The Man Who Loved the Birds 



John James Audubon, whose birth is commemorated by Bird Day, May Fourth 



By Samuel B. Detwiler 



TUESDAY, May 4, is official Bird Day, and the 

 136th anniversary of the birth of John James 

 Audubon. Dime-novel fiction can produce no 

 more fascinating tale than the life story of this man, 

 whose love for birds was so great that the song of the 

 wood thrush moved him to prayer. Passionately devoted 

 to art and science, filled with boundless energy, he en- 

 dured privation and over- 

 came difficulties that few 

 men would have had the 

 power or courage to en- 

 counter. Aside from the 

 wonderful work, "The 

 Birds of America," that 

 remains to perpetuate his 

 fame, the nobility of his life 

 places Audubon among the 

 eminent men of our country. 



Philadelphians have an 

 especial interest in the life- 

 story of this distinguished 

 naturalist, since it was at 

 his early home near this 

 city that he first conceived 

 and partly executed his 

 great work. Twenty miles 

 from Philadelphia, at the 

 point where the Perkiomen 

 unites with the Schuylkill 

 and in close proximity to 

 the historic hills of Valley 

 Forge, lies Mill Grove 

 Farm, which to Audubon 

 was always "a blessed 

 spot." It was here he 

 spent the carefree days of 

 his young manhood, a paragon of manly beauty, grace and 

 accomplishment. 



Mill Grove is today as beautiful and peaceful as in 

 Audubon's time, and, as maintained by its present owner, 

 it is an interesting memorial to the man to whom Bird 

 Day is dedicated. Nestling among the woods that Audu- 

 bon loved, on a sloping terrace overlooking the old mill 

 and the peaceful farm lands across the beautiful 

 Perkiomen, it is still a haven of rest and quiet. Not 

 far distant is Fatland Ford farm, and the mansion where 

 he first met Lucy Green Bakewell, who afterward be- 

 came Audubon's devoted wife, and through her self- 

 sacrifice enabled him to win success. Further on is the 

 village of Audubon, which was renamed in his honor. 

 214 



Photo by J. Howard Fell 



MILL GROVE 



It was here, twenty miles from Philadelphia, where the Schuylkill and 

 the Perkiomen unite that John James Audubon spent his young 

 manhood. 



Within sight of the village, on the hills that line the south 

 side of the Perkiomen Valley, are the ruins of the old 

 lead mine, once the property of Admiral Audubon, the 

 father of John James Audubon. It is reported that 

 these mines furnished lead for many of the bullets used 

 by the American army in the Revolutionary war. A path 

 leads from the mines to Mill Grove, along the steep, 



forested hillside, and in this 

 sylvan retreat the naturalist 

 spent many of the happiest 

 days of his life in studying 

 the birds with which the 

 locality still abounds, and 

 making his drawings and 

 paintings. Audubon has 

 told of his immeasurable 

 joy over the discovery of 

 a method of using wires 

 to mount the subjects of 

 his drawings in attitudes 

 true to life. This discover)' 

 was important since it was 

 his ambition to make his 

 paintings accurate not only 

 in color but to portray the 

 characteristic haunts and 

 habits of the birds. A small 

 natural cave formerly ex- 

 tended into the steep, 

 wooded slope not far above 

 the old mill, and here 

 Audubon lived with the 

 birds, learning their ways 

 and painting them in their 

 natural surroundings. He 

 records that it was in this 

 grotto that his bride-to-be first confessed her love for him. 

 The house at Mill Grove was built in 1762 by James 

 Morgan, of Philadelphia. In 1778 it was purchased by 

 Admiral Audubon after a visit to Lafayette at Valley 

 Forge. The old sailor built an addition to the house and 

 took great pride in laying out the grounds. Since 1813 

 the estate has been in the possession of the Wetherill 

 family. The present owner, Mr. W. H. Wetherill, has 

 his summer home here, and takes pride in preserving 

 many interesting mementos of the great bird lover. 



Fatland Ford farm lies on the more elevated land im- 

 mediately south of Mill Grove. The mansion was built 

 in 1760 by James Vaux, and in 1804 was purchased by 

 William Bakewell, a descendant of the Peverils, made 



