August in Pleasant between 1890 and 1910 was very similar to July. Various farm families entertained friends and relatives coming out to the Valley on vacation. The Parkhills and other families entertained vacationers from Philadelphia coming out to the country for a week or more. In 1893 a whole group from Philadelphia visited the Valley and were received by the entire community. The group was a fraternal organization known as the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. The OUAM had been founded in Philadelphia in the 1840s and was part of nativist movement that sought to campaign against hiring foreign labor and encouraging everyone to buy “American.” The group was both anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. The Junior OUAM was an offshoot of this group and promoted “American” values. The uniformed members of the group that visited the Valley arrived on the 6:22 p.m. train at Moore’s Station and marched up the Valley behind a “beautiful flag floating in the breeze” to the place where they would make camp for three days on the farm of Samuel P. Hunt. The group put on a field drill on Monday at the Hunt farm and “The guards looked splendidly in their bright uniforms with their beautiful flag floating in the breeze.” Afterwards, as the OUAM guards left the Valley, “The march to Washington’s Crossing was a fine sight.” Overall, a grand impression had been made and the local correspondent for the Hopewell Herald, Rachel Williamson, noted, “We hope the boys will camp in this neighborhood again.”

While most of the visiting in August was done by people coming into the Valley, on occasion Valley residents did visit outside the Valley. In 1898 Amos Williamson, Rachel’s husband, who had not been feeling well, took an 18 day trip to Point Pleasant and Long Branch at the Jersey shore “where he went for the sea air.” The trip apparently helped him and Rachel noted upon his return that, “He is very much improved in health.”

Most of the social life in August was within the Valley, though, and a huge contribution to getting the people of the Valley together was the annual Union Sunday School picnic held each August. For many years in the 1890s it was held on the farm of Gershom Ege who also often served as Sunday School Superintendent. His farm was located at the western end of Valley Road where the large stone barn is today at the foot of Belle Mountain. The picnic was held in his woods to provide shade for the assembled families. A typical announcement for the event in the Hopewell Herald in 1902 demonstrated out all inclusive it was. “We would say to those interested in Sunday school work, come out and show by your presence that you appreciate having a Sunday school in your midst, and those, if any, who do not care for Sunday school, come out and have a good social day with your neighbors.”

The next year, the picnic was expanded into a full-fledged Harvest Home, an event that was very popular in that era. There was very evident pride in the people of the Valley who advertised the event by saying, “Come out one and all, both great and small, and see what Pleasant Valley can do in the way of a harvest home. You know what Hopewell can do. There will be competent men employed to look after the horses and wagons, etc., during the evening. The woods will be well lighted and there will be able speakers secured for the occasion. Music by the Amwell Orchestra of Lambertville. And last but not least, a good supper will be provided. Also ice cream, confectionary, etc., in abundance.” The picnic was becoming far more than a simple afternoon get together of Valley families. By 1907 the ladies of the Sunday School were making a large tent to use for the now annual harvest home and also for events held at the school house. As an invitation to the people of Lambertville to come out to the Valley, the newspaper noted, “There will be hacks run from Lambertville to the grounds to accommodate all who may wish to enjoy a day in the country also along the banks of the Delaware River and a relaxation from the daily routine of duties. Come out and get a good supper, also ice cream and confectionery. There will be amusements of various kinds on the grounds. Proceeds for Sunday school.”

In addition to the Sunday School, the Presbyterian and Methodist ministers from Titusville continued coming out to the Valley on Sunday afternoons to conduct services in the schoolhouse. However, in 1889 things were a bit disrupted for the school because the community had voted to build a brand new schoolhouse over the summer. So, the August 8 Hopewell Herald reported that, “Mr. Donaldson, of Titusville, preached his last sermon in the old school house last Sunday. As the old house is to be torn down he could not leave any appointment for the future, other than that when the new school house is completed he would come and preach.” The schoolhouse wasn’t the only construction project in the heart of the Valley that hot August in 1889. This was also the year that the Mercer County Freeholders visited the Valley and voted to build an iron truss bridge over Moore’s Creek on Hunter Road just up that road a bit from the new schoolhouse. (For more information on the new schoolhouse and the bridge see our stories on this website.)

By the end of August school was on the minds of families with children. After Hopewell Township took over the local school in 1894 the newspaper in late August often reported on the date that school would open, any improvements made to the school, and who the teacher would be that year. Parents were also admonished to make sure that their children enrolled and attended school, emphasizing the need for both attendance and punctuality each day. Rural areas like Pleasant Valley were undergoing a culture change with regard to schools and laws enforcing compulsory attendance. Until about 1905 attendance expectations had been very loose in Hopewell.

In terms of the farming that was the economic base of the Valley, August was a time of great activity and great concern about the weather. It seems that during the period 1890-1910 August was often too hot, too dry, or too wet. In 1889 a pundit in the Hopewell Herald commented that, “Anybody can make hay while the sun shines, but it requires genius to cure it when it rains every day in the week save Sunday.” Harvesting hay and oats was a major concern of this month. Peaches were also greatly affected by the weather and August was a big month for peach harvesting and the papers frequently commented on the state of crop due to local weather conditions. Another crop in the 1890s that was important in the Valley was the tomato crop. With the tomato cannery operating at Titusville in that decade there was a local market for quantities of tomatoes and August is when the crop started coming in and the cannery would open for business.

One of the primary sources of information about life in Pleasant Valley during the period 1888 – 1908 is the writings of Rachel and Amos Williamson in the Hopewell Herald. A sad month for the Valley was August 1908 when Amos Williamson died. A friend living near Lambertville wrote in the paper about Amos that, “We have known and esteemed him for many years. He was a good neighbor, an honest, upright man, and was honored by all who knew him. His jovial, kindly face and way will be missed for many a day in the Valley.” After his death, Rachel moved to Lambertville to live with her daughter’s family, a family that had often visited her in the Valley in many months, including August. After her departure our glimpses of life in the Valley become rarer and often are scattered amid reports from Titusville, Lambertville, and Harbourton.