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Centre Daily Times March 7 2005
'Great fun' in Baileyville
By Rich Kerstetter; rkerstet@centredaily.com
"The "picture-postcard village of Baileyville," as vividly described by former Centre Daily Times County Editor Paul M. Dubbs, lies 10 miles west of State College in Ferguson Township.
The town's 41 residents -- when Dubbs wrote "Where to Go and Place-Names of Centre County" in 1960 -- lived in two sections, West Baileyville and East Baileyville, separated by a small hill.
Richard Bailey, who was born in Scotland in 1735, settled in Chester County in eastern Pennsylvania before purchasing a farm at Rock Spring around 1790.
"He bought extensive tracts of land and resold them in part, thus gathering about him a number of settlers, who erected their habitations immediately about, forming in time quite a hamlet, which in his honor was given the name of Baileyville," John Blair Linn recorded in "History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania."
"He is spoken of as a man of strict integrity, closely confining himself to his pursuits and winning the esteem of his fellow-men." Linn wrote.
When Bailey's son John owned the property, it consisted of "four large two-story buildings, a barn with numerous out buildings and a large store," according to "A History of the Pennsylvania Furnace Area, 1790-1982."
"A large flour mill was operated by his sons, Richard and John II, where they ground the flour for the surrounding valley," the book, written for the 10th anniversary Pennsylvania Furnace Homecoming, continued. "The power for the mill was furnished by water conducted to the mill in races from a large dam. The dam was fed by a stream, which had its source from a spring at a large rock about a mile east from the mill, known as Rock Spring."
John, the Pennsylvania Furnace history noted, played the violin and kept his instrument in the mill office "in hiding" from his rather large family.
"John II would sneak into the mill by evening and night to play the violin by crawling up on the mill race and over the water mill," the history continued. "He was able to play quite a number of jigs, hymns, etc., before he was discovered."
Not all of the family's cultural pursuits were artistically pleasing to their neighbors, however.
"Two of these Bailey boys yet in their teens and attending the village school decided to have a little fun," the Pennsylvania Furnace history reported.
The Baileys advertised a show to be held at the school titled "The Appearance and Disappearance of Man."
The story, as recorded in "A History of the Pennsylvania Furnace Area" played out as follows:
"The appointed night came. The building was full of spectators. The boys came out on the stage and announced the first act, 'The Appearance of Man.'
"Came out the second time and announced 'The Disappearance of Man,' went back of the curtain, jumped out of the window and went home.
"They left the audience waiting for the show, which was great fun for them."
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