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House Plaque identifying Pidcock section & “Arrival of John Pidcock” pagent.
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The twenty-first annual reunion was held on Saturday, August 25, l934. Two hundred fifty people witnessed the enactment of a pageant. “The Arrival of John Pidcock,” written and directed by Gladys C.Pidcock to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the arrival of John Pidcock. The prologue, “The Spirit of Prophecy”, portrayed by Miss Janet Pidcock of Washington Crossing, narrated the history of the property from the time of its purchase from the Indians by King Charles II of England through his agent William Markham from the Indians, through the Revolutionary War, when in l776 it became the headquarters of Lord Stirling. Indian Music by Bruce Weidman and William Algar. Scene I depicted the arrival of John Pidcock, portrayed by Lewis Pidcock of Pineville, Pennsylvania, with his pack and gun. Violin solo, “Melody in F” by Rubenstein, presented by Bruce Morgan. Jr. of Bllombury, NJ. Musical selections, “Indian Love Call”, and “By the Waters of Minnetonka”, sung by Mildred and Margaret McKeown, Irma Newhart, and Jean Smith. Scene II showed John Pidcock meeting with the Indians and establishing a trading post. Indian music by James Stillman, of New Hope who played the tom-toms, and William Cope, of Langhorne, who did several Indian dances. Scene III: The meeting between John Pidcock and Thomas Bowman, portrayed by J. Cooper Pidcock of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. Thomas Bowman had his headquarters on Burlington island and supplied the settlers with goods. The “Voice of the Wilderness” tells of passing events over the next 88 years. Scene IV: The scene showed Lord Stirling, Captain James Monroe, who |
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| Trenton Times August 26, 1934 |
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Following the dramatic presentation and the musical numbers, a bronze tablet was unveiled by John Pidcock, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, a direct descendant of the original builder of the stone house. The oldest portion of the house, built in l702, was dedicated to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. George M. Pidcock of Bloomsbury, New Jersey, made the presentation address with the acceptance speech being given by Thomas Scott of Bristol, Pennsylvania, President of the Washington Crossing Park Commission for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The inscription on the plaque reads, “The central portion of this house was built by John Pidcock in l702, and has been preserved as a type of earliest Pennsylvania architecture and masonry.” Placed in l934 by the Pidcock family. In accepting the plaque, President Scott said in part, “It is most fitting that we should honor the memory of those early settlers of this country of ours, of whom John Pidcock was an outstanding representative. Those men of abounding courage, of great powers of endurance were fitted to overcome and meet the most severe privations that an unsettled and undeveloped land could present. They hewed the pathways through the virgin forests for future generations to follow. It is not possible that John Pidcock, when he cleared the ground and built his home, could have foreseen the part it was to play in the making of these United States. That historic occasion which was responsible for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s acquisition of these lands, and the restoration of these buildings that they might be preserved, unsullied and unchanged as a National shrine.” Taken from “Trenton Times”, August 26, 1934 and “Weekly Review” White House, NJ Tuesday Aug. 28, 1934 |
