post by Blair Young
Every auction at Gateway proves to be a learning experience for me with all the items that come in to be set up. While I wasn’t formerly familiar with him,I have found out that Charles Stoner is a well-known local artist around our parts.
We happen to have one of his original pieces, and I’ve received a few phone calls about it and even some people have stopped by to take a look.
In case you are like me, and don’t know too much about him, let me provide you with a little background info. Charles J. Stoner was born in Waynesboro, seven generations after John Stoner settled there in 1738. He attended college in Philadelphia and remained there for work. It wasn’t until he retired that he and his wife, also originally from Franklin County, returned to the area.
Stoner’s works depict scenes of life in 18th, 19th and 20th century Franklin County. One includes the stone bridge at Welty’s Mill in Waynesboro, which his great-grandfather David S. Stoner built in 1856. He was very involved with the Kittochtinny Historical Society, serving as secretary and later as president.
The piece we have at Gateway was a commissioned work of the consignor’s home in Fayetteville. It is a winter scene with two horse-drawn sleighs going down the street.
Sources:
Herald Mail article by Richard F. Belisle
Cumberland Valley: From Tuscarora to Chambersburg to Blue Ridge by Ann Hull
Waynesboro As We Knew It by Todd Andrew Dorsett
