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History of the Mennonite Settlement
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The 1719 Hans Herr House is the oldest still-standing European dwelling place in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the oldest still-standing Mennonite meeting house in the Western Hemisphere Welcome to the official 1719 Hans Herr House & Museum website! An Introduction to the Museum
For more information about the Mennonite Faith in general, a good starting point is found here. For more information
about the situation of the early Mennonite settlers, please visit our page on the History of the Mennonite
Settlement.
The “Hans Herr House" is the oldest
extant dwelling of a settlement
on ten thousand acres granted in October of 1710 to nine Mennonite men. In the
Spring of 1711, seven of those men came with their families to establish homes
in what was then the westernmost edge of Pennsylvania. Their route to the area
followed an ancient Native path called the “Great Conestoga Road”, which
passed within yards of the site on which, eight years later, the 1719 House
would be built. (above) chevron door to the 1719 House The 1719 House, or
“Hans Herr House” as it is known locally, was a home to several generations
of Hans Herr’s family until the 1860s, after which it was used as a barn and
storage shed. It was restored to colonial-era appearance in the early 1970s. It is now part of a Museum complex
which includes three Pennsylvania German farmhouses, several barns and other
outbuildings, and an extensive collection of farm
equipment spanning three centuries. The 1719 House is perhaps the most
frequently pictured building in Lancaster County. The artist Andrew Wyeth,
himself a relative of Hans Herr, created a well-known image of the house
before its restoration. |
