Historic Houses of Fairmount Park tour

Where it all began

On a special three-hour tour through the historic houses of Laurel Hill, Woodford, and Cedar Grove, I heard about the divisive arguments and decisions made by early Philadelphians. The excursion was organized and guided by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the City of Philadelphia to observe this year’s presidential race and, especially, the Democratic National Convention.

Opposing colonists attacked each other as being unpatriotic. There were assertions of what we now call states’ rights, and cries to take this country back — that is, back to freedom from control by the monarchy.

Philadelphia even saw labeling of certain religious groups, and the expulsion of some families.

Case in point: Because of his sympathy for the crown, the family of David Franks was officially exiled from Pennsylvania and their property confiscated. Franks's parents were Jewish, but he considered himself a man of the Enlightenment who rejected doctrinaire religions. He married outside the faith and his children were raised as Protestants. Yet his socially prominent daughter Rebecca was repeatedly referred to as a Jewess. The exile was a result of suspicion that the Franks family was aiding “the enemy” rather than because of their heritage, but their former religion was used to identify them.

The Revolutionary War pitted Americans against Americans, not just against Brits. Philadelphia was the continent’s largest city and roughly one-third of Philadelphians opposed secession. They pridefully called themselves Loyalists.

Those who wanted separation chose the label Patriots, and they’re the ones we revere as our founding fathers. But the other side also thought of themselves as patriotic.

Not all Quakers were pacifists

The families that lived in these homes 240 years ago found themselves on opposite sides of the shifting political lines. The owners of Laurel Hill and Woodford enjoyed British military occupation of Philadelphia and then had to flee when the British evacuated. Cedar Grove was owned by a Quaker family whose members included a captain who strayed from the pacifist views of other Philadelphia Quakers.

Elizabeth Coates Paschall, the builder of Cedar Grove, was a shopkeeper who announced that she would not buy or sell any British-made goods, but could not support going to war against Great Britain. The restored home boasts beautiful tea service, reminding us that her family served smuggled Dutch tea rather than the British tea, which was subjected to a hated tax. Most Quakers were Loyalists and they excommunicated those who differed, but others — like Paschall’s family members — founded an independent Friends' meeting, called the Society of Free Quakers, which still exists.

Cedar Grove originally stood in a wooded section of Frankford. When industrialization changed that area, her descendants built a home in Chestnut Hill and developed its gardens into what is today the Morris Arboretum. Cedar Grove was moved to Fairmount Park, stone by stone and floorboard by floorboard, between 1926 and 1928.

Rebecca Rawle, a wealthy widow, built Laurel Hill around 1767, a two-story Georgian brick structure on a bluff overlooking the Schuylkill River. Her second marriage was to the former mayor of Philadelphia, Samuel Shoemaker. A Quaker, he refused to take a position on independence, although he accepted a job with the British when they occupied Philadelphia. Rebecca was not politically active but, because of her husband, the home was seized by the Revolutionaries and was used by the French ambassador to the Continental government. Today, the organization Women of Greater Philadelphia funds the furnishing and maintenance of the house.

Which side are you on?

If you appreciated music and theater, chances are that you’d align yourself with the Loyalists. George Washington and his Continental Army closed Philadelphia’s theaters and barred concerts. On the other hand, British Major John André, chief aide to General Sir William Howe, was a lover of the arts. Age 26 in 1776, André painted, sang, and wrote verse.

When Washington fled to Valley Forge and the British occupied Philadelphia, Howe visited David Franks at his Woodford mansion in Fairmount Park to cement a relationship with him for supplying food and clothes to the British army. Woodford is one of the most elegant survivors of the period. It was more than a “summer retreat” but was where the Franks did most of their socializing; their center city Philadelphia quarters were rented. Woodford’s elegant rooms include china actually imported from China, and gorgeous 18th-century furniture. André became an almost-daily visitor at Woodford, and drew sketches and cut silhouette pictures of 16-year-old Rebecca Franks and her friends. He designed and painted scenery for plays at the Philadelphia theaters that were re-opened by British occupiers.

At the "Mischianza," a huge party thrown by André to honor General Howe, young Rebecca Franks, Peggy Shippen and Peggy Chew appeared in Turkish costumes and enslaved Africans in turbans waited on the guests. Franks and Shippen were crowned "Queens of Beauty," and flatboats carried guests up the river to be greeted by a 17-gun salute from British warships. Later, the guests would enjoy a tournament of jousting knights, a ball, and a midnight banquet with fireworks.

Days afterward, General Howe sailed home to England, and a month later the English troops vacated Philadelphia. Shippen went on to marry Benedict Arnold, who conspired to turn West Point over to the British. Arnold fled to England, but André was hanged for his part in the plot. All those citizens who partied with the British would be condemned as traitors. Really puts the drama and excitement of those Belmont Plateau family barbecues in perspective, doesn't it?

To read more about the Mischianza and other Philadelphia scandals, read Rick Soisson's review of Wicked Philadelphia here.