Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
001 - We begin the tour at the corner of Sibley and "Plummer" * Avenues. Though we're very high up in Miller Park, the Charles Miller home, located on a rise just above this corner, is even higher, commanding a grander view of the city of Franklin below.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
002 - This is the left half of a remarkable Miller Park panorama taken in the early 1900s. The next image is this same picture with an overlay of relevant information. You can go back and forth between the two to see them with . . . [continued below]
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
003 - Left half text overlay: The names of the houses (based on their first residents), the dates they were built; the names of . . . [continued below]
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
004 - Here is the unadorned -right- half of the early panorama, with an overlapping view of . . . [continued below]
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
005 - Now the text overlay for the right half of this amazing photograph. The absence of tree overgrowth here is indeed striking compared to what it looks like today. In fact . . . [continued below]
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
006 - Spooky, weed-covered stone steps leading up to the Charles Miller mansion. Though they appear to lead to nothing, these steps go to an overgrown pathway to the main sidewalk that takes you to the front door of the house.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
007 - The same steps, as seen in autumn (and with the lawn mowed). One of the themes of this tour could be named "Stairway to Nothing": We'll encounter several mysterious stone stairways along the way for which we can only guess at what they once led to.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
008 - Charles Miller served in the Civil War but got his title of Major General in the Pennsylvania National Guard. He served 2 terms as commander of the Division that included all troops in the State. This is a front view of his chateau-like home.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
009 - "622 SIBLEY". A closer view of the front entrance to the Charles Miller house.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
009a - Very early 1900s, probably
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
009b - Miller Mansion (Indoor) Porch
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
009c - Another early view of the porch
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
010 - Looking down from the top of the mossy, 118-year-old staircase to Charles Miller's mansion.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
011 - One of three images panning from left to right.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
012 - Image two of three, moving left to right.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
013 - The rightmost of three frontal shots of the Charles Miller home.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
014 - I lied. This is the rightmost of four frontal shots. This peaceful picture, captured at dusk, is from West PA magazine and, I believe, taken by Stephen West.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
015 - Actually, -this- is the rightmost of -five- frontal shots. This fantastic picture is from West PA mag and was taken by Stephen West.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
016 - "Miller's Tudor style mansion is reminiscent of the architecture of his . . . [continued below]
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
017 - An early-1900s postcard view of the General's home and side yard.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
018 - This is the same yard we just saw in image 017, the postcard. Note the sheared tree-trunk here; on the postcard it's the tree at the right. We see the back of the Heathcote House below.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
019 - And this is the same view we just saw in image 018. That was summer, now it's fall. The sidewalk leads to where the Japanese rose gardens once stood (and where a newer house stands now), as seen in the next three images of early-1900s postcards.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
020 - The Japanese Rose Garden that once flourished beside the Charles Miller home. This postcard is from 1906. (Though I've learned that one can never quite be sure of these exact dates.)
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
021 - "Looking through the pergola": A different view of the Japanese Rose Garden beside the General's home. The pathway or sidewalk at the right on the last postcard is the same walkway at left in this one, leading up to the pergola.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
022 - A third postcard view of the rose garden and the pergola. Note the fountain in the center -- we'll get a closer view of it in the black and white photo (#023) coming up just AFTER the next picture (#022a).
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
022a - The stairs leading to the pillored pergola beside the Japansese rose garden in Miller Park.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
023 - This rare, early-1900s photograph of the Charles Miller home's rose garden & fountain is from the files of the Venango County Historical Society and, as far as I'm aware, previously unpublished anywhere. [Continued below]
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
023a - The fountain in the Rose Garden
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
023b - Another view of the fountain.
Melvin Q. Watchpocket:
023c - More of the fountain.
