Carolyn's Blog

If you are not familiar with Union Park Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware--here is your chance to not only become familiar with this great City location where you can walk to all kinds of restaurants and pubs in Little Italy, but to see a great, affordable 3 bedroom home priced at $215,000.

This community, built in 1918 for shipyard workers on Wilmington's waterfront, is known for its friendly affability, front porches, and the Parkway, which this home at 442 South Bancroft Parkway faces. For more information and photos, see www.psre.com/9505.  The open house is from 1-3 August 1, 2010.

You may have driven by a lovely stone house at 702 Benge Road in Yorklyn, Delaware  on your way along the Red ClayCreek, perhaps for a visit to the Auburn Heights Preserve. Well, here is your chance to preview this home at an open house this Sunday, July 25, 2010 from 1-3 PM.

If you are seeking a restored historic home with new systems, new kitchen and baths, you will love this Yorklyn stone home. Not only is this home beautiful, but its private setting is unmatched. Located adjacent to the new Auburn Heights Preserve, a State park, there are possible financial rewards for a buyer interested in preserving the exterior of this home (ask Carolyn for details). There is an extensive system of stone walls for terracing and retaining walls which were recently constructed. A garage across the road has a second floor studio/workshop.       

See this property website for details:www.psre.com/9352. The home is listed for $675,000 and sits on just under 3 acres.

So you say you have never visited any of the restaurants or pubs in Wilmington Delaware's Little Italy?

Never tried the water ice at Yatz's on Union Street?

And never been to Union Park Gardens?

Well, it's time to change all that!  You are invited to an Open House Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 442 South Bancroft Parkway in Union Park Gardens from 1-3 PM.  If you need directions, call Carolyn at 302-593-5111. Or just cruise south on Union St. from Pennsylvania Avenue, and when you cross over Lancaster Avenue, Union Park Gardens will be on your right. Make a right turn on Sycamore, then when you get to the Parkway, turn right, and the house will be the second house. It's only $215,000 and has 3 bedrooms and one bath Details at www.psre.com/9505.  And THEN you can visit all the cool places in the neighborhood!

Chester County, Pennsylvania's Town Tours and Village Walks visited Kennett Square Thursday night, and after meeting in an area in the center of town known as the Genesis (after the company who built the office building and parking garage) Walkway, we set off for a tour which concentrated on early schools.                 

We started out at the Kennett Friends Home on State Street.  From the 1850's until 1900, it was the Eaton Academy, a school for boys and girls. We were greeted by a local man who represented an early director of the school. Then we met a teacher and student from the 19th century Kennett Academy and Seminary.                

The New Century Club was the design of a Philadelphia architect, Walter Ferns Price, and was part of a turn of the 20th Century women's movement to bring educational speakers and entertainment for women and their families. The builder was George B. Scarlett, and the re-enactor who represented his wife, Ada, greeted us at the building, which is now a Masonic Lodge.

Our last stop was a presentation by the Kennett Fire Company No. 1, founded in 1875. They displayed a pumper truck which took a team of 12 men who worked in relays of 6 and 6. They would connect a hose to a hydrant (I think there were 3 in town) or a pond, and 3 men on each side would push down alternately on the wooden horizontal bars on each side, and water would spray out a hose at the fire. Or, there were always the leather fire buckets people kept in their homes and brought to fires so they could join the bucket brigades. This beautiful piece of iron and woodcraft was polished to a shine worthy of any fine boat!

There are 5 more Thursday night tours scheduled so you can check the website for the next one at http://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/cwp/view.asp?a=1551&q=622016#schedule

Union Park Gardens, a community established in 1918 for shipyard workers on the nearby waterfront in Wilmington, Delaware, is still a great place to live.(see Part I of Union Park at CarolynRolandsBlog.com)

As a matter of fact, this list was put together by my client, Betsy, who is selling her home in Union Park Gardens, and it is so comprehensive, I just had to share it!

 Great Food and Drink in the Area

• Little Italy (within walking distance)
  • Attilio's - Casual Italian
  • Mrs. Robino's - Casual Italian
  • Bangkok House - Thai
  • Eclipse - American Bistro
  • Walters - Upscale Steak House
  • Union City Grille - American
  • Pomodoro - Upscale Italian
  • Mona Lisa - Upscale Italian
  • The Dumpling House - A Local Secret
  • Scalesca's - Italian and Martini Bar
  • Tijuana Taco - Authentic Mexican
  • Blue Parrot - New Orleans Style Food & Fun, Patio
  • Mulrooney's - Great Neighborhood Bar!
  • Dead Presidents - Bar with American Fare
  • Comegy's - Bar
  • Capriotti's - Great Subs
  • Frankies - Good Steak Sandwiches
  • Yatz's - Sandwiches, Water Ice and Ice Cream, Yum!
  • Walt's Flavor Crisp - Great Chicken To Go
  • Grotto's - Pizza Like at the Beach
  • Feby's Seafood - You can't walk here, but the food is delicious
  • King Garden - Take out/Delivery Chinese

You have got to love this place!

This is the little row house that could...impress you, charm you, look out on historic South Bancroft Parkway, be within walking distance of restaurants and pubs, and provide you with 3 bedrooms, a bath, dining room, and an office or playroom in the basement. The floors, as was common at the time, are the more expensive oak on the first floor, and pine on the second floor.

These 1918 built homes were originally built for shipyard workers (see my blog on this neighborhood at http://carolynrolandsblog.com/ ) during WWI, and then auctioned off to private owners in 1933. There is parkland, winding streets, varied home designs and sizes, both detached and row houses, with the flavor of an English Village, as indeed, they were inspired by the English Garden Suburb movement.

This home at 442 S. Bancroft Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware's Union Park Gardens is priced at $215,000 and its website is www.psre.com/9505.

Union Park Gardens, in Wilmington, Delaware, is an insiders "secret" hidden in plain sight, but within walking distance of numerous restaurants and pubs in "Little Italy" and minutes from sophisticated restaurants and fun places on the Riverfront.

Not many realize that it is one of a number of turn of the 20th Century versions of the English Garden Suburb movement built in this country. Rather than building standard rigid row houses, it was designed to be reminiscent of a village. Houses were built of slightly different sizes, styles, and materials. Architects Ballinger and Perrot and town planner John Nolen planned 500 homes on a 50 acre site convenient to trolley lines.

And what was the impetus for all this housing? It was WWI, the shipbuilding industry in Wilmington, and workers flocking to the jobs created by all this industry. Ground was broken on June 25, 1918, and completion was September of the next year. At this time, all homes were rented from the developer, the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation.  Above are scenes along South Bancroft Parkway, the main north-south street, which still has the parkway or common space running down the center.  Since the homes were all sold at  an auction in 1933, they have been privately owned.  Union Park Gardens is popular for first time homebuyers, or anyone who is looking for a close-knit community within walking distance of restaurants, pubs, and great home-made Italian water ice.  And there are some very nice gardens here in "The Gardens of Union Park."

The Palmer Farmhouse  in Landenberg, Pennsylvania is a lovely Chester County stone home on 2 acres dating back to 1812. This stone home with bank barn gives ample opportunity to live like a country squire yet close to conveniences.

This historic Landenberg home has 5 original fireplaces, distinctive period mantels, pine floors, chair rails, built-ins and 3 floors of living space. The 2 acres include a bank barn, hot tub, in-ground pool, and a stream, as well as a view of a pond from the back patio.

This home is located just outside of the college town of Newark, Delaware, a couple of minutes out of Elkton, Maryland, and a half hour's drive from Wilmington, Delaware.

This home is priced at $389,000 and the website for this property is www.psre.com/9451.

The historic Ruston-McDowell House and Mill in West Grove, Pennsylvania have had some exciting changes and is ready for a buyer to move in! We had requests to do some updating, so come and see what dedicated artisans did to refinish floors, sensitively paint the walls and millwork, AND install a gorgeous bathroom with frameless shower doors, subway tiles, and refinished claw foot tub.

 The rest of the house has been painted and floors refinished. There are working fireplaces in kitchen, living room and bedroom, and the walk-in fireplace chimney in the 1790 secition is capped. The center and west sections date to the first years of the 19th century when the Ruston Mill was the center of the community. It still houses some of the flour milling machinery in a stone building which shares the 4 acres of land on the banks of the Big Elk Creek.

At the turn of the last century, this property was known as "The Buttonwoods" after another name for the giant sycamore trees on the property (one is on the National Tree Registry). A must-see for the historic home lovers!

The website for this property is www.psre.com/9412.  It is priced at $425,000, and has 5 bedrooms and sits on 4 acres.