Rock Ford Plantation

photos by Tom b.

romper: 50s bathing suit
jacket: vintage Levis
purse: 60s straw bag
shoes: thrifted woven flats

Today we finally got a break from a little rain we've been having so Tom and I decided to get out of the house for a bit. We were heading down to an old abandoned amusement park that sits by the Conestoga River when we passed a sign for Rock Ford Plantation. We made an impromptu turn and ended up driving out to the plantation instead. When we arrived, I remembered we had visited once before, years ago when we were visiting PA while still living in Alabama.

I'm so glad we made that turn because it was just the loveliest place to walk around. I love going to touristy places like this on slow Monday afternoons when no one else is around. We had the whole place to ourselves save for one friendly black cat and a herd of does and their fawns eating crab apples off the ground in the adjoining field. It was so peaceful to walk around and imaging what life must have been like in the late 1700s when the plantation was built.



There were terrible things to imagine, such as the probability of slaves being owned there (people seem to think only Southerners owned slaves, but that's not the case), and the cold northern winters one would have endured with no heat. But there were also fun things to imagine like the children that must have played in those fields, women sitting on the big porches with quilts in their laps, and how many generations of deer must have eaten from those crab apple trees. Oh, and the fact that George Washington (most likely) had tea there! Seriously, I'm sitting on bricks that George Washington walked on.