From Tavern To Museum, The History Of The Packwood House Museum

 
From Tavern To Museum, The History Of  The Packwood House Museum

15 North Water Street Lewisburg

At the northwest corner of Market & Water, what is now the Packwood house began as a log structure built by John Pollock sometime between 1795 & 1799.  Northumberland County tax assessment records show Pollock as a storekeeper until 1802, when his occupation is listed as a tavern keeper. Pollock died in 1806, the tavern was sold at a sheriffs sale.  

Andrew Shearer purchased the tavern, and it served as a tavern and inn for ferry and canal travelers along the Susquehanna river.  Part of the original tavern walls can be seen inside the Packwood House.  and during his ownership, leased it to at least 5 different individuals.  One of those he leased to was Nancy Irwin, believed to have been the first woman to run a tavern in Lewisburg Pa.

This pencil sketch by Jean Sloan Campbell depicts the artists conception of the original log structure, facing the river, that later became the Packwood House.

 In the early 19th century, with the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal’s crosscut at Lewisburg, the tavern evolved as  a hotel.   William Petit’s ad for his establishment in 1838

noted that “travelers and others can always be provided with separate apartments

and every attention will be paid to their comfort and convenience.”  By 1838 it was called the Washington House (there was another Washington House at Market & 2nd St), then later renamed Spread Eagle House.

This view is looking south along the river - What would become the Packwood house is shown on the far left;

In 1848 Adam Weidensaule took over the hotel, naming it the American House Hotel

Weidensaul added the 3rd floor, expanding it to 27 rooms in 1866.  

The building changed hands again, and  served as a tavern for a brief time,  but closed in the late 1880s.  In December of 1886 the hotel was sold as public sale. 

George C. Kelly purchased the old hotel in 1892for $2,525. Kelly converted the hotel building into a three houses,   adding a wing in the back that included kitchens and baths for two of the apartments.   It was into one of these houses that the parents of Edith [Kelly] Fetherston moved around 1900.  At the time of their deaths in the mid 1930s, Ediths parents owned two of the three apartments.

Packwood House just visible, the last house on the right before the standpipes

The old carriage house/stable collapsed in 1903. George Kelly rebuilt the structure as a four-unit apartment building, using new bricks in front and salvaged bricks for the kitchen/bath wings in the rear. 

In 1935, Ediths mother, Minora [Meixell] Kelly, died.  Her father, John Curtis Kelly, died a year later in 1936.  Edith's husband John retired around this time, and the couple moved into the Kelly's house in Lewisburg. 

Edith Hedges [Kelly] Fetherington was born June 21 1885 in Lewisburg Pa, the daughter of Joel Curtis Kelly Jr & Minora Alta [Meixell] Kelly. A descendent of one of the early pioneering families of the area, Edith graduated from Bucknell in 1905.  She had a brief career as a teacher, before marrying John Turney Fetherington.

 Edith soon found the entire history of the building,

 purchased the other two houses, and reconnected all of the rooms into one building.  

What would become the Packwood House is shown here on the right, during the 1936 flood.

The Fetherstons named their home Packwood House, in honor of the Fetherston Estate in England.   Edith filled the rooms with antiques purchased from antique dealers, estate sales, and auctions.  Edith enjoyed arranging her objects in charming and whimsical combinations.

   Edith and John Fetherston lived in the old hotel building from 1936 until the early 1970s. After Edith’s death in 1972, a trust was established and Packwood House Museum opened to the public in 1976. The museum featured the Fetherstons’ treasures of glass, ceramics, textiles, furniture, paintings, Pennsylvania German decorative arts, and Oriental art.

When Edith Fetherson died in 1972, her will established the Fetherston Foundation, with the mission of turning the home into a museum, encompassing Edith's collection of Central Pennsylvania historical and cultural artifacts.  

The Museum opened to the public on February 25th 1976, in time to offer tours for the bicentennial celebration later that year.

In 1974, the museum had more than 3,600 items, ranging from Early American to Oriental, in 37 rooms.  Mrs Fetherston patterned her museum after the Gardner Museum in Boston, "also reflecting the tastes of one woman."

"In the bar room or the three part house, which once was a hotel for Lumbermen and Canal boat operators, old barn doors compete for attention with delicate china, antiques, and pottery.

Carved knee-high wooden elephants, huge oriental vases holding cat o'nine tails, gilt framed mirrors, chairs enough to seat an army, spinning wheels, seven telephones and books, books, books are some of the contents of the building bequeathed to the community by John and Edith Fetherston." 

A noted artist, Edith Fetherstons paintings were displayed on many walls.  "Noticeable for their airy quality and delicate coloring, the paintings range from ethereal to surrealistic".  Mrs. Fetherington loved orchids, and not only were they shown in her art, but in her collection of dozens of books about them.

"Among the first rooms to be opened to the public..  a reception room featuring 18th century high boys, the knee high elephants, some jade-like dragons; the dining room with its huge Tiffany lamp, the picture gallery and study, with its square rotating bookcases, and the barroom with its fireplace, barn doors and assorted folk art" - 1974

The museum housed more than 250 quilts, Edith's collection, dating from 1813 through the 1930s.

In 1978, the Packwood House Museum was listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

The Miriam Fisher Terrace at the Packwood House Museum contains the Fetherstons 1930s oriental garden, with its rare Japanese cedars

The Packwood House Museum permanently closed to visitors in October 2020 citing  decreased attendance and factors relating to the pandemic.

According to Rachel A. Bryson, secretary of public relations for the Diocese of Harrisburg, terms of the Fetherson trust dictate all assets are to be transferred to Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Lewisburg. As Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish is a separately incorporated entity from the Diocese of Harrisburg, none of the Packwood House Museum assets will be transferred to the Diocese nor can they be used for the Diocese’s Chapter 11 reorganization.

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From American Heritage Magazine:

This museum was originally a 200-year old log cabin before it became the home of two antique collectors.

The building was constructed between 1796 and 1799 and served as a tavern for much of the 19th century. In 1936, Edith Featherston and her husband bought the house and began to fill it with art and antiques from across Pennsylvania and the world. When they passed in the 1970s, the house became a museum in accordance with their wills and now displays their thousands of antique possessions in a variety of exhibits

August 1888 - New Tin Roof

Owned by George Wolfe, sold at Sale in 1889

1905

Edith Kelly married John Fetherston

1972

1974

1977

1977

1984

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After Shearers death, the property was purchased by Dr. William Joyce, in 1823.  In 1840 he sold it to John Balliet.  Between 1823 and 1848, there were at least 7 different proprietors leasing the tavern.