RosicRucian - AMORC

The northern part of Fairmount Park containing what little remains of theKelpius settlement (from the 1876 International Exibition).death, individual members remained in the area,continuing their study and teaching until the lastsurviving member, Dr. Christopher Witt, died in1765 at the advanced age of ninety years.While the site of Kelpius’ settlement isperhaps the most important in all of Philadelphia’sFairmount Park, it is the only one that has allbut disappeared. No building remains there, nosociety and no living direct descendants survive.What then is the Wissahickon settlers’legacy? The Pietists who came to the sylvanbeauty of the Wissahickon Glen left fewdocuments and no monuments, but rathercarried the flame of knowledge which theypassed to those around them, charging themwith responsibility to pass it on again and yetagain. Indirectly, by their example, teaching andinspiration, they influenced the development andgrowth of many areas of study in the Philadelphiacountryside.The direct legacy of the Wissahickonsettlers is, of course, seen in the presence of theRosicrucian Order, AMORC. Also, you can todayvisit the settlement at Ephrata, Pennsylvania,where, after the death of Kelpius, some fewsurviving members of the original group travelledto join Conrad Beissel in carrying ontheir mystical studies.But there is much more to theWissahickon legacy than this. Someof the areas of expertise and influencedemonstrated by members of theWissahickon settlement included healing,astronomy, astrology, education, botany,creative writing, music, art, philosophicand theological study, and metaphysicalarts.Kelpius also hoped to unitethe many differing sects in the youngprovince into one common brotherhood.He did not succeed, but the ideal of onepeople thus united is a never-endingdream.Somewhere on the 175-acre tractof land, probably under what is nowHenry Avenue, was a large gardenwhere medicinal plants and herbs weregrown. The local Unami Delaware NativeAmericans bartered information on localplants for knowledge from the strangeEuropeans. When Dr. Witt moved intoGermantown after Kelpius’ death, hecontinued to keep a garden, expanding it tobecome the first botanical garden in America. Wittcorresponded with naturalist Peter Collinson inLondon and with the famed Pennsylvania Quakerbotanist John Bartram. Witt was a strong influenceon Bartram, whose garden may be visited today. Itis the oldest extant botanical garden in America.Dr. Witt’s garden eventually fell into thehands of the Morris family. Perhaps the spirit orKelpius also hoped to unite the manydiffering sects in the young province intoone common brotherhood.reputation of the man persisted, for two of theMorrises followed in his work. Elizabeth Morris(died 2 nd February 1865, a century after Dr.Witt) corresponded with William Huttell and AsaGray, and cultivated many rare plants. MargarettaMorris (died 29 th May 1867) discovered the lifecycle of the seventeen-year locust. She became thefirst and, for many years, the only woman electedto membership in the Pennsylvania Academyof Natural Science. Elizabeth Morris gave thefamily grounds to the Episcopal Church. TheMorris-Littell House at Germantown and High42The Rosicrucian Beacon -- June 2009