Cherry Hill Sun

Tag: Barclay Farms

  • How 50 years of Friends made Barclay Farmstead

    Barclay Farmstead would not be what it is today without friends.

    One of the township’s most prominent historic and recreational sites came to be because of the Friends of Barclay Farmstead, an institution for decades. After the township purchased the farmstead as a historic site in 1975, the Friends restored the property’s home and eventually offered educational programs and community events.

    To mark its 50th anniversary, the Friends hosted a celebration at the farmstead on Nov. 15, enabling guests to see the farmstead’s holiday home decorations. To accommodate the 100 people who attended – too many for the farmstead house alone – a heated tent was set up on the lawn outside.

    Some of the original Friends were on hand, while the children and spouses of other members who couldn’t attend took their places.

    Megan Brown is the recreation manager for the township’s recreation department, under which care of the farmstead falls.

    “There was a lot of reconnection and just excited to be back together kind of feelings,” she said of the celebration.

    In addition to the holiday decor, the house featured photos of the Barclay Farmstead when the Friends first began restoration efforts and through the last five decades. Holiday tours took place through November.

    Abigail Twiford/The Sun
    The Friends of Barclay Farmstead were shown in photos through the years at the group’s anniversary celebration on Nov. 15.

    “There was a lot of just nostalgia in the display of the last 50 years and the people who have made an impact and telling some of the story of when the group of people kind of rallied around rehabbing the house and making it what it is today,” Brown explained.

    But this year’s Christmas decorations were less important than allowing visitors to see how the house looks the rest of the year.

    “They’re understated this year,” noted Betty Eigenrauch, a Friends volunteer. “We wanted to have a tree up, but it’s not the main thing in the room this year …”

     

    Abigail Twiford/The Sun
    The living area of the Barclay Farmstead’s historic house is decorated for the holiday season.

    Photos from the Friends’ anniversary celebration remain on display for anyone who would like to learn about the efforts that went into creating the historical landmark known today as the Barclay Farmstead.

    “It’s just a great testament to the impact of community volunteerism,” Brown observed. “You know that the farmstead would not be what it is today without that organization.”

  • Pop-up park story times wrap up for the summer

    Abigail Twiford/The Sun
    Youth Services librarian Katie Helf (left) reads one of the books to the audience as Adult and Youth Services librarian Kristin Redmond leads the kids in accompanying activities.

    Story times are a staple for young children at libraries around the country, giving kids an early introduction to reading.

    The Cherry Hill Public Library holds story times on a regular basis, though some of them are done with a twist.

    In the summer months, the library holds a series of story times in some of the township’s parks, alternating week to week between the Barclay Farmstead and Croft Farms called Pop Up Story Times.

    The seasonal story times are the result of a partnership between the library and the township’s Parks and Recreation department, a collaboration that has been ongoing since the pop up story times first started in 2016. 

    This year, they were held every week on Friday mornings from June 27 to Aug. 15 to overlap with summer reading. The theme, Color Our World, heavily inspired the story selection each week.

    Each week featured a different theme based around the idea of different forms of art, including painting and music. Microphones were used to make sure everyone could hear, no matter how far they were from the two speakers.

    Story times not only included reading and showing illustrations from the chosen materials, they also featured activities throughout the event to keep the children engaged.

    Youth Services librarian Katie Helf and Adult and Youth Services librarian Kristin Redmond began each meeting by leading the gathered children and their caretakers in song, often using nursery rhymes or variations of them to get them further invested before beginning the readings.

    The park-based story times were originally created as a way of raising more awareness of the library and the number of different programs it holds among residents of the township.

    “We moved around to different parks, trying to engage people in the different neighborhood parks,” Redmond explained. ” … If they happen to be here playing on the playground, they would say, ‘Let’s listen to this story time’ to hopefully engage them and get them to come to the library.”

    Each week, the story times saw a turnout of around 100 people, with the final week seeing 130 people come out.

    “We’re grateful for everybody who comes out and supports the program,” Helf said. 

    The final week, held on Aug. 15, had the theme of music and sounds.

    To go along with this theme, they read “Music is in Everything” by Ziggy Marley and “This Musical Magical Night” by Rhonda Gowler Greene and James Rey Sanchez. They also sang songs between the stories. 

    Children were encouraged to join in on the sounds showed and call out the different colors that appeared.

    Cara Dunn was one of the Cherry Hill residents who brought her children out for the story times, meeting up with a group of cousins and friends.

    “We’ve been here every time they’ve had it in Barclay farms this summer,” Dunn said. “We enjoy that it’s good for all ages, and the kids can roam and have snacks.”

    Each story time session wrapped with a final song as children and their parents sang along.

  • ‘What’s better than free music?’

    Abigail Twiford/ The Sun
    Audience members set up seats in front of the historic home on the Barclay Farmstead for the July 29 concert.

    The finale of the annual Music Under the Stars concert series at the Barclay Farmstead took place on July 29, after the first of the outdoor shows set for earlier in the month was postponed by threatening weather.

    The last of the free series – a second show was performed on July 22 – featured the American Soul Band and was heard by residents and visitors who set up blankets and camping chairs or settled on one of the property’s benches. Room was made for a dance floor.

    Band members played covers of music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, along with songs that reflected Philadelphia and its artists.

    Connie Borman was in attendance. Her work ensures she always knows what concerts are happening throughout the region.

    “I’m an HR person and I check all the concerts going around,” she said, “and I post them at work for everybody, so I know where the concerts are … I send it out to all the employees … And then I tell them like, ‘I’m going.’”

    Several community organizations and area businesses set up booths and tables around the historic farmstead to engage with the community. Food trucks and snack stands were on hand to sell lemonade, popsicles, barbequed food, beer and liquor.

    Despite the heat, attendees walked around with their dogs and children played along the walking paths and grassy patches at the farmstead.

    Cara Jaye is a member of American Soul Band.

    “It was amazing,” she noted of the audience. “The crowd was so interactive. We had such a great turnout despite the heat.” 

    Stacey Goldberg is the artist representative for the band.

    “It was hot, but these are troupers and they did their stuff,” she said of attendees who got up to dance. “The crowd loved them and it was a great night for all. I think everybody danced; they had a great time.”  

    The band played tributes to Gladys Knight, the Temptations and the Four Tops and donned a number of shiny, sparkled costumes. For some songs, members asked the crowd to wave paper, hats, rags and bags. They ended their show by descending to the grass to line dance with attendees. 

    Lisa O’Neil is a resident of the Barclay Farm area.

    “We all love to come out here,” she enthused, “because what’s better than free music?”

  • ‘She’s always been fiercely independent’

    Kathy Chang/The Sun
    Jean Dimmit Sedar is a resident at The Farmstead at Medford who celebrated her birthday with family on July 12.

    With festive “100” glasses, family, friends and neighbors of Jean Dimmit Sedar celebrated as she turned 100 years young.

    Her children, Emily and Warren, reflected on their mom, who was also wearing a “100 and fabulous” sash that acknowledged her childhood on an Iowa farm, where she walked a mile-and-a-half to a one-room schoolhouse and fell in love with music and travel.

    The Haddonfield Symphony – now Symphony in C – was a big part of Sedar’s life, as were string quartets. She played violin in the symphony and also took up viola and guitar. Members of the symphony were on hand to help her celebrate her big milestone on July 12 at The Farmstead at Medford, her home since April.

    Sedar, who officially turned 100 on July 13, previously lived independently in Cherry Hil, even through a stroke in 1994, rehabilitation and COVID, Emily shared. Warren, who traveled from San Francisco, toasted his mother at the celebration.

    Sedar graduated high school at just 16, went on to Central College in Iowa, and later earned both a master’s and a Ph.D. in biology at a time when few women were even working in science, let alone pursuing doctorates.

    “While in graduate school, she met and fell in love with Albert Sedar,” Warren recounted. “They married, had four children, and eventually settled in Barclay Farms, Cherry Hill, where she raised a family without the internet (just imagine that) and lived through more change in one lifetime than most of us can even imagine.

    “Through it all, she’s remained steady, kind, funny – and always unapologetically herself.”

    Warren also provided personal reflections.

    “I’ve always admired her loyalty to my dad,” Warren noted. “He was an avid sailor, and I remember Mom joining him out on the Chesapeake Bay in a tipping sailboat, and she didn’t even know how to swim. She filled our home with music, always practicing the violin, viola or guitar.

    “She also had a sharp mind,” he added, “doing crosswords only in pen, especially the Sunday New York Times puzzles. She loved gardening with Dad and was active in a local horticultural society.

    “She’s always been fiercely independent,” Warren related. “At 88, she went ziplining in Costa Rica. She was still driving until 95, and just yesterday, she was in the car giving me driving directions: ‘Watch your speed, come to a complete stop.’ She’s basically Siri, but better.

    “She still questions my cooking, still refuses to let anyone else pay for dinner and maybe, just maybe, now that she’s 100, she’s starting to let us help … a little.”