YELLOW LODGING ROOM

BLUE LODGING ROOM

SERVICE PASSAGE

NURSERY

SMALL ADJOINING ROOM

THIRD FLOOR

WHITE LODGING ROOM

PIAZZA/PRIVY

KITCHEN

BASEMENT

BARN

GARDEN

GREENHOUSE

 

First floor rooms

YELLOW LODGING ROOM

Main Theme: The Yellow and Blue Lodging Rooms taken together served as a Grand Chamber designed for large scale entertaining. This reinforces the importance of Stenton as the center of Colonial social, political, and economic networks.

Historical Context – Background information that may help visitors to understand better what they are seeing in this space.

1. Room use in 18th-century country houses – In courtly society, entertaining in the bedchamber was another opportunity to display wealth and status and formed part of the procession through a house, or what was termed the apartment of parade. As a means of display second only to silver, textiles were the most costly furnishings in houses during the 17th and 18th-centuries. It is hard for us today to grasp the concept of entertaining in a bedchamber, but for James Logan, doing so was a way to participate in Atlantic world social customs. This room was intended to evoke (and does for visitors today) the "Wow" factor.

 

BLUE LODGING ROOM
(partition door open)

Main Theme: James Logan's intellectual life and his Library, as well as George and Deborah Logan's role in preserving Stenton.

Topics or Stories to Discuss:	Objects illustrating Topics	People Related to Topic
The Stenton Library – the most private of the public spaces and a display of Logans' intellectual power. "Books are my disease." A reminder that the "Life of the Mind" was important to Logan. Logan was very interested in the ideas that came to be known as The Enlightenment, including moral philosophy and the Inward Light of Quakerism. Later, this room was Deborah Logan's "apartment in the library."	Bookcase Bookpress, similar proportions of shelves Books – 2,681 owned by Logan and now at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Image of Principia Mathematica with Logan's notes	James Logan Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, John Bartram, Carolus Linnaeus, Francis Hutcheson Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Plutarch
Preserving history – George and Deborah Logan at Stenton. Deborah ("Debby" Logan) considered herself a woman of the 18th-century. She loved old things, including Stenton, and was proud of her family heirloom furnishings. First female member of the HSP, friend of historian, John Fanning Watson.	Norris High chest and Elliot stools Thomas Tufft furnishings/receipt Blue/white check curtain Souvenir boxes / purses Deborah Logan Diary - 17-volume diary. She kept her manuscripts in the "press" in this room.	George Logan Deborah Logan and her circle of women writers – Susannah Wright, Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson

Historical Context

1. The Enlightenment – An 18th-century movement in philosophy, politics and religion, the Enlightenment attempted to adapt the methods of natural science to the study of society and humankind. It reasoned from observation and experience in a search for general patterns of human behavior and general laws for the human mind. The Enlightenment produced many important advances in such fields as anatomy, astronomy, botany, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Philosophers believed that the scientific method could be applied to the study of human nature and they explored issues in education, law, philosophy and politics. Many of the ideas of the Enlightenment became ideals of the American and French Revolutions during the late 1700s. One of the branches of learning that most appealed to James Logan was moral philosophy. This emphasized what was called the "moral sense," an innate and inner ability to understand that which was just and right, a sense shared by all of humankind. In important respects that concept resembled the key Quaker doctrine of the "inward light." Both were, in effect, inner voices, often drowned out by competing impulses such as selfishness or anger, but nonetheless present and in need of cultivation. Moral philosophy appealed sufficiently to Logan that in 1735 he began work upon a treatise called "The Duties of Man Deduced from Nature. "Although he never finished this work, Logan suggested that moral truth was self-evident to the generality of humankind, recognizable from the nature of things.
   
2. Classical literature - James Logan owned one of the largest and finest libraries in the American Colonies, replete with nearly all the great classical authors and many modern writers. He enjoyed corresponding with scholars, scientists, and book dealers in England and Europe and his letters reflect not only an interest in the ideas contained in his books, but also the relative merits of various translations and an awareness of the book market. Logan made marginal notations in his books in several languages, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic, commenting with considerable expertise on subjects such as astronomy, mathematics, classical literature, and botany. James Logan’s library was an 18th-century scholarly achievement of the first order. It confirms his place as one of the leading intellectual lights of the Colonial period, a gentleman scholar and a true Renaissance figure.
   
3. Deborah Logan's coterie of women writers – Among women of the Enlightenment, the circulation of books amongst themselves was in part a method of moral improvement, through reading and conversation. Deborah Logan, Susanna Wright, Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson (the only non Quaker), Hannah Griffiths (pen name Fidelia), and Milcah Martha Moore kept commonplace books or "literary scrapbooks" in which they copied the writings of others but also recorded their own musings and original poetry. They circulated the books amongst themselves rather than publishing them. This activity reflects the high educational level of elite Quaker women. Deborah wrote in her diary that she put her manuscripts to "press" (her own little joke) by storing them in the built-in press cupboard in this room.

 

SERVICE PASSAGE

Main Theme: Transition from public to private spaces of the house and discussion of the Logan Plantation and its diverse community, comprised of the family, hired and indentured servants, and slaves.

1. Use of backstairs - Service stairs in houses of the social elite in Europe and America allowed servants vertical access through the house so that their roles in making the household function could be hidden from public view. Servants could appear as if in a stage production, entering and exiting in a nearly "invisible" way.

NURSERY

Main Theme: This room begins the shift of focus to the Logan plantation theme by looking at the private areas of the mansion, focusing especially on the Logan children and domestic life.

Topics or Stories to Discuss:	Objects illustrating Topics	People Related to Topic
Nursery as older children's room - would have been used for older children, with younger ones likely sleeping on the third floor in close proximity to servants.	Children's chairs Inventory - lists comparative lack of furnishings and older furnishings.
The Logan children – James and Sarah Logan had two sons and two daughters who survived to adulthood The quote cited below about Sarah is particularly evocative of children's education. In 1723, James Logan made a final payment to Joan Humphreys, a governess. Billy studied with Walter Jones, although he was said to "want capacity" while James wanted patience. Logan paid Elizabeth Marsh for Sally and Hannah's schooling in Philadelphia.	Accounts of Logan children Sarah Logan Norris portrait Hannah Logan account book, age 20	William Logan (Billy) Sarah Logan (Sally) Hannah James, Jr. (Jemmy)

Historical Context

1. Quaker attitudes toward children – The listing of a Nursery on the 1752 inventory is another unusual example of the naming of a room. Like the Dining Room it is a particularly English feature of the house. Perhaps the two older Logan girls, Hannah and Sarah, slept here. Quakers generally were more attentive to the needs of their children, although James Logan could be an exacting father. He did not think much of either of his son's intellectual achievements, and clearly favored his daughter Sarah, who was called Sally. An outstanding description of Sarah is Logan's letter to his friend Thomas Story saying, "Sally, besides her needle, has been learning French, and this last week has been very busie at the plantation in ye dairy in which she delights as well as in spinning but is at this moment at ye table with me (being First Day afternoon and her mother abroad) reading the 34th psalm in Hebrew, the letters of which she learned very perfectly in less than two hours time." James Logan, meticulous businessman that he was, seemingly gave daughter Hannah an allowance and instructed her to keep an account of how she spent her money. She largely purchased textiles including ribbon, a gown and a set of stays. She also paid for nurses and servants and rides to town.

SMALL ADJOINING ROOM

Main Theme: This room continues the Logan plantation theme in discussing the slaves and servants who conducted the domestic work of the mansion.

Topics or Stories to Discuss:	Objects illustrating Topics	People Related to Topic
Role of servants in the house – Some servants would have worked and slept in the house itself, probably on the Third Floor but possibly in the Small Adjoining Room, making it easy for them to service the chambers on the second floor.	Servants beds listed on Third Floor – The level of architectural finish in this room is similar to those servant's rooms on the Third Floor, suggesting a similar hierarchy of use.	Phebe Dickenson the housekeeper in 1748 Nursemaid/Wet Nurses Minah or Menah, slave owned by Sarah Logan, left to Hannah Smith Jenkin David and his wife Barbara from Fairhill
Quakers and slavery – The divided attitudes of Quakers over time to the issue of slavery.

Historical Context

1. Plantation households and numbers and types of servants who were involved in running such a property – Information about the servants at Stenton is being developed, but there would have been a wide range of servants tending to the affairs of the house, working in the outbuildings and farming the estate. At Stenton, there were slaves owned by the Logans as property, indentured servants who were contractually obligated to the Logans for a set period of time and hired servants. James Logan's Account Book, his Ledger and the Journals of his son William provide the names and, in some cases, the occupation of some of the servants. There are specific references to Phebe Dickenson (the "housekeeper" in 1748), a plantation manager, a spinner, a farmer, a servant maid, two wet nurses, and slaves named Diana, Menah or Mina, Roger Rowe, Thomas, Robert Southam, as well as Dinah and her children.
   
2. Quakers and Slavery in Pennsylvania - The Logan family employed slaves and indentured workers at Stenton, a situation that was fairly common during James Logan's lifetime among Pennsylvanians and even Quakers who could afford it. Slavery was only becoming an intensely examined subject toward the end of James Logan's life. Still, most of the first challengers to slaveholding were Quakers, but antislavery Quakers represented a small minority among Friends. One of the earliest groups of Quakers who opposed slavery attended the Germantown Meeting. In 1688 they drafted a Protest, becoming probably the first white institution in the Colonies to abhor slavery, although this failed to register much impact among other Meetings in the Philadelphia area. Early Quaker antislavery was more pronounced in New Jersey and Long Island – many of whose Quaker communities preceded Philadelphia's – than in the wealthier, more commercially-oriented Quaker community of Philadelphia. By the time of James Logan's death in 1751, a number of Quaker meetings were addressing questions about slavery, but not until 1754 did the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting issue its first statement against slavery, and not for another four years did they authorize local meetings to discipline those who bought or sold slaves – over the objections of wealthy Quaker slaveholders. Neither slave traders nor slaveholders were as yet disowned by the Society. The Yearly Meeting did not ban slaveholding until 1776. Slaves who attained their freedom were likely to remain laborers, and they were not welcomed even into the Society of Friends.

THIRD FLOOR

(For Information Only – Not Included on Tour)

 

Main Theme: The third floor was a support space where servants and slaves slept and created community. It was also designed for storage.

 

Historical Context:

1. Status among servants – The 18th-century remained a hierarchical time and just as the house itself, family members and visitors were aware of the hierarchy, servants were as well. Servants working in the house and minding the Logan children would have slept on this floor, somewhat removed but at the same time providing easy access by the back stairs, or the grand main stair that is finished all the way to this level.

WHITE LODGING ROOM

Main Theme: This room as one of the better private spaces, probably used for guests.

Topics or Stories to Discuss:	Objects illustrating Topics	People Related to Topic
Dressing a bed in the 18th-century – Bed hooks in the ceilings of all the so-called Lodging Rooms indicate that testers (the support for the bed curtains) were suspended from the ceiling, at least in the initial furnishing of the house.	Bed with hooks and suspended tester
Network of visitors - This was likely used as a guest bedroom for a Principal guest, or possibly for other members of the family	Logan letter of 1737 – Recounts that this was used as a guest room, although the unfortunate guest became unwell and died during the night.	John Smith, suitor of Hannah Logan, records spending the night at Stenton in his diary. He may have slept in this space.
Dressing / Bathing Closet – Small room between the White and Yellow Lodging Rooms might have been used as a closet for dressing and bathing	James Logan inventory - suggests this space may have contained a dressing table, looking glass and a black walnut chest.

 

 

PIAZZA/PRIVY

Main Theme: Flow of service spaces at the back of house and the transition to a primarily work area removed from the balanced symmetry of the elegant front façade.

Topics or Stories to Discuss:	Objects illustrating Topics	People Related to Topic
Functional vs. Formal spaces - Outdoor spaces as an extension of the house. Imagine rear yard as a catch-all kind of space.	Piazza - runs across windows Arrangement of windows Missing outbuildings and architectural ghosts of missing elements	The Logans Their servants and slaves
Toileting in the 18th century	Privy (existing building and site of first privy)
Dinah and her role at Stenton – The lives of slaves and servants at Stenton can be highlighted by the Dinah story, which should be put in its appropriate context of enslavement. This will emphasize the life of Dinah, her husband and her family as enslaved Africans, rather than relying only on the amusing family legend of how Dinah saved Stenton.	Dinah Plaque - The Dinah plaque can be pointed to as an artifact of its time period (1912), particularly language that we would not use today. At the same time, Dinah and her story are a matter of pride in the surrounding community and her story has resonance for all visitors.	Dinah Bess and Cyrys

Historical Context

1. Privy culture – Privies were used generally used during the day, most often for defecation. Inside chamber pots were for urination, especially through the night.
   
2. Dinah and her story – The Emlen family, prominent Quakers, originally owned Dinah as a slave. She was part of Hannah Emlen's dowry when she married William Logan. At some point she came to live at Stenton with William and Hannah, as did her daughter and grandchild. Dinah also intervened to ask the Logans to purchase her husband, who was in failing health, and the Logans eventually freed her daughter, Bess. Later, Dinah asked the Logans to set her free and she was given "full Liberty to go and live with whom & Where She may Chuse," on 15 April 1776. (Philadelphia Monthly Meetings Manumission Books, fn 3 cited in Jean Soderlund, "Black Women in Colonial Pennsylvania" in African Americans in Pennsylvania). For whatever reason, Dinah remained at Stenton as a hired servant, with frequent references to her in letters. The last mention of her is in a letter of February 1803.

KITCHEN

(Should also include Basement information)

Main Theme: The food preparation center for the main house and a hub of servant life.

Historical Context

1. 18th-century cooking practices and foodways – Counter to the way we live today in an age of refrigeration and worldwide global food trade, the eighteenth-century diet was seasonal. Meats were salted or smoked and hung on hooks still visible in the basement, eggs were sulphured, fruits were dried and many foodstuffs were pickled to preserve them. In this climate, the lemons and oranges grown in the Stenton greenhouse were exotic and a sign of the Logans' wealth. The Stenton basement was furnished with water channels that contained troughs for storing food that needed to be kept cool. The basement also included a built-in wine rack, storage presses, shelves in the fireplace supports, and probably a dairy. The full basement would have been stuffed with firewood, casks and barrels and many crocks, all filled with the food that would be prepared for table presentation in the Stenton kitchen.

BASEMENT

(For Information Only - Not Included on Tour)

Main Theme: The Logan plantation – rooms designed for specific storage functions to stock the house with a variety of foods in large quantities. The Basement was a food storage center and a workplace supporting the functions of the house.

BARN

Main Theme: The Stenton plantation as a working farm and its place in trade networks and commerce

Historical Context

1. Uses of the barn – The barn would have housed animals on the lower floor, while the upper floor, now used for exhibition space, would have been used for the storage of hay. The many bricks used in its construction are from the original forecourt walls.
   
2. Experimental Agriculture - Stenton was the theater for George Logan's drama of national self-sufficiency through agriculture and small-scale manufacturing on the farm. Logan was among the founding members of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, the second such American organization, after the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. These associations of "gentlemen farmers" may have had little direct contemporary impact on the unproductive methods of the "practical farmers" to whom they sometimes addressed themselves, but in the long term they brought about real change and improvement in agricultural practice in the United States. His experiments on crop rotation and related matters such as manuring and livestock feeding were also published. The Farm Journal (original at HSP) from the 1810s documents almost daily activities at Stenton, and provides the most detailed picture of the activities of those who worked there on the property for the Logans, including the names and salaries of these workers.

GARDEN

(Proposed interpretive signage)

Main Theme: The Colonial Revival and the preservation efforts of The NSCDA/PA

Historical Context

1. The Colonial Revival – In the 19th-century, many Americans began to celebrate their American identity by documenting the events of their time and glorifying the past. As a larger and later 19th-century design movement, the Colonial Revival swept America by storm in the post-Centennial (1876) era. Architecturally, interest in the Colonial Revival spurred the restoration of Colonial buildings as well as the building of new structures that visually connected with Colonial architecture. The Colonial Revival manifested itself in myriad ways, one of which was the founding of patriotic societies like The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1891. The NSCDA/PA followed Deborah Logan in taking on Stenton as a preservation project, recognizing its importance as the former home of William Penn's distinguished Secretary.

GREENHOUSE

Main Theme: The Stenton estate in the 19th-century

Historical Context:

1. Plant trading history - Inter-Atlantic and intra-colonial trading and collection of species, is closely related to James Logan's scientific interest in plants, and specifically New World plants, as it is epitomized by his experiments on corn. Remarkably, the most thorough investigation of William Logan’s plant importing and trading is Letitia Wright, who oversaw the installation of Stenton's Colonial Revival garden. Her discussion of William’s transportation of plants is thorough and documented, charting his place in the trans-Atlantic and intra-colonial movement of plants among the elite. James Logan was not as engaged in this pursuit as some of his better known associates, including John Bartram and Peter Collinson, although William was a participant in the activities. For example, William ordered fruit trees and flowers from England, and sent plants and animals to English botanist John Blackburne. Wright does not remark, of course, the parallel relationship between the Philadelphia merchant's movement of trade goods around the globe and the movement of natural commodities of this sort, and thus the close relationship between science, colonialism, and mercantilism.

NB:

The LAUNDRY will not be interpreted considering its current use as a modern kitchen and staff area.

 

The LOG HOUSE, although not originally on the Stenton property, can be understood as an important preservation project of The NSCDA/PA moved from Center City in the 1960s.

 

Back to Site Interpretation part 1

Back to Interpretive Plan

Back to Stenton's Main page

© 2007, Stenton