Special offer

St. Peter's Village, Ghosts, Granite, and Aunt Lena's Musical Saw

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Independent architectural histor'n Delaware RS-0010115

The summertime programs conducted by Chester County townships called Town Tours and Village Walks hit a home run last night with St. Peter's Village in Warwick Twp., on the French Creek.  Once the home of St. Peter's Quarry, established in 1880 by the Knauer family, they exported granite for all kinds of uses, including the Belgian Blocks used to pave the streets in Philadelphia and other nearby towns.

The quarry is on the opposite side of the main street from the French Creek, which rushes through town over enormous boulders. We did see a young man take a dive into the 100' deep water while we were there, but later the waitress who served our dinner at the Inn at St. Peter's Village told us that 2 weeks previous, another young man was paralyzed after such a leap. They say the quarry is the final resting place of a lot of the equipment used to cut stone, plus an automobile or two--making it a highly dangerous swimming hole.Collage of St.Peter's Village

One of the local women gives ghost tours, and apparently summer weekends can get quite busy with out-of-towners soaking in the atmosphere.  It is interesting that the buildings that back to the French Creek have stone foundations, and one local said they look like they are held together with chewing gum and baling wire. But perhaps he does not appreciate the dry stone setting which is traditional in these parts (no mortar). There was a picture of one of the buildings (built on stilts) on the creek during a high water episode, and it was completely surrounded by water.

Early on, mules supplied the power for the pulleys and gears which moved the stone blocks for the St. Peter's Quarry. Eventually a railroad was built to take the stone to market, and Mr. Knauer had a custom rail car built for himself. A picture shows the car, which was later used in presidential whistle-stop campaigns by Eisenhower and Nixon.  Unfortunately, later owners let it decay and fall apart.  Oh, and let us not forget Janice, who portrayed her Aunt Lena, who entertained the locals by playing the musical saw--which she did for us. It sounds like the sound track from a spooky movie. Which is probably a good place to end this story!

Search for Chester County Victorian Homes

    Presented by Carolyn Roland, Your Historic Homes Resource

Posted by

sepia mug

Carolyn Roland, Your Historic

Homes ResourceChambers sepia

Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate

7234 Lancaster Pike, Hockessin DE

oldhome@psre.com

 Office-302-239-3000 Cell 302-593-5111

Comments (2)

Anonymous
FORMER POTTSTOWNIAN

LOVED GOING TO ST PETERS VILLAGE AS A CHILD.
JUMPING THE ROCKS, SLIDING DOWN THE ONE THAT WAS WORN SO MUCH FROM OTHER'S DOING THE SAMETHING THAT IT WAS ALMOST LIKE A SLIDING BOARD INTO THE WATER.
AND LISTENING TO AUNT LENA PLAY HER SAW.

Aug 27, 2015 01:24 AM
#1
Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA
Independent architectural histor'n - Wilmington, DE
Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS

How could you forget Lena's music!

Aug 27, 2015 02:48 AM