OcTrolleyFest 2026
which took pace Saturday October 10, 2026, celebrating 250 years of United States and 400 years of Delaware County History Click here for Voices from the Plateau stories
Clean, Green, Sustainable, Fun
The journey is the show
THANK YOU ALL for the wonderful support of OcTrolleyFest 2026. We had great weather and a spectacular crew of helpers following the John Bartram Trail starting at the Darby Library that Bartram helped found in 1743. He asked his contact in England, Peter Collison, to buy books to start the Darby Free Library and then send the books back to Darby in the Bartram Boxes he originally used to send his plant specimens to England.
We then went to the site of the "Millcat Race or trench digged thru Blunston's Meadow" where the Darby mills began prior to 1695, and then up the hill to the plateau where Botanist was born in 1699 and where he had an epiphany of sorts after cutting down a daisy on land that is today's Eden Cemetery. His Quaker grandfather bought the land from William Penn in 1681. We then went across Springfield Road to take a walk around the Woodburne Mansion designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1906. The mansion, now owned by Delaware County has been horribly neglected, but still shows two of the three pillars of classical architecture of strength (firmatas) and beauty (venustas). The quest for the third pillar, utilitas (usefulness) continues
We then rode a vintage PCC trolley to Bartrams Garden (1728) which is a magnificent venue and folks had a wonderful time making scarecrows, eating wonderful hoagies from Franks Steaks, singing trolley songs, finding pumpkins with prizes inside, having a fall leaf scavenger hunt and playing kazoos made from combs and wax paper.
Thank you to our sponsors and friends
The Struggle for Human Dignity and the Right to Ride: Taking it to the Courts and to the People. The Story of Carolyn LeCount and William Still Special event at Eden
Signage in John Drew Park, across from Darby Transportation Hub
http://www.darbyhistory.com/DarbySigns08-10DRAFT.pdf
Summer Art school in Darby
1859 Fare Card
Darby Free Library
1001 Main Street
America's oldest public library in continuous use
Established 1743
Building 1872
Presidents Conference Committee (PCC)
In the 1930s, the presidents of the various traction companies developed a "modern" street car .
Fare Card from 1859
OcTrolleyFest 2026 in the year of America's 250th Anniversary is being developed, but will include the play
A Streetcar Named Freedom, a Play about 400 years of History on the Woodburne Plateau featuring Citizens of Eden and others. There will also be a celebration of Horace Trumbauer's Woodburne Mansion, music, a revival of the 1900 Darby Summer School of Art, and a celebration of transportation heritage and community.
Eden Cemetery
Area Historic Treasure
Eden Cemetery on Springfield Road in Collingdale is one of the area treasures. Established in 1902 on land that was the birthplace of famed botanist John Bartram, Eden is the resting place for about 80,000 "Citizens of Eden" including Marion Anderson,William Still, John Drew, Octavius Catto, Carolyn LeCount, Ellen Frances Watkins Harper, Julian Abele and many others.
Eden Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in December, 2010
IT'S UP TO US
Route/SEPTA map
SEPTA connects us all with the larger World