THE INDIAN CHILDREN
A NEW SUMMER RESIDENCE FOR THE DUSKY MAIDENS
A SPLENDID LOCATION

Something to Remind the Lincoln Institute Pupils of the Wild West

When the one hundred and seven Indian maidens of the Lincoln Institution, of 324 South Eleventh Street, are removed to their new summer home in Delaware county the latter part of next week they will catch a glimpse of scenery almost as wild and picturesque as the fastnesses where their fathers hide and pick off stray palefaces with government rifles. It is built on a knoll from which the trees that stood there since the Revolution was cleared by the Indian boys. The knoll is surrounded by high hills, covered with a dense growth of timber and under brush. The immediate surroundings are as wild as any spot in the Rockies, but from the balcony on the second story there is a landscape visible, such as was never seen within hundreds of miles of the Rocky Mountains. Between two towering hills stretches for miles the pastoral panorama of Chester Valley. It was like looking out of a well to stand on the balcony of the home yesterday after the sun had sunk below the hill, but still flooded the fields of grain and meadow land of the valley with mellow light. Around the home it was almost too dark to read, while out in the valley it was as bright as noonday. It was the artistic eye of Mrs. Coxe, the president of the Institution, that picked out the site for the summer home, but she denies that she had any idea of making location symbolical of the lives of the Indian maidens - the primeval surroundings of the home as indicative of their childhood and the beautiful cultivated valley of their future.

THE PRETTY SURROUNDINGS

The home is surrounded by ten acres of woodland which were brought as winter for $100 per acre. The little estate is located about two miles from Wayne Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and about three hundred yards north of Mrs. Coxe’s beautiful summer residence. The hill to the left of the main building is one around which the entrenchments of the Continental army were erected when Washington and his men were encamped at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78. A little way above is Valley creek and within a dozen stone throws Through the gap towards Chester Valley flows the Schuylkill. Early in April a lot of the Indian boys were sent to the site of the new home and under the direction of a superintendent a clearing was soon made just big enough for the erection of the home, the kitchen and the stables. The plan of the buildings was designed by Mrs. Coxe [sic ] and her husband and an architect put them in shape for the carpenters to work on. As soon as the site had been cleared the work of erecting the buildings was pushed with vigor. The main building is 106x39 feet in superficial area and is three stories high. It is of frame and of the quaint, old English style of architecture with gabled roof, from which a dozen windows start like watchful eyes. Wide porches extend around three sides of the building, on both the first and second stories, and there are outside stairways at both ends of the building.

THE ROOMS OF THE NEW HOME

On the first floor is the children’s dining room the officers’ dining room, the music room, the main hall, the sewing room, the committee room, two school rooms and the chapel. On the second floor are the dormitories and officers’ quarters and on the third floor are several extra dormitories and the servants’ quarter. The kitchen is a pretty building, about 30 by 40 feet in superficial area and two stories high. The first floor will be used as a kitchen and laundry, and on the second floor are the bath rooms. The stable will accommodate three horses, and on the second floor are accommodations for the male employees about the stable and estate. The paining of all the buildings and a great deal of the carpenter work was done by the Indian boys, who are paid $1.25 a week for their labor. The home has been named Ponemah, an Indian word signifying ‘Hereafter.’ The place is simply designed as a summer home for the Indian girls and Mrs. Coxe hopes to see them installed there by next Saturday although if her hopes are realized the amount of work done on the main building in the interim will be almost phenomenal. The glaziers have not yet started on their work and the carpenters and plasterers have just finished. There will be very little study exacted from the girls during the summer, as it is intended to given them a season of almost complete rest while at their summer home. They will probably remain at Ponemah until the last of November this year, as they were so late in getting into the country. Mrs. Coxe says that the total cost of the home, including land and all will not exceed $10,000. The home will not be dedicated until September, owing to the absence from the city of several of the managers of the institution.

Source: PHILADELPHIA TIMES, July 25, 1886, p. 3