Last updated: 11/14/2011
304 E Main St
Boalsburg, PA 16827
PO Box 346
Boalsburg, PA 16827
Tuesday, Saturday
2 PM - 4 PM
Admission to the museum is free; however, a donation is greatly appreciated upon visits.
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Helen Ann Harpster
phone: 814-466-3035
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William M. Updegraff
phone: 814-466-6040
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The property of the Sara Sweet House is currently the site of the Boalsburg Heritage Museum which also includes the Light House, the 2008 rebuild of the Bank Barn, and the Summer Kitchen.
Built in 1825, the Sara Sweet House was built in three layers of plank construction: one vertical, second horizontal, and third vertical. It is typical of homes built by Pennsylvania Dutch. Long windows were added when the Victorian era came along. The horsehair plaster came from the tanning business conducted on this property.
This building is part of the Murray-Mosser (Musser) tannery complex, one of the earliest enterprises in the settlement that became Springfield, and later Boalsburg, when Andrew Stroup began selling lots in his development about 1810.
The country store items displayed at the Boalsburg Heritage Museum have been donated by Ken and Margaret Tennis of Boalsburg and were from the store operated by Ken’s Aunt and Uncle William and Helen Riley Tennis at 137 West Main Street in Boalsburg from about 1926 until after World War II. They sold general merchandise, meat, grocery and furniture in the store and in the rear they had a feed mill where grain was ground. Ken and Margaret Tennis stored the items when the building was used for other purposes and donated them to the Museum after it was founded. The building itself where the store was located has an interesting history. Augustus Wolf purchased the land in 1811 on which he constructed a log cabin that exists today but has been covered with wood sheathing. It served as a tavern and inn serving many cattle drivers. In 1894, Sammey Bell, a tinsmith sold his wares there and in 1915, John F Zackerman had his undertaking and furniture business there.
Frequently when cooking and baking were done with an open fire, it was done in an outbuilding known as a “Summer Kitchen.” This not only kept the house cooler in the summer, but also lessened the chance of a house fire. The summer kitchen here in addition to the fireplace has a beehive oven and smoke house. Beehive ovens have been used all over the world for ages and frequently are stand-alone structures. Fire is built in the baking chamber and after the bricks are heated, the ashes are removed and the bread or pastries are placed into the chamber with the aid of a long shovel-like instrument known as a peel, and baked until done.
Members of the Boalsburg Conservancy wanted to establish a museum in Boalsburg and this house was purchased in 1983 by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Aikens presented the property to the Museum Association as a gift. The Aikens required that a Trust Fund of $25,000 be raised by the Museum Association, half of it prior to the purchase of the property, and that it be held in escrow with only proceeds from it being used for operating expenses. The Fund was established on schedule with the help of residents in town.
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