Rose Sheeley and the Tragedies of Tumbling Run

Dating back to the 1830s, the reservoir at Tumbling Run, just outside of Pottsville, was constructed in order to supply water to the Schuylkill Canal. During its long and storied history, Tumbling Run has also served as a popular swimming hole and fishing getaway, and was the site of a popular amusement park.

The Tumbling Run reservoir, however, also has earned a reputation for being one of the deadliest places in Schuylkill County. With records from the early 19th century being scarce, it's impossible to say just how many children and adults have accidentally drowned in its waters, but the number surely must be astounding; those who died in the upper and lower reservoirs include: William Hazzard (1835), John Steinback (1839), John Lehnen (1875), Harry Treibley (1880), Matthew Ryan (1888), William Montgomery (1892), Jacob Weis (1894), Walter Gross (1895), Angelo Varallo (1895), Wendel Graf (1895), Tobias Potsdamer (1895), Louis Miller (1896), Robert Weston (1896), Frank Gordon (1898), William Laudenbacher (1899), Walter Galbraith (1899), Harry Moyer (1903), Harry Eisenhuth (1906), John Penn (1909), Clarence Schuster (1909), Homer Houser (1912), Frank Meister (1918) and Michael Trabosh (1933). In 1875, Frank McClain died at the Knickerbocker Icehouse on Tumbling Run Dam after a block of ice fell on his head.

And those are just a few who died accidentally at Tumbling Run. Some were murdered (Molino Molinero, 1927), while suicides also account for a handful of deaths: Edmund Green drowned himself here in 1901, as did Mrs. Harry Phillips (1905), Charles Spangler (1929), John Weller (1930), Woodward McCloskey (1932), Dora Blew (1942), and Charles Gehrig (1950). That's 32 verified deaths!

However, there is one particular suicide that stands above all others, and has become the basis of a popular Schuylkill County legend-- the suicide of Rose Sheeley.

Burd Patterson mansion, Pottsville

The legend of Rose Sheeley dates back to the early days of the Schuylkill Canal, shortly after Burd Patterson came to Pottsville to seek his fortune in the coal mining industry. In 1829, Patterson purchased a lot in a remote wooded hollow from Abraham Pott, son of the city's founder, and constructed a mansion on a sprawling estate he called "Foxtrot". Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, the Burd Patterson Mansion still stands at 803 Mahantongo Street.

The Sheeley family lived in an old stone house on Guinea Hill, across from the estate of Samuel Heffner (Interesting side note: Heffner, shortly before his death in 1891, left a provision in his will requesting that his body not be embalmed until after he had been dead for one week. Apparently he was mortified by the prospect of being buried alive, which was not an uncommon occurrence in those days). Rose's father was employed as a gardener at the Burd Patterson mansion.

Though the Sheeleys were a simple German family of modest means, Rose grew up to become the prettiest girl in the neighborhood and therefore it wasn't long before young men from all over Schuykill County came to Guinea Hill to try to win over her heart. Eventually she became enamored with a fellow her father strongly disliked; for Mr. Sheeley had been trying to steer Rose into marriage with a young man from a well-to-do family, in the hopes that he could give her a life of comfort and ease.

Rose, however, grew greatly distraught over this situation, which led to many a heated argument between father and daughter. Finally, after her father forbade Rose to marry the man of her choice, she ran to Tumbling Run and tied a shawl around her waist, filling the shawl with heavy stones. Then she jumped into the cold, deep water from a small pier jutting from the center of the breastwork of the first dam.

As the story goes, Rose's lover eventually married and raised a large family, though he was distraught for quite some time after Rose's death. The suitor provided by her father eventually moved out of the vicinity and was never heard from again. But there is a tragic postscript to this story, however.

Not long after Rose Sheeley's body had been laid to rest, her father's lifeless body was discovered in the garden of the Patterson estate, where he had been at work the night before. Mr. Sheeley preferred to do the weeding during the cool hours of evening. Edward Patterson, then a young boy, found the body lying face down, with a clump of grass clutched in his hand. The coroner ruled that the gardener's death had been the result of heart disease, and he was later buried at the Charles Baber Cemetery, where-- as the story goes-- his ghost was said to wander the grounds for many years.




Sources:
Pottsville Miners Journal, June 25, 1891.
Pottsville Republican, Jan. 27, 1996.
Pottsville Republican, July 27, 1996.
Old Schuylkill Tales: A History of Interesting Events, Traditions and Anecdotes of the Early Settlers of Schuylkill County. Ella Zerbey Elliott, 1906.