Cairnwood: A Home in the Country

This 15 minute award winning documentary includes more than 60 historic photos to introduce the remarkable history of John and Gertrude Pitcairn and the events leading up to the building of Cairnwood Estate and forming of the Borough of Bryn Athyn. Spectacular aerial footage features the National Historic Landmark buildings which comprise the Bryn Athyn Historic District: Cairnwood Estate (1895), Bryn Athyn Cathedral (1919), and Glencairn Museum (1939).

In 1874 entrepreneur John Pitcairn, a self-made man and captain of industry, pledged considerable means toward the goal of establishing an educational system inspired by the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. The Academy of the New Church was established in Philadelphia and chartered in 1877, eventually comprised of a theological school, college, a boys school and a girls school. In 1884 Pitcairn married Gertrude Starkey. Beginning in 1889 the couple purchased 550 acres of prime farmland in Huntingdon Valley and they provided the means and property to move the schools and church organization out of the city and into a more ideal rural location. In the years that followed, the Pitcairns left an impressive architectural legacy in the town of Bryn Athyn which, more than a century after its founding, remains a worldwide center for the New Church.

Directed by: Christopher Smith
Written by: Ed Gyllenhaal
Produced by: Ed Gyllenhaal and Stephen Morley
Narrated by: Chris Waelchli
TDI Video Production
Copyright 2003 Academy of the New Church