Pleasant
Valley House Tours |
2009 Date: May
9 |
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The history of a rural farm community will be the focus of the Pleasant Valley House Tours. Visitors will have the opportunity to tour houses that form the core of the Pleasant Valley Rural Historic District. A 90-minute walking tour will be offered at 1:00pm, led by Howell Farm historian Larry Kidder. Three houses will be featured on this tour and transportation to the historic houses will be available for those needing assistance. The three houses are the John Phillips/Maj. Henry Phillips/Birum house, the Pleasant Valley School/Wooden family home, and the Phillips/Steward/Shearman blacksmith house. Half-hour tours of the Henry Phillips farmhouse (Howell Farm farmhouse) will be offered at 11:00am, noon, 2:30pm and 3:30pm. The four houses on the tours represent various slices of life in Pleasant Valley from the mid-1700s to the present. The Henry Phillips farmhouse - The familiar farmhouse at Howell Farm. The stone portion of this house was built about 1800 probably by Henry Phillips, the grandson of John Phillips whose land purchase in 1737 included present day Howell Farm and several adjoining farms. This house was the home for the Henry Phillips family and then the Charles Miller family until about 1900 when it was purchased by Titusville blacksmith A.B. Coleman. During the Coleman ownership the house was lived in by tenants who rented the farm from him. The last tenant was Wilson Leming who purchased the farm and the house was the home for his family until about 1919. The Cromwell family owned and lived in the house for two generations and after several other ownerships it came into the possession of Charles and Inez Howell who were the final owners before the property was given to Mercer County by Inez Howell in the 1970s.
(For some additional information, click here. The information will open in a new window.) The John Phillips/Maj. Henry Phillips/Birum House - This stone and frame house on Pleasant Valley Road was the home of Maj. Henry Phillips, father of the Henry Phillips who built the farmhouse at Howell Farm. The oldest parts of this house date to the mid-1700s. Several generations of the Phililps family lived here before it was purchased by John Holcombe of the Lambertville area. The house was owned by the Holcombe family and then the Gervas Ely family after John's heir, Caroline, married Gervas Ely. During the Holcombe/Ely ownership the house was the home for tenants who rented the farm. Tenants included the Xenophon Cromwell family who later purchased what is now Howell Farm. The Birum family owned the house and about 20 acres of land until it was purchased by Mercer County several years ago to be administered by Howell Farm.
(For an historic photo of this house, click here. The information will open in a new window.) The Pleasant Valley School/Wooden Family Home - In 1889 the people of Pleasant Valley voted to build a one-room schoolhouse on a corner of the Ely farm mentioned above. In 1917-1918 the school house was enlarged to have two rooms and a side cloak room/kitchen. The school served both as a school and as a community center for a wide variety of community gatherings. After the school closed in 1935 it was purchased by a former student, Franklyn Wooden, in 1938 to serve as a home for his young family. Franklyn removed the original one-room school from the building and used the wood to build the chicken houses that are still on the property. The 1917 addition that remained was remodeled into the family home. The Wooden family lived in this house and carried on a successful chicken and egg farm until Franklyn retired in the 1960s. The family continued to own and live in the house until it was purchased by Mercer County several years ago to be administered by Howell Farm.
(For more information and photos of the school house, click here. The information will open in a new window.) The Phillips/Steward/Shearman Blacksmith House - This frame house that sits on Valley Road was probably built in the early 1830s by Lewis Phillips, son of Henry Phillips who built the Howell Farm farmhouse. Lewis Phillips carried on the blacksmithing tradition of the family that dated back to his great-grandfather, John Phillips. The house was sold by Lewis to his son-in-law, Francis Steward, who was also a blacksmith. After reverting back to Lewis Phillips the house was sold to blacksmith Andrew Shearman. After Shearman gave up the blacksmith business and moved on, two retired farm couples owned it in succession. Then Leroy Harbourt of Titusville made one last effort to establish a viable blacksmith shop on the property between 1908 and 1910. The house then became the property of the Charles Jones family who lived in it during most of the 20th century. This property has recently been purchased by Mercer County to be administered by Howell Farm.
(For the story of how this house fits into the history of blacksmithing in Pleasant Valley, click here for our story from the series of Pleasant Valley Stories - The Last Blacksmith. It will open in a new window.) Children's craft program: Painted
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