Pamela and David Anderson were living in New Hope but “wanted a place to get away.”
So they bought an 11-acre forested property in the little Bucks County borough of Riegelsville.
Not only do they live there now, but they also host events and retreats there. The income helps the Andersons maintain the property.
The couple built Copper House as an architectural retreat in the woods.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Will Power: Learn about a program that’s helping homeowners with estate planning to protect their properties.
Encampment clearing: Read about the razing of people’s tents and makeshift shelters at the site where a 620-unit apartment tower is planned.
Board shake-up: Find out why Philly’s mayor is reshaping the leadership of an organization that manages most of the city’s publicly owned land.
Staying South: Peek inside this South Philly home that owners renovated to keep their growing family in the city.
— Michaelle Bond
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Pamela Anderson is a cookbook author, and she puts her skills to good use cooking for the corporate events and retreats that she and her husband, an Episcopal priest, host on their 11-acre property in Bucks County.
Groups come for yoga and sound baths and to meditate. On a recent afternoon, about a dozen architects and interior designers held a corporate retreat to learn about sustainable flooring.
The Andersons added gravel trails, grottos, and fire pits to their property to make it a getaway. And the home’s living room has 180-degree forest views through floor-to-ceiling windows.
Keep reading to learn more about the home that Pamela says is “like living in a snow globe” during the winter.
📮Is your home your retreat? How’d you pull that off? We’re staring down the darkness and cold of winter, so please share your stories and tips.
Do you have a will? Does everyone in your family?
Besides telling loved ones what to do with your stuff, a signed will could help protect the family home.
I’ve written a bunch of stories about tangled titles, Philly’s name for when it’s not clear who legally owns a property. A common way this happens is when a homeowner dies and the deed isn’t transferred to a new owner.
People living in properties with tangled titles can’t:
use home equity
sell their homes
take advantage of home repair or other homeowner assistance programs
And these properties are vulnerable to scammers who steal deeds.
Fixing tangled titles is more complicated when the owner dies without a will that says who should inherit the property.
For the last three years, two Philly-based nonprofits have been running the Will Power Program to help low- and moderate-income homeowners with estate planning so they can protect their properties.
They’ve helped 1,000 Philly homeowners write wills, and that’s just the beginning.
News to pay attention to
Police officers and private contractors razed encampments of people living on the site of a planned apartment tower along the Delaware River.
Here’s how a family moved out of a church house and bought a Mount Airy home.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has shaken up the Philadelphia Land Bank board to try to get more homes built.
A once-crumbling church that’s a fixture in Point Breeze is being preserved as a brewery and community space.
Across the Philly area, Iron Hill’s bankruptcy leaves massive holes in suburban shopping centers and walkable downtowns.
For almost 40 years, the Polish American Cultural Center operated out of a multimillion-dollar property in Society Hill under a rare taxpayer-funded arrangement. Then the city evicted it.
House of the week: For $795,000 in Graduate Hospital, a three-bedroom home redesigned by architects who lived there.
Luxe listing: For almost $2 million in Chester County, a home with custom woodwork that was designed and built by a noted Main Line architect.
When Danielle Abrams was pregnant with her daughter, “everyone” asked whether she and her husband, Jonah, were moving to the suburbs.
“Instead, we doubled down on our investment in our home by renovating,” Danielle said.
The Abramses love their South Philly location and get along well with the other residents of their block.
But they needed to make some upgrades to their two-story rowhouse so they could stay.
That included redesigning their bathroom and adding a shelf for their daughter’s books and toys that is also a railing to the basement.
Peek inside the family’s home and learn which kitchen feature Danielle is particularly proud of.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows?
📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.
Last week’s quiz showed a detail shot of statues atop the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Or I guess it’s the Philadelphia Art Museum now.
Either way, a handful of readers knew where the photo was shot. Shoutout to Joe C. and Amanda C. for being the first two to give me the right answer.
—
Back in August, my colleague asked Inquirer readers, “What’s your happiest place in Philadelphia?” The question was inspired by a Drexel University professor’s project with his students that mapped their happiest places.
Now, The Inquirer has its own map of 20 spots, based on readers’ favorite places. See where in Philly folks said they feel happy.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
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