Main Line Country Squires (Virtual)

Many wealthy Philadelphia industrialists and financiers of the late 19th and early 20th century emulated the life and style of the English landed gentry. This talk looks at the gentleman (and lady) farmers and their extensive estates with prize winning farming operations, horses and livestock. It highlights the history of the exclusive Farmer’s Club and the many country sports that took place on the estates on the Main Line and in Chester County.

About the Speaker: Jeff Groff retired in 2021 as Estate Historian at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. He also had served as Director of Public Programs, and then as Director of Interpretation. A graduate of Bates College where he majored in history, he holds an MA from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture of the University of Delaware. For over forty-five years he has studied and lectured on American country houses and gardens, particularly those of Philadelphia’s “Main Line” and surrounding areas, with an emphasis on country life and sports, and gentleman farming. Currently he is assisting Chanticleer Garden in Wayne PA in developing an updated interpretive plan and history. He served as co-curator of Winterthur’s very successful exhibitions “Costumes of Downton Abbey” and “Costuming The Crown.”

Admission is Pay as You Wish! Your donation is greatly appreciated. All proceeds benefit the development of future programming and the preservation of the History Center and its collections. The History Center is home to over 750,000 manuscripts, 100,000 photographs, and 70,000 artifacts. Your donation helps us to preserve and share those resources.

Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the presentation, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live presentation; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.

This presentation is made possible by the generous support of The Haverford Trust Company.