Talk:Schuylkill Fishing Company
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Research note
editA mention of the Andalusia site with a little history here. --BillFlis 12:09, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
Historic photos
editCastle
edit58. The Clock House
p. 327: "The Clock House. -- This ancient brick mansion has been colored yellow. It is two stories high with dormer windows in the attic. A gable breaks the wall on the river front of the house, and a piazza extends along a part of its length. The old window, looking like a clock face, lighted the second story, and a light was formerly kept burning there to guide the mariners on the river, when rafts were passing along. Hence the name. The front door, with its side windows formerly introduced to a hall, but the partition has been removed, making a very large room [.] In this room is a fire-place, where the kettle swings, and a mantel with fine wood carving, which has been moved from another room in the house, is worthy of attention. A large platter is fastened in a frame on the wall, above the fire-place. A cannon in front of the house threatens New Jersey, if the State in Schuylkill should see fit to fight. A little wharf holds a small boat by its rope, while a sail boat dances on the waves. A flag with its central fish and thirteen stars is a reminder of old times. Two sun-dials are on the well-kept lawn. Lewis Jackson has charge of the place."
59. Castle of the State in Schuylkillp. 331: " 'The State in Schuylkill,' founded in 1732, and the oldest existing social organization among English speaking people, was a combination of fishermen and humorists, who were also among the prominent founders of the city of Philadelphia ... Many of the founders of the 'State in Schuylkill' were officeholders, and knew that the affairs of the new State would be administered more successfully if there were as many offices as possible. Therefore, they chose a Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, Representatives, Counsellors, Treasurer, a Secretary of State, a Sheriff and a Coroner ... The colony was first established on the west bank of the Schuylkill, about a mile above the present water works. Here it continued to occupy an acre of ground for ninety years, but the fishery was destroyed by the building of the dam, and in 1822 the colony emigrated to the east bank of the river, opposite Bartram's garden. For the ground which the colony originally occupied it paid to the 'Baron of the Soil' an annual rental of three fresh sun perch. There a 'Court House' was erected, previous to which the chiefs of the Leni Lenape tribe of Indians attended a council of the new colony, and granted its members the right and privilege to hunt in the woods and fish in the Schuylkill and Delaware ... At he Falls of Schuylkill a company of aristocratic sportsmen, the 'Society of Fort St. David's,' had their fort about the middle of the last century, but after the Revolutionary War this society was merged in the 'State in Schuylkill.' The 'State in Schuylkill' also had a navy consisting of two boats, named the Shirk and the Fly ... In 1781, the dilapidated castle, navy and dockyard were repaired at an outlay of $60. In the next year new laws were passed and the 'State in Schuylkill' was declared a sovereign and independent State in signification of the outcome of the war ... In March, 1812, was erected the new castle, which had been moved with every subsequent emigration of the colony and is still in use ... In April, 1884, the State recovered possession of the cannon which it had presented to the Association Battery in 1747. The battery was on the Delaware where the navy yard is. In 1887, the State in Schuylkill bought the Clock House and two acres of ground on the Delaware opposite Beverly. The old castle and belongings were removed from Gray's Ferry to Eddington and refitted at an expensive of $1,700."