Wright's Ferry Mansion: Gateway to the West

So it's been about a week since my last post - I guess that's what will happen when life gets as crazy as mine! I've had a lot of encounters with some great history since then. I'll begin with last Friday in this particular post.

Last Friday I visited Wright's Ferry Mansion in Columbia, PA. Before I went in for a tour, I wandered around the town of Columbia. I had never been there before, despite having lived in Lancaster County all of my life. It's situated on the Susquehanna River in the northwestern portion of the county and was once a major railroad connection. From what I understand, the Columbia-Philadelphia Railroad was a piece in the "Main Line of Public Works," a railroad-canal system that provided connection between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Even before the invention of the railroad, Columbia provided a "Gateway to the West" through Wright's Ferry. In general, I found Columbia to be a peculiar town that seemed to be caught in a previous decade, but I enjoyed the slow pace.

When I went in for my tour, I was struck by how different a wealthy early 18th century English home was from the wealthy early 18th century German home where I occasionally volunteer (the Hans Herr House). Susanna Wright was an English Quaker and her home was built in 1738. It is currently styled in the period before 1750. I suppose I had the assumption that Quakers would have lived simplistically, but Susanna Wright certainly had good taste for fine things and many beautiful objects. She even cultivated her own silk from silkworms! She also enjoyed reading, so I appreciated that fact. In contrast, early German Mennonites were all about being practical and simple, so that is why the Hans Herr House appears starkly bare in comparison, despite the wealth of Christian Herr.

I enjoyed a very interesting tour of the beautiful home and learned much about Wright's Ferry before having a good talk with Meg, the curator. I told her about my cataloguing objects woes from the previous day at the historical society and she encouraged me not to give up on objects. I still don't know if the technical aspects of caring for objects is what makes me most excited, but I'll take her advice and give them some more chances. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, I think I have myself an interesting internship for the spring! I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing yet, but probably some research involving the Civil War.

Exciting Friday, huh? I thought so!