Historic Strasburg

Historic Strasburg. Stop 7. , It is thought that Queen Street may have been the "main" street of early Strasburg. The log construction clapboard houses dating to the late 18th and early 19th century that line this block are among the oldest homes in town. The earliest section of the Sonner house on the corner of Fort and Queen Streets to your left was a toll house for the Valley Pike and dates from 1757. As shareholders in the Turnpike Company, the Sonners collected tolls from their residence. A stagecoach stop stood to your right in the yard at the northwest corner of Sharpe and High Streets., The large house across the street from the Sonner House at 209 Queen Street was the home of noted potters Samuel and Solomon Bell. A long shed where the pottery was made stood behind the house. The beehive kilns for firing and salt glazing their wares were in the yard. The cobalt decorated pots and fanciful animals made by the Bell family are sought after collectors., The houses at 247 and 267, built in 1797 and 1796, respectively, are well preserved representations of early log construction homes described at Stop 4. It's worth walking one block to your right to the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church. It sits on the site of the earliest school in Strasburg, taught by Simon Harr. The Church is home to an historic African American congregation. African Americans were not allowed to congregate until after the Civil War. In 1869 a small group obtained a log cabin near Fisher's Hill just south of town, brought it here "on rollers," and erected it on the property. Mt. Zion Colored Methodist Episcopal Church opened in 1871. Modest changes have been made over the years, but the original log structure is still the main section of the church., To the left of the church, behind the iron fence, is the Old Community Cemetery. At the back of the graveyard lies the oldest recorded grave in town, that of Brother Obadiah (Samuel) Funk, who died in 1779. Brother Obadiah was a member of the Sabbatarian sect that settled across the river on Sandy Hook in the 1750s. The religious zealots came from the Sabbatarian Community in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The rear portion of the Old Cemetery certainly contains other graves of Strasburg citizens whose markers are now lost., The north side of Queen Street across from Mt. Zion Church was the location of the first school for African American children. The school burned in 1929 and a new school was built on Sunset Hill, northwest of its former location., (Captions):, Lion figure, Solomon Bell, 1840-1850, Collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), First school for African American children, To reach Stop 8 go left to Fort Street, turn right and go one block to High Street, turn left and continue to the middle of the block. , 162 High Street