Chadwick Preserve POI C3 Seekers After Knowledge Cabin

Proceed a short way down the Meditation Trail from C3 Southern Red Oak Grove. On the north side of a small flat area you will see a restored chimney, the remains of the Seekers After Knowledge Cabin. The fireplace opening appears to be on the wrong side, but the cabin was facing north, built on a stilt foundation and overlooking the hillside. A rope ladder down below provided a means of crossing Ridley Creek from the Old Mill. The origin of the Seekers after Knowledge and the Cabin are both lost to history. No one, even lifelong residents of Rose Valley, appears to know the full story. While the dates of their beginning are unclear, the activities of the Seekers and the Cabin are well documented.

The Seekers After Knowledge were primarily a social and outing group, traveling to natural sites like Eagles Mere and Scalp Level, both in Pennsylvania, and Kezar Falls, Maine. Members included Will Price, Emma Webb, Nathan Kite, Henry Troth, and others. Emma’s father William Webb, and Henry’s parents were often drivers and chaperones. Existing journals, written by Will or Henry, date the trips from 1884 to 1886. Nicknames and references to native culture acknowledge the local Lenape and Minquas history which includes Long Point and Rose Valley.

The cabin appears to predate the group, perhaps a holdover from the Rose Valley Mills days, and it became a rendezvous point for the Seekers After Knowledge and eventually the 1901 Rose Valley Arts & Crafts community. Access was by a swinging bridge over Ridley Creek. Ruins of boat houses, and stories of the “Dam to Dam” canoeing club, suggest the creek at Long Point was a popular summertime destination. Picnicking streamside and the Cabin were also popular pastimes. The chimney is all that remains of the cabin. It was repointed as a work project sponsored by the Rose Valley Centennial Foundation.

The Seekers After Knowledge clearly enjoyed acting, singing and costume dramas, which became popular during travel vacations. Journal descriptions and accompanying photographs have the group in costume, reading from Shakespeare or making up stories and songs to perform together. These activities continued with the founding of Artsman’s Hall (Hedgerow Theatre). They enjoyed dress-up parties, performed Gilbert & Sullivan in the ground floor theatre, and eventually produced an original Will Price play “The Artsman”. Here was founded the Rose Valley Chorus, which still exists today.

Friends made in Philadelphia and among the Quaker community, who were members of the Seekers After Knowledge, eventually made up the early residents of 1901 Rose Valley. Neighbors in Spring Garden included the Webb family, whose father owned the local pharmacy, and who eventually moved to Swarthmore. Will Price met daughter Emma Webb, and after a long courtship they married in 1888. Emma attended Swarthmore College. Nathan Kite, a graduate of Haverford, eventually married Anna Price, Will’s sister. He was a well-known acting talent, along with Anna the Innkeepers of the Guest House, and eventually the first Burgess (mayor) of Rose Valley. Also, Henry Troth, the group’s photographer, was the grandson of a co-founder of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. After moving to Rose Valley, he became an award winning pictorialist photographer known for his original platinum work. 

Ham, Peter. Mather, Elinore Price. The History of Rose Valley. Volume 1. The Borough of Rose Valley, 1973.

Thomas, George. Arts & Crafts ro Modern Design, William L. Price. New York. Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.