This Hohenadel's history -- culled from various online geneology sites -- crosses paths with "our" Hohenadels here in East Falls (scroll down), and illuminates the struggles and hardships early generations endured, working towards the American Dream. Sources were traced whenever possible but unfortunately most of these facts below remain undocumented. Grain of salt. -- EFHS Gertrude Höhenadel (the younger) was born November of 1835 in the...
These ghost stories come to us from the Chadwick Papers -- clippings from the now-defunct local newspaper "The Suburban Press" by the paper's editor in the 1930's, Alex C. Chadwick. Transcribed and unedited, below, they're a time capsule of sorts for scary storytelling 75 years ago. The old man narrative is archetypal, and then his fantastical descriptions seem kinda child-like and not terribly scary to modern sensibilities (turtle feet? lobster...
Mike Labetti was blindsided! After overseeing six months of round-the-clock repairs, refinishing, reproductions -- even whimsical fabrications -- at 3617 Indian Queen Lane, he might know every inch of that mansion but he was totally in the dark about East Falls House Party coming up in two weeks. (Ed note: we totally blogged about it back in June so he only has himself to blame, ha) He found out about it at the end of last month, when...
Long before science explained the chemical interactions that made the magic of beer, medieval brewers believed that beer could be demonically possessed. Somehow evil spirits during the brewing process made your beer flat or skunked or just off. Good beer, on the other hand, was the work of angels. So brewers hired priests to watch over the brewing process and ensure divine intervention. This was an expensive service, given that priests were busy...
Q: How do you turn German beer into American beer? A: Drink it. Poor American lager. A whole generation of craft beer lovers grew up associating this once-noble Old World recipe with the thin, low-alcohol stuff favored by rednecks and underage drinkers. In truth, New World lager is an exciting German-American hybrid: their recipe, our ingredients. American beer at the turn of the 20th century was a proud product of artisanal brewers, made with...
Hohenadel House is Ready to Swing: SATURDAY OCTOBER 18th ... 6 pm - 10 pm A century ago, when friends called on John Hohenadel at his grand mansion on Indian Queen Lane, they likely joined the old brewmaster in his basement parlor -- his "ratzkeller"-- for some of his Falls Brewery beer. His plant a few blocks up on Conrad Street produced more than 30,000 barrels a year, the last and most successful enterprise of the family's 83+ years in...
“Old houses are a slow process. There’s no hurry up and get it done.” -- Stan Moorman "Screw that, let's do this now, man!" -- Tornado, 2006 Stan Moorman understands better than most what his daughter Felicite has been through in restoring Hohenadel House. He also shares Felicite’s passion for old houses. But the two are very different in their approach to restoring their historic houses. Unlike Felicite’s warp-speed plan for...
From the start of our research into the house at 3617 Indian Queen Lane, we've heard that one or more members of the famous Dobson family either built the house or lived in it. So far, we've been unable to track down a Dobson connection to the property on any census reports, city directories, land records, deeds, bank notes, etc. Granted, we haven't searched under every rock -- and with a house this old, tracing owners and occupants is hardly a...
Fallsers often use the term “mansion” to describe the Hohenadel place, which seems kind of a stretch. The property is grand, but hardly sprawling: 6 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3900 square feet. Grace Kelly's childhood home on Henry is 56 square feet bigger, yet locals rarely call that a mansion. No, the Italianate villa once occupied by our area's most illustrious brewer was a "mansion" only relatively -- in comparison to the Middle class community...
