Summerville-Abolitionist Activist / Strawberries + Cream = A Restaurant Retreat

Summerville-Abolitionist Activist, also, Strawberries + Cream = A Restaurant Retreat. Strawberry Mansion. , Summerville, Abolitionist Activist , 1789 ,

"Long may the Citizens of Philadelphia hold his memory in reverence, as an enlightened statesman, a profound lawyer and a useful citizen." , Excerpt, Judge William Lewis' obituary, 1819

, Around 1789 renowned lawyer, judge and state legislator William Lewis built the Federal-style "Summerville," the original center section of Strawberry Mansion. During his lifetime Lewis dominated the American legal field and took on countless high-profile cases involving slavery, British debts, privateering, and the Aaron Burr treason case. He drafted the nation's first law abolishing slavery and advised George Washington after Alexander Hamilton, first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Lewis counseled Hamilton on the formation of the First Bank of the United States., Summerville's second prominent resident, Judge Joseph Hemphill, added the two expansive Greek Revival-style wings in the 1820s, which created the exterior of the house as it appears today. Hemphill also had a distinguished public record, serving as Judge of Philadelphia's District Court, six terms in Congress and three terms in Pennsylvania's House of Representatives., By 1808 people knew the surrounding area as Strawberry Hill for the numerous strawberry fields and used the popular terms "Strawberry Hill" and "Strawberry Mansion" to describe the house. Eventually, "Strawberry Mansion" replaced "Strawberry Hill" and by the turn of the century, the nearby neighborhood and newly erected bridge had this name., [Captions:] , Known for smoking cigars constantly and possessing what has been called "distinguished ugliness," Lewis had a major impact on the development of U.S. laws., Lewis played a principal role in drafting and initiating the "Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" in 1780. This act marks the first legal motion towards abolition in the United States., Judge Joseph Hemphill and his wife Margaret Coleman Hemphill purchased the property in 1821., Judge Hemphill had a stake in William Tucker's Philadelphia porcelain factory from 1832 to 1838. Since the time of production was so short, the objects have acquired great collectibility. Strawberry Mansion has quite a few of these wares on display, as does the Philadelphia Museum of Art., 1870 watercolor by David J. Kennedy. William Lewis bought the central portion of the house (with porch) in 1789. The taller wings on the left and right were added by Hemphill in the 1820s., Strawberries + Cream = A Restaurant Retreat , 1868 , Philadelphians enjoyed Strawberry Mansion as a popular picnic and recreational site even before it became part of Fairmount Park in 1868. Soon after purchasing the property, the City rented it as a restaurant. The Grimm family ran the restaurant for many years until alcohol sales were banned and profits declined. Thousands of visitors came here on nice days. They arrived via the nearby Ridge Avenue trolley, and, after 1896, on the Fairmount Park Trolley., The Committee of 1926 opened Strawberry Mansion to the public as a house museum in 1931. This group of civic-minded women organized to create an exhibit of 18th-century buildings at the 1926 Sesquicentennial, celebrating Philadelphia's first 150 years. The Committee continues to maintain the building and its noted doll collection begun for the Sesquicentennial., [Captions:] , During the restaurant years the house had a large veranda on the rear elevation that overlooked the river., Strawberry Mansion with a water tower as it appeared in June 1900., Strawberry Mansion advertises ice cream prior to its 1927-31 restoration which turned it into a public museum. The bottom photo depicts the garden facade following the 2013 restoration which was jointly funded by the City of Philadelphia and the Committee of 1926., Mrs. J. Willis Martin, along with the women from various other women's committees in the city, formed a unified committee, The Committee of 1926, to act as the stewards of the house and restore it to its former glory., Strawberry Mansion's banquet room on the second floor highlights the Committee of 1926's Lenox china and Steuben glassware collection. The room also features a hand painted mural depicting Fairmount Park and several of the other historic houses in the 19th-century.