Current Exhibitions
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 is on view through August 17, 2025.
Lead support for Valley Culture by Pook & Pook
Featured Objects
Hanging cupboard, made for Jacob Strickler, attributed to Johannes Spitler, Shenandoah (now Page) County, Virginia, c. 1800. Collection of Jane and Gerald Katcher
Slide-lid box, probably Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, c. 1780–1810. Collection of Jane and Gerald Katcher
Slide-lid box, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, c. 1800. Collection of Steve and Jenifer Smith
Current Exhibit - Henry Muhlenberg House
All Sorts of Chairs and Joiner’s Work: Pennsylvania Furniture from the Dietrich American Foundation
Located in the second-floor gallery of the Henry Muhlenberg House, this exhibit features a dozen chairs and six case pieces.
Highlights include:
- ● A rush-seat chair retaining the original label of renowned Philadelphia maker William Savery,
- ● And a rare child-size Windsor armchair branded by Thomas Gilpin.
There is also a range of Queen Anne and Chippendale chairs with ornate carving, as well as an early Philadelphia chest-on-chest and a Chester County desk with line-and-berry inlay.
Admission to this exhibit is included with a guided tour of the Henry Muhlenberg House. Contact us at info@historictrappe.org to schedule a tour.
Upcoming Exhibits
Pewter: An American Story / The Melvyn and Bette Wolf Collection
This special exhibition celebrates the extraordinary gift of more than 450 pieces of historic American pewter. Generously donated by Bette Wolf, this collection was assembled by Bette and her late husband Dr. Melvyn Wolf over 60 years. The Wolf collection is considered the finest and most comprehensive collection of American pewter ever assembled. Highlights include one of the earliest signed pieces made in the colonies— a circa 1730 beaker by Simon Edgell of Philadelphia—and nearly two dozen pieces by William Will, one of America’s greatest pewterers.
Pewter: An American Story opens on August 29 and closes on October 26, 2025.
From Hubener to Medinger: Redware Potters of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Focusing on Pennsylvania German redware from the mid-1700s to mid-1900s, this exhibit will provide fresh insights into renowned potters such as Georg Hubener, Conrad Mumbauer, and Samuel Troxel. It also delves into the work of twentieth-century potters such as Jacob Medinger, considered the last of the traditional Pennsylvania German potters, and Mildred Weekes Keyser, a pioneering revivalist potter.
From Hubener to Medinger: Redware Potters of Southeastern Pennsylvania opens November 21, 2025, and continues through April 5, 2026.
Window to Revolution: Pennsylvania Germans and the War for Independence
Focusing on the Revolution's impact on the Greater Philadelphia region, this landmark exhibition will feature artifacts such as flintlock pistols, Continental currency, Henry Muhlenberg’s journals, a German translation of the Declaration of Independence, fraktur made by former Hessian soldiers, and much more.
Window to Revolution opens May 2026 and closes in early 2028.