LIMERICK — Human remains have been uncovered at the site of the historic Hood mansion where developers have plans to erect a giant warehouse facility.
A team of specialists brought in by the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society discovered what they believe to be the remains of members of the Hood family, which owned the property for several generations.
Tyler Schumacher, president and founder of the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society, said the remains were of at least four people “and maybe two more.”
Specialists, including Nathan Babb from the Boyertown Historical Society Archaeologist Division, forensic archaeologist Kimberlee Moran from Rutgers University, and independent archeologist Alex Denning undertook the hunt, led by the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society members and the Boyertown Area Historical Society Relic Recovery Club, which resulted in the recent discovery of the remains.
By the early 1900s, 15 family members were interred on the estate’s grounds. Over the decades, vandalism and grave robbing forced the relocation of most of the remains to Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery. Only the remains of John, his wife Elizabeth, Washington, and his brother Montgomery Hood remained interred at the estate, according to Schumacher.
The crypt on the site “was desecrated many times and the bones strewn about the property,” he told MediaNews Group. At one point, members of the Kehler family, who were caretakers at the site for many years, “gathered up the bones, dug a hole in front of the crypt, put the bones in the hole, covered it with a big rock and then covered it with dirt,” Schumacher told MediaNews Group.
The mansion that still stands on the site was built in 1834 by John M. Hood, an Irish immigrant who was born in County Tyrone, came to America at the age of 21, and made his fortune in Philadelphia in the grocery business. He and his wife had 13 children.
The property served as the family’s summer home until 1940, after which it remained in the family but was occupied by caretakers until 2008.
The Hood family had erected a stone mausoleum on the property as well as a monument dedicated to Captain Washington Hood, the eldest son who was a distinguished West Point graduate and Army Corps of Engineers topographer.
However, the Washington Hood monument was desecrated in July. The damaged monument was secured and transported for safekeeping by the preservation society, Gene Kehler of the Pennsylvania Craftsman Construction Company of Bally, and volunteer Greg Bandura, according to Schumacher.
Schumacher said Martin Witte of the Limerick Township Historical Society secured permission to go on the Hood property, and he secured a burial plot at the Limerick Church Burial Grounds for both the monument and the Hood family remains.
“Schumacher and Benner Funeral Home and Crematory offered their expertise for the respectful handling of the remains and the eventual restoration of the monument,” according to Schumacher’s release.
As part of its development of 117 acres across Lightcap Road from the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, Brooklyn-based MCD7 LLC wants to build four large storage/warehouse buildings and a small retail center, all of which would be accessed off a private road built where the traffic light provides access to the outlets and which would connect to Sanatoga Road.
The warehouse project, called the Limerick Commerce Center, was first proposed in 2022 and on Sept. 19, 2023 developers presented their preliminary plan to the township supervisors. The supervisors voted to grant preliminary approval of the plan.
It calls for a total of 1.3 million square feet of storage space and a smaller retail site at the intersection with the traffic light.
The Hood mansion is located where part of the building in the southwest corner of the project is to be located.
During its presentation to the township supervisors last year, the developers said they did not believe there were any human remains on the site.
Since the remains have been found, Schumacher said his team, which was working with the permission of the developers to secure historic artifacts, has been asked by the property owners to stay off the site.
That was confirmed by Ed Campbell, an attorney representing the property owners, who said notification of the discovery came from Limerick Township officials on Aug. 15.
“We are in the process of reviewing the material LHS and EPPS provided to us,” he said in a statement issued in the wake of the announcement.
“We contacted independent consultants to provide us with guidance as to appropriate next steps,” the statement said, adding, “We are committed to ensuring that this matter is handled with the utmost respect and sensitivity. Our primary concern is to make certain that this situation is managed according to best practices and procedures.”
The Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society, a registered non-profit organization, has been working to try and save the mansion, which is said to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, the network of activists who helped enslaved people escape slavery in the South.
Schumacher even tried issuing an announcement offering the mansion for free to anyone who could move it to a different site. There are no takers on that effort so far.
“EPPS is still hoping to save the historic home, mausoleum, and property. Our goal is to keep the lines of communication open with the developer for the eventual subdivision of six acres of land that will allow the preservation of the Hood mansion, its history, and the historic ancestral burial ground of the Hoods,” Schumacher wrote in the press release issued to announce the discovery of the human remains.
This 1834 historic mansion in Limerick can be yours for free — if you can move it
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