Friendship Hill celebrates with 20th annual FestiFall
The Friendship Hill Association will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its FestiFall from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Friendship Hill National Historic Site near New Geneva.
Brian Reedy, chief of interpretation at Friendship Hill National Historic Site, said “The purpose of the festival is to draw attention to Albert Gallatin and the time in which he lived.”
Friendship Hill was the home of Gallatin, secretary of the treasury under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Madison, and the statesman who helped negotiate the treaty that ended the War of 1812.
Reedy believes that Albert Gallatin is very much a forgotten person in history. “Here we have the opportunity to present the crafts and the food of his era,” he said.
The festival has grown through the years, from a modest beginning with 750 participants. “The past couple of years we have had over 3,000 people,” Reedy noted.
The musical program this year will feature Fred Adams on guitar and his son, Joel Adams, on bagpipes from noon to 1 p.m.; the Dulcimer Dames from 2 to 2:30 p.m.; and In a Pinch, from Fairmont, W.Va., from 2:30 to 3 p.m. Pat Looman, a renowned dulcimer player will perform with both groups. The Greene Academy Dulcimer Players of Carmichaels will feature lap dulcimers at 3 p.m. Christina Baran will perform period music on banjo at 4 p.m.
Children's activities include the usual candle-making all day and pie-eating contest at 2:30 p.m. as well as a water relay at 4 p.m.
Arts and crafts demonstrations involve braided rugs, cornhusk dolls, jewelry, quilting, spinning and weaving, boxes and bonnets, and head flower garlands.
The National Park Service will offer Back Porch Talks at noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m. on the east side of the house.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the association will present “Signora Bella, the Great Italian Equilibrist,” tentatively scheduled at 11:30 a.m., 1, 2 and 3:30 p.m. Signora performs to audiences of all ages, bringing to life the tradition of the traveling performer of the 18th and 19th centuries. Her performances encourage audience interaction, resulting in a unique show every time.
Refreshments sold by the Friendship Hill Association will include ham and bean soup, mountain stew (beef and vegetable variety), roast beef sandwiches, corn bread, apple butter and bread, sugar biscuits, ginger cakes, lemonade, cider, root beer, coffee and popcorn cooked in a cast-iron kettle over an open fire.
Reedy said the festival has acquired an excellent reputation. “Obviously, people come here for the food," he said. "It's almost like a family reunion,” he added.
Longtime association member Sandy Dills, of Masontown, also praises the festival food: “I come for the beef sandwiches as well as the soups. There are always two or three of them with many vegetables. A few years ago we had something called Lewis and Clark stew.”
Fellow association member Philip Rishel of Point Marion agrees that people come for the food. “It's different from other places,” said Rishel. “If there's no bean soup, people get angry at you. It's almost a homecoming. People spend the day expecting to see others there. I remember how excited the kids were with candle-making even though some were pathetic examples,” he chuckled.
Dills noted too that the festival offered one of the first craft shows in this area. “In the late ‘80s we had two fashion shows with a Constitution theme and ethnic costumes. One Taiwanese woman wore a red Chinese outfit and one man dressed as a trapper with a coonskin hat,” she said.
She reminisced that the opening of the renovated mansion in 1992 was a good year for the festival.
“That was something we worked so long for,” she said.
For Reedy, FestiFall has a serious dimension as well.
“Folks know the mansion but they don't always make the connection between the mansion and what Gallatin did here. In the past we've had guest speakers come in and talk about the Whiskey Rebellion and other things Gallatin was associated with. Our rangers conduct house tours during the festival. They also do off-site programs as well,” he said.
The increased participation has meant an increase in the number of volunteers needed. “I would think we now use between 70 to 80 volunteers,” said Joyce McCune, of Masontown, president of the Friendship Hill Association.
The Friendship Hill Association is a nonprofit volunteer group which helps to preserve, develop and maintain the site. The 35-room mansion overlooks the Monongahela River near the town of New Geneva. That picturesque setting was named a National Park Service site in 1978 to tell the story of Albert Gallatin and Jeffersonian America.
McCune believes the widespread publicity helps, too. “We advertise in the local papers. We post fliers around the communities and our newsletter goes out today,” she said.
Dills has been with the Association since its beginning in 1982. “Many older people, who initially showed interest in the association, have died,” she said. New members are needed.
The benefits of membership include subscription to the quarterly newsletter Echoes, annual association picnics and a fall dinner meeting, the opportunity to develop skills and talents as a volunteer in various capacities within the park, and the satisfaction of supporting the preservation of Albert Gallatin's home, among others. Applications are available by calling Joyce McCune at 724-725-9236 or by writing to the Friendship Hill Association, P.O. Box 24, New Geneva, PA 15467.
In addition to McCune, president, the other officers of the Friendship Hill Association are Fred Voithofer, of Smithfield, vice president; Jennifer Morgan, of Smithfield, secretary; and Donna Cocalis, of Point Marion, treasurer. Board members include Marge Seifert, of Hopwood; Alison Peers, of White Oak; and Philip Rishel, of Point Marion.
