Philadelphia History Meetup

The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its next book club meeting on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 pm on Zoom. There is no fee to attend and everyone is welcome. Participants should come ready to discuss the book. The selection is The Power to Deny by APT’s own Wendy Long Stanley.

It is not uncommon for people to live in Horsham or some place very near Horsham for years and years before they somehow happen to discover Graeme Park. But when Wendy Stanley moved here from Canada almost 20 years go, it took her only a few weeks to find it and only minutes to become excited about it. She learned a bit about Elizabeth Graeme’s life as a privileged but restricted woman of the eighteenth century and started to write a novel about her. Wendy describes her book, The Power to Deny, as historical fiction. But it is hardly fiction at all. There is very little in it that is not documented or did not actually happen.

That is because Wendy did such extensive, detailed research about her subject. She visited Elizabeth-related sites in Philadelphia – her burial site at Christ Church, the graveyard at Old Swedes Church where Graeme and Henry Fergusson were married, the house where her sister Jane lived, as well as lots of libraries and, of course, Graeme Park. While poring through an original journal at the Pennsylvania Historical Society library, written in solitude with a quill pen by Elizabeth’s own hand, a pressed flower fell out of the pages. It had been there nearly three centuries!

Elizabeth’s life story seems a natural for a novel, considering her struggles in romance, as a writer, as a property owner during the Revolutionary War, and generally as a female during that turbulent era. Wendy put it all together in this book, which took her eight years of working in solitude at her computer, when time away from juggling all of the obligations of life as a 21st century wife, mother, and employee would allow, to write.

The Zoom link will be sent out the week of the meeting in the APT Tour Talk email. Non-members who wish to attend should contact APT Secretary Pam Covey phillyguides@gmail.com by 5 pm the day of the meeting to get the Zoom link.

The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) has arranged for a private guided tour of one of the crown jewels of Philadelphia, the Masonic Temple, on Friday, March 27 at 2 pm This National Historic Landmark houses seven distinctly ornate meeting halls which transport tour-goers to various countries (Egypt, Greece) in different eras through a series of stunning architectural feats and decorative embellishments. Outside of the meeting halls, there’s plenty to see in nearly every corner of this architectural gem, including a grand staircase, intricate stained glass windows, and the world’s second-largest collection of sculptures by William Rush (after the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts across the street).

The Masonic Temple is home to the Masonic Library and Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and is located at 1 North Broad St., directly across from City Hall. APT is subsidizing the visit so that the cost is only $5, payable through the ticket function on the website. Contact APT Director-at-Large Vince McCafferty vpmccafferty@msn.com with any questions. It’s a great opportunity – sign up today!