Pine Valley - the Sumner Stop

[Tony Dear]

I've been re-reading Tom Macwood's fascinating article on George Crump and Pine Valley, and something continues to puzzle me. According to Macwood, Crump sent a letter to his friends in September 2012 telling them of the superb site he had found '14 miles below Camden at a stop called Sumner on the Reading Railroad to Atlantic City’.
I'm curious as to why Crump would use the words 'at a stop called Sumner' when his friends would surely have been familiar with it. Had they not used the same line when taking the weekend Ballsome trips to Atlantic City? If so, they would have passed through, or indeed stopped at, Sumner numerous times.

[Phil Lipper]

I think its basically just how the area was described back then
a dozen Philadelphia golf
enthusiasts met in the Colonnade Hotel to discuss
the project of establishing a golf course in
the Jersey sands. They felt that the few summer
months, during which the clay soils of the Philadelphia
region keep in condition for playing golf, are not
enough to satisfy those golfers who are truly fond of
the game.
They desired a course where there would be
practically no closed season throughout the year. In
discussing the problem, they had the seaside in mind,
chiefly the region about Atlantic City; but the great
distance from Philadelphia, and the extreme difficulty
of securing a suitable location, caused the
project of a seashore course to be dropped.
The region outside of Camden was searched in all
directions, until, finally, Mr. George A. Crump discovered
a perfectly wonderful bit of golf land at
Sumner Station, on the Atlantic City Division of the
Reading Railroad, thirteen miles outside of Camden.

[Bryan Izatt]

Tony,

I doubt that anyone has any kind of conclusive answer to that question. 

If you have the time and patience you could wade through the following thread that digs in to reports from the time about how the Pine Valley site was discovered.  As far as I recall, the letter that Tom drew that quote from has not been found, but rather is referred to in other articles published near that time and subsequently.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50550.0.html

As pure speculation, perhaps the writers who mentioned "at a stop called Sumner on the Reading Railroad to Atlantic City’" were stating it that way to make it clear to their readers.  Or, if Crump actually wrote those exact words in a letter to his friends, he included friends who were not part of his regular group travelling to Atlantic city.  Or, maybe that was just the way people wrote at the time.  Or, .................

Sumner station was a little flag station serving the estate of Virginia Sumner Ireland (see following thread).  I doubt that the trains stopped there at all on Crump's trips to Atlantic City. 

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50130.50.html

Happy reading.

[Tony Dear]

Blimey Bryan, I read seven or eight pages (though not the deeds admittedly) then had to stop when my brain began to hurt. It's all great stuff, and I love the banter going back and forth, even if it does get a little contentious at times. The story behind Pine Valley is obviously an emotive subject, and it's pretty clear a number of people on the thread have devoted many years to discovering all they can about Crump and the course.
One day, when we all get to play the Pine Valley in the sky with the man himself, he'll hopefully be able to put us in the picture and everything will become clear. He can tell us how exactly he came across the land, the extent of Colt's involvement, what all the other architects contributed, and why it took so long to find the 13th. And if he's comfortable talking about it, he can tell us why he decided to take his own life, though we won't dwell on it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tony,

I think that Crump was merely pinpointing the location.