Fun Facts The Ginko Tree at Grumblethorpe, one of the oldest in North America, is thought to be over 250 years old. The seedling for the tree came from the first United States botanist, John Bartram. Its hard to believe today, but Grumblethorpe was once completely stuccoed in one of its renovations, to appear as a formal Georgian-style house. In the 1940s, a reenactment of John Wister's mid-eighteenth century elopement with Anna Thomin was staged at Grumblethorpe, at a Wister Family Reunion. Widowed twice, Wister married "Sister Anastasia" when she was a nun at the Ephrata Cloister.