A Brief Look At The History Of The Oldest Home In Lycoming County - Muncy Farms
It's impossible to study the history of Muncy and the surrounding areas, without covering the history of Muncy Farms, the oldest house in Lycoming County. Built by Samuel Wallis in 1769, the Muncy Fort stood on this property, the canal ran right through the property, one of the oldest cast iron bridges in the United States still stands on this property.
It's interesting to note that technically, Muncy Farms, built by a man who became a British Spy during the American Revolution, ultimately fell into the hands of the British, after a much later war. The Barlow family, who own it today, came to the home from war torn England in 1940, and were adopted by Margaret Brock, who owned the farm.
In 1956, the Sun Gazette reported:
"Beside it's wide-throated fireplaced sat many of the famous characters of the times - the Seneca Chieftain Corn Planer, Captain John Brady and his son, the youthful Michael Ross later the founder of Williamsport.
The present-day visitors on turning off route 220 will note the marker for the vanished Fort Muncy and shortly afterward will cross the old Pennsylvania Canal. At the end of the tree shaded circular driveway they will see the house with the original Wallis part to the right."
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A Brief History Of The Homestead
At Muncy Farms
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Samuel Wallis, a cunning land king, built the stone house in 1769. Wallis, a captain in the militia with the Muncy Fort on his property, was a spy for the British during the Revolution. He worked with none other than Benedict Arnold. That would not be discovered until nearly two centuries after his death, when the British Archives opened the Clinton papers to the public.
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Homestead Survived The Great Runaway
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In 1778, a captured Indian reported that it was the intention of the Indians to kill every settler along both branches of the Susquehanna River. This report started a large panic that became known as “The Big Runaway,” as settlers fled to points they regarded as strong points. Nearby settlers took refuge in Wallis's stone dwelling before moving on to Sunbury.
In an interview, Mr Barlow (current owner of Muncy Farms) states that Wallis went to Fort Augusta during the Great Runaway. In some histories, it's stated that Wallis was in Philadelphia at the time. Which is true I am uncertain - possibly both, when you remember that there was a Great Runaway in 1778, and a little runaway in 1779. Fort Muncy, on the Wallis farm, was burnt down both times.
""Many families were carried into captivity, amongst which was that of Joseph Webster, who lived on Muncy Farm. Four of his children were attacked. The eldest, a son, was carried into captivity. " - Meginness, A History of the Susquehanna
"Wallis had been in Philadelphia during the British occupation, and had presumably been of some unrecorded help to General Howe. He returned to Muncy disgusted with the failure of Pennsylvania to send regular troops to the border, and so wrote Timothy Matlack on July 24. That August, a detachment of the 6th Pennsylvania established Fort Muncy just north of Wallis’ home, thus encouraging the settlers to return to their farms. "
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The Death Of Wallis
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Wallis ran into great financial difficulties, and in rushing to try to save some of his fortune, he stayed in a boarding house, sleeping in a bed where a man had died of yellow fever the night before. Wallis contracted yellow fever and died soon after.
After the death of Wallis, when it was discovered that his debts far outweighed his holdings, the property was sold at a sheriff’s sale in April 1802. The tract with the main house was bought by Thomas Grant on behalf of Henry Drinker. It did not bring near its value. The Wallis family was left destitute. “They had to leave with little compassion shown by area residents.", says historian Robert Webster.
This piece in the entrance hall at Muncy Farms is dated 1791
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The Hall Farm
Renovations & Updating
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On November 18 1805, Drinker sold the property to Robert Coleman, an ironmaster. He was one of the wealthiest men in Pennsylvania, owning the Elizabeth iron furnaces, named for his wife. (Elizabethtown is also named for his wife). Coleman was one of the financiers of Washingtons Troops. The Muncy farm at the time comprised 7000 acres.
The back of the house, as seen in the 250th Anniversary Tour in 2019
Robert Coleman gave the property to his daughter Elizabeth as a wedding present for her marriage to Charles Hall. Mr .Hall was practicing law in Sunbury, where he built the house later owned by the James Packer estate. Hall also owned several tracts of land in Lycoming County. The Halls had the Georgian wing on the eastern side of the house added in 1806.
Hand painted Chinese Wallpaper in the east wing, a gift from Mrs Hall's sister. When the home was flooded in 1972, water rose 3 feet on the first floor, but it thankfully did not reach the paper.
Charles Hall died suddenly in Philadelphia on January 4th, 1821. He was buried in the cemetery on Muncy Farms, where William Beaver was buried after being mistaken for a bear, and also where Captain John Brady was buried. The cemetery has a large stone arch, and is located along old route 220, just south of the Lycoming Mall.
Mrs Charles Hall "added greatly to the mansion house built by Wallis in 1769." She employed the same contractor who had been hired to built the State Capitol at Harrisburg, and both contracts were in progress at the same time. Mrs. Hall planted elm trees to the east of the mansion. After the death of her husband in 1821, she went to live on the farm for a short time, but soon went to Lancaster, leaving her son Robert Coleman Hall to look after the Muncy estate. Robert & his wife then moved to Carlisle, where he practiced law, and Mrs. Hall once again returned to Muncy farms, remaining there until her death in 1858.
Mrs. Hall's son James came from Greenwood furnace, where he had been the owner of a large iron works, to Muncy in 1848. At that time he became the agent for his mothers estate in Lycoming County.
Detail in the woodwork around the door
When Mrs Elizabeth Coleman Hall died in 1858, the estate of 3,900 acres was divided among her children, who build stately houses in the manner of the day. These houses are known as The Brock House, Ashurst, Round Top, Wyno, Rawles Cottage, & the Mark Krause Farm (formerly the Belles Farm". During the last decades of the 19th century, the houses passed into the hands of wealthy Philadelphians who used them as summer homes."
James continued to live on the homestead until 1898, when he went to Philadelphia. From James, the original homestead passed to his son W. Coleman Hall. At that time, the farm was about 500 acres. During this period, it was known as "Halls Farms."
William Coleman Hall loved raising, racing, and betting on horses, even building a horse racing track on the property in the 1830s. He went bankrupt.
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The Brock Farm
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His cousin Robert Coleman Hall Brock paid his debts and took over the property. Robert Brock was married to Alice Gibson, heir to the Gibson Whiskey fortune. In the 1880s, Gibson whiskey was the most profitable company in the United States.
Henry Brock, son of Robert, drove an ambulance in France during WWI, before the US entered the war. He later transferred to the Army, becoming a liaison officer during the war. In 1923, Henry was involved in a very "Gatsby-esque" hit and run car accident, and he became the first person to be convicted of vehicular manslaughter. [it's believed that he was far to inebriated to have been the actual driver, but rather, that he took the blame for the wealthy granddaughter of John Wannamaker, who immediately went to England, never returning to Philadelphia) While in jail, Brock set up workshops to help inmates develop skills. In 1926, after serving 3 years of his 6-10 year sentence, Brock was pardoned by Governor Pinchot.. He married Margaret Burgwin, and the couple moved to Muncy Farms.
The Henry Brock Estate
In 1926 the homestead was totally renovated and modernized, with oil heat, electric and phone lines added.
The original part of the homestead, built by Samuel Wallis, is thought to have originally been 4 rooms. In 1926, as part of the renovation, the Brocks had it opened up into one large room. The ceiling beams are American Chestnut.
The floor is original. When it was damaged in the 1972 flood, it was pulled up, dried out, and put back down using the original nails, which had been saved.
Original nails.
During the 1926 construction, a crew was surprised to unearth three British soldiers and two Native American bodies,. The soldiers were identified as belonging to the British military by the buttons on their clothes. Today historians theorize that Wallis was meeting with the British soldiers when Americans arrived, and Wallis killed them so that he would not be discovered as a spy. But there is no evidence telling us how the bodies got there. The buttons from the British uniforms are in the Lycoming Historical Society.
British, and American, Uniforms displayed in the Dining Room of Muncy Farm
In 1936, an archeological dig was held on the farm, uncovering an Indian Burial Mound.
Read more about the findings here:
The Brock family was incredibly wealthy until the depression, when they lost 95% of their income. They were no longer able to pay their staff, but the staff had nowhere to go, so they remained on the farm, where there was a garden and sufficient food.
The dining room at Muncy Farm has no electricity. It is completely lit by wall sconces and candles on the table.
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The Barlows
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During the London Blitz in WWII, The British government worked with the US Committee for Care of European Children, to remove children to the US. Mr & Mrs Henry Brock agreed to hold a family of up to five evacuated children, at Muncy Farms. Four Barlow children arrived in November of 1940. Unfortunately, Henry had died unexpectedly earlier that year. Mrs Brock arrived to see the children, dressed fully in black, with a huge black hat. Brian Barlow tugged on his sisters sleeve and said "I think they are witches!".
In 2006, Brian Bohun Barlow told his story of coming to Muncy, in the book "Only One Child". https://amzn.to/3Ac0kRK
Mr Barlow has an amazing story - being raised in what he describes as a "Downton Abbey-ish" in England. The children had nannies, and were presented to their parents each day before the evening meal. Barlow speaks of the elevators and revolving doors at Suffrages, and tells a story about playing in them one day, and when his sister said it was time to go, he convinced her to go through one more time. As they were in the revolving door, a man jumped from the roof of the building - had they not gone back in the door, the man would have likely landed where the children had been standing.
The Barlows were sent from their home to London, and as he relates, "the army was quite safe in our home while we were being bombed in London". Mr Barlow senior made the decision that this was not safe, and made arrangements for the children to be sent to America. When he died in the early 1940s, the Brock family adopted the Barlow children.
The Williamsport School District used the Brock Farm for their agricultural training program, from 1947 through 1956. It was called the Henry G. Brock Vocational Farm. In 1956, Mrs. Brock informed the school district that she needed the entire farm acreage and asked to be relived of an agreement between her and the district. The board supported the change, stating that "a change in farms is deemed advisable because of the travel distance to the Brock Farm and the need for farm areas having timber products and other facilities for the teaching of non-crop agricultural subjects and for conservation training."
"The Williamsport school district has been conducting a training program at the Brock farm for he past 10 years, from 1947 through 1952 the district leaves the farm from Mrs. Brock. Since 1953, a different arrangement has been in effect, whereby Mrs. Brock had been deeding parcels of land to the school district." - Williamsport Sun Gazette, May 1956
The school district sold the land deeded to them back to the Brock farm.
The Agnes flood, in 1972, saw quite a bit of damage to the home, bringing three feet of water into the home’s main floor.
The farm today, now 800 acres, includes five houses, two commercial properties, some wooden acreage and 400 acres of farmland, which grow corns and soybeans.
In 2019, the farm was opened to visitors for the 250th anniversary.
Expecting a crowd of 500, 2.500 attende the event.
Henry Shoemaker, writing about historic gardens in the Susquehanna Valley, began with the gardens at Muncy Farms. Lydia Hollingsworth Wallis, wife of Samuel, came from a family know for their gardens. She had a variety of plants brought to the Muncy estate, which the Wallis family used as a summer retreat.
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Canal & Railroad On Property
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Canal boat display on the grounds of Muncy Farms, during the 2019 Open House
In the 1830s, the West Branch canal passed through Muncy Farms, paralleling the river for the length of the property. The canal beds and towpaths are still visible, and maintained, throughout the property.
Following the canal, rail lines were laid through the property. Muncy Farms is at the junction of what had been the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad, and the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. An active rail line still runs through the property, paralleling old route 220, and the driveway for Muncy Farms crosses the tracks, using the 3rd oldest (1847) cast iron truss bridge in the United States.
The Reading- Halls Station Iron Truss Bridge, on the Muncy Farms Property, is the oldest all iron railroad bridge still in service, "albeit to vehicular traffic only".
One of the first grist mills in the region was built on the grounds of Muncy Farms. As of 1920, Five generations of Aults had lived upon the farms, in the employ of the Wallis and Hall families.
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Stories & History Of Muncy PA
For More Stories and History From Surrounding Towns:
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READ MORE
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The Will Of Lydia Hollingsworth Wallis
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Fascinating read
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