Homestead

Homestead. Historic Rittenhouse Town. , Welcome to the site of the innovative industrial village where people worked and lived from the late 1600s until the 1870s., The 1707 Rittenhouse Homestead was the first permanent home of the Rittenhouse family in America. It sits across from Paper Mill Run and the site of the original 1690 paper mill, the first in North America. Eight generations of the Rittenhouse family lived in this house. It was also the birthplace of astronomer and Revolutionary patriot David Rittenhouse., The left side of the structure is the earliest part of the Homestead and reflects German architectural folk traditions, while the newer 1725 section on the right reflects English traditions, including sash windows and end chimney. The front of the house (facing Lincoln Drive) features a paneled door that opens onto the second floor, and may have been used to load reams of paper onto the backs of horses., The Bake House , (ca 1725) , With its 16½ foot hearth, the bakehouse fed generations of Rittenhouse family members and mill workers., Built as part of the expansion of the Homestead, it provided extensive and varied cooking spaces. The impressive hearth allowed cooks to create hot spots of different temperatures, over which multiple cooking vessels could hang. The beehive oven includes a cavity for baking bread. It took two and a half to three hours to heat this oven. As it later cooled, it was then used to roast meats, bake casserole dishes and pies, dry fruit and vegetables, and even dry herbs for use in the winter., Historic Rittenhouse Town uses the hearth and beehive oven today as part of its education programs and events.