The "Susquehanna River Adventures" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I just drove off the property of the Haldeman Mansion which is located at 230 Locust Grove Road in Bainbridge, Pennsylvania.  Neat place along the Susquehanna River that was featured in our local newspaper.  After reading about the place I just had to make a visit to take a few photos and try to learn some of the history about the place that was built on what was known at one time as Native American territory with the Susquehanocks, Catawbas, Lenni Lennape and Iroquois all mentioned with records that show the Conoy and Conestoga indian tribes using the land as a pathway for trading.  As I stood, camera in hand, admiring the beautiful stone mansion with traditional English Manor architecture,

The date stone which I could not locate anywhere
on the building when I was taking photographs.
This photo came from their website.

I was thinking what it must have been like to live on this glorious site, high above the east bank of the Susquehanna River where the Conoy Creek enters in northwestern Lancaster County.  I stood on what must have been the front porch, looking across the river, seeing the sun beginning to drop in the sky and cast reflective highlights across the still waters of the river.  What a spot for a family home!  But, the history of the beginnings of the home are rather vague.  The property is part of what was John Galbraith Jr.'s 440+ acre land warrant from the William Penn family on October 28, 1738; but exactly when the original house was built is hard to track down.  

The south side of the mansion showing the porch or
piazza which it was called at the time.

In 1785 John Haldeman acquired the Locust Grove property where he built a stone mill in 1790 which was eventually destroyed.  Then in the early 1790's John built the original stone house which was said to be completed in 1798.  An addition was added to make it into its mansion size that it is today.  There is a date stone that tells that the mansion part of the house was built by John and Martha Haldeman in 1811.  

The north side of the mansion which features the elaborate
entrance doorway and a multitude of windows.

I could not locate this stone as I walked around the house taking photo- graphs.   John later died in 1832 at another of his homes in nearby Columbia, Pennsylvania.  Henry and his wife Frances lived in the mansion and "supplied the property with books on general literature, a pair of globes, and other evidences of refinement".  Henry died while visiting his brother Jacob in Harrisburg in 1849.  

The oldest part of the south side shows the seams where
an addition was made in 1811

Henry and Frances seemed to live an obscure life since no details of their life exist.  They had a son C. Samuel Stehman Haldeman who was born at the mansion on August 12, 1812.  Samuel was one of the most noted philologists and naturalists in America in the mid-nineteenth century.  He is actually more involved with the Locust Grove property than any other of the Haldeman family, but he too left the mansion in 1826 and later died in 1880 leaving no lines of descendents.  

This is the smoke house which is to the east-rear of the
mansion.  It is considered the oldest building on the property.

Samuel was known as Professor Haldeman and was friends of Charles Darwin and taught at various Universities on the east coast.  I found it interesting that he had a portraiture taken by the famous Civil War photographer Matthew Brady whose glass negative taken of Haldeman is on file at the National Archives in Washington, DC.  The mansion that I am taking photographs of today has 13 rooms with a summer kitchen that is known as a smokehouse.  

Photo of Professor Haldeman taken by noted
Civil War photographer Matthew Brady.

The exterior is built with Germanic as well as Scot-Irish-English influences with local stone.  The interior, which I did not get to visit, has a sweeping staircase.  The many windows were, at the time in history when it was built, considered to be a measure of the wealth of the family who built or lived in the home.  As beautiful and majestic as the  mansion was, I was just as impressed with the view in front of me.  I could just imagine myself sitting on a rocking chair, reading a classic and watching the boat and river traffic.  Must have been the perfect life!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

An early photo showing the porch with a more decorated entrance.

Picture of the interior stairwell which I found online.

Exterior doors have handles such as this on all doors.

This is the south-rear side of the home showing where a porch and balcony once were fastened to the house. 

This old newspaper photo shows the south-rear side with a balcony, stairs and enclosed sunroom.  These are no longer part of the mansion.  I'm not sure when they were removed.