Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 2000 Volume 38 Number 2, Pages 71–72

Notes from a Visit with Pete Melchiorre Jr.

Peter Melchiorre Jr.

Page 71

Pete's father worked as a barber in Philadelphia when he arrived in the USA. He had also been trained as a tinsmith, and was hired by the Warner Company in Cedar Hollow. While living in Cedar Hollow, he moonlighted as a barber and opened a barber shop there. There were two barber shops in Cedar Hollow at the time, one in what is today the Cedar Hollow Inn, and the other, Pete's father's. Pete's maternal grandfather was named DiFrancisco, an inveterate gambler, who once lost his house in a high card cut. Fortunately his brother bought it back for him.

There were ten children in Pete's family, five girls and five boys. One sister married a Belmonte; both were killed in an automobile accident not long ago. His sister, Arlene, had the last wedding catered at the Men's Republican Club hall. She married Frank Hamell. The wedding pictures show the club interior. Arlene lives in Old Forge Crossing.

Pete recalled a sledding accident he and his friend Emil Capetola had on Howell Road one winter. They went too fast down the hill and crashed into a post or tree. Both boys were pretty banged up, so they applied snow to their faces to reduce any swelling. They didn't dare tell their parents because they couldn't afford a doctor, and they were afraid that their sled would be taken away from them. Pete walked to Salem School,

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and was in the last class to attend the school before it closed down in 1940. He also remembered climbing up the water tower next to the Men's Club as a kid. The only place to swim was the quarry.

Pete remembered Cedar Hollow as being a nice community. No one locked their house. If you went to the local store to pick up a loaf of bread for your mother, you just left a note. Right across Howell Road from Pete's father's place was Torelli's house, which was attached to a barn. A Mr. Spatz, Mrs. Torelli's brother, built a little stone house up the hill on Howell Road, near where the turnpike is now. Pete's first job was carrying buckets of water up the hill from his father's house to mix the cement at the construction site. There were some frame double company houses across from Cedar Hollow Inn, three with sloped roofs and some with pitched roofs.

Some persons from the community were remembered by Pete. Howard Housworth Sr. married Rog Cooper's sister. Cooper owned the farm that Syl Quigley once owned. Janet Gallo was a Torelli. She had a sister named Adeline.

The Men's Republican Club building on the south side of Yellow Springs Road had a bocce green in the back. (Bocce is an Italian game somewhat like bowling.) Turkey raffles, Christmas shows, and parties were held there. It was a center for many activities. It had a front porch on which a World War II Honor Roll was displayed, and on Memorial Day the parade would march to the hall to hold services. The Boy Scouts met there, and they had a cabin near St. Peter's Church.

There was a black church on the other side of the railroad from the Catholic Church. Betty Wallence Field, an old resident of Cedar Hollow, has said the church suppers there drew many attendees from the community. The preacher was Bob Dale, and Andy Johnson was the custodian.

Ed Alleva, who owned the coal and feed store in Paoli, also owned or leased a lot of land along North Valley Road from Vanguard School almost to Swedesford road where he grew grain.

*Notes from an interview with Pete Melchiorre jr., conducted by Bill and Sue Andrews, transcribed from audio tape by Nancy Pusey.