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Even today, most of the houses are being lived in and have provided homes to more than 3,000 people since 1702. Talk about a Home Owner’s Association, I have a feeling there are some pretty stringent rules you have to agree to in order to call yourself a resident here. Thanks to one of those residents, Dorothy Ottey, who organized a group to save some homes getting ready for destruction… Elfreth’s Alley Association was formed.

How and Where

You can take a variety of tours including self guided, cell phone, and group. There is also a museum located in houses 124 & 126 – and of course – what National Historic Landmark District would be complete without a gift shop.

Elfreth’s Alley, which for some reason I keep wanting to pronounce Elfrath’s Alley, is located on 2nd Street, between Race and Arch. You can visit the public street year round, but the most excitement with live characters and music happens between May and August.

Recent Real Estate Sales for Elfreth’s Alley

Just in case it isn’t just a Real Estate Agent that is interested in the recent sale history…
111 Elfreths Alley sold for $386,500 in June 2009.
115 Elfreths Alley sold for $542,500 in December 2008.
Big difference! One was an end unit, a little larger, with more upgrades. Data reported by TReND for informational purposes only.

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East Brandywine Township Park

It’s not just a Local Expert that knows and experiences the outdoors in the area parks….

You can experience them with me!

All the townships in Chester County have their own flavor of community parks with walking trails, preservation areas, soccer fields (especially full on Saturdays!), tennis courts, playgrounds, basketball courts, etc. There are also beautiful state parks in Pennsylvania; and I can’t forget the one National Park in Chester County.

I enjoy experiencing the different flavor of the parks in the surrounding areas of the Delaware Valley and try to change the place for my walks.

My favorite parks in CHESTER COUNTY:

Downingtown Borough: Kerr Park occupies a lot of space in my childhood memory bank. The tennis courts are still there that I used to keep myself occupied while “Mom” played. Kerr Park is where many of the festivities for Good Neighbor Day take place. The All-Abilities Playground is also a big hit! For 2009, Kerr Park and the area has been the place to celebrate Downingtown’s 150th Birthday Celebration, too!

East Brandywine Township: Community Park. They just added more fields and the walking trails go on and on… This is where I walk most often, due to convenience to my house You can catch entire families exercising and playing ball together many evenings. The energy is phenomenal. We often chase the ball around play tennis here.

East Caln Township: Bell Tavern Park is the place to be on hot weather days! The playground is one of the best in the area (even with sprinklers during the heat) and picnic tables come in handy. There is a sand volleyball court, roller hockey rink, tennis courts, and walking trail as well.

Marsh Creek State Park

East Goshen Township: The East Goshen Township Park is located off of Paoli Pike and spans for 55 acres. They have tennis, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer, putting green, totlot/playground, fitness trail.

I found myself during my walk removing my i-pod headphones to listen to the birds singing to me! They have a bird watching guide and preservation area around the fitness trail.

FrenchCreek State Park: French Creek is our local get-away spot. Camping is offered and you can feel like you are miles away! Home to two lakes and 40 miles of hiking trails. There is a Frisbee golf course, pavilions, and geocaching available.

Hibernia Park (County) Park: Over 900 acres of trails, woodlands, fishing, picnics, camping – PLUS a 90 acre lake for small fishing and boating. There is a historic mansion, Hibernia Mansion (Built around 1744) which is also located in the park and available for limited tours.

French Creek State Park

Marsh Creek Lake State Park: This park includes 1,705 acres which includes a 535-acre Lake. Windsurfing, Boating, Kayaking, Fishing, Swimming are all some of the highlights of the park.

(An interesting tidbit about Marsh Creek Lake State Park. My grandmother’s family home is somewhere in the bottom of the lake – taken over by eminent domain.)

Tredyffrin Township: Their parkland has over 345 acres dedicated for parks. Wilson Park (90 acres) is located in Chesterbrook and has an All Abilities Playground, putting green, volleyball, and all sorts of sports fields.

Wait! You can’t leave the Local Yokel Tour of Chester County Parks yet……

Chester County also boasts to be the home of The Valley Forge National Park, one of the most famous parks in the world.

Valley Forge Park not only memorializes the sacrifices and perseverance of the Revolutionary War generation during the encampment of 1777, but there are stories told, tours given, re-enactments lived, and collections displayed.

Valley Forge National Park

Valley Forge Park includes cell-phone guided tours, and also story telling benches (a storyteller begins telling a 5 minute story when one approaches the bench), trolley tours, after hour tours, Guided Walks, Gallery Talks, Vault Tours, and special events taking place year round. During your visit you most likely will spot at the least deer, and quite possibly other wildlife including fox.

Trail System – Hiking, Horseback Riding, Biking, you can do it all within the Valley Forge Park at different designated areas. 28 miles of authorized trails are located within the park boundaries. There are 19 miles of marked hiking trails designated just for hiking.

The beauty of Chester County abounds when you take a look at the parks. The rolling hills are home to parks that make you feel like you are in the deep forest (French Creek); relax by the water and sunbathe like you are on the beach (Marsh Creek); and get your fill of history lessons while going back in time (Valley Forge).

Chester County, Pennsylvania, a great place to call home, abounding in parks and outdoor recreation.

Written by Kim in 2008

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Riders travel from all over the world come to show and compete at the internationally recognized, USEF-A rated event.

The Show is located at Lancaster Pike & Dorset Rd in Devon, PA. Tickets are available at the gate. It would be a good idea to check the schedule of events before arrival – it’s loaded full of fun!

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Last year, my friend, John Lauber and I went to a real estate conference in Atlantic City together. When we were making arrangements for me to leave my car and hop in his – he suggested the park and ride lot in Frazer.

Honestly, I always forgot it was there. I don’t think there could be a more convenient location for a parking lot to leave your car and carpool with others (or hop on the Septa bus) to get to your destination in a more green-friendly way. Located right off of the intersections of Rt. 202, Rt. 30, and Lancaster Ave – it is easily accessible to different directions.

Today, we headed to Philadelphia, for another business meeting – guess where my car stayed?

The Chester County Planning Commission put together a printable brochure on the 202 Guide to Commuter Options for the Great Valley Area.

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Bye Spectrum

What memories do you have of the Philadelphia Spectrum? It’s been around since 1967, that doesn’t really seem all that old to me. Maybe because it isn’t a whole lot older than me and I’m thinking I’m not that old, haha. But soon, we will only have memories of the stadium that was the place to see many different venues over the years.

Spectrum’s Famous Faces

The Philadelphia Phantoms, minor league hockey team & The Philadelphia Kixx, indoor soccer team both called the Spectrum their home stomping ground. The Phantoms will play their last home game on April 10th, 2009 against The Hershey Bears. A Pittsburg based organization recently purchased The Philadelphia Phantoms, I suppose that means they won’t be the Philadelphia Phantoms anymore. Not only sports but many enjoyed some great music & concerts at the Spectrum. The list goes on and on, including Disney on Ice and The Police that I enjoyed last year. Even The 76′ers Basketball team and the Flyers Hockey team had stunts at The Spectrum before they moved next door to the Wachovia Center.

Move in Philly Live!

Plans are to construct an all-encompassing entertainment complex to include retail, restaurants and entertainment. The rendering makes it look like loads of fun, but I’ll miss the Spectrum. I realize that times change though – and sometimes we have to make room for new adventures! I’m sure I’ll be able to make more happy memories at the new complex too!

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Sometimes the news we bring isn’t happy news. Sometimes its sad news. However, I am shocked at the stories from people when I ask where they got their new pet they are excited about that it could have begun at a source as a Puppy Mill.

Pet stores, Newspaper Ads, Signs on the Road, Internet Ads….. are all possible sources for pets breed from Puppy Mills. If they continue to make money selling them; they are not going to stop what they are doing. Take action! Spread the word!

United Against Puppy Mills has a large voice right now. I’ve seen bumper stickers all over Chester County in my travels about while selling Chester County Houses.

If you are looking for a puppy, please be sure and check out the many rescues in the area. One of my favorites is Main Line Rescue – but there are lots!

Stop Puppy Mills Ribbon Picture courtesy of Feral Indeed!

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If you are a resident of Chester County, Delaware County, or Montgomery County you already know how lucky you are! If you are looking at moving to Chester County or thinking about Buying Real Estate in the general area – you might want to know how close you are to the Philadelphia Sports Teams! Even if you aren’t a big fan of the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, or Soul chances are someone in your friends/family would like to see a game.

I like any live sporting event. Not into it too much on TV (Football Sundays with the Family are my one exception). And I go all out in support for my Philadelphia sports teams! I might not know the players names, stats, and what draft pick they were – but I’ll scream and holler when it comes to game time!

I went to see the Phillies last night, thanks to Kevin Sutera of Mortgage America! I thought he knew me well enough to know that I was a bit of a scaredy cat princess, the seats were in the Terrace section (so I stood up). I still was thankful to be there! Despite that I had a blast watching the game, as did the Praying Mantis some lovely gentlemen helped rescue. He told me later his name was Manti and he flew from Chesterbrook in Wayne, PA to come watch the game. He was hoping for some photo ops and he got them.

Did you see that catch?

If you like sports – I hope you get to an event in Philadelphia. You still have time to catch some Philadelphia Phillies games, or your know football season starts soon!!! From Exton, PA it takes about 45 minutes to get to the stadium during the week on a game night. Have fun!

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I couldn’t wait to get my fingers rolling across the keyboard. I can only hope to convey what I saw today out of one outstanding Philadelphia Eagles football player to you. My lesson I continue to learn.

My family can say we “know” Hank Baskett III, of the Philadelphia Eagles football team. No, we aren’t like his mother, cousin, best friend, Los Lobos roomate…. but we “know” him.  AChrome22, my daughter went to school a few years behind HBIII in Middle School during their Clovis, NM stunts.

Hank cares. Even through his famed career, he cares. It was so evident today – we all left with goosebumps.  After Eagle’s Football Training Camp, Hank saw AChrome and said, “Meet me over where you were before.” (He heard all of us screaming when he made every single catch that was thrown to him.) When he was finished official autographs, he made his way and stopped to visit with us. It was AChrome’s birthday – so he made sure she got some HBIII time and a sweaty hug

It was after our visit that time stopped for many people including me. A woman came over to the crowd of fans hopeful to receive his autograph, “Hank. Mary’s Mom is over there. She can’t get to you, but she’d like to see you.” “I’ll be right there” Hank said as he finished the last autograph (he always tries to get them all).

Hank went over to the woman wearing #84 and they grasped each other in a squeeze. Noone else existed around either one of them despite the massive crowd of people. As the woman sobbed tears, Hank hugged her so tight, his eyes did not wander. The woman had all of Hank’s attention. It was a painful moment; yet beautiful at the same time. I felt a bit like I was invading, however, both of them had each other completely and fully on their mind. The woman was in pain. Hank was comforting her. You can see in the picture above his intense focus on her.

I want to listen in this way. I tend to get distracted, or interupt people while I’m thinking of the next thing to say. I want to listen and be devoted like I witnessed today. It was beautiful. My prayers go out to the woman – I hope she received some comfort from Hank – and that it will continue to get better for her. I hope more than myself went away being touched by the focus of listening and compassion.

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