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Peter Wentz Homestead

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Coordinates: 40°11′56″N 75°20′2″W / 40.19889°N 75.33389°W / 40.19889; -75.33389
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Not to be confused with the Peter Wentz House, a residence (also on the National Register of Historic Places) in Provo, Utah..
Peter Wentz Homestead
Peter Wentz Homestead. September 2012.
Peter Wentz Homestead is located in Pennsylvania
Peter Wentz Homestead
Peter Wentz Homestead is located in the United States
Peter Wentz Homestead
LocationSchultz Rd., Worcester Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°11′56″N 75°20′2″W / 40.19889°N 75.33389°W / 40.19889; -75.33389
Area9.9 acres (4.0 ha)
Built1758
Architectural styleGeorgian
NRHP reference No.73001656[1]
Added to NRHPMay 8, 1973

The Peter Wentz Farmstead is an historic, Pennsylvania German farm that has been continuously farmed since 1744. It is located in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania near Lansdale.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[1]

History

The first family to till this land was that of Peter and Rosanna Wentz, who were both first-generation Americans. Peter Wentz inherited the property from his father who may have purchased it as early as 1710. The couple had seven children.

The farm 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 farmhouse was built in 1758, and is a large 2+1⁄2-story, dwelling with attached out(summer) kitchen and bake oven. The main house consists of two floors with four rooms each and a central passageway on both, a cellar with a corner water spring trough and a full attic. The front facade is built of dressed local red shale and sandstone. The remainder of the building is built of uncut sandstone and localized red shale stone. Located nearby is a circa 1920's poultry house building that has been converted to a visitor center with restrooms and a gift-shop and employees offices upstairs. Also located on the property, there are many reconstructed outbuildings, including an Privy, a smokehouse, a woodshed, an ice-house, a barn, a chicken house, and a sheepfold. Currently, the farm has sheep, cows, and chickens.

The house served as headquarters for the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army George Washington before and after the Battle of Germantown, October 2–4 and 16–21, 1777. His Excellency did not travel alone. His "military family" included a staff of a military secretary, several aides-de-camp, a dozen servants and his personal guard unit, the Commander-in-Chief's Guard. That unit consisted of sixty infantry soldiers and three officers. Washington set his 9,000 strong army two miles south on top of the Methacton hill to be in striking distance of 8,000 Crown forces in nearby Germantown.[2]

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 15 miles (24 km) away.[3]

This property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[1]

See also

  • Front room, Peter Wentz residence, April 2016
    Front room, Peter Wentz residence, April 2016

References

  1. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes William K. Watson (November 1972). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Peter Wentz Homestead" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-05-05.
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