident said in an interview, and that alone makes him worthy of study.

The other men in the book’s subtitle place Wyeth in context: N.C. Wyeth, his father; and Howard Pyle, N.C.’s teacher and patriarch of the Brandywine Tradition of illustration. “Superb draftsmanship, sumptuous handling of oil paint, gripping storylines, and every detail rooted in extremely close visual observation – if not exhaustive historical research,” Maynard explains in the preface.

“Biographers have long depicted Andrew Wyeth as a lone-wolf, Tom Sawyer figure, but he has to be seen as part of a larger whole in context with the wealthy and influential du Pont family and in American art,” he said.

Continued on Page 10

All photos courtesy of W. Barksdale Maynard

Maynard believes this is the tree in Andrew Wyeth’s “Corner of the Woods,” from 1954.

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Wyeth, Wyeth and Pyle Andrew Wyeth’s “Groundhog Day” from 1959 was painted from this window in the Kuerner kitchen.

h, h

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Wyeth, Wyeth and Pyle Continued from Page 8

N.C.’s death in a 1945 auto accident left Andrew “brooding and haunted, having trouble painting,” Maynard said, referring to a myth that needs to be punctured. “Andrew Wyeth was charming, delightful and madcap,” he said. “That was definitely a surprise” to learn in researching the book.

“I wrote this book because I believe that the art of the Brandywine painters cannot be understood apart from the real places they depicted and drew inspiration from, with 300 years of cultural heritage behind them,” Maynard writes in the preface.

Maynard has written seven books (including “The Brandywine: An Intimate Portrait,” a history of the region, from original European settlement to the 1777 Battle of the Brandywine), co-authored two more and crafted hundreds of magazine articles.

How the book came to be Maynard earned a bachelor of arts degree in art history from Princeton University and a Continued on Page 12

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N.C. and Andrew Wyeth both painted this tree, at Lafeyette’s battlefield headquarters.

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Wyeth, Wyeth and Pyle Continued from Page 10

doctorate in art history from the University Tours, too of Delaware, and he also studied at the So Maynard relied on about 50 interviews University of Alabama, Parsons School of (“when you take them all together, dozens of Design – The New School and the University them, you form a picture”) and lots of drivof Washington. He has lectured on art and ing and walking to create six tours to explore architecture at Princeton, the University of Wyeth Country. If you want to see a specific Delaware and elsewhere. artwork being referenced, most are posted His extensive academic background gives somewhere online, he noted. him great insight in answering a question Readers are impressed. “I have a great that fans of Andrew Wyeth have been askappreciation for how much work went into ing for decades: Why aren’t Ph.D.s writing the book, as well as the difficulty of obtainabout him? ing information from certain sources,” said A surprising answer might be Wyeth’s pen- Andrew Wyeth often sketched and Chadds Ford resident Geoff Snelling. “An chant for privacy, enabled by friends and painted the John Chads House. extremely well-written and informed book neighbors for so long; maintained by Betsy, on a fascinating part of the world.” his wife and business manager; and perpetu“I thought I knew all there was to know ated by the Wyeth office, 12 years after his death. about Wyeth, but your book is filled with so many The office required the opportunity to review Maynard’s unknown insights,” West Virginia artist Lauren Tilden said. manuscript, he said. It requested no changes but also “It has inspired me to get out and walk and draw.” refused to allow any of Wyeth’s works to be reproduced, Tours form the bulk of the 238-page book. On roadways forcing Maynard to digitally fuzz out any art in the back- and footpaths, they venture barely more than a mile from ground of other photos. It even denied him the chance to the N.C. Wyeth homestead. They are “ ‘An Illustrators’ see the paint box that Wyeth carried in his truck. The office Haven’: Brandywine Battlefield Park,” “Harvey Run Trail,” was asked why but did not respond.

“Trail to the Wyeth Studios at Rocky Hill,” “Brandywine Wyeth’s son, Jamie, and his only grandchild, Victoria, River Trail to the John Chads House,” “ ‘The Most Famous who had helped him on his “Brandywine” book, also Farm in the World’: Andrew Wyeth at Keurner’s” and declined to participate with this one.

“Archie’s Corner to the Brandywine.”

“Andrew and Betsy Wyeth lived here in the 1940s and 1950s as his career blossomed,” Maynard writes. “He continued to use the studio room (left) until his death.”

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When Andrew Wyeth depicted the Barns-Brinton House in “Tenant Farmer” in 1961, he left out the bustle of Route 1.

Howard Pyle rented Painter’s Folly “on the battlefield in Chadds Ford,” Maynard writes. “A century later, the elderly Andrew Wyeth began visiting the place constantly.”

Maynard began working on the book in 2018, and it was published in May by Temple University Press. “My goal on every page is to give the reader new material, new tales.

He’s been dead 12 years, and memories are fading rapidly,” he said.

Cheeseburger rare, a favorite corner table “This book couldn’t be written 20 years from now, and I felt the responsibility to tell the writers of future biographers what people who knew Wyeth said,” Maynard said. “I wanted to emphasize living people. I asked them if they had been interviewed before, and many said that they hadn’t.”

On page 77, readers learn that Wyeth liked his cheeseburger rare from Jimmy John’s; page 97 notes his reserved table at the Chadds Ford Inn was in the southeast corner.

But more importantly, many tidbits develop Wyeth’s impact on Chadds Ford and American art. “ ‘Man, Chadds Ford was a cool place,” artist Terry Newitt recalled in the book. “At the height of 1970s Andrew Wyeth mania, devotees stayed at the Chadds Ford Inn and dreamed of sighting the artist. Locals generally pointed them in the wrong direction.”

These devotees were doomed in their desire to even meet and let alone be him. “No artist has been given more opportunity,” Maynard said. “His father trained him. His wife managed him. Not a life of suffering. Not hurt in the Depression. Didn’t go to war. No particular challenges.

Didn’t carry a wristwatch or a wallet. He was uniquely positioned to be an artist. There was no other artist like this in the 20th century.”

But this is the 21st century. “I never met anyone under the age of 45 who knows of him,” Maynard said. Except for the author’s three children, who know Wyeth too well from listening to their father talk. Eventually, he became in their household “the Artist Who Shall Be Nameless.” www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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|Chadds Ford Spotlight|

arden + james goods feature artist’s hands, fine materials For Chadds Ford business owner, it’s all about the handbags

By Natalie Smith Contributing Writer

T

he perfect handbag should be a combination of comfort, functionality and chic, and for its thousands of customers and social media followers, nothing less than an arden + james bag will do.

Designed and made by the one-woman creative dynamo Briana “Bri” Brant, the bags and accessories bearing her company’s name are all crafted in a workshop in her Chadds Ford home.

“I work in my house and it’s a tiny little bedroom upstairs. People would not even believe how I do everything in that room, but it works,” Brant said. The name of the business started in 2006 as a nod to the yearly Arden, Del. fair (“we went to the fair a lot when I was a kid and I always thought it was just the most magical place”) and the name her husband and oldest son share.

The totes, pouches and carry-alls she creates are generally made out of leather or linen. Some are produced in waxed fabric, such as canvas and denim. She’ll often enhance the pieces with paint or other embellishments. These handmade, crafted items - including small leather goods - range in price from about $20 to $400, the higher price being for “the hugest bag, with the most pockets and in the fanciest leather.”

Brant talked about working with her most popular material.

“Everything [starts with] a full hide of leather. I buy it from the tannery and then I’ll cut it. I just like coloring it, painting it, dyeing it, or whatever. I start out with a 40-square-foot hide, and then I cut the big pieces out for the carry-alls and totes and then the hide gets smaller. I kind of work my way down. I always have pieces that are really small for making card holders and wallets, and then I create key chains with the really small pieces.

“Then I give the scraps to schools, who use them in art classes. I never waste anything; it’s bad karma to do so. I’ve learned to be really efficient

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Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2021 | www.chestercounty.com

All photos courtesy Double S Media

arden + james owner/maker Bri Brant, with some of her creations at the company’s store in Chadds Ford.

with my materials. With every bag you get a key ring with the logo on it.”

Her other materials are also specially ordered.

“The wax canvas is actually from New Jersey and the company that makes it is amazing. The canvas, it’s like for army tents.

It’s a family business and they’ve been doing it for ... I don’t even know … 100 years and I actually ordered direct from the woman who owns the business and she gives me all

This tag identifies every item as an arden + james original.

Bags, necklaces and accessories are among the arden + james articles for sale at the retail location in Chadds Ford.

the cool things. Like a waxed denim, a real Levi’s waxed denim, which is so cool.

“The linen I order from Belarus, directly from a woman that works at the mill. It’s kind of crazy, but I found her.

“That’s how I started making bags, because I found this linen and I just fell in love with it. I thought, ‘I have to make bags out of this,’ and then I just started doing leather straps and then started doing leather. But it’s funny; you just really need to get into the materials and then you just keep going” Earning a degree in industrial design from the then-Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, Brant was continuing

All of the arden + james items for sale, including this bag with handwoven details, are crafted by the firm’s owner/maker Bri Brant.

on the artistic road she first encountered as a girl growing up in Chadds Ford.

“When I was a kid, we used to travel around to different plantations where people would live and make furniture.

Both of my parents really liked furniture -- my dad also makes furniture -- so when I began to study furnituremaking in college, I realized that the school’s program was designing plastic, mass-produced items like a baby’s car seat and dealing with ergonomics. I realized that the work that I wanted to make was going to take me someplace Continued on Page 16 www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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arden + james Continued from Page 15

else.” An apprenticeship with a porcelain-ornament maker taught her the ins-and-outs of the craft show world.

“I went to really awesome craft shows like the one in Waterford, Va. The people at those shows were masters of their crafts, and I learned about going to shows and how you sell your stock. I basically just followed them around for a couple years and worked in their basement,” Brant said.

After a 10-year career working in the marketing department for Wawa, Inc., Brant and her husband moved to Colorado, where she took a job as a marketing agent for a small honey company. Her creative side, however, began to grow, so she started making beeswax candles and selling them at farmers markets which had an added benefit.

“They’re small businesses, so I just learned the business side of small business, versus the art stuff,” she said.

Returning home, heartbreaking news got her started on her new path.

“My mom got cancer while we were gone and she always wanted me to be an artist,” Brant said. “I told my mother that I was never going to be an artist, and that I was going to work at Wawa.

“So when she passed away -- it’s the weirdest thing -- I began to have this compulsion to make bags. I can’t explain it. But I know it’s her. She’s doing it, so I can’t really control it.”

She finds the work very satisfying and not too far off from what she initially studied.

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Bri Brant, maker of all arden + james products, employs a couple of the tools of her trade.

“It’s like furniture, but much more manageable, where I can use all of the same materials like leather and copper rivets, so that it has some aspects of furniture. “I feel like it was really needed because women’s bags are not functional for the most part and .they don’t last,” she said. “It just makes me mad. It’s not fair. Women need to design women’s bags and it needs to be like a tool bag.”

Continued on Page 18

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arden + james Continued from Page 16

Her best-selling bag?

“The Arden tote, which is a standard size. It works for everybody,” Brant said. “The straps are pretty long, so it’s easy to wear; the pocket’s big. The wallets that I make are all made to fit in [the tote], like a set of components. And I give everyone a key ring. This is for [my] key hooks or any kind of key hook that you have, so your keys are up here not in the bottom of your bag, because that’s the worst.

“I believe that women’s products should be better-tailored to fit the needs of the modern woman,” she added. “I see many women struggling with these items. Life is hard when you don’t have a .functional bag, and I think people underestimate how important it is. “[The Arden tote] is like a tool bag. You could throw that in your garage and hang it up and it looks pretty, but you could beat it up for years and it would still look good. So that’s what’s cool. Like the wax element materials. You could literally leave them outside - they’re weatherproof.

And I have two boys, so I can’t have anything that doesn’t last.”

Brant used to travel with her bags to various craft and art shows, bringing along sons James, 10 and Ethan, 8. “But I don’t really do shows anymore. I miss so much time when I could be making bags. I don’t go anywhere! I’m obsessed with making bags all the time,” she said, smiling.

Arden + james has a bricks-and-mortar location in the Chadds Ford Barn Shops, sharing space with Barbara Moore Fine Art. The Barn Shops, a charming collection of eight community-based businesses, is owned and managed by Brant and family members. Locally, Brant’s wares are also available at worKS in Kennett Square; Longwood Gardens; and Brandywine River Museum.

For those who want a semicustom bag, the arden + james website allows the purchaser to choose color, type of handle and type and number of pockets or other additions.

“I made the basic [Arden tote] for Urban Outfitters ten years ago. And since then, I just added things like custom It’s difficult to miss the details. You can have me do entrance to the arden + james retail location – a multi-colored a painting; give me three col“horse” donated by Chadds ors that you like and I’ll do a Ford Elementary School painting for you,” she said. “Or welcomes all. the botanical etching like I did

for Longwood Gardens, They’ll have an exclusive botanical etching and we’ll sell that for a year. And then it’s my design again and I can sell it and say it was for Longwood Gardens, which everybody loves.

“Everything’s copper riveted. I don’t use glue. I only use copper. Then you can add a tassel. You can choose a rolled stitch strap or a flat strap. It’s still my design but you choose the options.”

The carry-all is wider and taller than the tote. “This was like a really popular size for young people - they really liked the look. Just the perfect size; a lot of people get this one for work, for their laptop.”

Brant’s regular customers know all about customizing their choices, which takes Brant one to two weeks to complete.

“My customers are so excited and happy, waiting for the next thing and they have every style, you know, because one fits in the other. When I say I have something coming out, they are excited and they want it and it’s just cool!

They tell their friends and they buy them for their sisters and their moms.

“My customers are really loyal and they like to keep it

A selection of wallets are among the items for sale at the arden + james store in Chadds Ford.

local. It almost seems like everyone in Kennett and Chadds Ford buys from me.”

As for the arden + james brand, Brant said she’d like people to know, “I’m a one-woman business and I make everything, one at a time. And most of what I [earn] goes back into the Barn Shops and community arts projects.”

For more information: www.ardenandjames.com Natalie Smith may be contacted at natalie@DoubleSMedia. com

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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|Chadds Ford History|

‘Undiscovered’

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d’ Chadds Ford

By Gene Pisasale Contributing Writer

V

isitors to the village of Chadds Ford are familiar with spots like the Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Chadds Ford Historical Society, as well as the ever-popular scenic vistas of its country roads. Yet there are several sites not far from Baltimore Pike (Route 1) that remain largely unknown. This is despite the fact that thousands of people converge upon the village every year, notably for Chadds Ford Days and The Great Pumpkin Carve. Some drives around the area bring them to light.

You may pass by the Brandywine Baptist Church, but not know that their congregation dates back more than three centuries to 1692, 84 years before the Declaration of Independence. Their website

Pennsylvania Historical Commission plaque “Headquarters of General Howe after the Battle of Brandywine September 11, 1777.”

George Gilpin House (General Howe’s Headquarters) before 1960.

Brandywine Baptist Church, circa 1920.

states that the church provides “… a faithful witness to the Delaware & Brandywine Valley and to the United States of America.” The structure was built in 1869 from local fieldstone; church members had met in log cabins and other buildings before that time. The impressive Gothic Revival structure is on the right as you drive southward. The adjacent cemetery holds hundreds of gravestones of prominent local citizens, including members of the Atwater, Baldwin and Darlington families. Flanking the church is a small stone structure known as the Sexton’s House, near the familiar sign which greets visitors.

A monument to a forgotten hero stands not far from the church. The blue and gold historical marker honoring Casimir Pulaski reads “Polish volunteer, commanded cavalry detachment covering Washington’s retreat from Brandywine Sept.

11, 1777. As brigadier general, served from Sept.

1777- March 1778 as first overall commander of the Continental Army’s cavalry. He was mortally wounded at the siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779.” Pulaski is one of only eight people granted honorary United States citizenship; he is revered as the “Father of the American Cavalry.”

While George Washington’s headquarters and the Marquis de Lafayette often get attention when Continued on Page 22 www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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‘Undiscovered’ Chadds Ford Continued from Page 21

discussing the Battle of the Brandywine, the place where a senior enemy officer stayed is largely unnoticed. The George Gilpin House, now recognized as General William Howe’s Headquarters, stands on the west side of Harvey Road a mile north of Baltimore Pike. According to author Phyllis Recca in “Chadds Ford Then and Now,” the property was part of a homestead established by Joseph Gilpin in 1690. The house was constructed in 1754 by Joseph’s son, George Gilpin. After Howe defeated Washington, he hung around- for five more days- until September 16th.

Legend has it that he stayed in the northwest bedroom.

Some of the floorboards were stained with the blood of British soldiers who were treated there after the battle.

A subsequent resident, Mary Harvey Burns claimed that local townspeople were outraged when her father insisted on putting new flooring over the bloodstained timbers. A small, gray metallic keystone-shaped plaque stands in front of the home today noting Howe’s presence there more than 240 years ago.

If you’ve ever viewed paintings at the Barbara Moore Fine Art Gallery, you may have walked right by something

Black Beauty bowling ball in stone wall.

Stone wall, Chadds Ford Village & Barn Shops with Ten Pin Cannon Ball.

peculiar embedded in a stone wall near the building. Recca in her book mentions a “Ten Pin Cannon Ball,” which has unique beginnings. During construction of the wall in the 1980s, the local developer and his friend enjoyed a few drinks late one night. On their way home from work they noticed an object near the intersection of Baltimore Pike and Route 202. Stopping to pick it up, they discovered it was a bowling ball- and they knew just what to do with it.

They embedded it in the wall, knowing that some people might think it was a cannon ball. The surface of the ball reads “Black Beauty.” Today you might call it a ‘modern relic’ of the Battle of the Brandywine.

Continued on Page 24

Casimir Pulaski historical marker, Chadds Ford.

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‘Undiscovered’ Chadds Ford Continued from Page 22

Residents of Chadds Ford know the name Pyle; the family dates back centuries in Chester County.

Beginning in the early 1800s, the Pyle family owned a large farm near town. It was purchased in 1910 by H.G. Haskell, Sr. and renamed the Hill Girt Farm, initially encompassing roughly 800 acres. It is situated south on Creek Road past the Twin Bridges. In 1925, Haskell built a train depot (called Cossart Station) after the previous one burned down; he subsequently donated the station to the railroad which operates on the Wilmington and Northern tracks. It now houses apartments. In her book, Recca details that the farm had a mill, barn, warehouses, icehouse and a springhouse. Haskell’s son Hal later inherited the property, adding approximately 700 acres. Hal was a very successful businessman, former President of Abercrombie and Fitch, a Congressman from Delaware and Mayor of Wilmington. In 1970, Hal, Bayard Sharp and George “Frolic” Weymouth each donated $100,000 to create the Brandywine River Museum. He passed away just last year at the age

Haskell Farmstead in 2015.

of 98 after an illustrious career. Today, people buy vegetables at Haskell’s SIW produce stand, but they may not know that the family provides gigantic pumpkins for the Historical Society’s Great Pumpkin Carve.

If you’ve had your car serviced nearby, you may have stopped in at a building dating to the 1890s which has undergone a metamorphosis. Originally the Darlington Creamery along the railroad Continued on Page 26

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‘Undiscovered’ Chadds Ford Continued from Page 24

tracks near Baltimore Pike, its products were picked up by locomotive for shipment. This site just south of the intersection with Creek Road sometime before 1934 became Kipe’s Service Station, one of the early automobile repair shops in the region.

The Taylor family purchased it in 1960; today it is known as Taylor’s Service Station.

Pennsbury Township regards the building as “a fine example of an early service station and thus may be eligible for the National Register…” Dave Taylor runs the shop; his grandfather even posed for N.C. Wyeth in 1911 and made it into one of his paintings.

Despite its low-key atmosphere, Chadds Ford has a vibrant heritage and interesting places to explore. So, as you’re heading down Baltimore Pike through southern Chester County, know that you’ll pass numerous sites which hold a special place in our history.

Taylor’s Service Station circa 1960s.

Gene Pisasale is an historian, author and lecturer based in Kennett Square.

He has written ten books which focus largely on the history of the Chester County and Philadelphia area. His latest book is “Forgotten Founding Fathers: Pennsylvania and Delaware in the American Revolution.” His books are available on his website at www.GenePisasale.com and on www.Amazon.com. He can be reached at Gene@GenePisasale.com.

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|Chadds Ford Life Q&A|

Q&A When Brad and Cindy Eck purchased the historic Pennsbury Inn in Chadds Ford in March of 2019, they wanted to make their new inn a retreat for rest and peace. Two years later – after extensive upgrades and renovations -- that’s exactly what Wild Wisteria has become for those who stay there.

Chadds Ford Life recently caught up with Brad and Cindy to discuss memorable moments, owning a B & B in the heart of Chester County, a dinner party with Hugh Jackman and Abraham Lincoln, and Wild Wisteria’s famous croissant French toast.

Brad and Cin

of Wild Wisteria, Cha

Wild Wisteria incorporates many special design elements that give the inn a warm and unique charm.

Chadds Ford Life: What convinced the two of you to enter the world of innkeeping?

Brad: Cindy and I were married in 1992, and we went to a bed and breakfast for our honeymoon, and that’s when the flame was lit. Wild Wisteria has been the culmination of a 25-year pursuit. We had careers to follow and children to raise, but when we got through most of that, it gave us the freedom to do this. It was a long-term dream to have some sort of venue to bring people in and offer an opportunity for rest.

What have been some of the most memorable moments that you have had in the two years that you owned and operated Wild Wisteria?

Cindy: I would say the repeat guests that we have had, with whom we’ve developed friendships with. I would also say that the Hindu wedding we hosted here before about 75 guests was truly amazing. The colors and the dresses and the ceremony were beautiful. The wedding party was very inclusive to us, and I got to participate in some of the ceremonies the women did prior the wedding.

It is fairly safe to say that the supporting actor at Wild Wisteria has been the Chester County area. You are within a few minutes’ drive of attractions, destinations, the rolling hills and farmland of the Brandywine Valley and some adorable small towns. Talk about how the location of this home factored in your decision to open Wild Wisteria in 2019.

Cindy: I am a researcher, and at first, we had put in some offers for homes in Lancaster County, because it is also a huge tourist destination. When those didn’t pan out, I had been watching this property being on sale for five years. We had also looked at property in New Hampshire, but this location just kept coming back to us.

I have been a member of Longwood Gardens, the most visited destination in the State of Pennsylvania. I then began to research other destinations in this area, and I told Brad, ‘I really think we need to take a look at this one.’

We are blessed. These eight acres and its gardens have become for me a little piece of paradise.

Continued on Page 30 28

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Cindy Eck Chadds Ford

Brad and Cindy Eck have owned Wild Wisteria since 2019.

Photos by Richard L. Gaw

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Brad and Cindy Eck Continued from Page 28

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You have had the pleasure of experiencing all of the seasons that surround Wild Wisteria Bed and Breakfast.

When you look out the windows or walk through your gardens, which season do you most enjoy here?

Cindy: I love autumn, but I also enjoy spring here. I love color, and in the autumn, you get the warmer colors while the spring brings pastels and our flowers and plantings in bloom.

Brad: I would probably choose fall. My favorite thing in life is engaging with people, and fall brings people to Wild Wisteria more than at any other time during the year. It’s not only colors of fall – and Cindy does an amazing job in our gardens from spring through the end of the fall that bring out those colors– it’s the chance to engage with people during this time that makes that season so special for me.

The gardens that await guests at Wild Wisteria are stunning, but their constant maintenance must be a challenge, Cindy.

Cindy: We currently have four landscaped acres, and I am trying to figure out what works as far as plants and Continued on Page 32

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In addition to providing its guests with peace and relaxation, Wild Wisteria also hosts outdoor wedding ceremonies that take place throughout its four landscaped acres.

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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Brad and Cindy Eck Continued from Page 30

flowers, and because it is very time consuming I am still learning. Yet, the gardens remain the place I go to in order to re-charge. Our gardens give me positive energy.

For people who are reading this article that have driven past this property on Baltimore Pike a thousand times but have never visited, describe the magic that happens here at Wild Wisteria.

Brad: When we moved in, we completely re-did the exterior of the house and a major part of that was upgrading the windows. We have a four-lane highway 50 feet from the front of our house, and you cannot hear that highway. It’s peaceful here, so the magic is walking through our front door, and shutting everything out.

Our goal here is rest. We have the pond. We have the flowing of the water. We have the gardens. We want to show our guests love. We want to show them peace and relaxation, and that’s the vibe – that’s everything that we’re working for here.

So what’s the secret behind the croissant French toast here? I see that it’s become a big hit with your guests.

Cindy: It is crazy to see how people have come to love it. Before we purchased Wild Wisteria, I was making all kinds of breakfast foods for my family, and I found the recipe and asked Brad and our children to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. It received a huge thumbs up from the entire family, and so I began tweaking the recipe, to the point where it now melts in your mouth.

What’s your favorite place in the Chadds Ford area?

Cindy: Longwood Gardens. It is my zone, my peaceful place.

Brad: I would have to say Wild Wisteria. When we purchased it three years ago, it was not in great shape, but I love the result of what we have done to make it beautiful.

Most of all, I love that people want to come here, because my heart is full when people come to see us.

Brad and Cindy Eck throw a dinner party. Who do you want to sit around that table?

Brad: If the world was my oyster and I could bring back anyone from history, I would invite Abraham Lincoln to sit at that table. The wealth of knowledge and understanding and historical significance of that man was phenomenal.

Cindy: I would invite Jane Austen. I would also love to invite Hugh Jackman. His wife could come, too, because Continued on Page 34

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Brad and Cindy Eck Continued from Page 32

it would give me an opportunity to see how their marriage works and how much they enjoy each other’s company. He also would have to bring his Frenchies, because we also have Frenchies.

I am seeing Hugh perform in The Music Man in January on Broadway. It was put off because of COVID-19, so as soon as tickets went back on sale, I picked up eight tickets for my girlfriends and me.

Brad: My wife and I are big travelers, so if we could have that dinner party, it would be a destination dinner on a vessel, in the middle of a lake in Queenstown, New Zealand.

It’s my favorite spot in the world.

Finally, what items can always be found in your refrigerator?

Cindy: Milk, for all of the espresso drinks that Brad makes. I would also say that fresh vegetables are a mainstay in our refrigerator.

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Wild Wisteria is located at 883 Baltimore Pike in Chadds Ford. To learn more, visit www.wildwisteriabnb.com.

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|Around Chadds Ford|

All photos courtesy

The Barbara Moore Fine Art Gallery in Chadds Ford will host its “Christmas in Miniature Art Exhibit and moore” beginning on Dec. 1.

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A new painting for 2021 by Robert Stack.

By Monica Thompson Fragale Contributing Writer

O

ne of the things Barbara Moore loves about the upcoming “Christmas in Miniature Art Exhibit and moore” at her Chadds Ford gallery is the chance to introduce people to original art … especially on a smaller scale.

“Everyone could use a small piece of artwork in their house,” Moore said recently. “The exciting part of what art is, to me, is their introduction to art.”

The “Christmas in Miniature” exhibit will run from Dec. 1-31 and will showcase the smaller-sized works of 38 artists. The opening reception will be held Wednesday, Dec. 1.

Whether it’s repeat exhibitors such as Rick Bollinger, Robert Stack, Peter Sculthorpe, Alice Woodward, and Continued on Page 38

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Christmas in Miniature Exhibit Continued from Page 37

others, or newer artists like Kathy Ruck and photographers Richard Schwartzman and Robert S. Porter, there is miniature art for every style and every taste.

The artists’ work also presents a perfect opportunity for visitors to bring home a reminder of their visits to Chadds Ford.

“They make good gifts,” Moore said, “and (people) can take a little piece of artwork home as a reminder of where they’ve been.”

It’s also, she said, a “unique way to introduce new artists to the area.”

COVID-19 prompted a change to the traditional exhibit format last year with the addition of online browsing and purchasing. Viewing and buying the artwork will again be offered in-person and online.

“People are becoming more used to going online,” Moore said. But for those who come to the gallery, especially for the opening reception, masks are requested to be worn regardless of vaccination status.

The miniature art exhibit began decades ago when Moore was working for the Chadds Ford Gallery. She recalled that the first exhibit featured just 25 artists and introduced visitors to an “innovative” idea – art in small scale.

Moore had approached the artists to ask them to paint on the smaller scale. Once the exhibit began, there were hundreds of small paintings Continued on Page 40

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Don Rankin’s ‘The Side of the Mill.’ It is a painting from 2020.

An example of five of Linda McNeil’s very small works.

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Christmas in Miniature Exhibit Continued from Page 38

hung every five to 10 inches on the walls of the barn that housed the Chadds Ford Gallery (where Moore’s gallery is now located).

“They would run around and look at the art,” Moore said, adding that the artists’ work would be spread out in various locations so people would look throughout the barn. And when a painting was sold, Moore would run upstairs to get another piece to replace it.

“By the second year people got wise in seeing I’d run upstairs to replace it, so they’d wait at the bottom of the steps to see what I was bringing down,” she said.

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A new painting for 2021 by Don Shoffner.

“Christmas In Miniature Art Exhibit and moore” opens Dec. 1.

The Barbara Moore Fine Art Gallery is at 1609 Baltimore Pike, Building 400A, in Chadds Ford.

Hours are Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, go online at barbaramoorefineart.com or call 484-776-5174.

Don Shoffner’s “Christmas Past,” also a new painting for 2021.

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2021 | Chadds Ford Life

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|Chadds Ford Life Photo Essay|

Giving new life to old things

Hillary Fabe of Old Iron Vintage Text by Richard L. Gaw There is a small room in the Chadds Ford home of Hillary Fabe of Old Iron Vintage that was remodeled by her husband during the height of the pandemic in 2020.

It now serves as her studio, and it is the place where she brings new life to old things.

The studio – offering a clear view of nature – is filled with broken glass, springs from irrigation hoses, copper hose clamps, nuts and bolts and other tarnished and out-ofdate items that Hillary pulls from her pockets from her visits to flea markets, antique stores and brica-brac, one-of-a-kind, roadside pop-up vendors that seem to wait for the artist’s hand to reach down and resurrect them and give them a new purpose.

Continued on Page 44

Photos by Jie Deng 42

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Old Iron Vintage Continued from Page 42

For nearly the last decade, the work of Old Iron Vintage has been seen at craft and artisan shows throughout Chester County, and it’s now available on Hillary’s website. It’s the kaleidoscope of color and texture found in the Lampshade Collection and other work of varying sizes – with names like Personal Rainstorm, Lunar Dragon and Tilt-a-Whirl. It’s the delicacy of chosen trinkets placed side-by-side as if they were meant to be linked together.

“I create relationships between found objects, as opposed to just putting something next to something,” Hillary said. “I think of myself as a collector of colors. For several years, I had my grandparents’ crystal lamps, and as I became an adult, I took the crystals off of the lamps, saved them and told myself that one day I was going to do something with these.

“One day I put piece number one to piece number two, and it spiraled. Nothing I create ever starts out with a solid idea. It just begins.”

Continued on Page 46

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Old Iron Vintage Continued from Page 44

There is a slogan written in one of Old Iron Vintage’s social media pages that reads: “Giving new life to old things, new takes on old ideas and new meaning to forgotten ways.”

“The most fun I have with my art is seeing where things go,” Hillary said. “I could start it at ‘A’ and end up at ‘Z,’ or completely the other way around. There really is never a path. I am always pulling something from the past and giving it new life, and they remain with me until they leave my hands and become a part of something greater.”

To learn more about Hillary and Old Iron Vintage, visit www.oldironvintage.com, Facebook and Instagram. Hillary’s art can also be found at worKS in Kennett Square.

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford History| The Chester County History Center has started taking lovers of history on local walks around West Chester. These treks back in time are very quickly becoming among the hottest tickets in town

History streets

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

I

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Anne Skillman, left, and Jennifer Green of the Chester County History Center provide complete narration during each tour.

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t is an early autumn weeknight at the Chester County History Center (CCHC) on North High Street in West Chester, and 16 guests gather on the building’s front patio and prepare for an evening that will take them back in time.

Over the course of the next 90 minutes – under the guidance of CCHS’ Director of Education Jennifer Green and CCHC Public Program Coordinator Anne Skillman – the guests embark on a 1.7-mile trek along High, Market and Gay streets and through all of the nooks and crannies of West Chester.

At different locations, Green and Skillman hold up their lanterns and tell of local fables and macabre truths of murder, mischief and hijinks, all of which happened at or near where they now stand, between 1838 and 1907. Pulled from the Chester County Archives’ coroner’s records, county prison records and old newspaper clippings, each story becomes more riveting than the one before it. To each guest, the Borough of West Chester is gradually no longer a downtown of packed restaurants and strolling college students, but a history lesson about false identifications, exhumed cadavers, the Grimm family, prison gallows, buried bones and public hangings.

This is “Chilling West Chester II,” and it is part of a new walking tour series launched by CCHC in 2020 that is drawing sold-out audiences whose fascination with local history is

taking them out of the pages of books and classrooms and into the streets of West Chester.

“The History Center has had walks in the past, but they were infrequent, and typically they were about general or architectural history,” said Green, who became CCHC’s Director of Education last September. “Last year, we were in the middle of COVID-19 and couldn’t have indoor events. The education staff put its heads together to come up with ways we could continue to do programming and raise revenue during the pandemic, and the common sense solution was to take our programming outside.”

CCHC launched “Chilling West Chester I” last October and November, which was followed by its “Holiday History Stroll” that introduced guests to what the holidays looked like in West Chester during the 19th Century. This past April, CCHC conducted a series of tours entitled “Sick in the City,” that discussed infectious diseases and their treatment during the time West Chester experienced outbreaks of cholera, smallpox and yellow fever during the late 1800s and early

Courtesy of the Chester County History Center

All 13 of the Center’s “Underground Railroad of West Chester” walking tours were sold out.

1900s, as well as introduced some of the most prominent physicians in the community.

Wrapping its next tour around Mother’s Day, CCHC did walking tours that highlighted the history of candy shops and confectionary stores in West Chester, which at its most prominent, featured 13 such businesses within a four-block radius.

Continued on Page 50

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History Streets Continued from Page 49

To date, however, CCHC’s most popular event has been its “The Underground Railroad in West Chester” walking tour that featured 13 sold-out performances beginning in June and ending in August. The 1.25-mile, 75-minute tour stopped at 8 locations in downtown West Chester, where Green and Skillman introduced some of the individuals who played a significant role in the struggle toward freedom and equality, including Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

If there is a supporting actor lending support to Green and Skillman, it is West Chester itself, whose side streets and historic homes lend themselves visually to the tours.

“Both the joy and the frustration of West Chester is that while some of the best stops are where the buildings are no longer there in the downtown vicinity, many of the places that we talk about in the neighborhoods that surround downtown are very much still there,” Green said. “As we do different tours, we often talk about the same building – on a tour that has a story from 1785 and then again on a different tour during 1865.

“It builds the layers of the life story that is West Chester.”

Following its annual Halloween Ball on Oct. 30 – CCHC’s largest fundraiser that helps pay for educational programs and for the Center’s Continued on Page 52

Photos by Richard L. Gaw

The content of each of the Center’s walking tours comes from extensive historical research.

The Chester County History Center makes a stop along High Street in West Chester during its recent “Chilling West Chester II” walking tour.

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History Streets Continued from Page 50

preservation efforts -- Green and Skillman are currently preparing to debut “Notorious,” that will highlight some of West Chester’s most wanted criminals; a tour that will feature stories about West Chester’s most famous entertainers, musicians, artists and writers; and a tour that will focus on women’s history.

From a marketing perspective, Skillman suspects that part of the reason why the walking tours have become an immediate success is that they are a reaction to the lockdown of COVID-19 that has seen an increase in the amount of outdoor recreation and activity being offered.

“I also think the success of these walks comes from a thirst to get back to a sense of community,” Skillman said.

“We offer a sense of straight history of the people. We don’t sensationalize or glamorize it, and we set it within a proper context. There is a universality to the message behind these walks.”

“What I like to reinforce during these tours is that human nature for 300 years has remained the same,” Green added. “The same things we’re dealing with now are the same things we were dealing with centuries ago. There was crime. There were shootings, and there

Courtesy of the Chester County History Center

The Center’s “Chilling West Chester II” gave a walking narrative of some of the more macabre stories in West Chester history.

were epidemics. There is a clear connection between West Chester in 2021 and West Chester in 1821.”

The Chester County History Center is located at 225 North High Street in West Chester. To learn more about the Chester County History Center and its walking tours of West Chester, visit www.chestercohistorical.org, or call 610-6924800. Tickets for each walking tour can be purchased at the Center’s website.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.

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