Eastern PA- the Witherington's

The WITHERINGTON’S, EASTERN PA

The water line outside the Airstream froze last night- for the second time in a week. It’s close to the time we start heading south..

We’ve been in Gilbertsvile, PA for the past week and a half. This is the home of Jack and Valerie Witherington, their sons Ethan and Garret, and their business “Methods and Materials Building Co.” Jack founded M&M about 5 years ago after leaving a career in industrial sales. Jack had that kind of mid-life epiphany that comes from experience, bad luck, soul searching, and following one’s heart. I can identify with these experiences.

Gilbertsville is in eastern Pennsylvania, about 40 miles west of Philadelphia. The area is steeped in history, which has been a boon for our homeschooling efforts with Ansel. In the past week Ansel’s been to Valley Forge, he’s touched the liberty bell, toured Independence Hall, had lunch in the Reading Terminal Market, had a night time tour of a 19th century concrete castle, and seen a revolutionary war siege reenactment at Fort Mifflin. This part of Pennsylvania is wooded and hilly. Reminds me of home in the Kettle Moraine. Being close to Philly, it’s rapidly growing. It’s the most densely populated place we’ve stayed so far on our journey. Our Airstream is snuggled in to Jack and Valerie’s back yard between some big oak trees. While the number of folks living around here is a change for us, it’s a boon in terms of enjoying the things that cities of this size have to offer.

We picked our way to Gilbertsville from central PA, having been there for the Guild conference the last weekend in October. Sunday night 10/31 we stayed in a little state park, having been unable to contact Ruth’s cousin Joanne Laabs, who lives nearby in Huntingdon PA. Monday morning Joanne returned our call and invited us to her home. She and her husband Rick, along with son Mitch, moved there from Texas this year. They sacrificed much to come to this beautiful little Pennsylvania hill country college town. We had a great- though too short- visit with Joanne & Co. and pulled up stakes again Tuesday morning.

Our immediate goal was Hershey, and the chocolate tour there. While the tour was entertaining, the crass commercialism was overwhelming. We had to make a hurried exit after an hour or two, and at least one fit from each boy. Just too much to buy in there.

After leaving Hershey we headed for the Witherington’s. Roads in this part of the world- with the partial exception of the turnpike, are kindly referred to as “goat trails” by the locals. So much of this area developed before the advent of the car. Roads got you from town A to mill B, following the path of least resistance, and turning sharp corners along the route. Twists and turns didn’t matter when you were going 10 mph looking at the backside of a horse I guess. The contrasts between old and new are everywhere. Most striking perhaps are smallvillages, with the most magnificent old stone homes close to the main road (sometimes measured in inches; reminds me of Germany) where the original owners built them to show off their wealth. More humble homes were built farther back from the main streets. I can imagine current owners of the grand old homes wish the situation were reversed. Having this kind of traffic a few inches from their homes must get old.

Jack put me right to work on an ongoing project affectionately known as “deckzilla”. It’s an 1800 square foot timber framed deck, with multiple levels, Ipe decking, and a huge hot tub. We erected an oak timber pergola over the hot tub. This was an arduous process, as we were working 15’ above grade, raising with a crank up Genie winch lift.

I’ve also been working with Jack on selling a large project. This has been fun, as it’s a task for which I think I have some skill. We’ve met with the builder, who was impressed by the computer model Ruth and I did for him. He invited us to a meeting with himself, the architect, the engineer, and the carpenter. This meeting- near the building site in New Jersey- went well, and I think we’re close to a deal.

The visit has been a boon for Ansel and Rainer. They are quite close to the ages of Jack and val’s boys, and the four of them together are a formidable posse when they put their minds to it. Today (Sunday 11/14/04) we took them to Hopewell Furnace, an historic iron furnace that is now a national park. The origins of the works date to 1771; the foundry here produced cannons used against the British in the revolution, and was thus an important strategic asset for Washington’s troops. The boys enjoyed learning about the craft of smelting iron, but I think they enjoyed running around the beautiful grounds more. We have a new phrase for what we need to do for hyper boys: we need to “lunge” them, as horses are exercised. Lunging opportunities are an important part of our day.