For years, volunteers from the First Baptist Church in Langhorne, Pennsylvania worked to share information about the history of Black experiences in the area, a project that would become the African American Museum of Bucks County (AAMBC). First in their own cars, and later in a donated van, they hauled exhibits, photographs and timelines to libraries, schools and community events throughout the region.
Now, the organization is preparing to move into a permanent home.
Bucks County officials turned over the keys to the restored Boone Farmhouse in Langhorne on Feb. 6, marking a major milestone for the grassroots museum, which was founded in 2012 and spent more than a decade operating as a traveling educational program focused on preserving and teaching local Black history.
Several of the original organizers didn’t live to see their goal realized, including Harvey Spencer, the initiator of the proposal, Millard Mitchell, a local self-taught historian and tour guide of Bucks Underground Railroad stops, and former treasurer Alonso Salley.
Mechelle Connors, the AAMBC’s former president, remembers Spencer’s ambition, saying, “He was a collector of all things, and he really believed in Black history. There was a lot of history in Bucks County and Langhorne, but people didn’t know because people were moving or dying.”
Linda Salley still recalls the early struggles when her husband, Alonso, was treasurer. With laughter in her voice, she said, “We didn’t have any money, and my husband kept saying, ‘You keep spending my money, you keep spending my money.’” Even when using their own credit card, Salley said her husband was always supporting the effort.
Salley recalls taking Spencer and his wife to St. Mary’s Hospital weekly for appointments during the last year of his life. As they traveled down 413 past an abandoned stone house at Boone Farmhouse, she said, “Every time he passed by, he would say [in his very strong voice], ‘Sally, we need to get that building.’”
Salley remembers being in Quakertown with her whole team for an event and meeting up with Diane Ellis-Marseglia, county commissioner.
She said she looked to Marseglia for help, saying, “You see my people out there, in their 80s, late 70s, one in their 90s carrying things about?”
Marseglia understood why the project was important.
She said, “We needed to do something for African American history in Bucks County forever. We have almost nothing. There’s some references to the Underground Railroad, and there’s a Harriet Tubman statue in Bristol, but not much else.”
Marseglia first helped the group obtain a county van. Later she enlisted the help of another county commissioner, Mike Fitzpatrick, and they worked to find a permanent location for the museum, knowing the organizers had Boone Farmhouse in mind.
At first they asked a Parks and Recreation director about the Route 413 location and were told, “There’s nothing but vultures that can live in that place.”
But Marseglia continued the effort, reaching out to the next director who agreed that, “Yes, it would cost some money but [Boone Farmhouse] could be redone.”
Marseglia shared the news with Salley, and in 2020 Bucks County agreed to lease Boone Farmhouse and the 32-acre property dating back to 1716 to the African American Museum for $1 a year for 30 years. Spencer’s wishes had come true.
They broke ground in November 2022.
Pennsylvania state senator and longtime resident of Langhorne, Frank Farry, said, “I’ve been very conscious of the African American history here, locally, having grown up in Langhorne and going to Oliver Heckman with multigenerational families.”
Farry had become an advocate for the project and says he surprised Linda Salley at the groundbreaking ceremony with major support.
“She did not know she was getting $250,000” from the state for continued renovations, Farry says.
But delays hit almost immediately.
With a twelve month projected timeline, museum curators and volunteers were first slowed by the supply chain slowdown that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opening dates were pushed back again and again.
Finally, on Feb. 6., almost 15 years since the program began, the keys were turned over from the county to the members of the AAMBC.
The museum’s home on Route 413 in Langhorne is nearly ready for move-in, awaiting final interior finishing touches before exhibits are fully installed.
The farmhouse has been renovated to comply with ADA requirements for accessibility and has an indoor capacity of 60 people. The outdoor landscaping has been designed by Judith Stratton, an African American Penn State Master Gardener, and all of the plantings will come from local garden clubs.
Exhibition plans are extensive with seven rooms, four floors, and a gift shop. Murals adorn walls designed purposely to match themes and to meet visitor needs. They include information about slavery laws, the Great Migration, names and ages of people enslaved in Bucks County, and small doors that describe African American neighborhoods that existed.
Pat Mervine, museum volunteer and coordinator for the education committee said, “[The murals] are all low because they want kids to be able to really appreciate them.”
The museum will house many treasures. According to Mervine these include “A 7-foot-by-4 foot bronze relief sculpture by African American artist and sculptor Selma Burke” and “a replica of the satchel that she (Harriet Tubman) carried and a compass and a lantern and an old antique pistol.”
Linda Salley looks back on the commitment of the men with the original vision, saying, “This is the history that Harvey [Spencer] wanted to share with the young people, Harvey and Millard Mitchell. Their dream was to teach our children in Bucks County their history because there was no one teaching it.”
Now their vision has a home.
