The Keim Homestead is a historic farm on Boyer Road in Pike Township,

Berks County, Pennsylvania Berks County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the coun ...

. It was built in 1753 for Jacob Keim and his wife Magdalena Hoch on land given to the couple by her father. Jacob was the son of Johannes Keim, who immigrated from Germany in 1689 and scouted the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

countryside for land that was similar in richness to the soil from the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

of Germany. He thought he found it and returned to Germany, married his wife, Katarina. They came to America in 1707. Keim originally built a log structure for his family's housing and later a stone home along Keim Road in Pike Township. The main section of the Jacob and Magdelena Keim house on Boyer Road was built in two phases and it is, "replete with early German construction features ... including nextremely original second floor Chevron door." The exterior building material (cladding) is

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. The finishings and trimmings are mostly original to the house; relatively unusual in a home of this period. The Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County describes the house in this way: There have been subsequent additions to the house, especially porches in later centuries. The

Hartman Cider Press The Hartman Cider Press is an historic cider press which is located in Pike Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. History and architectural features The cider press and one-sto ...

was moved from its original location in Muhlenberg Township, 11 miles to the Keim Homestead in 1975. ''Note:'' This includes The Keim Homestead was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1974.Richard H. Shaner, 1974, NRHP Nomination Form for Keim HomesteadEnter "public" for ID and "public" for password to access the site. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 2016 as a nationally significant example of German colonial architecture.

See also

References

Further reading