Our Rose Valley Community
- Rose Valley Folk
- Hedgerow Theatre
- Rose Valley Museum and Historical Society
- Rose Valley Troop 272
- Rose Valley Swimming Pool
- Gardeners of Rose Valley
- Town Watch
- Valley Voices
- Parks
- Old Union Church
- The School in Rose Valley
Jasper Deeter, a professional actor and director, arrived in Rose Valley in 1922. His goal was repertory theatre and he saw a nucleus of talent in the Rose Valley Players and a place suited for performances in the Guild Hall, as the building was then called. When controversy arose over the use of Guild Hall, Deeter declared, "We'll have a theatre if we have to play in the hedgerows," thus giving the theatre its current name. Hedgerow has weathered financial crises and a devastating arson fire in 1985, but Deeter's vision has kept it going. Today, Hedgerow Theatre is alive and well. The company stages approximately 20 adult and children's productions each year, offers adult and children's acting classes and runs several weeks of theatre camp in the summer. www.hedgerowtheatre.org
ROSE VALLEY MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Society was formed in 1998 for the purpose of preserving the history of the Arts and Crafts movement in Rose Valley. Like the founders of Byrdcliffe and Roycroft, the founders of the Rose Valley Arts and Crafts community, led by William Lightfoot Price, tried to resist the 20th century dehumanization of workers by establishing a community where hand craftmanship was valued. William Price also helped establish a single-tax community in Arden, Delaware. The furniture and art produced by these communities are rare and highly prized items. The Rose Valley Museum and Historical Society held a show in 2001 celebrating the 100th anniversary of the movement in Rose Valley. With a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development, the Society was able to photograph these treasures and establish a virtual museum and gallery at www.rosevalleymuseum.org.
More information of the arts and crafts movement can be found at www.arts-crafts.com.
Rose Valley Swimming PoolA private corporation, the Rose Valley Swimming Pool was formed in 1926. The pool welcomes new members, both residents and non-residents of the Borough.
Rose Valley Swimming Pool Corporation
Rose Valley train station gardenThe Gardeners of Rose Valley began beautifying Rose Valley in 1998, taking care of the garden at the Rose Valley train station and the rose garden at Pew Park. As the Club grew to around 40 members, horticultural horizons grew to the Club's participation in the Philadelphia Flower Show. The Club creates May baskets which are given out to special residents and decorates the street signs with evergreen swags for the holiday season. Pictures of a recent garden tour can be seen in the photo gallery section of this website. Membership in the Club is open to anyone interested in contributing to the community. For more information, contact Paula Healy at 610-566-2040.
Longpoint Wildlife Sanctuary - The 13-acre Long Point Wildlife Sanctuary was given to the Borough in 1972 by E. Wallace Chadwick, Judge, Congressman and Borough Councilman. A marker dedicated to Judge Chadwick was erected at the entrance to the sanctuary on Longpoint Lane in 1980. The property is one of ten areas along the Ridley Creek watershed that has be documented by the Nature Conservancy as a critical area that should be protected. The dry woods consist of an 80-foot partially closed canopy predominated by white, red, black and scarlet oak with some beech and tulip trees and a 40-foot sub-canopy of beech, sour gum, red maple, mockernut hickory, flowering dogwoods and American chestnut. Scattered maple-leaf viburnum, mountain laurel and lowbush blueberry constitute the shrub layer. The site is very scenic with outcrops affording views of the creek. Over 100 species of birds have been identified within the Sanctuary by local birders. The Longpoint Wildlife Sanctuary also contains one of the last vestiges of the famous Minquas Indian Trail that once extended from the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia westward to the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg. Thousands of beaver skins were sent yearly to the first Dutch and Swedish posts on the Delaware River by this route in the early 1600s. A state marker located on Rose Valley Road established by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission was erected in 1926 to commemorate the Rose Valley section of the Minquas Trail.
Dedication of Minquas Trail Monument, Rose Valley Road, c1926
Saul Wildlife Sanctuary - The 12-acre Maurice Bower Saul Wildlife Sanctuary was given over a period of years to the Borough by Maurice Bower Saul and his wife Adele Scott Saul. A marker was erected by devoted neighbors and Borough Council in 1974 at the entrance to the sanctuary behind the Old Mill. The Saul Wildlife Sanctuary contains a number of specimen trees and shrubs to include pagoda dogwood, pignut hickory, bigleaf magnolia, and umbrella magnolia (Pennsylvania Rare), swamp magnolia (one of the largest in Delaware County), London planetree, and coastal plain willow. Perhaps the most interesting is a magnificent tulip poplar, also one the the largest in the county. Hardy bamboo, an invasive, is spreading rapidly in one corner of the Sanctuary. The Saul Wildlife Sanctuary contains the remains of the dam and mill race, originally constructed in 1789 to divert water from Ridley Creek to the Old Mill.
Pew Park - In 1933, Council accepted dedication, for park and street purposes, an acre of land from John G. Pew. It is a triangular piece at the north end of the Borough that caused an awkward dogleg in the
Pew Park road just before the Moylan-Rose Valley train station. Council used Works Progress Administration funds for straightening the road and for landscaping the triangle now known as Pew Park. Two tile pillars, originally located on Rose Valley Road opposite the entrance to Old Mill Lane, were moved to Pew Park in 1995. The pillars originally marked the entryway to the Rose Valley Land Company's real estate venture on Porter Lane and Possum Hollow Road in 1911. Two of the Borough's longest serving civic leaders are honored with plaques in Pew Park: Mary Whalen Saul McLaughlin, 41 years on Council including 21 years as President, and George H Greer, 29 years as Controller and 23 years as Mayor.
The School in Rose Valley is a private school founded in 1929 by a group of parents interested in Progressive Education, a new approach in schooling. Today the school, located at the end of School Lane in the heart of the Borough, serves children in grades Pre-K to 6. The curriculum is built around optics and problems that arise from children's interests, questions and needs. www.theschoolinrosevalley.org