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History at Home

Community stories from our past, in the comfort of your home.

While we all stay as close to home as possible, we encourage you to visit area places you love—or perhaps discover new ones through a virtual exploration of treasures from the Conservancy.

Every couple of days, the Conservancy will send out new activities by email and upload new additions to this page – including architectural coloring book pages, narrated slideshows, and more!

As you take your socially distant stroll through history, don’t forget to tag us on social media, @chconservancy on Facebook and Instagram and using the hashtag #HistoryatHome.

Illustrated Stories from the Archives
Narrative Lectures and Slideshows of our Shared History

Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy have converted many of the fascinating illustrated lectures and Night of Lights slideshow content to free YouTube videos, and will be adding these to this page regularly. These HISTORY AT HOME videos will range in length from about 5 to 90 minutes, with topics including “Chestnut Hill’s Historic Businesses,” “Preserved Northwest Philadelphia,” “Vanished Northwest Philadelphia,” “The Italian Artisans Who Built Chestnut Hill,” “People and Structures of Wissahickon Park”, and much more. Click on thumbnails below.

Check back every week for even more content to enjoy at home!

People 

Developed by Elizabeth Jarvis

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2017 Night of Lights

Wissahickon People and Nature

Developed by Gwen Raczak

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2018 Night of Lights

History of Water Use in Northwest Philadelphia

Developed by Drew Brown

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2018 Night of Lights

Historic Interiors

Developed by Laura Keim

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

 

Italian Artisans who Built Chestnut Hill

Developed by Alessandra Cartelli

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by Lori Salganicoff

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

Vanished Northwest

Developed by Elizabeth Jarvis

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

The White City

Developed by Stephanie Walsh, Archivist, Springfield Township Historical Society

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by Lori Salganicoff

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

 

Four Local Businesses

Developed by Elizabeth Jarvis

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

 

 

Railroads

Developed by Alex Bartlett

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

 

 

Wissahickon Structures

Developed by Gwen Raczak

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by George McNeely

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

 

Houston / Woodward Developments

Developed by David Contosta

Produced by Leah Silverstein and Molly Murphy

Narrated by Lori Salganicoff

Originally presented as part of the 2019 Night of Lights

 

Railroads of Chestnut Hill

Illustrated lecture by Ted Xaras

Originally presented on 10/23/19 at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

 

Tree of the Month
Celebrating the great and interesting trees of Chestnut Hill

A New Feature of History at Home
by Paul W. Meyer, Conservancy Board Member and
Morris Arboretum’s Retired F. Otto Haas Executive Director

 

Trees are essential to Chestnut Hill’s sense of place. Not only do they beautify our community but they also clean and cool the air, fix co2, while producing life-giving oxygen. Trees are critical in protecting our watershed, insuring a steady and clean supply of water.

Residents of Chestnut Hill are fortunate to have inherited a bounty of large canopy trees as well as smaller flowering trees. But we can’t take this wonderful legacy for granted. We must not only care for our aging trees but also plan and plant for the future urban forest.

Going forward, the Chestnut Hill Conservancy will regularly highlight special trees in our community, both large and small, as well as common and obscure. In doing so, we hope to promote an appreciation of our arbor legacy and foster a culture of stewardship and renewal of this invaluable resource.

Visit our Tree of the Month Page!

APRIL – YELLOW MAGNOLIAS

In recent decades, new hybrid selections of yellow flowering magnolia have been introduced and are now becoming more widely available.  Many of the yellow magnolias are the result of crosses made between the American cucumber tree magnolia, Magnolia acuminata, and the Yulan magnolia, Magnolia denudata. The combination of these two parents has resulted in many cultivars which flower later (late April) than the more common star and saucer magnolias.  They are sometimes fragrant and range from light butter yellow to a golden yellow.  Since they flower later, they are less likely to get hit by a late frost.

These selections are generally destined to become big, tall trees.  The American parent is a canopy tree growing to over 100’ tall.  Its flowers are relatively small compared to other magnolias and it flowers after the foliage emerges.  Though the flowers are somewhat inconspicuous, its genetics enable the yellow pigment important to this breeding line.  Its Chinese cousin can reach 60 feet tall and has large, showy creamy-white flowers, which appear before the leaves.

Click HERE to continue reading and see full gallery of images.

A Gardener’s World
Celebrating all things from the garden

A  Feature of History at Home
by Emilie Lapham, Conservancy Board Member, avid gardener, botanical artist,
and active participant in several noted local and national garden organizations.

Gardens are one of life’s pleasures! A garden is a resource for its owner but it is also an asset for the community, the natural environment and wild life also. Trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants combine to make gardens and contribute to making a sense of place.

Chestnut Hill is known for its “Wissahickon Style” with gardens that embrace the natural landscape. The term “Borrowing from the wild” is often mentioned in describing local gardens. The park land that threads through the area provides a very special connection to our gardens.

The Chestnut Hill Conservancy is publishing articles about gardens and hopes to educate, inspire and promote gardening in this area. Plant selection, garden design, garden history and how to respond to changing climate and environment will all be part of this resource.
Visit our A Gardener’s World page!

Photo by Emilie Lapham

DECEMBER – HOLIDAY DECORATING WITH NATURE

Decorating the house in December can be very festive. Our family, like many has boxes of decorations that are old favorites, but each year I like to create something
new. The opportunity to explore a new idea and try to use materials from the local
landscape is the challenge.

A classic, but lovely decoration is a pomander. They are made with citrus fruit and studded with cloves. Oranges, lemons and limes are good for pomanders.
Pomanders were very popular in the middle ages as some thought wearing a pomander would protect from the plague. This is a very easy project, just pierce the
fruit with a toothpick before pushing the cloves in.

I surf the internet and find concepts that seem possible and collect material from the garden. The ideas that I find are just a start and they can usually be expanded or
adapted in some way. I found some amusing acorn ideas to try this year. They are small and a bit tricky to glue, but fun. Creating an environment for the figures to play in, was a quick stroll in the garden. The moss is borrowed and placed in the garden later. Think in miniature scale when choosing plant material and of course some Wissahickon Schist is a must! A plant saucer works well for a low container.

Click HERE to continue reading and see full gallery of images.

Activities and Puzzles!
Word Search Puzzles
For the last few months The Conservancy has been creating and sending you mission-related activities, building our History at Home collection.
We’re excited to present our newest addition to this History at Home collection – Word Search puzzles! We’ll be creating puzzles inspired from the history, architecture, and green space in the Chestnut Hill area. Look out for more!
 
This month’s Word Search Puzzle is a special edition, featuring the slideshow themes from this year’s Night of Lights!
Click on image to download the puzzle!
 
And HERE is the Answer Key to last month’s Word Search puzzle.
Jigsaw Puzzles – Then and Now

We’re excited to present our newest addition to this History at Home collection – Jigsaw puzzles! We’ll be creating puzzles inspired from the history, architecture, and green space in the Chestnut Hill area. Look out for more!

We’ll be offering two puzzles as a pair, featuring images from scenes around Chestnut Hill – both as they looked back in the day, as well as a contemporary version! These puzzles are presented featuring two levels of difficulty. The Now image being the Beginner level (with fewer pieces and color!) and for those of you who prefer a challenge, the archival, or Then image being the Expert level (with more pieces and no color!)

For this month’s Then and Now puzzles, we’re featuring two images of William A. Kilian Hardware Co., one of this year’s Architectural Hall of Fame Inductees!

Today’s Then and Now images include a photograph which perhaps illustrates that in some cases, area buildings and landscapes have remained largely unchanged, even after 50 or 75 years have passed. Such is the case with Kilian’s Hardware at 8450 Germantown Avenue. This photograph shows the storefront as it appeared perhaps around 1945. The one significant difference in terms of the building’s façade involves the signage. In the early 1950s, the vertical Du Pont paints sign mounted onto the building was removed, during a Chestnut Hill Development Group (now the Chestnut Hill Business Association) program to beautiful Chestnut Hill’s business district and unify its storefronts into a “horizontal department store.” The program continued through the 1950s and into the 1960s, in which neon signs and visual “clutter” were removed from the facades of many area businesses.

The second image is how it looks today.

Online Archives

Plus, at any time you can visit our free, searchable, online Archives. Rummage through our online photograph collection HERE, and read about the Chestnut Hill’s architectural and social history in the Chestnut Hill National Register Historic District documentation HERE.

Paint Your Neighborhood Virtually
Chestnut Hill Architectural Hall of Fame Coloring Book Pages

Please send back your colorful masterworks for us to share and post. Send your completed colored images to info@chconservancy.org and we’ll post them! And please let us know if we can share the name of the great artist whose work you submit. Artists of all ages welcome! Check back for more Coloring pages to enjoy at home every few days!

Click HERE to see and download all  of our Architectural Hall of Fame Coloring Pages!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

In addition to content from the Conservancy, we have also found some wonderful things to do organized by partners and friends. Please help to add to this list with recommendations of your own to Info@CHConservancy.org!

2022 CHESTNUT HILL CONSERVANCY LEAD SPONSOR

2022 CHESTNUT HILL CONSERVANCY GENERAL SPONSORS

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2022 CHESTNUT HILL CONSERVANCY HISTORY AT HOME SUPPORTING SPONSORS