Historical Photo Location Revealed: The Von Trapps' Merion Home
The 'Sound of Music' family lived in this Merion home.
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The von Trapp house on Merion Road in Merion Station, present day
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Last Monday, we asked readers to identify the location of a c. 1940 photo taken somewhere in the Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewood Patch area.
The answer, as one reader guessed correctly, is a home on Merion Road in Merion Station. From 1939 to 1943, the home was the residence of the von Trapp family—on whom the musical The Sound of Music is based.
The family of singers had sought refuge in America after fleeing Nazi-controlled Austria. Merion lawyer Henry Drinker Jr. offered the use of his Merion Road home, rent-free, according to The First 300: The Amazing and Rich History of Lower Merion.
The family continued their Austrian traditions while living in Merion Station—including wearing lederhosen and pausing in their afternoons to have Austrian coffee hour (photo in the gallery above).
Read more about the von Trapp family's stay in Merion on the Lower Merion Historical Society website and Philly.com.
Make sure to check out this week's historical photo challenge.
Beege Marshall
2:29 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Though I would not have guessed or known this house was the one used by the Von Trapps, my grandparent's home was somewhere very close because growing up (I was born just a few years later) I heard stories about my aunt playing with the Von Trapp children. And now that I've learned that Mr. Drinker actually owned the house they lived in, that makes even more sense because my grandparents used Drinker, Biddle and Reath as their law firm......thank you Amanda for that clarification of a little of my own family's history....;o)