This handmade ten foot tall wrought and cast-iron panel dates back to the late 1800’s and has ties to Buck Hill Falls and our Quaker roots. The panel was made by master craftsmen whose names have been lost to time. More than 250 hammered and cast elements in addition to over 100 handmade screws and bolts came together in this monumental artwork. This dramatic iron sculpture evokes images of the finest European stained-glass windows less the stained-glass.
It’s believed the panels were created for a prominent Philadelphia main line estate. Only three of these panels are known to exist. The other two found their place as important architectural elements in the Nantucket Museum and artist enclave, “Greater Light”, now managed by the Nantucket Historical Association.
The “The Greater Light” Artist enclave was for all intents and purpose the life’s work of the Monaghan Sisters, Hanna and Gertrude. The sisters were devoted to each other, their Quaker faith and a lifelong passion for art in all its forms. They were the children of James and Anna Monaghan, a devout Quaker family from Philadelphia with strong ties to Buck Hill Falls, the University of
Pennsylvania, Swarthmore University, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia School of Design, Swarthmore Friends Meeting and lineage back to the controversial figure Oliver Cromwell himself.
Hanna, Gertrude and the rest of the Monaghan family called Buck Hill cottage #77 their home from the earliest days of Buck Hill through Hanna’s passing in 1972.
After the sisters had completed primary school, their parents
took them on the “Grand Tour” as was the custom for affluent families of the time. They traveled to Europe and the Far East learning about the many cultural riches of the world.
When they returned the sisters were inspired by their experiences. They asked their parents if they would support them in their vision of creating an artist colony on Nantucket. They began their journey by searching for an old building that could be repurposed and embellished with important architectural artifacts to inspire the artists within.
The name chosen for the artist colony “Greater Light” was the sister’s twist on the Quaker idea of the “Inner Light,” the internal personal connection between each individual and God. The sisters saw their endless passion for art as their “Greater Light”.
In the spring of 1929 on a trip through a Philadelphia junk yard the sisters stumbled on two twelve-foot sculptural iron panels perched atop a large pile of scrap. The sisters later said that the sun hitting the central starburst was god showing them the “Inner light”. Of course, they immediately purchased the panels which became the design inspiration for the building that would house their Greater Light artist colony.
In the summer of 1929, while visiting Nantucket, the sisters came across an old pig barn that “had great potential”. On a hunch they measured the eves of the barn, they were twelve feet exactly, the same as the height of their salvaged iron panels, clearly it was fate. It took more than a year to negotiate the pig barn away from the farmer. During that time the sisters worked on their design and scoured the region for more inspirational architectural artifacts to incorporate into their building.
Hanna and Gertrude and the Greater Light artist colony were an important cultural force within Nantucket’s cultural fabric until the second sister, Hanna passed in 1972, when the property was passed to the Nantucket Historical Association. The Greater Light is now part of the Nantucket Museum complex and available for tour. The iron panels are still in place where Hanna and Gertrude placed them close to 100 years ago.
Hanna and Gertrude found their panels atop a scrap pile in Philadelphia, the light shining through the central starburst as design inspiration “The Inner Light” pushing them to their goal of creating a space to inspire art in Nantucket. Our panel took a more circuitous route to Buck Hill Falls.
Keith Abrams is a local Pocon artist, craftsperson and the man responsible for building all the iron railings in Jenkins woods and restoring the Inn Gates. He first showed me the panel in the summer of 2024. He had received the piece from a friend in partial trade for work he provided. After considerable research assisted by the Buck Hill Art Association and many trips down many rabbit holes, our panels’ history came into focus.
Our iron panel was removed from a Main Line Estate in the later half of the 1800’s by the A. Raymond Raff Construction Company, a renowned company responsible for many important commercial buildings in Philly, Baltimore and New York. Most notable was the contract awarded A. Ramond Raff in 1923 to restore Carpenters Hall, the home of the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia. They were also credited with constructing the Atheneum in Philadelphia.
The panel remained in a company warehouse from the 1880’s until about 1950 when it was given to a local contractor as partial payment for work provided. That contractor had a farm in Scotrun PA. The panel spent years in a barn on the farm until it was moved and hung from a large oak for more than 20 years as a decorative art piece. The farmer’s son then passed it to Keith when the farm was sold.
Keith worked with Chris Robbins and the Art Association to repair and restore the panel as well as build the iron stand. The panel was donated to the Buck Hill Art Association in 2024.