The Willows Spends This Fall Being Repaired, and Radnor Is Invited to Help

"Once clearing wraps up, we will need community hands to help plant our new native green infrastructure!" That line comes from the notice Radnor Township posted on the afternoon of October 5, 2026. The notice announced that crews had started work that morning along the creek banks at The Willows Park and Warren Filipone Park. Most people know The Willows at 490 Darby Paoli Road for its pond, its fountains and its mansion terrace. This season, nearly every date on its calendar connects to a repair: the stream banks first, then the trees, then the mansion's foundation. Each of those projects asks residents to do part of the work.

What the Crews Along Abrahams Run Are Doing This Week

The work belongs to a five-year watershed management strategy run by the Radnor Township Shade Tree Commission and the Public Works Parks Maintenance Division. Crews are on site Monday through Friday this week, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. At The Willows, they are pulling out networks of invasive plants along parts of Abrahams Run. The township says this clearing gets the soil and banks ready for more than 200 native trees and shrubs. Down the road at Warren Filipone Park, the job is protecting native canopy trees planted recently along Little Darby Creek by cutting back the invasives that crowd them.

The project was approved weeks ago. Main Line Media News reported on August 24 that township commissioners had approved streamside landscaping at The Willows. The plan covers Abrahams Run between Darby-Paoli Road and Little Darby Creek, plus the stretch of Little Darby Creek between the park's entrance and exit roads. Some cleared debris will stay in place as habitat, and maintenance over five years is meant to help native growth take hold. The partners listed were Radnor Public Works, the Shade Tree Commission, the Radnor Conservancy and volunteers.

Anyone walking the park this week will find orange safety fencing near the water. The township is asking visitors to stay out of active work zones and off the stream banks wherever equipment is running.

The Fall Calendar at The Willows, in Order

Put the township's restoration schedule next to the Preserve's fundraiser and the parks department's programs, and the next seven weeks come out like this:

The 14th annual Fall Harvest & Great Pumpkin Patch came first, on Sunday, October 4. The park closed to everyone else from 6:00 a.m. that day so staff could set up. The pumpkin hunting has moved to the Radnor Trail for the rest of the month. The township's Pumpkin Path Adventure hides 10 pumpkins along the route through the end of October.

November's Planting Days Finish What This Week's Clearing Starts

The two planting days are the reason this week's clearing is happening. On Sunday, November 8, volunteers will plant 70 container trees and 134 native shrubs along Abrahams Run and Little Darby Creek. On Saturday, November 14, the job is 30 bare-root trees meant to anchor the most vulnerable stream banks. That adds up to 100 trees and 134 shrubs, the same schedule the township laid out in its September 30 notice.

The Shade Tree Commission has opened the invitation to residents, civic groups and student volunteers. Main Line Media News reported the township was hoping volunteers from the Villanova Conservancy would join. The township's stated goals are less erosion, cleaner water, and banks that hold up better against flooding downstream. Because maintenance runs over five years, the trees planted in November will still be getting care in 2031.

The Owl Encounter & Night Hike lands on November 13, five days after the first planting and one day before the second. It starts at the Willows Mansion and goes out onto the Skunk Hollow trails after dark, and registration is through the township. Anyone who plants on the Sunday will walk those same creek corridors in the dark the following Friday.

The Mansion Was Saved Once Already, by People Who Live Here

The Twilight on the Terrace fundraiser on October 10 is less about a party than about the mansion's foundation. This year, the Willows Park Preserve is putting guest support toward drying out the mansion's basement, work it calls essential to repairing and reinforcing the foundation. The evening includes live music, drinks, roving food and raffles, and honors Deanna Doane. She co-owns Click Canyon Digital Marketing, chairs the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and is a past president of the Wayne Business Association. Her history with the house goes back to a semi-formal held inside the mansion.

The Preserve exists because the house nearly went dark. John Sinnott and his wife built the mansion in 1910 from a design by Philadelphia architect Charles Barton Keen. They named it Rose Garland, and the pond of roughly 2.5 acres was dug while the house was going up. In the mid-1930s, Clarence Geist bought the estate as a wedding gift for his daughter Mary Golden Geist and her husband Alfred Zantzinger, and they renamed it Maral Brook. The name "The Willows" reportedly came from journalist Christopher Morley, who nicknamed the property for its willow trees. Radnor Township bought the 47.5-acre estate from the Zantzinger family in 1973.

For decades the township hosted weddings and proms in the house, then closed it in 2013. Residents founded Willows Park Preserve in 2017, and the nonprofit signed a 25-year operating and restoration lease in 2019. Since then, the Preserve says it has completed:

• A new roof and exterior paint
• New bathrooms and a sprinkler system
• Restored bedrooms and a commercial kitchen
• The courtyard fountain wall

The Preserve counts 140 uses of the mansion in 2025, twelve years after the township closed it. Its strategic plan from March 2026 lists continued revitalization, financial self-sufficiency and inclusive community use as priorities. With the roof finished, the foundation is next. The fundraiser and the creek planting share a goal: getting a 1910 estate to hold up for another generation.

The mansion is open to anyone when the "OPEN" sign is out, though staffing limits regular indoor hours. The grounds and terrace stay open whenever the park is, and the Preserve offers free guided tours on request. Rooms can be booked for public programs and private gatherings. Weddings and specialty catered events go through Peachtree Catering.

Getting There, Walking Out, and Leaving the Dog Home

Most visits end up as longer walks than planned, because the trails keep going past the pond. The Willows is open dawn to dusk, with picnic areas, fishing and a walking and running trail. From there the trails run through Skunk Hollow to Saw Mill Park, part of a southern network the township puts at about five miles in total. Skunk Hollow covers 93.7 undeveloped acres with Little Darby Creek, traces of an old mill and dam, and a community garden.

Before you go, check three things:

1. Parking. The township lists the Skunk Hollow lot on Darby-Paoli Road as closed to vehicles until further notice. Trail users are directed to park at The Willows or Saw Mill Park.
2. Dogs. The township ordinance enacted July 21, 2025 bans dogs from The Willows Park at all times, with exceptions for service and emotional support dogs. In Skunk Hollow, dogs must be on a physical leash on weekends and township holidays from noon to dusk, and always in the parking lot.
3. Trail markers. The township's emergency-marker and mapping project for The Willows, Skunk Hollow and Saw Mill lists the Orange Trail markers as installed. Other markers, and the link to emergency services, are still in progress.

By the November 14 planting, the banks of Abrahams Run that were thick with invasives this week should be holding 100 new trees and 134 shrubs. Volunteers will have planted many of them, in the same park as a mansion that residents brought back into use.

Places like The Willows, where neighbors kept a 1910 estate going, shape how a community lives day to day. That kind of local knowledge is what Larisa Bevan brings to every conversation about Radnor Township. If you're thinking about your own place in Radnor, whether that means staying, buying or moving on, schedule a consultation and we can talk it through.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.