The ranger who gave the Todd/White tour suggested we might also like to see the Powel house, a few blocks away. It's owned and maintained by a private foundation, rather than the National Park Service.
I thought "Why not?" and meandered in that direction, passing some other interesting things along the way.
This house is currently occupied.
From a distance, I thought this might be a fire-insurance plaque, but no.
Interesting to learn a bit about the politics of the current owners.
Many people who live in elderly Philadelphia dwellings know who lived there before them, given signs seen in windows. I believe this says "Charles E. Baker Merchant & President of Gerard (?) Bank," and "Horace Binney ancestor of the creator of Crayola Crayons."
I never noticed the sign when I took the pic. I think it is fun to know, and that it was kind of them to share it with us.
Ok, walking on to the Powel house.
We paid for this tour (unlike the previous one), and there were two (2) of us tourists.
Samuel Powel bought this house just days before his marriage to Elizabeth Willing in 1769. Both of them came from the very top of wealthy/powerful Philadelphia society. Their marriage was a business contract, rather than a love match. He was 31 and she was 26 when they married.
This house was exceedingly ritzy.
We were told the dining room was this color when the Powels lived here. The color was thought to be good for the digestion, and conducive to conversation..... (Ed. note -- a pic with more of a room than just one item! Yay!)
At one point it was thought this house would be torn down, resulting in much original material being lost from this location. For example, the interior of the front parlor (about which, more, anon) was removed and reconstructed in the Philadelphia art museum.
I believe it's the case that most of the stuff in the house is period, but not owned by the Powels.
This, however, may have belonged to the Powels..... These dishes are French. Apparently their story was that Lafayette gave them to the Powels. The History Detectives were engaged to determine the truth. They decided Lafayette was not the source of the gift, so the origin of these pieces is a mystery.
This seems rather pointed, so to speak. Did Elizabeth have a lover, after Samuel died? She outlived him by nearly 40 years....
We were told that the finest carvers moved to the colonies, in the mid-18th century, as they could make a much better living here than in England.
Mantel.
This is visible in the dining-room pic above. I believe we were told it was a document case, and that it probably did belong to the Powels. Gorgeous wood!
The ground floor front room was Samuel's office. We were told he owned 90 buildings, which probably meant he had about 270 tenants, and that each tenant paid rent every week. In person, in cash. That meant a lot of traipsing in and out of tenants.....
Apparently coming up with cash was an issue. The colonies were not allowed to coin or print their own, so they used whatever they could get, including Dutch guilders and Spanish pieces of eight, in addition to English pounds.
I asked if they would ever have been paid in eggs or cabbages, and was told (politely) "Certainly NOT!" The Powels were far too high on the social scale for any such thing. I pressed the issue -- "Not even enough for household use?" and was told that the household was so small that, no, not even for household use.
Though there were several pregnancies, no child survived long. It was just Liz and Sam, and a couple of servants.....
We had been told, when in the dining room, that the fancy dinner parties they threw consisted of 125 dishes. (Can you say "ridiculous ostentation"? I thought you could....) I would have thought they needed eggs -- and maybe fresh fruit, rather than cabbages? -- for some of those dishes, but I guess they made all of their transactions with cash.
Going upstairs.
A reconstruction of the front parlor. (Called "the ballroom" by the guide in the house, but "the front parlor" in the art museum where the original interior of this room now resides. It wasn't that big a room. Big for a parlor, but small for a ballroom, so I bet it was "parlor" rather than "ballroom.") They did dance in it, I believe -- I heard that in multiple locations.
Light, bright, fancy..........
You can just barely see a design like this in the corner of the ceiling, above.
The reconstruction in the house is in better condition than the originals which were removed to the art museum. The big flower in the middle of this swag is broken, at the museum.
In addition, the room in the museum is filled with original "stuff" belonging to the Cadwaladers (another very wealthy family of the time). The Cadwalader paintings, etc, require that the museum's room be kept very dark.
In the house, the room is much more interesting to see and visit, in my humble, as it is lighter, brighter, and in better condition.....
Do you remember the rather plain mirror we saw in the Todd house? Here's a contrast.....
Note also the fancy molding you can see reflected in the mirror.
The floors are original to the house. George Washington was an habitué. I heard from multiple sources that he was shy with women, but loved to dance.
George danced on this exact floor. Which is why it's cool to have the original stuff, even if not in very good shape......
Samuel was 55 when he died of yellow fever in 1793. Here is Elizabeth, alone, after his death. I tried for a closeup of her face, but did not get a passably sharp image. She looks sad, as well she might. She lived until 1837. Given that everything (utterly everything; that is the way it was) belonged to him and she could only inherit anything at all under very limited circumstances, I wonder what happened to her when all of the wealth devolved on whichever male was Samuel's nearest relative.........
We were told that the painted molding was period. Hard to imagine that Elizabeth found it comforting......
Another fancy clock. I like the Todds' clock better.
Leaving the Powels behind, with a melancholy carpe diem sort of thought, we'll head back out into the heat and humidity (which are enough to make one melancholy all by themselves, nevermind the brevity of life!), and make our way back to the Marriott and its lovely air conditioning.
Of course we'll keep our eyes open on the way....
Bootscraper. Wonder how old it is..........
18th century garden. (this was labeled; I am reporting what the label said)
Cobblestones. Just as salubrious for the feet as pavers, I find.
Note to self -- when you know that your shoes are old, and are certainly not able to give you the support and cushioning a lot of walking requires, actually BUYING new shoes, rather than merely thinking you should buy them, would be a really fine idea......
When I got back to the hotel, I lay on my back (on a clean towel!) on the floor, for a while, and I drank and drank and drank. I'm not really all that fond of days that leave me dripping.........
I had a couple of hours to recover. Then we went out to eat Thai food. my better half and Tom have been friends since they met, in 5th grade. They've been playing games together for all of that time. There was a time when they played bridge together at least once a year for over 10 years, despite living hundreds of miles apart.
Tom, and his wife, Susan, live in NYC. Tom is a major connoisseur of Thai food. He chose the restaurant, and was very happy with the food. I had green curry, which is what I usually get here. I thought it was very good.
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