Helping to forge connections to the past is a core value of the WHS, and some of the most important work that we perform: Thank you to the families that include us on their journeys, it is a privilege to be part of the discovery and reconnection in someone’s life.
Durland Family Trunk Lands at Warwick Historical Society
Before knapsacks and backpacks and gym bags, travelers packed trunks for their trips - often journeys. Trunks went on steamers, on trains or carriages or laps, holding their owners’ clothes and valuables.
The Durland Family, one of Warwick's oldest, discovered a family trunk, which had been a play thing on the Durland Farm, just north of the Village of Florida, in the 1960s and '70s.
“We played with it when we were kids with cousins, along with swings in the barn when we visited the farm (past Reservoir Rd.) for reunions,” said Garrett Durland.
He called it a “magical chest.” It had contained letters from the 1880s. The trunk that is about the size of a 21st century microwave oven has the initials P.A.D on its white horsehair cover.
It had belonged to Penelope Ann Durland, who brought it to the States from England, according to Ken Durland, Garrett's father, who lives in Northern New Jersey. He told the Historical Society, he’s not certain how she’s related or when she came to the States. Ken Durland called the trunk “a mystery.”
Most recently the trunk contained a deck of 19th century playing cards, a straight razor, notebook sized ledgers, two powder horns - one horn, one metal, a restored in London lighter, a pipe and a cigarette tin.
“You provided us more than a tour but an experience in Warwick that culminated in us visiting Baird’s Tavern later that night. What an honor it was to continue the tradition of partaking in a beverage with family and friends along the King’s Highway.”
Excerpt from Lt. Col. Klohr’s letter to the Warwick Historical Society.