Sarobia: Sanctuary for Human Beings, Birds and Animals

By Paul Michael Bergeron

Tales of hoodoo, witchcraft and debauchery had been discussed over pints of ale at local saloons, and amid hushed fireside chats by neighboring residents during the heyday of Sarobia's mysterious, experimental commune and art colony, deep in the woods along the Delaware River in Lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Within this illustrated book, take a magical trip on a virtual journey into yesteryear, and discover the real story behind the goings-on at the notorious estate owned by Robert Restalrig Logan, the last-remaining, direct descendant of James Logan, William Penn's seventeenth-century secretary in Colonial America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387243037

Book preview

Sarobia: Sanctuary for Human Beings, Birds and Animals

Sarobia: Sanctuary for Human Beings, Birds and Animals

An Examination of Robert R. Logan's Experimental Commune and Art Colony

By

Paul Michael Bergeron

Copyright

Copyright © 2017 by Paul Michael Bergeron

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-387-24303-7

Mike Slickster Syndication

533 Bells Court, Suite B

Andalusia, Pa. 19020

Preface

Have you ever been obsessed with something that spawns a compulsive feeling deep within your soul about something hidden, buried and left behind, needing to be uncovered from days gone by?

As one walks, or rides a bicycle along the trails of a Lower Bucks County state park in Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River and throughout the rest of the densely wooded compound, an unexplained presence is felt throughout, which prompted this story to be written. Based on historical fact-finding and the author's conversations with those in the know, Sarobia takes on a life of its own again.

Tales of hoodoo, witchcraft, and debauchery had been discussed over pints of ale at local saloons, and amid hushed fireside chats by neighboring residents during the heyday of Robert Logan's commune and art colony.

Within this illustrated book, take a magical trip on a virtual journey into yesteryear and discover the real story behind the goings-on at the illustrious estate owned by the last-remaining, direct descendant of William Penn's seventeenth-century secretary in Colonial America.

Chapter One: Sarobia

Entrance Into Sarobia

Sarobia became a favorite tromping ground of mine around twenty-one years ago, when I moved to my present digs on the Delaware River at Andalusia. By happenstance, my son and I discovered it while en route for his weekly sojourns from NJ, to visit me over the weekends and then while taking him back home on Sundays. We'd pass by what was clearly marked, Neshaminy State Park, which is roughly 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) northeast of my flat, on a road that parallels the river.

After the first few times, driving past the park and instantly becoming fascinated with the grounds, we decided to take our bikes there to explore. We spent quality time together regularly thereafter, traversing the hilly trails, cutting through the vast woodland along the Delaware River and Neshaminy Creek, throwing rocks as far out as we could into the water whenever low tide had presented itself.

A tremendous multitude of perfect skimming stones glittered in the blazing sunshine like thousands of glistening gems and shining golden nuggets, laden throughout the exposed riverbed, planted there for close inspection and pickings. My boy found an arrowhead once in that bank of sand.

Our rock-throwing extravaganzas never yielded a stone's reaching the other side of the waterway from Sarobia, as the land was called before becoming state property. Perhaps on a good day, I'd be able to toss one out about 200 feet (61 meters) with the wind, which is only one-tenth the distance across to New Jersey.

Many years had transpired since those excursions to the park with my son. With his growing up into his teens, we tended not to go anymore. It took my interest in photography for me to return there again frequently, resuming my trips five years ago, at which time, I discovered the spot along the river to which I felt so attuned and had taken a myriad of photos was called Logan's Point, overhearing someone there call it that, piquing my curiosity even more profoundly.

Further investigation yielded information about the park's past as being the estate of man who was directly related to one of Pennsylvania's forefathers: James Logan, secretary and advocate to the colony's proprietor, William Penn; and who was the English province's colonial governor in the early-18th century before the American Revolution.

Logan's Point and the Philadelphia Skyline in 2012

The Internet has such a wealth of information, although much of it is the same old, cut-and-pasted, re-hashed mumbo jumbo with identically vague data for facts. Sarobia turned up a lot as being the former name of the state park's property, bequeathed to Pennsylvania upon the death of its last owner, Robert Restalrig Logan.

The Logans were a respected and high-societal family in Philadelphia culture since forefather James first sailed over here from England with William Penn in 1699. I became interested in the later Logan, Robert, and his Sarobia: quite an exotic name in my estimation, inspiring me to continue my search for truth.

During the course of my initial fact-finding, mysticism and cult-like activities were brought up in a few instances; but again, very vaguely, yet enough to raise my investigative ears like a dog who had just heard the whirring of the electric can opener.

Delving deeper into this, my latest obsession, I dug up concise and conclusive evidence that cited the estate was comprised of 150 acres, with gate posts topped by big black-iron cats. According to a 1937 article found in Time magazine's digital archive, ...ignorant Buck County-ites have sometimes whispered that 'cat-worshippers' and 'heathens' live on the estate.

Robert Restalrig Logan in 1943

Chapter Two: Delving a Little Deeper

Robert Logan - 1947

The master of Sarobia, Robert R. Logan (RRL), wasn't your ordinary eccentric aristocrat, but  he was also an intellectual, a published poet and writer, a mystic, lawyer, animal-lover, sculptor, husband, father,