 |
| A weekly look around the valley |
| Issue 4 — 400-pound pumpkins and the grave by the tracks |
| Hey. Week 42 around the valley. |
|
What’s in this one |
|
| 1 |
Hot picks · Great Pumpkin Carve in Chadds Ford Thu–Sat, a free roots and reggae day in Coatesville Saturday, and the Pow Wow at Joanna Furnace all weekend. |
| 2 |
Field guide · How to do the West Chester Halloween Door Tour, Oct 16–31: the map, the timing, the parking, the manners. |
| 3 |
The scrap · A Wegmans shortcut to Route 1, Delco Donny bounced from a Sheetz, the meatball subs guy, and a wellness check on flaggers. |
| 4 |
What’s building · Peirce Middle’s trailers go permanent? West Goshen hearing Oct 19. Plus 55+ housing on Paoli industrial land, Willistown Oct 26. |
| 5 |
Makers · Craft & Mercantile’s Friday night market at Eagleview, then Clover Market in Kennett Sunday. |
| 6 |
Deep cut · Duffy’s Cut: 57 Irish rail workers, the summer of 1832, and a talk in West Goshen Oct 22. |
| 7 |
Season · Natural Lands’ free Fall Festival at Stroud Preserve Saturday, and a maitake class at the Woodlands that morning. |
|
|
|
Hot picks |
|
| This weekend’s best bets around here. |
| Saturday is reggae by the canoes, then giant glowing pumpkins after dark. Sunday is a drive to the county line for the Grand Entry. Wear real shoes. |
|
|
|
|
Chadds Ford · Thu Oct 15–Sat Oct 17 · $20
More than 70 carvers take saws to pumpkins up to 400 pounds in the Chadds Ford Historical Society meadow, 1736 Creek Rd. The Wyeths started this in the early 1970s and it never stopped. Thursday 2–9 is carve day, so go then if you want to watch the knives. Friday 2–10, Saturday noon–10, and after dark the pumpkins are the light. Haunted trail, Kenny Thompson & Friends, food trucks, local beer and wine. $20, $15 seniors, free for 15 and under. Free parking. No dogs, no hayrides, and the meadow is bumpy, so skip the sandals. Great Pumpkin Carve
|
|
|
Coatesville · Sat Oct 17 · noon–8 · free
|
|
|
Morgantown · Sat–Sun Oct 17–18 · 10–6 · $5
|
|
Field guide |
|
| One useful guide to living around here. |
|
|
West Chester · maps from West Chester Public Library, 415 N. Church St
The best haunted house in West Chester is a bunch of front porches. Starting Friday Oct 16 and running through Oct 31, borough neighbors go all in on skeletons, inflatables, and full porch scenes, and the library sells you the treasure map. It is a fundraiser for West Chester Public Library. You make a donation, they send the map by email or you grab a paper copy at the library from Oct 15. Yard signs mark the stops, and a scavenger hunt rides along with the map. My move is a weeknight at dusk with the map printed, because phones die and porch lights are dim. Park once, walk it by neighborhood, and finish with dinner on Gay Street. Sidewalks only, no knocking. These are people’s homes, and that is why the tour keeps happening.
|
|
|
The scrap |
|
| The best stuff you missed in the area’s social media world. |
| The best stuff you missed around here on social this week. Short takes. |
|
|
|
What’s building |
|
| What’s going up, getting paused, or getting fought over. |
| Two hearings, one week apart. Peirce Middle wants to swap its trailers for real classrooms, and an industrial lot in Paoli could turn into 55+ housing if Willistown says the slopes can take it. |
|
|
|
|
West Goshen · 1314 Burke Rd · Mon Oct 19 · 6pm
|
|
|
Willistown · 14 Industrial Blvd, Paoli · Mon Oct 26 · 7pm
|
|
Makers |
|
| Local makers nights and market tables worth hitting. |
| Friday night under twinkle lights in Exton, then Sunday at the last outdoor Clover of the year in Kennett. Bring a tote. Bring two. |
|
|
|
|
Exton · Fri Oct 16 · 4:30–8
|
|
|
Kennett Square · Sun Oct 18 · 10–4 · free
|
|
Deep cut |
|
| One local history leftover worth knowing. |
|
|
Malvern · Duffy’s Cut marker, King Rd & Sugartown Rd, East Whiteland
Most of us have ridden a train past Duffy’s Cut without knowing it. In the summer of 1832, contractor Philip Duffy hired 57 newly arrived Irish workers to dig a railroad cut through the hills near Malvern. Within about two months, the record says, they were all dead and buried in a ditch beside the line. I care because the cut is still there, still carrying trains, and it kept its secret for more than 150 years. A railroad file, two brothers from Immaculata, and a dig that started in 2004 finally found remains in 2009. The official cause was cholera. Some of the skulls raised harder questions, and experts still disagree about what they mean. You cannot walk the site, since it sits on active Amtrak tracks. You can stand at the state marker, visit the museum at Immaculata, and hear the story Thursday Oct 22 at 7pm at West Goshen Township. The full story is in the longer cut.
|
|
|
Season |
|
| What’s in the air right now. Farm stands, orchards, peak harvest. |
| A Saturday morning mushroom class in the mushroom capital, then a free barnyard party at Stroud with a costume parade for dogs. Fall, done properly. |
|
|
|
|
West Chester · Sat Oct 17 · 1–5 · free, RSVP
|
|
|
Kennett Square · Sat Oct 17 · 11am–noon · RSVP
|
| Brandywine Buzz · written from around here · Tuesday mornings |
|
|
|
You received this because you subscribed to Brandywine Buzz.
Unsubscribe.
West Chester, PA 19380
|
|
