All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Joe Lex

Brief biographies of permanent residents of Laurel Hill East in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cywnyd, Pennsylvania. Often educational, always entertaining.

  1. HACE 5 DÍAS

    Next Door Neighbors: The Drew / Barrymore Clan at Mount Vernon by Thomas Keels

    All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #086, part 4 The Drews and the Barrymores are among the best-known acting families in the United States. Although many of them started in an alternate final resting place, Louisa Lane Drew, owner-manager of the Arch Street Theater found a final resting place at Mount Vernon. Several years later she was joined by the ashes of her grandson John Barrymore, aka "The Great Profile."

    21 min

  2. HACE 5 DÍAS

    WALKING TOUR OF LAUREL HILL WEST from Barmouth to Pencoyd

    With the warm weather here, you can take advantage of Laurel Hill's location as part of the Trails System that connect the Cynwyd Heritage Trail to the Wissahickon trail system. If you have walked or ridden your bike through West Laurel Hill Cemetery from the entrance just off the Cynwyd Trail all the way to the Pencoyd exit on Righter’s Ferry Road, you have probably passed dozens of mausoleums and gravesites that you had questions about.  Now there’s an audio narration to help you quench your curiosity.  It is done by Joe Lex, the same person who researches and narrates Laurel Hill’s twice-monthly podcasts “All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories” and “Biographical Bytes from Bala: West Laurel Hill Stories.”  Find out about William Luden, inventor of the mentholated cough drop; Charles Harrah, who made his fortune in Brazil; Eldridge Reeves Johnson, inventor of the Victrola, and many more.  And at long last, you can discover the mystery of “Cocktails at Six.”  The tour covers only people interred on the right-hand side of the road and takes about 40 minutes.  Look for its companion audio covering the other side from Pencoyd back to Barmouth in a few months.

    41 min

  3. HACE 6 DÍAS

    WALKING TOUR OF LAUREL HILL WEST from Pencoyd to Barmouth

    With the warm weather here, you can take advantage of Laurel Hill's location as part of the Trails System that connect the Cynwyd Heritage Trail to the Wissahickon trail system. Your walk or ride from the Righters Ferry entrance to the Barmouth entrance at the Cynwyd Heritage Trail is less than a mile, but you pass scores of grave markers and dozens of mausoleums, most with stained glass.  This 47-minute narration gives you mini-biographies of more than 50 people who have resting places you pass along the route.  They are captains of industry, philanthropists, teachers, physicians, artists, and others who helped shaped the history of Philadelphia.  This narrative is a complement to another recording that guides you from the Barmouth Entrance back to the Righters Ferry entrance, also available wherever you find your podcasts.

    47 min

  4. HACE 6 DÍAS

    The Potter - Vanuxem Clan

    All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #086, part 3 These brothers-in-law were best friends. Potter served as President of Thomas Jefferson University for many years despite the lack of a college degree. Vanuxem left a legacy for Princeton which is still being celebrated.

    29 min

  5. 3 MAY

    Charles & William Kindred: Go West, Young Men

    All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #086, part 2 Charles & William Kindred became rich men in land speculation. There is a town named for them in North Dakota. They broke quite a few rules along the way.

    13 min

  6. 2 MAY

    Francis Sully Darley: The Best Organist in the City

    All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #086, part 1 Francis Thomas Lilly Sully Darley was the grandson of the famed portrait painted who married the daughter of locomotive manufacturer Matthias Baldwin. He wrote operas, played the organ, conducted choirs, and his art collection was staggering.

    20 min

  7. 1 MAY

    A Few Loose Ends: Cleaning Out Some Old Files

    All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #086 for May 1, 2026 I was tied up with preparing some new tours and could not finish the podcast on the Bible Riots of 1844. I scrounged around and found a few scripts I had written and never used. And then I remembered a segment that Thomas Keels recorded for me for an abandoned project.  Francis Lilly Sully Darley was the grandson of a great portrait painter who married the daughter of Matthias Baldwin and became the most sought-after organist and choir director in the city. The Kindred Brothers went west to Minnesota and North Dakota and became fabulously wealthy with their shady railroad real estate deals. One served as mayor of Fargo.  William Potter and Louis Clark Vanuxem were best friends and brothers in law. Through years of dedication, Potter's name is inextricably tied with Thomas Jefferson University, while Louis's name is preserved at Princeton. Fellow guide and amateur historian Thomas Keels tells the story of how the Great Profile Shakespearean actor John Barrymore ended up without a marker in a nearly abandoned cemetery decades after his demise.

    1 h 43 min

  8. 6 ABR

    Samuel Perkins and the City Hall Cats

    All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085, part 5   Samuel Perkins was the driving force behind getting the job done at City Hall. He established a close relationship with architect John McArthur, Jr., and sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, who honored him with a series of playful cats tucked away in the south entrance vestibule.

    32 min
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Brief biographies of permanent residents of Laurel Hill East in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cywnyd, Pennsylvania. Often educational, always entertaining.

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