September Sashays At Historic George Taylor House ...

“History is the novel whose author is the people.”

   ~ Alfred de Vigny

    ~ French poet

     ~ 1797 ~ 1863

The splendor of a late September afternoon sashays around the historic George Taylor House, nestled in the beauty of early autumn in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. The George Taylor Mansion, as it is also called, was the 18^th century summer residence of Taylor, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

George Taylor (1716 ~ 1781) came to America from the British Isles. He later became the ironmaster of the Durham Iron Works in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was in 1768, in what is now Catasauqua, that he built his mansion, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

It was restored under the direction of John K. Heyl in 1966 ~ 1968 and is open to touring visitors as an historic house exhibit.

A Justice of the Peace in Northampton County and Colonel in the Continental Army, George Taylor was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress 1776 ~ 1777. He signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.

Situated on five acres in a park-like setting overlooking the historic Lehigh River Canal, the George Taylor House is a two-story Georgian stone mansion with symmetrically-paired brick-end chimneys and a gable roof with flattened ridge. Just behind the house is a one-and-a-half story brick summer kitchen, which was rebuilt around 1850.

The house was purchased by the Borough of Catasauqua in 2009 from the Lehigh County Historical Society. The home is run in partnership with Catasauqua Borough by the George Taylor House Association.

The house is in close proximity to the Deily Coal Yard Trailhead of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) in Catasauqua. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

The historic Parsons-Taylor House in Easton, Pennsylvania was built between 1753 and 1755. It was built for William Parsons and later inhabited by Founding Father George Tayor, who died there in 1781.

 

Red-Tailed & Autumn Prey ...

“Nature can seem cruel, but she balances her books.”

  ~ Alison Lurie

~Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist

             ~ 1926 ~ 2020

I love nature, but it can be cruel, such as in seeing this red-tailed hawk and its prey – a squirrel – on a mid-November evening at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I was lucky enough to capture several shots of the hawk as it guarded its prey – though I felt so sorry for the squirrel!

 

Yellow Stands For The Sun ...

“How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.”

   ~ Vincent van Gogh

     ~ 1853 ~ 1890

 

Van Gogh loved yellow, and the striking use of the color is seen in his paintings. Van Gogh’s paintings of sunflowers are among his most famous, painted in Arles, in the south of France, in 1888 and 1889.

 

The sunflower (or “soniashnyk”) is Ukraine’s national flower and has been grown on its central and eastern steppes since the middle of the 18^th century. And today, in light of Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine, the sunflower is a symbol of “I Stand With Ukraine!”

A gorgeous sunflower stands tall and shines its beauty on a lovely mid-August afternoon on the grounds of Kreidersville Covered Bridge, Allen Township, on the outskirts of Northampton, Pennsylvania.

Kreidersville Covered Bridge was built in 1839 and is loved for its great history and tranquil setting by the Hokendauqua Creek. It is the only covered bridge left in Northampton County.

The pedestrian-only bridge that crosses the Hokendauqua Creek is the oldest covered bridge in the Lehigh Valley and one of the oldest in the state. The historic wooden Burr Truss Bridge has a 116-foot-long span and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.