Nathan and Anna Kite


Nathan Kite
(approximately 1910)

 


Anna Margaret Kite
(approximately 1930)
Photo taken by
Walter F. Price

Nathan (18??-1925) and Anna Price Kite (1866-1943) came to Rose Valley with the rest of the Price family in 1901, and were the innkeepers of the Rose Valley Guest House from 1903-1905. They painted signs and mottoes on wood in illuminated Gothic lettering. One such sign welcomed visitors to the Guest House.

Nathan Kite is best remembered for having written a first-hand account of the beginning of the Rose Valley community in a book he called the “Chronicles of the Folk”. He attended Haverford College, was a good cricket player and considered himself a farmer, planting a large orchard on their property at the end of Vernon Lane. When Rose Valley became a borough in 1923, Nathan Kite was it’s first burgess.

Anna Price Kite trained as a kindergarten teacher in Baltimore, then taught in West Philadelphia before moving to Rose Valley. She ran a kindergarten for 15 years at Good Intent, their home that she designed on Vernon Lane, and organized many community events, including Robin Hood plays on the lawn and Christmas caroling around the valley.

 

Source: Exhibition of Rose Valley Art and Handicrafts 2001
History of Rose Valley, vol.1