Mary Washington: History's Caretaker

“Mary Washington knows Cheltenham inside and out.  She’s an active, vivacious, non-stop person,” said Eileen Koolpe about her colleague on the board of the Old York Road Historical Society. 

Mary Towner Washington has served the Old York Road Historical Society since 1976.  Her love of history drives her ever-growing expertise and enthusiasm for sharing resources and skills with others.  Washington is also a hard-working, long-standing volunteer, serving the Old York Road Genealogical Society, the Cheltenham Township Historical Commission and the Cheltenham Township Twinning Association.  Through some of these organizations, she can help you research the history of your home or trace back your family tree to discover long-lost ancestors.  And when you attend reenactments at Hope Lodge (Whitemarsh) or Graeme Park (Horsham), she may even treat you to some fine old hearth cooking.

For those who haven’t yet benefitted from this power of history, Abington Patch introduces Mary Towner Washington, of Elkins Park and the American Revolution.

Perhaps you’re among those who have never heard of the Old York Road Historical Society.  This non-profit, membership organization — housed in the lower level of the Jenkintown Library — collects and preserves archival materials dating to the late 1600s.  Holdings include over 10,000 photographs of the area since the 1890s, early deeds, maps and railroad atlases dating back to 1871 and 127 volumes of War of the Rebellion and History of Pennsylvania Volunteers,1861-1865, which  recounts details of the Pennsylvania regiments during the Civil War.

Koolpe calls them “unbelievable resources.”

Washington traces one line of her family back to the American Revolution in the 1700s; one of her ancestors “answered the alarm at Lexington and Concord,” she said. “It’s a thrill to put myself in their shoes.

“I carry on this legacy.  What they lived through created the foundation for what we have today,” she said.   “I don’t know how many people stop to think about that.”

She said she enjoys helping other people learn about the legacies of their past and said she appreciates the sacrifices their predecessors made

“I help people understand their property and street names — what it was like for them in the past,” Washington said.

If you’re interested, she’ll haul out the atlases and maps of your property to show you who owned the land in 1907 or 1936, back when it was probably a farm or part of a larger estate.  Paper records never looked so riveting. 

Oct. 30 marks the 11th annual Halloween Cemetery Crawl, and you can count on Washington being there to add commentary and insight to the tour. 

Washington was born in Philadelphia.  While growing up she lived with her family in five different states.   She returned to the area after high school to attend the Abington School of Nursing.  But that was back in the day when they didn’t permit students to be married.  So when Mary Towner met Jack Washington, and their “spirited discussion” about the Civil War eventually led to marriage, her nursing career got derailed. 

“I’m very content with my life,” she replied when asked what she might do differently if she could revise her own past. 

A homemaker who raised four children and now delights in four grandchildren, Washington continues to work as a local crossing guard as she has for the last 35 years.  She used to teach Sunday school, and remains involved with her church.

“Find something that interests you and follow through with it.  Do the best you can with what you pursue and enjoy doing it,” she said.

And that’s how she lives.

Accordingly, her bucket list includes more of what she already does and loves.  She enjoys traveling to historical sites, like Williamsburg, Va. and Lewes, Del. and wants to travel more.  At 71, she also wants to deepen her genealogy research, probing further into her husband’s side of the family.

Jack Washington, himself a member of the Old York Road Historical Society, is also the longest, continually serving member of the Cheltenham Township Historical Commission.

Mary Washington’s hobbies link right back into her zeal for history.  Take her love of lighthouses, or the classic 1956 Thunderbird she secretly purchased from a member of their church in the early 1970s.

“Every Sunday, I’d bring my offering to church and the money (for the man selling it) until I paid it off after 4 or 5 months,” she said. 

Even then, she kept it hidden in someone else’s garage so that certain relatives would not know about the purchase.  Today the T-Bird bears antique tags and remains road-worthy, but it doesn’t get out very often.  

With a name like Washington, it may be hard to escape the past, so she embraces it.  The home in which Mary and Jack Washington live, and raised their children, still contains remnants of the stone walls and fireplace flue from the late 1600s, when the structure belonged  to Tobias Leech, one of the founders of Cheltenham Township.  

Mary Washington enjoys being a caretaker of history.

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Founded in 1936, Old York Road Historical Society is a research center and sponsors educational programs.  The Society welcomes new members, materials that support its collections, and financial support.  www.oyrhs.org; 215-886-8590