Actress Meryl Streep’s Visit to Bucks County

Why the PBS series, “Faces of America” brought an Academy Award Winner to the Aldie Mansion.
By Shannon McLaughlin

In October, one of the most talented actresses in the modern era, Meryl Streep, visited Heritage Conservancy’s preserved Aldie Mansion headquarters and its Forks of the Neshaminy Lasting Landscape to film a segment of “Faces of America,” a four-part genealogical PBS series slated to air next year.

“‘Faces of America’ will be tracing the routes of prominent Americans. The producers and staff of the show researched Meryl Streep’s genealogy and came across that she was a descendant of John Wilkinson from Bucks County,” said Jeff Marshall, Heritage Conservancy’s Vice President of Resource Protection and noted Bucks County historian and author.

The highly anticipated show will be written and narrated by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the nation’s pre-eminent African American scholars. “Faces of America” will provide a unique understanding of American identity and history by helping people find long-buried details of their recent and distant ancestries and restoring the branches of their individual family trees.

Marshall explained, “What put the icing on the cake was asking Streep if she would be interested in seeing her ancestor’s property in Wrightstown Township. She had actually been to the area when she was eight years old because her grandparents lived on one of the properties, so she was very interested in seeing it again after all these years.”

Once the producer and staff saw how attractive and scenic the Neshaminy area was, they agreed it would be a perfect fit for their documentary series. Marshall met with Streep at the Aldie Mansion, a Victorian estate built in 1927 by William and Martha Chapman.

“We did a tour with Professor Gates and Meryl Streep about the early settlement of Pennsylvania and where her family was in relationship to early Pennsylvania. During the day, we drove around and saw the sights and traveled the same roads as her ancestors. We went to the Wrightstown Friends Meeting, where her great ancestor, John Wilkinson, played a prominent role until he was disowned from the Meeting in 1777 due to his devotion to the cause of the American Revolution,” said Marshall.

In addition to guiding Streep on an unforgettable tour visiting the homes and farms of her family, Marshall also educated her about the Conservancy’s mission of conservation, as well as the history of the Aldie Mansion.

“Thanks to the Conservancy, this special property will remain preserved for generations to come,” said the award-winning actress.

“Meryl was perfectly charming. She set me completely at ease and was friendly to everyone she met. At one point, we were stopped in the middle of a road where a garbage truck had to do a K-turn, and she was chatting with the guys on the garbage truck!” said Marshall.

In addition to Meryl Streep, “Faces of America” will examine the genetic ancestry of Americans from all walks of life, including Chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, actress Eva Longoria, Director Mike Nichols, Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and many others.

To find out more about the series, be sure to stay tuned to PBS in 2010 or by visiting www.pbs.org. The Heritage Conservancy is located at 85 Old Dublin Pike in Doylestown. To learn more about the Conservancy, visit www.heritageconservancy.org or call (215) 345-7020.

Shannon McLaughlin is Bucks & Montgomery Living Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief.