Chadds Ford Life Fall/Winter 2024 Edition by Ad Pro Inc.

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Chadds Ford Life

Chadds Ford Life Fall/Winter 2024

Letter from the Editor:

The Wyeth name is synonymous with Chadds Ford, and while his genius as an artist was cultivated here in Chadds Ford, Andrew Wyeth drew inspiration from another muse – the rocky shores of Maine. In this issue of Chadds Ford Life, we offer a story about the Brandywine Museum of Art’s new exhibit that explores this aspect of Wyeth’s work.

If the original roots of Penns Woods Winery in Chadds Ford were the vision of founder Gino Razzi, then the tendrils of its growth and in many ways its profile are the continuing work of Gino’s daughter, Carley, the winery’s president. Recently, Chadds Ford Life caught up with Carley to talk about the quality of Penns Woods’ grapes, its key contributors, the current harvest season and the partnership of the growing wine industry in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Gene Pisasale, a local historian and author, provides an informative overview of the many fascinating things that can be found inside the walls at the Christian Sanderson Museum. Sanderson loved history so much that he amassed a collection of approximately 18,000 artifacts showcasing the people, places and important events which shaped our heritage. These items were catalogued by Sanderson’s good friend, Tom Thompson, after Christian passed away in 1966 and displayed in the home where he lived in Chadds Ford. The items that Sanderson collected—from the Revolutionary War era up through the 1960s—fill both floors of the Sanderson Museum.

There are more than 330 species of birds—from the common to the rare—that either live or pass through Chester County every year. In this issue, we present a story about how birding is a great pursuit for local residents.

For both the browser and the buyer, the Pennsbury-Chadds Ford Antique Mall is a dignified nod to our past, and it is the subject of our photo essay in this edition.

The Brandywine Conservancy’s Bike the Brandywine event returned for its sixth year in September, with nearly 500 cyclists enjoying a ride through the Brandywine Creek Greenway and the surrounding Chester County countryside.

We hope you enjoy the stories in this issue, and we welcome your comments and suggestions for stories to be included in an upcoming issue of Chadds Ford Life. We look forward to bringing you the next issue of Chadds Ford Life, which will arrive in the spring of 2025.

Sincerely,

Avery Lieberman Eaton averyl@chestercounty.com

Stone Lieberman stone@chestercounty.com

Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com

Photo: Jie Deng

Cover Design: Tricia Hoadley

While his genius as an artist was cultivated in Chadd drew inspiration from another muse – the rock

A new exhibit at the Brandywine Museum of Art illu

Up

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

“As early as ten I began to paint Maine. I painted around the islands and did my first pen drawings and then I went on to watercolor.” – Andrew Wyeth

While it is practically the birthright of every Chadds Ford resident to proudly claim him exclusively as their own, Andrew Wyeth’s artistic life was the beneficiary of two distinctive regions -- a “Here and There” dichotomy of dissimilar influences that drew him deep into his canvases and made him one of the most well-known American artists of the 20th Century.

Until his death in 2009, Wyeth’s life was divided evenly – six months here and six months there, a life of dueling muses between Chadds Ford and the immediate surroundings near Port Clyde, Maine, where he first spent summers as a child creating pen drawings and watercolor paintings of the rocky shores. As he got older and his prominence as an artist grew, Wyeth, his wife Betsy and their family would continue to make the nearly ten-hour drive from Chadds Ford to Maine, where Betsy would choreograph the distinct locations where her husband would paint and give titles to his work like “House on Teels Island,” “Maine Door” and “New Moon Study.”

Maine Door, First Version is one of the 32 watercolors currently in the exhibit Up East: Andrew Wyeth in Maine, currently at the Brandywine Museum of Art through Feb. 25, 2025.

dds Ford, Andrew Wyeth ky shores of Maine. uminates Wyeth’s work…

Now, the temperate climate of Muscongus Bay, the salt air at Broad Cove and the ocean crashing against the rocks at Allen Island are part of Up East: Andrew Wyeth in Maine, a new exhibition at the Brandywine Museum of Art that will run through Feb. 23, 2025. Up East brings to Chadds Ford for the first time a broad overview of the key sites of Wyeth’s Maine work, including two temperas and 32 watercolors, many of which have never been exhibited before. The exhibit captures the depth of Wyeth’s vision beyond the familiar landscapes and portraits of life in Chadds Ford; instead of the muted yellows, golds and forlorn images of southeastern Pennsylvania, audiences are introduced to an environment of granite, weathered pines and the people who inhabited the coastal communities, many of whom Wyeth got to know.

“There is this fundamental, meditative and recursive discipline to Wyeth’s practice – returning time and again to the same well of inspiration and coming to know the people of these places deeply,” said Will Coleman, Ph.D., the Wyeth Foundation Curator and Director of the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Study Center at the Brandywine Museum of Art. “It is an unexpected pattern consistent in both Chadds Ford and in Maine of talking himself into the lives of families and literally getting the keys to their houses so he can come and go as he pleased.

“This exhibition asks how it was different and what did he find in that other pole that is different than what he found here. Wyeth once said that there is a deep foundation of earth between your feet in Chadds Ford in the sense of a long human history, and in Maine, there is hard granite coast -- this thin, skeletal layer of surface on top of this harsh and unyielding world of the Gulf

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Up East

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of Maine and the people who have been shaped by this environment.”

Coleman said that those who attend the exhibition anticipating seeing the picture-postcard images of the coast of Maine – clear blue skies and endless lighthouses and lush and rich blues and greens– may be surprised to see something quite different in hue and composition – a conscious narrow entrenchment of colors that defines Wyeth’s works.

“I am struck by how he focuses on an unglamorous and hard-working portion of that coast,” he said. “He is so close but yet so far from fancy Camden and Bar Harbor and all these other options that have been calling out to artists for centuries. He focuses instead on an impoverished pair

of peninsulas and the people who eked out a living from that tough environment. There is a sense of identification with the people of the place – that long-term immersive practice of becoming one of the people who understand the slower rhythms of the natural world.

“He does not just extract from it pleasant and soothing tourist paintings but rather, something harder.”

A five-mile radius of focus

For an artist whose fame reached worldwide status, the circumference of Wyeth’s artistic focus was ironically confined to Chadds Ford in the fall and winter and Maine in the spring and summer, and while the exhibit illustrates the vast differences between the two places, it also confirms that the artist was devoted to mastering a consistent subject matter, person by person, contour by contour.

“It’s a really unusual creative legacy – an artist who is loved all around the world with major collections of his work in museums all over this country who had the success in his lifetime to travel anywhere and paint anything but chose to ruthlessly focus on going deep on these two very narrowly circumscribed places,” Coleman said. “We have measured it out and it’s something like a fivemile radius around Chadds Ford and a five-mile radius around Port Clyde, an almost exact and even split of the areas. It was where he chose to know a small number of subjects deeply instead of spreading himself thin over a wider area.”

New Moon Study

House on Teels Island

For several decades of Wyeth’s artistic life in Maine, he often painted, while Betsy was heavily involved in transporting old buildings and designing new ones that became creative living spaces for visitors, a working studio for her husband and a gallery where three generations of Wyeth art – N.C., Andrew and Jamie – were displayed. The islands, which are still used seasonally by local fishermen and their families, were eventually purchased by Betsy and over the years, she designed landscapes by clearing fields, digging ponds and installing roads, and rebuilding a working commercial dock.

“There is certainly a larger, really fascinating and complicated creative partnership at work here, where Betsy is not just cleaning debris from the water’s edge, but designing whole and immersive environments for her husband

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display in the

Courtesy image

exhibition, this map shows the many locations in Maine that served as Wyeth’s inspirations for his work there.

Up East

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to paint,” said Coleman, who referred to Betsy as a “creative force” behind her husband’s art. “In her own words, she said, ‘If Andy paints it once it will have been worth it.” She was thinking about shaping land and shaping buildings explicitly for the artist’s eye.

“We can’t forget that Betsy Wyeth was a precondition for Andrew Wyeth’s most important works of art.

“When we think of Wyeth, we think of “Christina’s World,” and the Olson house, the enigmatic building at the back of the painting. She was he one who introduced Andrew to the Olson family. She was the one who brought him there to see the discomfiting poverty in which the Olsons lived, and he rose to it with this superpower of empathy to earn their trust and become a part of the lives of the people they knew.”

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Untitled

Up East

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A conversation with the audience

As with every exhibition at the Brandywine Museum of Art, Up East: Andrew Wyeth in Maine is a conversation the museum has with the supporters and visitors who will see the paintings for themselves.

“The museum is a place that is especially strong in art in relation to the natural world, and a place that has a broad and fascinating collection of art that focuses with particular strength in the creative legacy of our region and has the duty to keep doing research into that story,” Coleman said. “Our Wyeth exhibit is just one more layer of that continuing dialogue, seeing how the art that began here in Chadds Ford, reached out to Maine and ultimately, to the entire world.

“We’re seeing an artist who was sensitive to a changing ecosystem around him,” Coleman added. “We’re seeing an original creative force, not someone who was born in the wrong century and an artist of another time, but a fully modern artist who found his own lane and in this remark-

able rootedness, came up with a legacy truly of his own.”

Up East: Andrew Wyeth in Maine runs at the Brandywine Museum of Art through February 23, 2025. All the works in this exhibition are by Andrew Wyeth and are drawn from the collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the support of which has made this exhibition possible.

To learn more about the exhibit and for hours, visit www. brandywine.org.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.

Andrew Wyeth, House On Teels Island, 1945.Watercolor, 21 ⅜ x29 ¾ in. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, M1154 © 2024 Wyeth Foundation for American Art /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Andrew Wyeth, Maine Door–1st version , 1970. Watercolor, 28 x 19 in. Collection of theWyeth Foundation

Andrew Wyeth, New Moon Study, 1985. Watercolor, 27 ½ x 18 ⅝ in. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, M2414 © 2024 Wyeth Foundation for American Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Andrew Wyeth, Untitled, n.d. Watercolor, 19 ⅝ x 26 ½ in. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art,

Untitled, 1949

Ford History|

By Gene Pisasale Contributing Writer

Have you ever wanted to travel back in time? When you walk through the door of the Christian Sanderson Museum, you feel as though you’ve been transported back—not just a few decades, but centuries, to an era when patriots marched in defense of a cause they fervently believed in during the Revolutionary War.

Fascinating things Christian Sanderson

Chris Sanderson lived all of his 84 years in and around Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties outside Philadelphia. Chris loved history so much, he amassed a collection totaling 18,000 artifacts showcasing the people, places and important events which shaped our heritage. These items were catalogued by his good friend Tom Thompson after Chris passed away in 1966 and displayed in the home where he lived in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

It was through the ongoing dedication and enormous efforts of Thompson, along with Andrew Wyeth, Frank Rich, Arthur Beard and William Hoffman that we have this great museum today. Tom put together a vast assortment of Americana which Chris felt reflected our times. These items—from the Revolutionary War up through the 1960s—fill both floors of the Sanderson Museum with displays providing a glimpse of how we lived, the wars we endured and events which affected us all.

Chris Sanderson came into this world on January 7, 1882, when Chester Arthur was U.S. President. N.C. Wyeth was born that same year. Reconstruction was ending and the nation was continuing to heal the wounds from a devastating civil war. Railroads were crisscrossing the country, changing the way we traveled. Edison had just perfected the phonograph and the incandescent light bulb. Chris would later tell people that he always felt he’d been “born into an historical family.” Both grandfathers had fought in the Civil War; his paternal grandfather was killed in this conflict, his maternal grandfather survived wounds from the bloody Battle of Antietam.

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things at the s at the Sanderson Museum rson Museum r

The Christian Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford.

The Battleﬁeld Room at the Christian Sanderson Museum, courtesy Sanderson Museum

Tom Thompson with Andrew Wyeth, courtesy Sanderson Museum.

The Christian Sanderson Museum

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Sanderson was so fascinated with the world around him, he began collecting things of historical interest at an early age. These items are now found throughout this fine museum, which was dedicated and officially opened in his honor in Chadds Ford in 1967.

In the entry room stands the Wyeth-Sanderson Historical Map of Chester County, beckoning viewers to lean closer and view the 45 places of interest and 15 colorful characters who at one time played a part in our heritage. Names like William Penn, Bayard Taylor and General “Mad” Anthony Wayne are there, along with Buffalo Bill Cody. Drawings by a young Andrew Wyeth illustrate the countryside, including sketches of Valley Forge, Longwood Gardens, Brandywine Battlefield and the Star-Gazers Stone.

Across the room, a baseball sits in a case on a small, wooden pedestal, red and blue stitching wrapped around some famous names of the Boys of Summer. The pedestal

The Historical Map of Chester County by Chris Sanderson and Andrew Wyeth, courtesy Sanderson Museum.

The entry room at the Christian Sanderson Museum showing the Historical Map of Chester County and items in cabinets courtesy Sanderson Museum.

The Autograph Hall at the Christian Sanderson Museum, courtesy Sanderson Museum.

A plaque honoring Chris Sanderson on the front of the Sanderson Museum.

reads “Some of the autographs on this include: Connie Mack, Herb Pennock, Rube Walburg, Jimmy Foxx, Bing Miller.” Herb Pennock’s signature is the largest. Above slugger Jimmy Foxx’s signature is scrawled “June 12, 1939–100th Anniversary of Baseball.” Foxx was one of the original “power hitters,” earning three Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards and hitting a career total of 534 home runs in the Major Leagues during the 1930s and 1940s. In the large cabinet nearby is something you don’t usually see—a unique “painting” made entirely out of iridescent butterfly wings.

Going into the Battlefield Room, at the far end of the space along the wall you’ll see the superb “Troops by the Hundreds Were Passing,” a lovely scene painted by N.C. Wyeth. Wyeth was asked to illustrate a book titled “Sally Castleton, Southerner” by Crittenden Marriott which came out around the turn of the 20th century. In the painting, Confederate soldiers are marching behind their commanding officer, who is on horseback as two young boys run excitedly alongside the phalanx. The scene has an eerie, dreamlike quality, awash in grey-blues and dust browns, the colors of the Confederacy, which clothed the young

men who fought for a cause which was bound to fail. The museum archives contain dozens of letters and cards from soldiers written over the decades, including those who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg.

As you ascend the narrow staircase to the second floor, there’s a small black and white sign above the doorway announcing “Autograph Hall.” In the first cabinet, there’s a photograph of Geronimo, whose piercing eyes hold you entranced. He’s inches above an autograph of Sitting Bull, signed just three weeks before he was killed. A letter to Chris lies prominently in the center of the case, signed “Very Truly Yours, Alexander Graham Bell.” This gem is near one signed by Samuel F.B. Morse, the man who invented the telegraph and a new industry—telecommunications

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A baseball celebrating 100 years of the sport, courtesy Sanderson Museum.

The Christian Sanderson Museum

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—in 1844. Not far away is the autograph of another man who changed the world- Orville Wright. The adjoining cabinet holds notes from composers and entertainers, with scripts from Johann Strauss, John Philip Sousa and Irving Berlin. Men whose actions affected American history are close by, including Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Grover Cleveland – the only man elected President twice in non-consecutive terms. Warren Harding says hello in a letter from the White House dated May 27, 1921. You’ll see the signatures of men who put their lives on the line to help save our nation – Generals Phil Sheridan, Ambrose Burnside (after whom the slang “sideburns” was developed) and Fightin’ Joe Hooker—each of whom served in the Civil War. With all of these signatures, one takes away the immense sweep of history, the tragedies and triumphs, great inventions which improved our way of life and heroic acts in battle which preserved it. Just across the hall in the Pocopson Room is something which would normally go unnoticed—a barbershop sign. Yet this sign is different. It is the “Chads’ Ford Barber Shop” sign painted by N.C. Wyeth. The wooden relic shows a

silhouette portrait of General George Washington, his cockaded tri-cornered hat the mark of a commanding officer. He’s looking to the right at the young Marquis de Lafayette, who fought with Washington at Brandywine and six other engagements of the Revolutionary War, including the final victory at Yorktown in 1781. Below their portraits

Autograph Hall exhibit with Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill Cody, Grandma Moses and Orville Wright, courtesy Sanderson Museum.

is written “THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE WASHINGTON & LAFAYETTE HAD A VERY CLOSE SHAVE.”

The sign’s weathered surface reveals its exposure to the elements over many years. It is known to have hung outside the barber shop going back at least 98 years to 1926. Art restorers from the University of Delaware were hired to stabilize the widespread cracking and flaking paint. You don’t have to touch the surface to understand how fragile it is, just as fragile as Washington’s rag-tag, undersupplied army was fighting against the British. So, the next time you pass a barber shop, think twice about how delicate and unstable the beginnings of our young nation were and how two patriots—George Washington, a Founding Father and the Marquis de Lafayette, a Founding Son of the American Revolution… had a very close shave back on September 11th, 1777.

If you want to see a museum that is just a bit “different,” stop in at the Christian Sanderson Museum at 1755 Creek Road in Chadds Ford. They are open Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. March through November. Their website is www.sandersonmuseum.org.

Gene Pisasale is an historian, author and lecturer based in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. His 11 books focus mostly on the Chester County/mid-Atlantic region. His latest book is Heritage of the Brandywine Valley. Gene’s books are available on his website at www.GenePisasale.com and on www.Amazon.com. He can be reached via e-mail at Gene@GenePisasale.com.

Chads Ford Barbershop Sign, courtesy Sanderson Museum

|Chadds Ford Q & A| Carley Razzi President, Penns Woods Winery

Chadds Ford Life : Your father Gino – the founder of Penns Woods Winery -- is without question at or near the top of the southeastern Pennsylvania legion of winemakers. He is quoted as saying, “I aim to make wine that is unique, whole and balanced, with a power and complexity that separates it from the others.” So, the question is, how does Penns Woods wine consistently produce whites, roses and reds that are of superb quality?

Carley: Making wine is the balance of the science and the love, and if you don’t have both, it’s not going to happen. It starts in the vineyard. My dad has always said, “You can’t make a great wine without great grapes.” If you have good grapes, you

can make a good wine, but if you’re grapes are of 95 percent quality, your wine is either going to be at 95 percent quality or below.

You can’t make wine any better than the grapes you grow. It’s also about experience. My father grew up on a farm and he has been around vineyards since he was a child working on the family farm, and it was broadened when he started importing wines into the U.S. in the seventies and in the nineties when he began making wine. He’s been to literally hundreds of vineyards around the world, and he knows so many winemakers intimately as friends to the point where they’re practically family.

Quite literally, you grew up in what has become the family business that your father began in 2001. In 2009, you began to manage the winery and its growing business and over the past 14 growing seasons, you have overseen the growth of Penns Woods through its expansion to Sandy Hill and Woodward Farm. Progress of this kind involves many hands. Talk about the work of the talented individuals who have helped you and your father make this expansion happen. I have to start with Andrea and our winemaker Davide

Photos by Erin Ingraffia

From left, Carley Razzi, founder Gino Razzi, and Andrea and Davide Creato.

Creato, who have been with us since the beginning. When I joined my father in 2009 at his wine import company, I thought, “This is cool, but I want to do something more grass roots, fun and creative that doesn’t involve having to attend meetings all day.” My father and I agreed that he would be the winemaker, and that I would operate the tasting room. Andrea was my first full-time employee and when she started here as part-time, she and I immediately connected. We are polar opposites; I am a fly-by-the-seatof-my pants thinker and Andrea is incredibly calculated. After one month, I hired her full time, and she has been invaluable.

My father continued to travel with his import company and he met Davide in Italy, who worked at the time at the Zaccagnini winery in Italy, and he asked my father if he could intern with him at Penns Woods. He lived with my father, and he fell in love with the land, the people and in particular, Andrea. He came back on a one-year work visa, and he and Andrea ended up getting married. While Andrea and Davide are at the top of that list of our amazing staff, it’s a very long list of devoted and passionate people.

Unless one is in the business of growing, cultivating, processing and ultimately selling wine, it’s not likely that one knows about what it’s like doing it. How has the 2024 growing season been for Penns Woods Winery?

It’s a baby that you’re constantly taking care of and too often, the weather never seems to work out in your favor. This year’s growing season has been excellent. The summer was a bit rough because it either rained every weekend or was 100 degrees, but the fall has been very kind to us thus far, and we can’t say enough about the quality of the grapes this year. It’s been a good crop.

Penns Woods is at the forefront of a movement that is continuing to draw attention to the great wines being grown and cultivated in southeastern Pennsylvania. Wineries like Va La in Avondale, Acadian in West Grove and Wayvine in Nottingham – to name just a few -- are enjoying the same recognition and success that Penns Woods has. Do you look at these other establishments more as partners than as competitors?

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Penns Woods Winery was founded in 2001 by Gino Razzi and has become one of the most experienced and respected leaders of viticulture in Pennsylvania, producing premium, Euro-styled wines that highlight the depth and ﬂavors unique to southeastern Pennsylvania.

Carley Razzi

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We have to all be partners. We’re small and mighty here at Penns Woods, but we can’t have any recognition just by ourselves. It has to be as a whole. I want wineries around us to also make quality wines and have tasting rooms popping up and sell their products in state stores and receive the recognition that we – as partners – well deserve.

A few years ago, when the lanternflies affected our crops, we all came together and asked each other what each of us was doing to eradicate the flies. We need to band together in order to stake our reputation for the entire wine industry in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Dispel one horribly inaccurate myth to all of the California wine snobs who read this: You can’t create great wine in Pennsylvania because of its rocky terrain.

That’s like saying you can’t grow a good apple in California because you can only find them in New York or Washington, or that you can’t grow a great orange anywhere else but in Florida. Wine should be respected

because it’s one of the only beverages you can create where you’re actually tasting what that soil composition is. If you grow a Merlot in California and grow a Merlot in Pennsylvania, they will not taste the same. People’s palettes are conditioned to like California wines, because every glass of a particular wine tastes exactly the same.

The difference is, we don’t have to put sulfites and additives in our wine, and a lot of time there is very little mitigation from the vineyard to the winery, and that’s because we’re small batch and hand harvested and we work with the fruit we have – and all of these factors go into the making of a great bottle of wine.

If you eat goldfish crackers every day, you are conditioned to have the same taste every day. You no longer have a palette that is conditioned to different tastes and textures. Similarly, if all you drink is California wine, it will be all you like, but if you expand your palette, the more your tastes will be able to mature.

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A visit to Penns Woods Winery guarantees the enjoyment of great wine and the company of friends, all within the conﬁnes of a working farm.

Carley Razzi

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I see the hay bail maze on the farm. While the wine at Penns Woods Winery is certainly just for the parents, this is a vineyard that is perfect for the entire family, yes?

I have kids. I have a female-run crew who have kids. The way that society is shifting these days, we don’t have a lot of free time in our days, so when we want to hang out with our friends, we also want to bring our kids with us. Childcare is expensive, so why can’t you come out to a beautiful vineyard, get your kids away from the digital aspect of the world, and allow them to run around on a farm while you and your friends enjoy a glass of great wine and conversation?

We have an adults-only section of our farm, but we also have a section that is family friendly.

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Penns Woods Winery President Carley Razzi and her children.

Carley Razzi

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A visit to Penns Woods Winery is a treat not just for the palette but for the eyes, as seen in the sweeping acreage of row upon row of a beautiful vineyard. You have enjoyed this view since you were a child. During your busy week, is there a visual vantage point that you stop to enjoy, and if so, take us to that view.

We are very lucky that this vineyard sits on a national park, on which there are park trails, and every so often, we hear one or a few of our staff tell everyone else that they’re “taking a lap,” a little hike around the vineyard. You get to see every angle of the vineyard.

What is your favorite spot in Chadds Ford?

Giggy Bites in Glen Mills is a local pet store, and they make all different kinds of doggie treats and cakes and meals. I also enjoy O’So Sweet. That’s my jam.

What food or beverage can always be found in your refrigerator?

Boat loads of fresh fruit and my kids love the Chiobani yogurt cups.

Penns Woods Winery is located at 124 Beaver Valley Road, Chadds Ford, Pa. 19317. To learn more about its wines and see a list of special events coming up, including the Holiday Market from November 30-December 1, and the Artisan Exchange on Dec. 14 and 21.

-- Richard L. Gaw

Penns Woods Winery in Chadds Ford has long been a great local destination for casual and formal occasions.

The joys of bi

There are more than 330 species of birds—from rare—that either live or pass through Chester C Birding is a great pursuit for local residents

irding

m the common to the

County every year

By JP Phillips

Contributing Writer

There are 330 species of birds that either live in or pass through Chester County every year. Many are not attracted to backyard feeders, but they are all around us--in the woods and fields, lakes and streams. You just need to know where to look.

The West Chester Bird Club (WCBC) was founded in 1910, making it one of the oldest continuously operating bird clubs in the country. In 2025, they will celebrate 115 years of doing what they do best—sharing knowledge and helping each other and the community see these beautiful animals.

Today’s WCBC has a packed schedule of meetings, presentations, local bird walks and field trips designed to satisfy any level of interest and expertise. While the group welcomes new members, membership is not required to participate. An appreciation for the outdoors and a decent pair of binoculars is all that is needed.

Rhoda McNitt has been a member of the club for at least ten years and a bird admirer since she was a child. She grew up in central Pennsylvania, and moved to the West Chester area in the 1970s. She has been a resident of Cartmel, part of the Kendal-Crosslands communities, for the past four years. Her parents dabbled in backyard birding and kept feeders near the house. They would use a bird book to identify any species they weren’t familiar with, and marveled at the uncommon varieties that sometimes passed through. One day, an evening grosbeak (rare back then and just as uncommon now in Pennsylvania) showed up in their yard—a first time viewing for them.

“We knew the common birds,” she said. “I just remember how excited we all were to see this unusual bird.”

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Photo by JP Phillips

West Chester Bird Club member Rhoda McNitt in her porch overlooking the woods behind her cottage.

A male eastern towhee in ChesLen Preserve showing off his breeding plumage. Photo taken by WCBC member Cathy Huneke this past spring.

A Male American redstart photographed in May by WCBC member Cathy Huneke.

An evening grosbeak photographed in Canada in January by WCBC member Barry Blust. This is the bird that turned birdwatching into a lifelong hobby for Rhoda McNitt.

Birding

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From that day forward she was hooked.

There is a quote on the WCBC website from their 1985 president James D. Russell that sums up the benefits of going on a group bird walk. “Birding is a pastime we can pursue and enjoy alone, but through the club field trips and programs, we are able to share experiences and learn from each other as well as keep up on current bird sightings and activities.” On every WCBC bird walk, there are folks of various levels of expertise and the experienced “birders” are happy to help the amateurs.

McNitt explained that the first thing leaders will do is make sure everyone knows how to properly use their binoculars. She uses a pair marked 10x42, which isn’t too big or too heavy. It provides ten times the magnification and a 42 mm objective lens size, allowing for a good field of vision.

“With a wider field of view, it’s easier to find things,” she said.

In addition to the left and right eye focusing, there is an adjustment to accommodate those wearing eyeglasses that many people are unaware of. Then the real challenge becomes seeing the bird with the naked eye and finding it with binoculars.

“You keep your eyes on the bird and you bring your binoculars up. Try not to move your head, which is very difficult,” McNitt said. She recommends practicing in the backyard with a bird, flower, tree branch, or post as a target.

When trail leaders spot a bird, they announce it to the group and give its location.

“They use the clock. So, you might say, oh--it’s in that oak tree, and it’s about two o’clock,” McNitt said. “You try to describe what’s around it. Like three branches up … that kind of thing.”

“The absolute best in craftsmanship and customer centricity!! Would highly recommend and will be using them again for future projects.” – Gregory, Oxford, PA

Photo by Rhoda McNitt Participants on a WCBC-organized bird walk.

She also said that many leaders bring laser pointers, making it easier for participants to find the bird’s location. It’s much easier for participants to follow the light to just below the location of the bird, and then try to sight it with their binoculars.

Birding in a group has other advantages besides a knowledgeable leader.

“You have lots more eyes and ears now,” McNitt said. She told the story of a walk where the leader identified a lovely species of bird called an American redstart. “I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t hear it,” she said. “I was standing there looking and looking and then here came the bird. It landed on the branch and I could see it clear as day. I could see it was singing, but I couldn’t hear it. I went to the audiologist and said, ‘I want to be able to hear that.’ So, I got hearing aids. They help some.”

Many experienced birders are skilled at identifying birds by their calls. Once they hear it, they will stay in an area looking for its color or some move-

ment in the leaves and hopefully spot it. Merlin Bird ID, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and fueled by Ebird, Cornell’s crowd-sourcing database, is a handy and free smartphone app. In addition to being able to listen and identify a bird by its sound, a

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Baltimore Orioles can be found in our area during the spring and summer if you know where to look. This photo was taken in the spring by WCBC member Cathy Huneke.

Birding

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user can quickly complete a description checklist and Merlin will come up with a list of potential matches based on the user’s location.

McNitt said that any time of the year there are birds to be seen, but the spring and fall migrations bring the best chance to see uncommon birds.

“The spring is really the time to look for warblers because the males are in their breeding plumage,” she said. She explained that normally drab male birds become brilliantly colored, all in the hopes of attracting a mate. After the breeding season, those feathers are replaced by more subdued ones, enabling them to blend more easily into the background for the fall migration back down south.

McNitt said that the WCBC always welcomes new members and she definitely recommends an organized bird walk.

“It’s great to be with a group who knows what you’re looking at,” she said.

A black-throated blue warbler in the Red Clay Alliance area. Photo taken in August by WCBC member Cathy Huneke.

For more information about the West Chester Bird Club, visit their website at www.westchesterbirdclub.org. It includes an extensive list of free club bird walks, field trips, bird count events, and meeting/presentation schedules. Meetings are held at the Friends Meeting House in West Chester and streamed simultaneously on Zoom. Every Thursday at 8:30 a.m., there is a bird walk at Exton Park. In addition to local birding spots, the schedule includes day trips to places like Brigantine and Sandy Hook to see water birds, and Marsh Creek and Valley Forge to see seasonal birds. The 2024-25 schedule includes details and carpooling information.

A photo of a blue-winged warbler taken in the spring by WCBC member John McNamara.

The Brandywine Conservancy’s Bike the Brandywine event returned for its sixth edition on Saturday, September 21 with nearly 500 cyclists enjoying a partly cloudy day along the Brandywine Creek Greenway and surrounding Chester County countryside. This year’s event featured three scenic loops filled with stunning views of the area’s rural landscapes, rich history and active farmland—much of which the Brandywine Conservancy has helped permanently protect and conserve over the past 55-plus years. Proceeds from the ride benefited the Brandywine’s open

space and clean water programs.

Participating cyclists chose from distances of 25, 45 and 62 (Metric Century) miles, with each loop beginning and ending at the Chadds Ford Historical Society. The Metric Century and 45-mile routes took cyclists through the rolling hills of Unionville, with scenes of bucolic countryside and historic sites, before winding through Modena and the village of Marshallton. Cyclists on the 25-mile route followed along the West Branch of the Brandywine through open farmland, scenic river alleys and equestrian landscapes.

BIKE THE BRANDYWINE ATTRACTS NEARLY 500 RIDERS

Upon their return to Chadds Ford, the riders were welcomed back with celebratory drinks from 2SP Brewing Company and a complimentary lunch provided by the Brandywine Museum of Art’s Millstone Café staff. Bike the Brandywine was generously supported by presenting sponsor, Willowdale Town Center, along with supporting sponsors Anemoni Jewelers, Holly Gross Group of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Trek Bicycle Delaware, 2SP Brewing Company and the Chadds Ford Historical Society.

About the Brandywine Creek Greenway

The Brandywine Creek Greenway is a regional planning initiative of the Brandywine Conservancy—involving 29 municipal partners in Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania and New Castle County and the City of Wilmington in Delaware—to create a 40-mile-long conservation and recreation corridor along both branches of the Brandywine. The Greenway stretches from the

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The Brandywine Conservancy’s Bike the Brandywine event returned for its sixth edition on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Bike the Brandywine

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Christina River in the City of Wilmington, Delaware, to the Pennsylvania Highlands in Honey Brook Township. The Brandywine Creek Greenway and its network of parks and trails form the western limit of the Circuit Trails, a regional trail network of the greater Philadelphia region. The vision of the Brandywine Creek Greenway is to build healthier, more sustainable communities, by emphasizing the natural and cultural resources of the area; preserving and protecting the Brandywine River; and creating connections among open space, parks, river access points and area attractions. To learn more, visit www.brandywinegreenway.org

About the Brandywine Conservancy

The Brandywine Conservancy protects water, conserves land, and engages communities. The Conservancy uses a multi-faceted approach to conservation. Staff work with private landowners who wish to see their lands protected forever and provide innovative community planning services to municipalities and other governmental agencies. The Conservancy currently holds more than 510 conservation and agricultural easements and has facilitated the

This year’s event featured three

rural landscapes, rich history and

permanent preservation of over 70,200 acres of land. The Conservancy is a program of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.

About the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art

The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art preserves and promotes the natural and cultural connections between

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scenic loops ﬁlled with stunning views of the area’s

active farmland.

the area’s beautiful landscape, historic sites, and important artists. The Conservancy protects the lands and waters throughout the Brandywine Valley and other priority conservation areas, developing sustainable approaches to emerging needs and assuring preservation of majestic open spaces and protection of natural resources for generations to come. The Museum of Art presents and collects historic and contemporary works of American art, engaging and exciting visitors of all ages through an array of exhibitions and programs. The Brandywine unites the inspiring experiences of art and nature, enhancing the quality of life in its community and among its diverse audiences.

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Nearly 500 cyclists enjoyed a partly cloudy day along the Brandywine Creek Greenway and surrounding Chester County countryside.

FOR BOTH THE BROWSER AND THE BUYER, THE PENNSBURY-CHADDS FORD ANTIQUE MALL IS A DIGNIFIED NOD TO OUR PAST

Americana, PRESERVED

We have become a nation that has been romanced by the growing spectacle of transience – the promise that there is always something better and newer and upgraded just a click or an app away. With each passing delivery to our doorstep, transience has ambushed permanence and rendered the physical reminders of our

past obsolete. In short, we are riding in the fast lane on a superhighway of consumerism, where there is not time to be absorbed in the beautiful amber of our yesterdays because we must keep up with the demands of today and tomorrow.

Photos by Jie Deng | Text by Richard L. Gaw

|Americana, preserved|

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Upon entrance to the Pennsbury-Chadds Ford Antique Mall in Chadds Ford – whether you’re atomer – there is clear evidence here to suggest that the heart of the nation that resides in the dusty archives of our history is, in fact, treasured, preserved and honored by the many vendors who tend its booths. It is a stunning portal passage for the curious, a please touch museum of artifacts that you can soon display in your home and proof positive that there indeed was an America before the advent of the iPhone.

Throughout its two levels are found toy trains of various types and sizes, tin soldiers from World War I, period costumes and hand-crafted furniture dating back to the 1800s, porcelain Santas and trinkets and doodads from what may have resided in your great grandmother’s childfrom the time when Roosevelt was in the White House – Teddy, not Franklin – and of course, Andrew Wyeth signed prints that when framed and arranged in a home just so, create a distinct and lasting signature of place.

In a world where time accelerates furiously, the Pennsbury-Chadds Ford Antique Mall is Americana, preserved -- an invitation to discover, appreciate and perhaps own the timeless tapestries that

Inspired by her Colombian heritage, has fashioned Margie’s Cuisine into a cu

e, Margie Perez culture of great food aughter azón

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

The city of Cartagena, Colombia is located on the northern coast of Colombia, is a mecca of colors and festivals and streetscapes and architecture, brushed up against the Caribbean Sea, and if a visitor is ever in the immediate need to absorb its culture, they would be wise to immerse themselves in the food coming from the street stalls that line its plazas and sidewalks.

From nearly any vendor, one can tuck into a fried fish plate, or try the Cazuela de Mariscos, the Camarones al Ajillo, the Arepa de Huevo, the Posta Negra or of course, the country’s signature empanada. While all of these dishes are served in restaurants, the street vendor culture becomes a veritable and moveable feast of tastes in what has come to define the city for its sazón, which when translated applies to a blend of spices used in Colombian cooking that when used well, lead a cook to reach a perfection in flavor.

“My grandmother was an empanada maker in a plaza in a small town in Colombia, and that’s how she provided for her 11 children,” Perez said from Margie’s Cuisine, a restaurant and café in Chadds Ford that she has owned for the past two years. “When I was growing up, I never knew that I would grow up to become an empanada maker, because it was a lot of work, but it takes me back to my roots. I grew up with my grandmother’s sazón. She was a master in the kitchen, and with just a few ingredients, she would prepare a huge main dish full of flavor and love.”

“I was visiting from Washington, D.C. for a friend’s wedding when I stumbled upon this Colombian cafe in rural Pennsylvania, and it was a total delight! The pan de bono was one of the best I’ve ever tried, and the salmon bowl was hearty and ﬂavorful.”

~ A satisﬁed customer’s online review of Margie’s Cuisine

When Margarita “Margie” Perez was a child growing up in Cartagena, she learned about cooking from her grandmother, Elina.

In 2012, Perez arrived in the United States as an exchange student in Philadelphia, with plans to return to her home country after a one-year visa and become a journalist so that she could use her communication skills to assist impoverished communities in Colombia. Her career path, however, became happily side-tracked when she met her future husband in Philadelphia and settled in the U.S. With no prior culinary experience and just the talents she absorbed from her grandmother, Perez joined Kampar Kitchen, a Philadelphia-based concept that promotes the city’s diverse and under-represented food scene.

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Margie Perez has owned Margie’s Cuisine in Chadds Ford since October of 2022.

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Inspired by her grandmother and her native Colombia, Perez has infused the menu at Margie’s Cuisine with her own sense of sazón.

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Margie’s Cuisine

“They took me under their wing, tried my product and from them, I began to make pop-up appearances under their platform, selling empanadas,” Perez said. “They made me believe in my product, held my hand and told me, ‘You have a great product.’ It was an amazing experience, and most importantly, they encouraged all their members to talk about their dishes. We became storytellers, so I wasn’t just selling empanadas. I was telling the story behind empanadas, which in a way became the story about my heritage.”

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As part of a menu that includes dishes, appetizers, soups and salads, Margie’s Cuisine offers vegetarian options.

“On a quiet Thursday morning I ventured into this new local Colombian boutique cafe. Previously owners were heralded for their local Mushroom fare, but this usage was welcome and delicious! The Ham, Brie, caramelized Pear, Arugula sandwich with a Passion Fruit reduction was a triumph! The caramel and lavender latte (off menu, thank you Margie!) were sweet and smooth sips.”

~ Another online review of Margie’s

Cuisine

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Margie’s Cuisine

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e

‘A Colombian ambassador’

In October 2022, Perez, having had her skills as a chef cultivated by her experience at Kampar Kitchen, opened Margie’s Cuisine on Baltimore Pike. It was a tremendous leap of faith, she said.

“I was beginning to see the lovely reactions of the people who were enjoying my food and wanting to know more about what I had to offer that gave me the push to take the plunge to start my own business,” Perez said. “My grandmother was certainly an influence on the selection of my menu, but so was the influence of my culture. I always say that Colombia is very diverse in its cuisine, and everywhere you go there, you will experience a different sazón.

“With Margie’s Cuisine, I feel like a Colombian ambassador here in the United States, and the best way to represent my country through my art is through my food. Being able to talk about Colombian food and the culture has given me a responsibility that I love sharing.”

From the Soul of Cuba sandwich to baked empanadas to entrees like Desgranado, the Corrientazo Bowl and the stuffed Arepas, Margie’s Cuisine captures the true essence of Latina flavors – served hearty and plentiful among an ambience reminiscent of a Colombian café. If there is

an intangible asset to the restaurant, however, it is experienced far beyond the delicious food and the décor, Perez said.

“I want the people who come here to have the same feeling that they have when they are walking into someone’s home and about to be served a homemade meal,” she said. “It’s a place to come and be yourself. They can be loud. They can be quiet. They can be themselves. They can be comfortable, because being at Margie’s Cuisine is the equivalent of sitting down at Grandma’s table.”

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Photo by Richard L. Gaw

The restaurant’s decor perfectly captures the cozy intimacy of a Colombian café.

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Elina travels to see Perez and her family in Delaware County during the holiday season and has visited her granddaughter’s restaurant several times. To this day, Perez will frequently call Elina in Colombia to get advice about recipes.

“She always tells me, ‘Keep trying. You have to keep trying. Put your heart into it,’” Perez said. “When I begin to put my heart into it, I become more and more inspired by her, and I know that I have made her proud.”

Margie’s Cuisine is located at 880 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford, Pa. 19317. The restaurant is open Wednesdays through Sundays. To contact Margie’s Cuisine, call (610) 228-0405.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty. com.

“We chose this restaurant to have our private catering service for our wedding and it was spectacular. We were all happy with the taste, the punctuality, the delivery, the organization of this company and the delicious food.”

~ Yet another online review from a satisﬁed customer