Viewing Bucks history through the Three Arches in Falls Township
Stand behind the archways near the front door. Look to the east toward Pennsbury Manor on the Delaware River three miles away. Imagine traveling back in time. You know, a kind of Webb Telescope to 1712 when there were no highways, electrical power poles, billboards, tract homes, shopping malls, cars, trucks, trains, aircraft flying overhead and people orbiting in spaceships. The view from Three Arches was quite different. You could hear frogs croaking in distant wetlands along Queen Anne Creek and see smoke from Indian campfires curling skyward over red oak forests. Even today, you can sense Pennsylvania’s very beginning at John and Mary Sotcher’s ancient home, still standing in all its glory in Fairless Hills.
John arrived from London with William Penn on the ship Canterberry in 1699. It was the founder’s second voyage to his new Quaker colony. Also aboard was young Mary Lofty. Penn hired both to oversee his 8,000-acre manor in Falls. John became steward of the property, Mary head housekeeper.
Two years later the couple got engaged but needed permission from the monthly Quaker meeting in Fallsington. “Two men would be appointed to look into the clearness of the groom, and two women would be appointed to look into the clearness of the bride,” according to a biography at the reconstructed Manor. “Clearness meant there were no other entanglements, or promises to marry anyone else, and that the couple had the consent of their parents. This process could take several months, but as the Governor did not want to leave Mary and John alone, unmarried, and in charge of the manor after he returned to England (later that year), the process of clearing them for marriage sped up. In October 1701, the Penn family witnessed the wedding and signed the wedding certificate.”
Penn made John permanent caretaker prior to sailing for England, never to return. The Sotchers with four children moved to Three Arches in 1712. John would become colonial legislator and founded a ferry service to Burlington City, N.J.
Much has changed since then. Pennsbury Manor fell to ruin by the late 1700s. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that state government rebuilt its brick mansion based on the founder’s written notes. Three Arches, however, persevered as a private home and farm until Danherst Corporation purchased the property in the 1950s to create Fairless Hills. More than 2,000 prefabricated houses went up all around the mansion. Danherst donated it to county government which deeded it to Falls in 1971. With the help of a support group and federal grants, workers completely refurbished the building. For a time it was leased to tenants. But that didn’t work out, according to Brian Andrews, director of the township parks and recreation department. He’s now hoping to develop Three Arches into an active community attraction.
He met recently with me and history afficianado Wynne Wert to tour the building. A new roof, window treatments and driveway give tremendous curb appeal. The interior includes a large entry room and several small rooms and kitchen. A steep, winding staircase leads to a second floor with master bedroom, bath and several smaller bedrooms. Hardwood flooring on both levels are hundreds of years old and need refinishing. But they are as sturdy as the day put down.
Last year, Falls officials sought new ownership, then backtracked. Brian hopes the home’s interior can be buffed up and re-opened to the public. “My belief is the development of a Friends Group with an eventual 501c3 designation is the best path forward for rejuvenating the home.”
Wynne and I agree. “Visiting three Arches is like holding hands with history,” she told me after our visit. “The connection is palpable.” Think about it. William Penn’s home at Pennsbury Manor is a facsimile of what state government thinks it once looked like. Three Arches is the real deal. It’s where Mary and John Sotcher who arrived in America with Penn walked the floors, and it’s where re-enactors can tell their amazing tale.
Sources include the nomination form for “The Sotcher Farmhouse” on the National Register of Historic Places, and “People at Pennsbury” on Pennsbury Manor’s website www.pennsburymanor.org.
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Viewing Bucks County history through Three Arches in Falls Township
