The "Oldest House In Lancaster" Story

My Polaroid print of the Hans Herr House.

It was an ordinary day.  Decided a year or two ago that sometime I was going to make a visit to the Hans Herr House in southern Lancaster County and write a story about the place.  Many years ago I had taken a trip to the Hans Herr House and took a Polaroid of it to manipulate and add to my collection of photos that I offered for sale.  For some time it was my most popular photo because of all the colored flowers that surrounded the front of the house.  But my mission today was to learn the history of the place in my hometown and to share it with you.  Easy to find right off of Beaver Valley Pike (Rt. 222S) to the south of Lancaster City.  Weather was beautiful, sun was shining, air was warm, but the humidity was almost non-existent, making for a pleasant day.  Parked my car in the lot and headed to the door that said "Open."  Walked in the gift shop, looked at all the photos and paintings of this historic site and decided that I was going to usher myself around the grounds.  Sign did say that everything was free except the guided tour.  I exited the gift shop and walked around to the rear of it, which I found out later was one of three houses on the property; the Herr House, the Huber House and the Shaub House. Two of the homes, the Herr and Huber, were on the side of the road where I was and the other was across the road.  

The Hans Herr House built in 1719.

I wandered part of the 15 acres that comprise the property, wondering what it would have been like back in the late 1600s and the early 1700s in Lancaster County.  Many of the original settlers in this area were from Germany.  They, along with a variety of Native American tribes, lived a rather peaceful existence during this time.  In 1709 Hans Herr arrived in Philadelphia with his family.  He purchased land from William Penn at 25 cents an acre and journeyed in 1717 with his third son Christian, who was in his early thirties at the time, to Lancaster to view the 530 acres he had purchased.  Depending upon his actual birth date, Hans probably was sixty or seventy at the time he arrived in Lancaster County, rather old for that time in history.  

This is the second barn that was built near the Hans Herr
House.  The original one was a Swiss type barn built
in 1892.  In 1929 it was destroyed by lightning.  The
original stone walls were used for the one pictured.

In 1719, Christian built the Hans Herr House which to this day is the oldest building in Lancaster County.  The house served as the family residence as well as a congre- gational meeting place for the Mennonites in the area.  Hans most likely would have lived in the house with his son and family, sleeping in either the stoveroom or the small chamber next to the kitchen.   The house is a 1 1/2-story, rectangular sandstone Germanic dwelling which measures 37 feet, 9 inches, by 30 feet, 10 inches.  

This stone above the front door has initials for
Christian H. Herr with the date 17 on the left preceded
by a symbol meaning "in the year of our Lord", and
a 19 on the right.

The Hans Herr House features many of the features of Germanic architecture such as a massive central chimney, steeply pitched roof, casement windows, plank shutters, side-lapped wooden shingles, flat head dormers, chevron doors and one feature that is purely Pennsylvania German architecture, the date stone.  Christian died around 1749 and his son Abraham and his family continued to live in the house.  Abraham died in 1756 at the age of thirty-six, seven years after his father.  His will left the house to his daughter Barbara with only one condition.  If his pregnant wife Veronica had a son, it would go to him and not Barbara.  Well, Veronica had twin girls and Barbara inherited the house.  Barbara eventually married Henry Shaub who then became owner of the home.  Henry then died leaving Barbara a widow.  

This is the Shaub home built in 1835.

She sold the house to her son Christian, then lived with him and his wife Anne in the home until 1835 when Christian built what is now known as the Shaub house for her to live in.  Once his mother moved he rented the Hans Herr House, thus never living in it by himself.  As I mentioned earlier in this story, the Hans Herr House served as a congregational meeting place for the Mennonites in the area.  When Barbara moved, so did the church.  A long row of hat pegs appear by the door in the Shaub home where Barbara lived.  Christian's son, Christian W., decided to be a veterinarian so when he inherited the Hans Herr House, he sold it to David C. Huber.  David C. Huber had a son, named David H., who inherited the Herr House and the surrounding seventy-five acres along with the Shaub house where he was born.  

The rear of the Huber Home built by David H. Huber in 1892.

David H. built the Huber House in 1892, together with many of the outbuildings on the property.  The house sits near the Hans Herr House.  David H. had a son named Mark who was born in 1896, left the farm when he married, but moved back to the farm in 1929.  He eventually inherited the Hans Herr House in 1955 and then sold it to the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society in 1969.  They are the current owners of the home.  Now, how do I know all of this. I guess I could have "Googled" it, but my source was Dave Huber, a personable gentleman who happened to be sitting on a rocking chair at the entrance to the Gift Shop when I returned from my photo tour of the property.  Dave's grandfather built the Huber house which we are standing in front of at the moment.  We had quite a conversation as you can observe from my writings. 

This is the blacksmith's shop on the property.

Dave lived in the Huber house until 1954 when he married and moved out of the home.  He is a tour guide for the Hans Herr House and didn't mind sitting with me and giving me the history of just about everything around the area.  My notes are sketchy on some items, but I believe I have the majority of the facts correct on the history of this beautiful house and property.  Then I asked Dave a question about  the Longhouse that I had seen on the other side of the road.  He hopped off the chair and through the door into the gift shop saying, "Follow me and I'll show you something."  And, that's another story for tomorrow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.