Peter Wentz Farmstead is a historical

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

farm which has been continuously farmed since 1744. It is located in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania near Lansdale.

History

The first family to till this land was Peter and Rosanna Wentz (both 1st generation) and their 6 children. Peter inherited the property from his father who may have purchased it as early as 1710. It was sold to Dewalt Bieber in 1784 and then to Melchior Schultz, a minister of the Schwenkfelder faith, in 1794. Schultz family descendants owned the home until 1969 when it was purchased by the County of Montgomery. The Georgian style mansion was built in 1758, and is a large -story, dwelling with attached summer kitchen and bake oven. The main house consists of two floors with four rooms and a large hallway on both, a cellar with a spring house and a full attic. The front facade is built of dressed red sandstone and the remainder of the building is built on uncut sandstone. Nearby is a red building that has a visitor center with restrooms and a gift-shop and employees offices upstairs. Also on the property, there are many reconstructed outbuildings; Privy, smokehouse, woodshed, ice-house, barn, chicken house and sheepfold. Currently the farm has sheep, cows, pigs, horses and chickens. The house served as headquarters for the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

before and after the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American Con ...

, October 2–4 and 16–21, 1777. His Excellency did not travel alone. He had a staff of 9 military secretaries or aides-de-camp, a dozen servants and his personal guard unit, the Commander-in-Chief's Guard. That unit consisted of 60 infantry soldiers and 3 officers. Washington set his 12,000 strong army 2 miles south on top of the Methacton hill to be in striking distance of the 8,000 Crown forces in nearby Germantown.George Washington to Continental Congress, September 29, 1777, George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799: Series 4. General Correspondence. 1697-1799, Image 477 of 1104. By October 20 news arrived that the fortifications and breastworks around Philadelphia were completed, the British abandoned their outpost in Germantown. Washington responded by moving his troops within a half days march of Philadelphia. Whitemarsh or Fort Washington was chosen as it was away. ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

References

External links

Peter Wentz Farmstead
- official site Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Georgian architecture in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1758 Houses in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Museums in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Historic house museums in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Historic House Museums of the Pennsylvania Germans {{MontgomeryCountyPA-NRHP-stub

History

See also

References

External links