What started as an effort to introduce more people to one of Cherry Hill’s historic treasures has grown into a community of readers, friendships and shared experiences.
The Barclay Farmstead Book Club brings readers together every other month in the parlors of the historic farmhouse, where conversations about historical fiction and other selections often extend well beyond the pages.
Peggy Wysocki started the club while serving as chairperson of the Friends of Barclay Farmstead. Though she is no longer on the Friends board, she continues to chair the book club and has watched it accomplish exactly what she hoped it would.
“I started the Book Club as a way to introduce folks to the Farmstead,” Wysocki said. “It was my thought that a sense of community would be formed as a result of the book club meetings. And that has happened.”
In fact, Wysocki said many members had never visited Barclay Farmstead before joining the club.
The Friends of Barclay Farmstead was founded in 1975, a year after Cherry Hill Township acquired the property. The nonprofit, volunteer organization promotes the Farmstead’s historic, educational and interpretive activities while supporting restoration of the farmhouse, outbuildings and grounds.
Friends volunteers also manage the collection of historic artifacts and furnishings, co-sponsor events such as Living History Day and help fund the Living History Education Program. The organization raises money through events and programs throughout the year, including Holiday House and a spring luncheon featuring historic entertainment.
Wysocki saw the book club as another way to bring the community through the doors – and into a place with centuries of history of its own.
The history of the Barclay Farmstead property stretches back nearly 300 years. John Kay, an immigrant from Great Britain, arrived in West Jersey in the early 1680s and eventually settled on what is now the Farmstead. His home, believed to have stood on the site of the present farmhouse, was used along with another Cherry Hill home for Quaker meetings until 1721, according to Cherry Hill Township.
The property remained in the Kay family for generations before Joseph Thorn purchased the 168-acre property in 1816 and constructed the farmhouse that stands today. The Thorn family remained there until the property was sold at a sheriff’s sale in 1826.
Joseph W. Cooper, a sixth-generation descendant of Camden’s founder and owner of the Cooper Ferry, then acquired the property as a gentleman’s farm. It eventually passed through the Cooper family to Ellen Cooper Barclay, then to her son, Walter, and granddaughter, Helen.
In the 1950s, Helen Barclay sold much of the original farm to builder Bob Scarborough, who developed the surrounding Barclay Farm residential community. Cherry Hill Township purchased the remaining Farmstead in 1974, and community members worked to restore the farmhouse. The historic property now encompasses 32 acres.
That historic setting provides an appropriate backdrop for a club whose members have developed a particular fondness for historical fiction.
For Wysocki, however, bringing people into the Farmstead was only part of her goal. She also wanted to create an opportunity for people to forge friendships through a shared experience.
“Reading a book to discuss with a group offers personal satisfaction because it is collaborative, social, and offers intellectual gains from shared discussion – making it a richer, more memorable experience,” she said.
The club’s first selection was A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Since then, members have worked their way through a variety of titles, with historical fiction emerging as a favorite.
Wysocki said the genre has given members a greater appreciation for events from the past, while the group’s discussions provide an opportunity to hear perspectives that may differ from their own.
“The folks who attend the book club meetings are intelligent and express a variety of points of view, which I enjoy hearing,” she said. “Some folks do not talk much, which is fine, while others are very lively.”
Some books have proven so popular that they’ve led the club directly to another work by the same author.
After reading Geraldine Brooks’ Horse, the group chose her People of the Book. But the connections don’t always end with another title.
Members have taken their reading on the road.
After reading Marie Benedict’s The Personal Librarian, some traveled to New York to visit the Morgan Library, the institution central to the book’s story. Other members visited Monticello after reading Stephanie Dray’s America’s First Daughter.
Back at Barclay Farmstead, Wysocki finds ways to keep discussions engaging – sometimes with a little friendly competition.
For the club’s recent discussion of The Traitor’s Wife, she created a bingo card for each member based on discussion points from the book. Members checked off squares as the conversation progressed, with everyone eventually receiving a bingo food treat.
Food, in fact, has become another way members contribute to the experience.
Wysocki typically brings something for the group to enjoy, but members have also gotten involved. Kathy Pitt provided Mediterranean food when the club discussed People of the Book, while Sue Wolf made muffins for the group’s discussion of Horse.
Member Kim Taylor contributed something more permanent, creating fabric bookmarks for everyone in the club and a quilted book bag for Wysocki.
Those gestures reflect the community Wysocki envisioned when she first invited people to gather around a book.
Today, 34 people are signed up for the Barclay Farmstead Book Club. Because meetings take place inside the farmhouse parlors, Wysocki prefers to limit each gathering to about 15 people and asks members to let her know in advance if they plan to attend so she can make sure there is a chair waiting for everyone.
The group meets four times per year on a Tuesday afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. The ending time was chosen deliberately, allowing members who need to meet children or grandchildren at school bus stops to participate.
Upcoming selections include Theo of Golden by Allen Levi on Tuesday, Nov. 3; Whistle by Ann Patchett on Tuesday, March 16, 2027; and The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett on Tuesday, May 18, 2027. Each discussion begins at 1 p.m.
The club welcomes everyone, though participants are asked to RSVP in advance because seating in the Farmstead’s parlors is limited.
And despite stepping away from the Friends board, Wysocki has no intention of stepping away from the readers she has brought together.
“It is a joy to do so as I have met so many wonderful folks and read terrific books,” she said.
For Wysocki, there is still something special about sitting in the parlors of a farmhouse built more than two centuries ago, surrounded by people who have all spent time with the same characters and story – and discovering just how differently each person may have read it.
