824-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 6,2001
> t
- ■
j % '^‘ a S!P^^* s^*'
Jim and Vivian Bonson went to great lengths to accurately replicate the historical
Chad house. Jim believes that great architecture speaks highly of the artisans that
helped produce it before the age of machines.
Bonson Home Tribute
To Historical Workmanship
GAIL STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
REEDSVILLE (Mifflin Co.)
Architecture, antiques, and artis
tic workmanship results in built
in beauty and historical signifi
cance at the Bonson home.
Jim Bonson, Reedsville, great
ly admires the craftsmanship of
old. He turns his artist’s eye to
wards an architectural structure
or household furnishing and sees
the proportion, construction, and
creator’s individuality in items
This hanging cupboard, made of yellow pine, fea
tures a wooden peg inside and dividers with beveled
edges. A chamber stick and coffee grinder sit on top.
Lancaster Facing
** t * il*-,.' e .
» %f) ►
« a.
made before mechanization and
round nails and meant for every
day use.
“Just look at that,” Jim said,
running his finger along the S
shaped beveled edge of a shelf di
vider on the inside of an antique
cupboard. “They didn’t need to
do that. It’s great to see the inge
nuity of the people. They did
what they needed to do with
what wood they had and still cre
ated something that was grace
ful, strong, and useful.”
Jim, now retired, began col
lecting antiques at age 19. He
and his wife, Vivian, live in an
“old” but newly built four-story
stone house on Coffee Run Road.
Although located in Mifflin
County, the house is a replica of
the architecture in Chester
County near Philadelphia.
“The whole Chester County
area is a very rich area,” Jim be
gins, meaning rich historically
and in old estates. “Our house is
a nearly exact replica of the John
Chad house (sometimes spelled
Chadd) built in 1725 in Chester
County near Philadelphia.”
Some might think the house
too tall, but each stone la ; d by
hand, each carefully placed an
tique, and even the architectural
design has its story to tell.
The story actually began in the
early 1700 s before the Revolu
tionary War.
John Chad and his wife oper
ated a ferry on the Brandywine
River. The house survived the
Revolutionary War and the bat
tle of Brandywine. Washington’s
headquarters was not too far
from there. Lafayette was housed
in another property nearby. The
Brinton house, built in 1704, and
the home of the Wyeth family of
Jim and Vivian Ban
son’s slate-topped cherry
Hepplewhite desk holds a
candle or salt box, at the
top left.
(lßentes^
Jim Bonson sits at a table that colonists used to
conserve space. They removed wooden pins underneath
to lift the tabletop off to move the table back along the
wall. Sometimes tabletops were inverted and then at
tached to make benches to sit before the fire.
painters near Chadds Ford are
nearby. The Chad house sits not
too far from the H. F. Du Pont
property at Winterthur.
“Vivian’s aunt and uncle
worked for H. F. Du Pont, and
we used to visit there. I saw a
photo of the Chad house in a
book on Pennsylvania architec
ture at the Mifflin County ii
These two andirons,
which were forge-welded
in the early 1700 s, feature
a gooseneck top and pad
penny feet. They’re a good
example of excellent
craftsmanship.
\ H
' * V
brary. That’s where we got the
idea to began coordinating the
buildine clans.”
The stones for the house came
from homes in Allensville and
Ryde, Mifflin County, and Wal
nut, Juniata County. The front
steps came from the old Barrville
schoolhouse a few miles away.
The doors, window frames, and
chair rails came from a house
near Allensville.
“All of the stones were moved
up the scaffolding by hand. It’s
not a project you start today and
expect to be sipping tea tomor
row,” Jim said with a laugh
while explaining the 10-year
project. “It takes a lot of patience
and hard work. We laid out the
property so that your eye will
pick up something that comple
ments everything around it. We
hid all electricity underground.
The brown budding hides our
power source. We have a phone
on every floor, but they’re hid
den, and electric heat with no
registers.”
The basement features a huge
fireplace with bake oven in the
(Turn to Pago 825)