News
Items of Interest
WHYY Craven Hall Feature
WHYY is the Philadelphia area’s PBS station. OUTNABOUT is their “snack-sized look at cool spots right in our back yard”. Craven Hall is one such local treasure, hidden in plain sight. Watch this informative video, featuring Craven Hall Executive Director, Erik Fleischer.
It can be seen on WHYY’s website by clicking the image above, or on YouTube.
Exhibit on The Battle of Crooked Billet
Visit Craven Hall to see our exhibit on The Battle of Crooked Billet! It’s a reflection on two Bucks County natives involved in the battle but fighting on opposite sides – a local militiaman versus a Queen’s Ranger and an American Loyalist.
The Battle of Crooked Billet during the American Revolution was one of many losses by the American patriots and serves to show the bitter division between Americans who wished to remain English subjects versus those seeking independence and the formation of a new country.
Steamboat Model Donation
The John Fitch Steamboat Museum was thrilled to receive the donation of a Stern Wheel model steamboat – a steamboat used to push barges on the Mississippi and other rivers.
The model was crafted by Thomas J Sliney, a World War II Navy veteran, now deceased, and donated to the museum by family members. Mr. Sliney was a passionate woodworker and model maker in his retirement years and we are pleased to be able to share his model-making expertise.
You will find the model prominently displayed in our museum.
1840’s Album Quilt Restoration Complete
Our 1840’s Album Quilt donated by Anne Haggerty of Hatboro has been beautifully restored as seen below by Kate Sahmel, Textile Conservationist associated with The Wintertur Museum.
We are grateful to the Featherbed Hill Questers and Newtown Commoners Questers and the Pennsylvania State Questers organization along with the Willowdale Elementary School of Warminster, PA for providing the funding needed to restore and prepare a mounting display case. (See story below on Willowdale Elementary School.)
We originally identified only 48 names on the quilt but since restoration we have now been able to identify almost all of the names on this 64 block quilt. Further research has revealed that William L Craven – Johnsville whose square appears on the quilt resided on Newtown Road just a few hundred yards south of Craven Hall! Two additional squares not previously identifiable list Louisa Craven- Johnsville and Ann Eliz.Craven – Johnsville. Were they family members of William L Craven? We would love to have a Craven relative interested in genealogy do the research and inform us of their findings.
Board Member, Otto Blavier, has constructed a quilt display case and we hope to have our quilt on display soon.
To see the list of names on the quilt, click here.
Willow Dale Presents Gift to Craven Hall
Students at Willow Dale Elementary School recently participated in a fund raiser initiated by third grade teacher, Deborah Sobczak. This project was aimed at raising money for the restoration of Craven Hall’s 1843-1845 antique quilt, actually signed by many local residents of the period.
Deborah apparently noticed our appeal for donations in our current Craven Hall newsletter.
We were invited to Willow Dale’s final assembly for the 2013-2014 school year and presented with a most generous check for $669.95 – all funds raised by the students! We were overwhelmed by the display of support for Craven Hall and our program for the Centennial School District Third Grade students.
It has been 18 years since we initiated our program, “Life in the 1850s”, for the Third Graders and we hope to continue this program for many years to come.
Open House at Craven Hall
Craven Hall’s Open House and Tours continue and are as fun and informative as ever (and, as always, free of charge and open to the public). In the pictures below, Laura Garrison and Florence Fox prepare apples for a delicious colonial apple pie recipe. Ladies in Colonial America were able to cook such treats even in the absence of an oven, using, instead hot coals from their hearth fire and a pan called a Dutch Oven.
(Photos courtesy of the Intelligencer/Courier Times, Chloe Elmer, staff photographer. For full story, click here.)
April 2020 Newsletter
Click here to read our April 2020 newsletter.
April 2019 Newsletter
Click here to read our April 2019 newsletter.