The Boal Mansion and the Columbus Chapel

Last Tuesday we went on our first school field trip to the Boal Mansion and the Columbus Chapel in Boalsburg, PA. It thoroughly exceeded our expectations; I could not believe we had lived so close for so long to such a marvelous journey into the past and had stopped in for a visit.

According to the museum website:

An intriguing glimpse into who we are as Americans awaits travelers in the picturesque village of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Nine generations of the Boal family have lived the story of America, and even have a tangible family connection with our famous founding father, Christopher Columbus.

As visitors drive up the long, gravel driveway of the 200-year-old Boal Estate beneath the ancient oak and maple trees, they begin their own voyage of American discovery. Few realize at first glance the incredible family memorabilia, authentic and intact, they will be experiencing during their one-hour visit. A lock of hair of Napoleon? Simon Bolivar’s pistol? Two pieces of the True Cross? Relics from the tomb of the grandparents of King Tut? Most leave saying, “This is amazing! Why haven’t we heard about this before?” A full 85% of visitors surveyed say the site exceeded their expectations.

The Boals were on the cutting edge of the defining issues of their time. David Boal, the 1789 founder of the site, was a Scottish-Irish Revolutionary War captain and a pioneer seeking cheap land and freedom. His son David founded Boalsburg village and had a tavern there, which delighted weary travelers and locals alike. His son George in 1852 was one of the founders of Penn State University, home of the famous Nittany Lions football team. All of these institutions -- the Boal Estate, Boalsburg village, Penn State – remain vital to the community today.

The fifth generation, Theodore Davis Boal, benefited from industrial fortunes amassed by the fourth generation. He studied architecture in Europe where he married the beautiful French-Spanish aristocrat, Mathilde de Lagarde, a descendant of the famous Christopher Columbus.

In 1909 Terry and Mathilde inherited and imported to their American estate the chapel of the Columbus family, including an admiral’s desk said by the family to have belonged to the famous explorer himself. Fifteenth century religious statues, sixteenth century Renaissance paintings and 150,000 pages of Columbus family documents dating back to the 1450’s await the visitor.

Although we did not have to drive very far to get there, visiting the Boal mansion and Columbus Chapel would have been worth a trip of many miles.

The ballroom.

The main hall and staircase of the mansion, with portraits of Spanish aristocrats and American settlers, ancestors of the family.

Above is the parlor in the Boal Mansion. The Boal family are connected to the Bonapartes through a son of Eugene de Beauharnais, Empress Josephine's son. Napoleon III, Eugene's nephew, sent a picture of himself to his Boal cousins which still hangs in the drawing room.

Here is the magnificent interior of the Columbus Chapel, brought over piece by piece in 1909 from the Columbus family castle in Spain. It is consecrated and the Knights of Columbus have Mass offered there every Columbus Day.

A relic of the True Cross in the Columbus Chapel.

The coat of arms of the Columbus family in front of the choir loft in the chapel.

(Photos: Mansion, Chapel, Exhibit Rooms)