JOURNEY OF LEISURE

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Written by Mark Clayton when he was in high school.

WINTER 2025

 

WYETH

THE CORNER

ANDREW WYETH

Wyeth was inspired by Mother Archie, a pillar of the Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania Black community from 1891–1932. She built and lived in a home on the same property as her church and cemetery. Wyeth created several paintings of the church's ruins over the years.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

MOTHER ARCHIE'S CHURCH

Addison's Gallery

1945

Archie’s Corner was named from the location of Mother Archie’s Church at the corner of Bullock and Ring Roads in Chadds Ford. The term was coined in 1953 by Andrew Wyeth. “The Corner”  ​is a snowy portrait of the church and the wood frame house in which Mother Archie had lived. 

Mother Archie was a powerful spiritual leader in the Black Community of Chadds Ford. A woman being ordained as a minister in a Black church in the 1800’s, or any church for that matter, was extraordinary. She somehow had the resources to purchase the former Bullock School building in 1891. Perhaps the resources came from her new congregation, and if so, it would speak to the value people placed in her...

What happened to the octagon derives from what happened after Mother Archie’s death in 1932. The church gradually disbanded, the property declined, people began living in the church and wood frame house, and battles ensued about the use of the property.

Chadds Ford contained a small enclave of African-Americans known as "Little Africa." The community settled around Mother Archie's Church, a Quaker schoolhouse converted to a house of worship. Andrew Wyeth painted the church in several landscapes during its active period, and the abandoned building walls appear in Ring Road (1985). African-American residents of Little Africa appear as recurring models for Wyeth's paintings.

Ring Road

1985

Wyeth’s home in Chadds Ford was not far from a community called Little Africa, an Underground Railroad stop operated by Quakers (A carriage house at Oakdale farm held a secret room to hide enslaved Africans). At the center of the community was Mother Archie’s Church, a former Quaker schoolhouse that was purchased by Lydia Archie in 1891. An ordained preacher in the African Union Methodist Protestant Church, she died in 1932, and the church was later dissolved.

African American Historic Places

Edited by Beth l. Savage

"Hillendale Road
Pennsbury Township, Chadds Ford

Built in 1840, Oakdale is associated with Isaac and Dinah Mendenhall, leading abolitionists. In 1853 they were among the abolitionists who established the Society of Progressive Friends at Longwood in response to the abolition cause.

Their farm was the first stop north of the Delaware line on the Underground Railroad, which was used to assist fugitive southern slaves on their escape from slavery. An interesting feature of Oakdale Farm is the concealed room in the old carriage house that was used to harbor fugitive slaves. Isaac Mendenhall constructed a square room between the walk-in fireflace and the west wall. The fleeing slaves entered the hideaway through the loft. Oakdale Farm remained in Mendenhall family ownership until the mid-1920's." 

NC Black Heritage Tour

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

 Matthew 5

[38] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
[39] But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
[40] And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
[41] And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
[42] Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
[43] Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
[44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
[45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
[46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
[47] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
[48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

REDEEMER COME

 1 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;
behold, the King of glory waits;
the King of kings is drawing near;
the Savior of the world is here!

2 Fling wide the portals of your heart;
make it a temple, set apart
from earthly use for heaven's employ,
adorned with prayer and love and joy.

3 Redeemer, come, with us abide;
our hearts to thee we open wide;
let us thy inner presence feel;
thy grace and love in us reveal.

4 Thy Holy Spirit lead us on
until our glorious goal is won;
eternal praise, eternal fame
be offered, Savior, to thy name!

United Methodist Hymnal, 1989

_____________________________________________

. "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 

	is laid for your faith in his excellent word! 
	What more can he say than to you he hath said, 
	to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? 

2.	"Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, 
	for I am thy God and will still give thee aid; 
	I'll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand 
	upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. 

3.	"When through deep waters I call thee to go, 
	the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow; 
	for I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, 
	and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. 

4.	"When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie, 
	my grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply; 
	the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design 
	thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

WHEN A MAN HAS MARRIED A WIFE

(E 216)

 "When a Man has Married a Wife
he finds out whether
Her knees & elbows are only
glued together"

CofS Bible Verse

CHURCH OF THE SAVIOR

This is the verse I selected as my own when I became a member of the church of the Savior.

 King James Version

1John.3

[1] Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
[2] Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Phillips Translation

First Letter of John 

3:1 - Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called "children of God" - and that is not just what we are called, but what we are. Our heredity on the Godward side is no mere figure of speech - which explains why the world will no more recognise us than it recognised Christ.

3:2 - Oh, dear children of mine (forgive the affection of an old man!), have you realised it? Here and now we are God's children. We don't know what we shall become in the future. We only know that, if reality were to break through, we should reflect his likeness, for we should see him as he really is!