The Mount of the House of the Lord.
Woodmont, the 73 acre estate in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, used as a country home by Father and Mother Divine, is owned by Palace Mission, Inc., one of the Churches of the Peace Mission Movement of which Father Divine is the Founder, Bishop and Pastor. In 1953, He dedicated and consecrated the estate as The Mount of the House of the Lord. which He had previously described as "the repetition of history . . . as it was with the building of the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, in Mount Moriah, so it is in the rebuilding of the Temple of the LORD in Philadelphia . . in Woodmont," according to biblical prophecy, Isaiah 2:2. 3."
'And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it
'And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.'
and Micah 4:1, 2.whose prophecy is repeated in almost identical language.
Woodmont was built in 1892 at an estimated cost of $1,OOO,OOO by the Honorable
Alan Wood, Jr., founder of the Alan Wood Steel Co. of Conshohocken. William
L. Price was the architect. In 1929 Woodmont was purchased by J. Hector McNeal,
corporation lawyer and noted horse man. who modernized it considerably. In
later years, as an ardent admirer of the Work of Father Divine, Mrs. McNeal
expressed the desire that Woodmont would some day come into the possession
of followers of Father Divine and in 1952, after her demise.
The property was
placed on sale by executors of the estate and the Palace Mission Church purchased
it for $75,000 cash.
The Indian Cave at the Mount of the House of the Lord.
Legend has it that during the Revolutionary War, when George Washington and the Continental Army were encamped at Knog Hill before moving to Valley Forge for the winter encampment of December 19th, 1777 to June 19th, 1778, there was a scrimmage with the British on Old Gulf Road.
The soldiers of the Continental Army, it was said, hid their wounded in the Indian Cave at Woodmont.
One year later, on September 10, 11, 12, 1953, after extensive restoration, Woodmont, the estate once called "one of the most magnificent estates in Pennsy" was opened to the people.
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