Pete Swanson tending to his garden.
By NJ DeVico
Walk or ride a bike down River Drive in Titusville on a summer day and chances are good you’ll see Pete Swanson ensconced in a chair on his porch. The 72-year-old retiree has lived in Titusville all his life, but not in this house; it was his grandfather’s.
“I grew up on Nedsland Avenue. Ned Trimmer, who owned most of Titusville named Trimmer Avenue and Nedsland—Ned’s land—after himself,” Swanson said. Trimmer was related to his grandmother.
Swanson attended what is now Titusville Academy; went to Pennington grammar school on Main Street for eighth grade; ninth grade was in the building where the board of ducation is now, “Then I went to the new high school.” (Hopewell Valley Regional.)
Swanson is full of stories about Titusville. “I used to like the train on the canal. The old post office was at the canal bridge (Church Road) and Alma Schellenberger worked and lived there. When the train came by, they used to throw the bag of mail at them. That was ’til 1950 or so. Her niece Debbie, and her husband Randy, live there now.”
Titusville Lumber and Coal Company was where the Hershman’s Clock Store was. “They retired to Freehold,” Swanson said.
There was a village store where one could buy penny candy, candy canes, milk, bread and lunch meat. That was owned by Amy and Henry Cane when Swanson was a child.
And he remembers the flood of ’55. “It came to within 10 steps of the top,” says Swanson, referring to the 60 steps going from the street in front of his house down to the river. “I saw water dome over the bridge—the grate that you ride across.”
The flood wreaked havoc all over town, which reminds him of old neighbors. “Speaking of floods, Egg-o-matic, the automatic egg-grading machine company owned by Otto Neiderer, had a plant on the corner of Lafayette and 29. They had a barn filled with parts on the river that broke loose. It hit the bridge, broke up and floated away. Then during World War II, they manufactured rivets for airplanes. When that was gone, there was a dance hall. But this is before my time.”
And now?
“I just like sitting here watching the river go by. Most people don’t realize the island is here. When they walk or bike, they’re amazed.” Swanson does not know why it’s called “the island” because it isn’t. It just happens to be between the river and the canal.
Pete Swanson and his wife Lynne are not, as he claims, “just old people now.” They are tireless gardeners. People passing by ooh, ahh and photograph the flowers along the street. “Lynn does the flowers.”
The vegetable garden is tended by Swanson.The 40×60 plot was dug out by hand by his grandfather in 1910. Swanson helped with the garden when he was a child, and as the current steward he has kept it going.
“We were growing then the same stuff I’m growing now: pole lima beans, which we eat and freeze and eat all winter; I’ve got approximately 36 tomato plants, 24 bell peppers, lettuce and zucchini are coming out my ears. Most people don’t like zucchini. I was thinking of putting out a table with a sign that says, ‘Free.’ ” He also grows beets, but not broccoli or cabbage. “Too many worms.”
He has a compost pile and uses black plastic and straw to keep the weeds down and trys to keep it as chemical free as possible. But, “Now I have Japanese beetles eating the pole beans, rubarb, string beans and zinneas,” says Swanson with a sigh.
The Swansons have two sons, both married, with two children each. “They’re more into boating,” though Swanson himself was the president of Titusville Boat and Ski Club for years. “Forty yearsago, everyone had a motor boat. It’s all pontoon boats now.”
Swanson admits to hybernating in the winter, but “I love living here.”
He’s a happy guy.
NJ DeVico is an artist, instructor, photographer and writer. She owns Teak’s Unique Cards, a note card business featuring local artists.
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