CLOSER TO FAMILY

An ice storm convinced Max and Carol Sempowski to move closer to their extended family, so they left their farm in Virginia and restored a 1792 farm in Maryland, filling it with a lifetime collection of antiques.

Winfield Ross

LETTERS BY LAND AND SEA

When correspondence meant exchanging paper letters, the British Crown and then the Second Continental Congress made Benjamin Franklin Postmaster General. The postal service incurred all the costs of delivering mail until stamps became mandatory in 1855.

Ware Petznick

WOLF PEACHES, POISONED PEAS, AND MADAME DE POMPADOUR’S UNDERWEAR

Although American colonists were inveterate gardeners, they were slow to sidestep superstition and adopt vegetables such as tomatoes (relatives of deadly plants), sweet peas, and albino asparagus, which some likened to lavender skivvies.

Rebecca Rupp

WATER FOR ALL

Relying on the genius of a young carpenter-turned-engineer, the City of Philadelphia built the world’s first steam-powered water works, designed to bring clean water to all residents and thwart the misunderstood waterborne diseases that plagued them.

Jeanmarie Andrews

TOP TRADITIONAL ARTISANS

We celebrate the work of heritage artisans who have mastered Old World and Native craftsmanship to create fine furnishings and decorative arts that imbue homes old and new with the spirit of the past.

A GEM OF GERMAN ARCHITECTURE

German immigrant Henry Antes settled outside of Philadelphia in the early 1700s, built an impressive stone home, and devoted his life to helping grow the Moravian church in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The Goschenhoppen Historians tell his story through his home’s restoration.

Anne Grasberger and Bob Wood

ARTISANS IN THE MUSEUM

We photographed the work of heritage artisans in and around the 1736 home and farm of Henry Antes, using the site’s original architectural features as a backdrop to showcase future heirlooms rendered in clay, cloth, metal, paint, paper, and wood.

2023 DIRECTORY LISTING

We list all the artisans whose work was chosen for this year’s Directory, with descriptions, images, and contact information so you can find examples of traditional styles for your period décor.