History of Chadwick & Saul Preserve

​Chadwick Wildlife Preserve

​

The Chadwick Wildlife Preserve, a 13-acre wooded community open space in Long Point, is part of Rose Valley, Pennsylvania. It is named for E. Wallace Chadwick, a civic minded judge and congressman, who bequeathed the funds for the purchase of the land, completed in 1972. Long Point is so called for the ridge and floodplain surrounded by a 180-degree bend of Ridley Creek. Ruins of boat houses, and stories of the “Dam to Dam” canoeing club, suggest the creek at Long Point was a popular summertime destination. The Preserve has walking trails pictured on a map located in the Preserve trailhead, which you can download to smartphone with a QR code. The Minquas Trail takes you down a wide path to the Ridley Creek Floodplain, the Long Point Trail takes you around the point near Ridley Creek, and the Meditation Trail returns you via a picturesque and meandering ridge route of switchback rises to the beginning.

 

E. Wallace Chadwick (January 17, 1884 – August 18, 1969) was an American politician from Indiana who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district from 1947 to 1949. He was born in Vincennes, Indiana, and moved with his parents to Chester, Pennsylvania in 1890. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1906, and from the law school of the same university in 1910. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was president judge of the Delaware County Orphan's Court in 1945. The estate of Judge Chadwick underwrote the purchase for the borough of a 13-acre preserve that bears his name off Long Point Lane.

 

The Great Minquas Path was a 17th-century Native American trade route crossing Ridley Creek near this point. It ran 80 miles, from the palisaded towns of the Susquehannock Nation along the lower Susquehanna through the Lenape Nation to the Schuylkill near its confluence with the Delaware. The Susquehannock used the trail to trade beaver pelts, first with Dutch, then Swedish, then English merchants, for metal tools and cookware.

 

On Long Point Trail are two large expanses of cobblestones leading into Ridley Creek. These are Meander Point Bars. Long Point is the sharpest meander of Ridley Creek, formed where the flow was diverted millennia ago by the highly resistant rock of the hill across the stream. A point bar is a depositional feature made of sand, gravel, and cobblestones that accumulates on the inside bends of streams and rivers in a crescent shape. The material deposited on the meander points is well-sorted by food currents, causing the cobbles, gravel, and sand to form bands or zones.

 

Along the Meditation Trail is a restored chimney, the remains of the Seekers After Knowledge Cabin. A rope swinging bridge down below provided a means of crossing Ridley Creek from the Old Mill. The Seekers After Knowledge were primarily a social and outing group. Members included Rose Valley residents Will Price, Emma Webb, Nathan Kite, Henry Troth, and others. The cabin appears to predate the group, perhaps a holdover from the Rose Valley Mills days, and it became a rendezvous point for the Seekers After Knowledge and eventually the 1901 Rose Valley Arts & Crafts community.

​​

​

Maurice Saul Wildlife Preserve

​

The Maurice Saul Wildlife Preserve is a 17.5-acre bird and nature sanctuary along the scenic Ridley Creek in Rose Valley, PA. It is named for Maurice Saul, a Rose Valley resident, who eventually gifted some of his land for this preserve. The 0.8 mile out and back forest route includes connecting walking trails that are both kid and dog friendly. Parking and the trail are behind the Old Mill, and a QR coded map at the trailhead kiosk shows the paths. There are numerous points of natural and historic interest.

 

A snuff mill owned by Nicholas Stimmel was first built here in 1789. In 1814 the mill was sold to William Smith, and then in 1818 it was sold to John White who was the first to use the name Rose Valley Mills. Until 1821 he ground bark as a fever medicine, but the growing use of quinine put him out of business. Park Shee rented the mill from 1825 until 1850 and operated it as a paper mill. Antrim Osbourne bought the abandoned mill in 1861, and repaired the dam and mill race.

 

His textile business, by 1873, had 2300 spindles, 100 looms and 15 sets of cards (for spinning). To accommodate his many employees, Osbourne built two sets of houses on opposite sides of Rose Valley Road. In 1862, Osbourne built his own home on a hill overlooking the woolen mill. In 1905, Charles Shoen, father-in-law of William Price's partner Hawley McLanahan, purchased Osbourne's house and had Price convert it into a magnificent residence, still known today as "Shoenhaus". Shoen made his fortune with patented pressed steel railroad cars.

 

Philadelphia lawyer Maurice Bower Saul and his wife Adele Scott Saul moved to Shoenhaus (also called Rose Valley Farm) in 1911. Eventually it covered 400 acres. Saul was instrumental in organizing Rose Valley as a Borough in 1923, and also provided land for the School in Rose Valley. A stone marker and plaque at the trailhead were dedicated to the Saul's honor in 1974.

 

Among Saul Preserve highlights are the remains of the dam and mill race originally constructed to divert water from Ridley Creek to the "Old Mill". Other points of interest include “Saul’s Roost”, a stand of white pine trees. These pines, hemlock, and oak were planted to provide saplings for the Rose Valley Farm. There is also “Saul's Allee", a wide shaded path bordered by mature American Linden or Basswood trees, a Stone Quarry which provided material for the mill building and runs, and further on a large and famous 150+ year old Tulip "Wolf Tree".

 

The trails are preserved and improved by the Rose Valley Environmental Advisory Council, which actively supports the annual removal of invasive species and replenishment of native trees and plants. The EAC installed the kiosk, created the map, and provided the trail posts and Moravian trail markers. The EAC also compiles information to advise Rose Valley Borough on environmental decisions, educates the community about preserving natural resources, and implements programs like rainwater runoff and deer population management.