Historic Yellow Springs

About an hour outside of Philadelphia, Historic Yellow Springs is a little collection of several periods of PA history in one easily walkable area.  Based around a studio barn where artists work and offer classes, there is also an historic post office, the ruins of a Revolutionary War hospital with a carefully tended herb garden, a bath house, a lovely restaurant, an old school house, and a gazebo.  It's all-around, a beautiful place to spend an afternoon walking around.  

The bath house was, for me, the best part.  I went to Yellow Springs last year with my mom, just to poke around and see what we could take pictures of, but we didn't walk over to the bath house.  It looks like a little schoolhouse from far away, but doing a little reading tells you the actual history of the area.  The spring (it's literally yellow due to mineral deposits) was used as a mineral bath/spa throughout the 18th and 19th centuries (except for some war-time hiatuses, etc.) by people who would take the trip from the city for some healing and resorting in the bath house, which is now unused.  We used a wooden pallet and some people-support (I jumped, Mom pushed, Claire let me use her shoulder and head to lean on) to climb up the wall and look into the now-abandoned mineral bath.  It was beautiful, despite the algae-filled, murky water and peeling blue paint.  I can only imagine what it was like in its hay-day, filled with glamorous women and men in their not-at-all revealing bathing suits.  Even George Washington was apparently there, soaking in his skivvies!  (Although probably not in that building, but it's fun to imagine, right?)

Among all this history, there is also studio barn, where last year we met some artists working in clay, who explained the kiln to us, and showed us what they were making.  The artists were inside on this past trip, but their work was still outside.  It makes me want to learn to throw some clay!

can you see both deer?  we saw a fox later, but he was too fast for my lens!