Historic Trappe’s mission is to make the story of the people, places, and events that shaped the Trappe area accessible within the broader context of state and national history. We collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret artifacts that chronicle the Trappe area’s rich and diverse heritage.
We have three historic properties open for tours. Our Center for Pennsylvania German Studies, located in the Dewees Tavern, has five exhibition galleries featuring a wide variety of furniture, fraktur, textiles, and other objects as well as a research library and archives. The Henry Muhlenberg House is a fully-furnished museum interpreting the families of Lutheran pastor Henry Muhlenberg and his son General Peter Muhlenberg. The Speaker’s House, home of Frederick Muhlenberg, is an ongoing restoration project and the site of our Pennsylvania German kitchen garden. Historic Trappe is also the owner of the Muhlenberg parsonage, built in 1745 and currently undergoing architectural investigations in preparation for restoration.
Events at Historic Trappe
Valley Culture: Constructing Identity Along the Great Wagon Road
Valley Culture: Constructing Identity Along the Great Wagon Road explores the evolution of Pennsylvania German folk art as settlers moved west. From the Perkiomen Valley of southeastern Pennsylvania to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, locally distinctive forms of material culture emerged. This exhibition will help viewers understand how German settlers transformed artifacts of daily life —including fraktur, painted furniture, boxes, and other artifacts—as they settled along the Great Wagon Road.
Drawn from nearly a dozen private collections, the exhibit features exemplary works of American folk art, including the iconic “leaping stag” cupboard painted by Johannes Spitler of Shenandoah (now Page) County, Virginia; exuberantly painted boxes by John Drissell of Bucks County; and fraktur by Durs Rudy, Jacob Gottschall, and Andreas Kolb of Montgomery County. Other highlights include painted boxes from the Brothers Valley of Somerset County, a newly-discovered chest of drawers from the Mahantongo Valley, plus painted furniture and fraktur from the Tulpehocken Valley of Berks and Lebanon counties.
Valley Culture: Constructing Identity Along the Great Wagon Road opens September 28, 2024, and continues through August 2025.
Please consider making a generous donation to ensure our restoration progress. Thank you for your support!