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Journey Back In Time at the Seton Shrine

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James Rada Jr.

It’s 1818, and a shipment of straw bonnets has just arrived at Sis. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s free school in Emmitsburg. The young girls sit in their school room decorating their bonnets with ribbon as they talk about their lives, whether she is a daughter of a farming family in town or the granddaughter of one of the wealthiest men in the country.

The 1818 Experience at the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg is a living history experience at the Stone Farmhouse and White House on the grounds.

At the 1750 farmhouse, you meet living history interpreters, portraying Sisters Sally Thompson and Bridgette Farrow, who take you on a tour of the first permanent home in Emmitsburg for Seton and her sisters. They show you where the small home was added onto and the room where Seton slept and the first small chapel for the sisters.

It was also in this house that Seton founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s on July 31, 1809.

At the White House, a class of young girls is comprised of girls from town families and those who are boarding at the school. This is the building where the first free Catholic school for girls was founded, and it eventually grew into St. Joseph’s College.

An interpreter portraying Sis. Elizabeth explained that many of the boarders came from cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore because Mother Seton had “connections” in those cities.

“They knew their daughters could get a good education here and good skills needed to start a household,” Sis. Elizabeth said.

The 1818 Experience also allows you to watch the girls have fun with outdoor activities and take French lessons.

“Everything we can control, we try to keep period,” said Claire Bodine, group visits coordinator at the Seton Shrine.

The program makes uses of the junior history interpreters, a relatively new program at the shrine that trains youth in living history.

“They take workshops and classes to learn why what they do is important,” explained Bodine. “They also do instructional shadowing with experienced interpreters to learn how it is done.”

Bernadette Hahn, age 10, plays Catherine Walters, a student at the school. When her mom first signed her up for the program, all she knew was it had something to do with history. Now, after learning more about Walters and playing her during living history activities, Bernadette said, “I love it.”

Although the program chose a bad year because it had to deal with COVID-19 restrictions, it will be returning in the spring. The living history interpreters will be participating in the Candlelight Tours this month from December 11-19. These tours will take you into the homes on the grounds that are decorating for the holidays during the early 1800s. Visitors will learn about the Christmas traditions from Mother Seton’s time and can partake in hands-on activities.

Photos by James Rada, Jr.

Junior history interpreters get ready to play students at the White House at the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg.

Living history interpreters play sisters Sally Thompson and Bridgette Farrow at the Stone House at the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg.

Blue Ridge Summit Makes Bid to be the Summer Capital of the United States

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James Rada, Jr.

In the days before air conditioning, Washington D.C. could be nearly unbearable in the summer. Those who could would travel to summer homes in more-agreeable climates. It wasn’t always possible for federal officials, though.

In 1915, some of the towns surrounding the capital city began making their case to serve as the summer capital for the United States, in a similar way to the way President Dwight D. Eisenhower would use his Gettysburg home as a temporary White House while he was recovering from a heart attack. They were generally towns within a couple hours of Washington, D.C., and at a higher elevation.

In August, the Waynesboro Board of Trade appointed a committee to open communications with Congressman D. K. Focht “and urge him to use his influence in having the summer capital located in this section,” according to the Gettysburg Times.

W. H. Doll of the traffic department of the Western Maryland Railway traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with one of President Woodrow Wilson’s secretaries to show the railroad’s support for having Blue Ridge Summit be the summer capital.

“Mr. Doll called attention to the fact that Blue Ridge Summit is now more or less a ‘summer capital’ on account of the large number of government officials and members of the diplomatic corps who spend the heated season there,” the Gettysburg Times reported.

Diplomatic delegations from Argentina, Norway, Japan, and Uruguay already had many of their members spending the summer in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania. The Washington Post even noted in 1915 that Viscountess Chinda, the wife of Japanese Ambassador Chinda, had traveled to Japanese property in Blue Ridge Summit, calling the summer embassy. The U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Comptroller of the Currency also spent much of the summer in the mountains.

Some of the diplomats and officials had homes, but others simply stayed the summer in the Monterey Inn. The Monterey Inn was probably the most famous of the inns of Blue Ridge Summit. It was built in 1848 and attracted visitors from all over the region. The inn would burn to the ground in 1941, but in 1915, it was the jewel of Blue Ridge Summit.

For a while, it seemed that the government was considering officially designating the town as the summer capital. Engineers from Washington traveled to Blue Ridge Summit in October to take elevations and measurements of the town and surrounding area. Local officials took it as a sign that the government was collecting data on where to build government buildings.

It wasn’t the first time towns had made an appeal to be the summer capital. Earlier in the year, Braddock Heights in Frederick County had made its case only to see nothing come of it. It doesn’t seem that the town fathers made much of persuasive appeal other than offering cooler summer weather within a fairly close location to Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Virginia Congressman Charles Carlin was making the case for the summer capital being in the Virginia mountains, not far from Washington. The basis of his appeal was that he would submit a bill for designating a summer capital, but only if it was located in his district in Virginia.

Although Blue Ridge Summit’s official recognition as the summer capital failed, the town continued to appeal to foreign delegations. Even as late as 1940, about a dozen foreign embassies maintained summer legations in Blue Ridge, many at Monterey, occasioning it to be called often “the summer capital of the United States,” according to the Living Places webpage for the Monterey Historic District.

Japanese Ambassador Chinda and wife Viscountess Chinda.

Courtesy Photo

From Thurmont’s Stoner House to the White House —

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The Wallpaper Story

Joan Bittner Fry

Preface 

William Jones was a prosperous tannery owner who operated his tannery along Little Hunting Creek in Thurmont in 1838. To show his prosperity, he built a six-room stone house on East Main Street. That was not enough, though. To give his new home a touch of elegance and class, he ordered new panoramic wallpaper from the French company of Jean Zuber.

Eugenie and Daniel Rouzer purchased the home in 1891. The Rouzers’ daughter, Gertrude, and her husband, William Stoner, eventually inherited the house.  Gertrude Stoner sold the house in 1961, and it was scheduled for demolition to make room for a grocery store (Thurmont Super Thrift at the time; now Hobbs’ Hardware).

In 1929, Gertrude Stoner had written to Gregory and Brown Co., an interior decorating firm, trying to find out the history of the unusual wallpaper. J.C. Waterman replied saying the print was called “Scenic America” and was manufactured by a French manufacturer, J. Zuber in Rixheim, Alsace, France. The scenes were taken from a set of Currier and Ives prints and show American landscapes: Natural Bridge, Niagara Falls, West Point, and Boston Harbor.  The wallpaper was an extravagant cost of $10.00 at the time. It journeyed from France to Thurmont in tin foil tubes to protect it from the moisture of an ocean crossing.

Viewpoint from Baroness Stackelberg, Baltimore American (newspaper), Sunday, September 3, 1961

The Stoner House provided a near miracle recently for a young man who had faith in his own judgment and real devotion to a cause.  He is a 33-year-old Washingtonian named Peter Hill who, through a set of unusual circumstances, sold some very early 19th Century wallpaper that he bought for $50 for 250 times as much as he paid for it.  The paper, which shows a scene of the Boston Harbor in the early days, and another scene of an Indian dance, brought $12,500 to the finder and his Danish-born wife and was later presented by the purchasers to the White House.

Mr. Hill happened on to the paper on account of an interest in the history of religion and a zest for antique collecting.  The antique collecting and selling has helped him make money to carry on the spreading of the gospel as a lay preacher.

Through some of the heirlooms he found in the past that are now part of the historical collections at the Smithsonian Institute, Peter Hill met John Newton Pearce. Mr. Pearce is in the cultural section of the Smithsonian, and his wife, Mildred, is the White House curator.  It was through her that Mr. Hill later aroused the interest of Mrs. John F. Kennedy in the scenic wallpaper.

Last spring when he was in desperate need of money to carry on his religious drives, as if in answer to prayer, friends told him to go to an antique sale in Thurmont, Maryland.  There a Mrs. Stoner was selling the furniture in her old house as it was being torn down in just a few days to make way for a chain store (Thurmont Super Thrift, now Hobbs’ Hardware).  When Mr. Hill entered the house he noticed the magnificent wallpaper in the front hall and was told that in order to acquire it he must deal with the wrecking company.

Hill told Stoner he wanted to purchase the wallpaper, but she told him he would have to negotiate with Ralph Miller who was in charge of the demolition that was scheduled to start in two days.  Miller told Hill that a woman had offered $100 for the wallpaper but would not be able to remove it before the house was demolished, according to a 1961 Frederick Post article.

He paid $50 for the wallpaper and set to in a rush to remove it from the walls where it had been for over 100 years.  He spent three days removing the complete set of “Scenic America” wallpaper with a razor blade and putty knife.  After this was done, he called his friend Mr. Pearce of the Smithsonian and showed it to him.  Mr. Pearce thought it a “find” and arranged with his wife to take it to the White House so Mrs. Kennedy could see it.

On seeing the wallpaper, Mrs. Kennedy decided it was appropriate for the White House and indicated she would like to have it.  Mrs. Kennedy and the Hills decided it would go well in the Diplomatic Reception Room which was at that moment being furnished with Americana by the National Society of Interior Decorators (NSID).  They offered to buy the paper when they heard Mrs. Kennedy liked it. And, so, it was that the NSID complied with the wishes of the First Lady, and helped a young religious person to carry on his work by paying $12,500 for paper that had cost him but $50.

The sequel to the story is that the NSID who paid for the paper has found out since that this wallpaper was made in the early 1800’s by a company called J. Zuber.  The J. Zuber Co. is reputedly still making the identical wallpaper from old hand blocks and modern prints of this paper could have been bought for less than an eighth of the price they paid.

The Zuber wallpaper in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House.

The Stoner House

Joan Knott Courtesy Photo

Calvin Bittner Dances at The White House

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Jim Bittner of Sabillasville is proud of his grandson, Calvin Bittner, son of Aaron Bittner and wife, Linda, of North Carolina.

Calvin is currently dancing and choreographing with a company called Vivid Ballet, in Hartford, Connecticut. He danced at the White House in December. “It was a very last minute, out-of-the-blue opportunity. I was quite nervous, but also very excited to have the opportunity. We had a few moments in the space to rehearse before the event, and the flow of the event was taken from the First Lady’s movements. She was very pleased with the event, clapping and laughing for us at the end.”

Calvin Bittner lifts a ballerina during a dance in the White House. Melania Trump looks on.

Papal Gift Honors First American-Born Saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton

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Upon Pope Francis’ arrival at the White House on September 23, 2015, in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama presented him with the original key to the home of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. The key once opened the door of her home, the Stone House, in Emmitsburg, on the grounds of The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Presented in a case crafted specifically for the occasion, the key honors both His Holiness Pope Francis and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

“This gift is a fitting tribute,” said Rob Judge, Executive Director of The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, “to a woman who opened doors for so many women to serve the poor, and for a man who has been a strong advocate for those who are poor and marginalized.”

“It is humbling,” said Judge, “to know that Pope Francis literally holds the key to Mother Seton’s home, where we welcome tens of thousands of visitors every year. People of all faiths are drawn here to learn the story of her life and legacy.”

Go to www.setonshrine.org for a short biography and photos of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, as well as photos of her home and Basilica.