Dear
Friends,
Good morning. Whenever I drive
through Buckingham Township, I think of Adele and Henry Douglas Paxson and
their magnificent farm on Route 202 near Lashaska. Known as “Elm Grove,” the
property was owned by the Paxson family for generations. It stretched from 202
to Upper Mountain Road.
Adele survived her husband and
thanks to her, all Bucks Countians will enjoy seeing the farm and its open
space forever. “Mother put restrictions on the entire farm to insure its
preservation,” Sally Paxson Davis began, “Mother conserved it. She was so far
sighted.”
She is the surviving daughter of the
Paxsons. Sally’s older sister, Mary Helen, was killed in an automobile crash in
France years ago. Sally told me about her childhood at Elm Grove, a life that
reminded me of a fairy tale. She grew up in the 1940’s and ‘50s, always on
horseback. Buckingham Township roads like Byecroft Road and Upper Mountain Road
which flanked Elm Grove were just dirt roads then.
Sally told me that Elm Grove was a
William Penn grant farm, which originated in 1740. The first Paxson to live in
Bucks County was Henry Paxson who owned a 200-acre farm in Solebury Township in
the late 1600’s.
Sally’s parents were well-known in major business
and high society circles. Her father was a famous Philadelphia lawyer whose law
firm included Mayor Richardson Dilworth. Sally’s mother was known in show horse
and racehorse venues throughout the world. I remember watching Adele jumping
sidesaddle at the Devon Horse show, one of America’s most famous. Adele bred
and raised horses at Elm Grove; had stables in Florida and South Carolina; and
raced them at Hialeah, Monmouth, Philadelphia and Saratoga.
Each year, opera comes to Bucks County thanks to the
Paxson family. A major musical and social event, it’s known as the Bucks County
Opera. It originated with the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, which
Adele’s mother, Helen Corning Warden, created in 1934. Singers from the
“My mother and father had a strong musical
connection,” Sally told me. Doug had been President of two Philadelphia opera
companies, The Grand and The Lyric. It was through his leadership that the two
were merged into the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Like her husband, Adele
succeeded her mother as Chairman of
Today, Sally is
You should hear those students sing. All of them are
between the ages of 21 and 30. If you closed your eyes, you’d swear that you
were sitting in the Metropolitan Opera house. The
Sally has the personality of her father. “He wasn’t
a snob,” Sally added, as she reminisced about her dad. “He could make the
little guy feel good.” Sally was right on the mark when she described her
father. “Truly, he was a Renaissance Man,” she said.
Betsy and I were always delighted to be in their
presence. And Bucks residents are true beneficiaries because of the Paxson protection
of the land.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith
(Please ad the tag: corrections and suggestions,
etc) And I think I sent the correction to the Judge Rufes’ column (Hart spent
27 years on the bench, not 17). It was my error.