Guests to relive 1800s during Jacobsburg Historical Society Open house

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Guests will have a chance to look back almost 200 years to the time five generations of the Henry family occupied a Bushkill Township homestead.


The Jacobsburg Historical Society from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday will open four buildings to the public to tour at their leisure during Christmas at Boulton at 402 Henry Road.

The open house was first held about five years ago. It’s timed with the Christmas Candlelight Walking Tour of Nazareth held by the Moravian Historical Society Saturday evening.

“It’s a really nice way to celebrate the season and wrap up our year,” said Lyndsey Brown Frigm, historian and executive director of the Jacobsburg Historical Society. “We’re pleased to do it on a day when we can celebrate Nazareth as a community.”

Visitors can tour the John Joseph Henry House, Summer Kitchen, Nicholas Hawk Gun Shop and Pennsylvania Longrifle Museum. At each site, members of the nonprofit organization will answer questions, and visitors can enjoy carolers dressed in Victorian costumes.

Built in 1832, the John Joseph Henry House, a federalist townhouse, was occupied by five generations until 1989 when Mary Henry Stites, the last family resident, donated it to the historical society.

Frigm said the Henry House gives the public a glimpse into the life of a regular American family that lived in the community for hundreds of years.

Visitors will be able to view the family’s putz, a Moravian tradition displaying a miniature landscape telling the story of the Nativity. A collection of antique toys also remains, as well as John Joseph and his wife Mary Rebecca’s wedding china.

Stories and history also are posted, such as a tale about John Joseph’s younger brother, William, who set a sheep figurine on fire in the putz at age four.

A portrait of Lydia Stites, Mary Henry’s younger sister, is featured on top of the parlor’s piano. Lydia died in her 20s from tuberculosis, which made females in the family germaphobic -- including washing paper money and hanging it to dry, Frigm said.

The Summer Kitchen, located behind the home, was used in hotter months to keep the heat away from the main house. The traditional Moravian sugar cake and a spiced fruit punch will be available for tasting in the kitchen during the event.

At the Nicholas Hawk Gun Shop, state longrifle experts will discuss the history of gun making. Guests are invited to bring their longrifle or muzzle-loading rifles for experts to comment on.

At the Pennsylvania Longrifle Museum, which contains the largest collection of Henry-made firearms in the nation, visitors will be able to see exhibits and displays highlighting original, handcrafted firearms from the Revolutionary War era through the 1840s.

The Jacobsburg Historical Society, which includes hundreds of members, was founded in the 1970s to save the land around the Bushkill Creek from a state proposal to build a recreational lake. The lake would have flooded the site, the Henrys’ gun works and other archaeological sites, Frigm said.

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IF YOU GO


The Jacobsburg Historical Society’s “Christmas at Boulton” at 402 Henry Road in Bushkill Township is 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 10. The event is free. For more information, call the society at 610-759-9029.

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