The rain held off this morning and even when it came it was just intermittently drizzly.
Soon we almost had enough people to convene a meeting of Retired Riverton School Teachers.
It was great to catch up with RPS alum, Kim Piotrowski, with her mom, Ann Marie.
We enjoyed conversing with browsers who came by the Porch Club during the Garden Tour.
May Hannah brought by a color postcard of Fulton Street, c.1912, for me to scan.
Shown here framed, click here to see the retouched scan I made from it.
In the course of congratulating Tom Shaw on the work he is doing on his house at 301 Main Street the origin story of the famous Duster sailboat came up.
Local lore holds that Owen Merrill designed and built the first Duster there in a room on the 3rd floor. He and some friends lowered the craft from a window, took it down to the river, and christened it a “Duster”. It became a world-class sailboat.
Tom is convinced that he has seen a newspaper photo of that moment – but where? Let’s ask the universe to find it. If a reader can direct me, please help. Tom wants to find an old Duster, seaworthy or not, that he can plant in his garden as a kind of “The Duster was born here” historical marker.
After grazing on a luncheon plate of goodies prepared by the Porch Club women, I also bought two table centerpieces composed of papier mache birds and plants in tiny Dreer’s Nursery terracotta flower pots that were found on the riverbank near the Pompeston Creek.
Bunched together here on my picnic table in Delran they will wind up in the HSR Museum at some point. It is coming together slowly… very slowly.
Oh yeah, we also sold five mugs, too, so the day spent was totally worth it. – JMc
