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Visiting Philadelphia TWO OF MY BOOKS, An Antebellum Plantation Household and Between North and South, are as much about Philadelphia as Charleston and the South Carolina lowcountry. Philadelphia of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a place of culture , distinction, and money. Today that Philadelphia aristocracy of Biddles, Cadwaladers , Peppers, Roosevelts, Coxes, Sinklers, and Whartons has retreated into the wealthy suburbs of a once-proud city. While we do not often take a group tour, there are benefits of access to private homes. Our visit to Philadelphia was with the Historic Charleston Foundation. The Philadelphia of today is a city of 1.5 million. Germantown was once a delightful summer suburb. Cliveden House, a National Historic Landmark, sits on two green acres. A tour of the house that had been inhabited by seven generations of the same family gave me a feeling of nostalgia. This is a house that time and family have left behind. The scene of the Revolutionary War battle of Germantown, it is today but a memory of the past. The elegant houses of Fairmont Park, Mt. Pleasant, Lemon Hill, and Cedar Hill all sit on the hill above the Schuylkill River. Mt. Pleasant is the most impressive. Because of renovations and the need for a new roof, the house sits much like Drayton Hall, to which it has been compared, unfurnished . Built in 1762 by a Scottish sea captain and American patriot, the elegant house in Georgian style features some of the finest surviving examples of Philadelphia architectural carving of its time. Today there are plans to revive the onceproud gardens and give the house a view of the river and city. The wealth, culture, and pre-eminence of Philadelphia are solidly ensconced in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum houses a fine collection of American nineteenth-century art. Our tour paid special attention to elegant period rooms from the nineteenth century that showcase Philadelphia furniture, fine arts, and portraiture . Thomas Sully (1783–1872) painted the images of the wealthy merchants and gentlemen whose houses in Society Hill were the center of Philadelphia wealth and power. Exquisite silver, casement clocks, and period furniture are a reminder that the most expert of American craftsmen worked in Philadelphia. That afternoon we sallied forth for an afternoon of exploring the Philadelphia countryside. We drove through the darkening country and pulled through tight gates into Androssan, an estate reminiscent of Philadelphia’s baronial aristocracy. We were met by Robert Montgomery Scott, the fourth in line to inherit his family ’s estate. The mahogany-paneled living room contains the vestiges of bygone Visiting Philadelphia 175 days, with portraits of faces from the past, and the exquisitely crewel-worked sofas and chairs have the handprint of earlier elegance. In the music room, where our host told us tales from his past, an open bar and specialty wines and cheeses added to the ambience. An air of anticipation was rewarded when the dinner bell sounded. We were taken into another mahogany-paneled room with a table set for twenty- five, with old silver, china, and crystal. The dinner began with cold salmon and white wine, which was followed by chicken cordon bleu and topped off with cherry pie and ice cream. Our toasts to our host echoed through this enormous Georgian brick manor house. The next morning we set forth to the banks of the Delaware River and the famous James Biddle (1783–1848) estate of Andalusia. The Biddles still live in this lovely green enclave. Here we could see that fall was touching the Pennsylvania countryside with its orange, red, and yellow hues. We were treated to a private tour of the interior where marble busts of Aphrodite mingle with Wedgwood porcelain and period furniture. We dined in a small garden al fresco with delicious sandwiches provided by a local gourmet shop. Despite their elegance and charm, both Andalusia and Ardrossan seem remote vestiges of a world that is gone. Is it possible to live in the museums of the past? As we look around the lowcountry of South Carolina, we do have examples of old estates that remain vital: Mulberry, Medway, and Halidon Hill are a few of our country estates that continue to carry on the traditions of our own South Carolina lowcountry. Within our own center city, there is a vibrancy and polish that rings with today’s lifestyle. If you go: The best place to stay in Philadelphia to enjoy the entire city center...

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