Murrysville group readies for Historic Homesteading Day

The Murrysville Historical Preservation Society has a strong desire to live up to its name.

“It’s great to show people these types of hands-on activities, historical domestic crafts that were necessary for everyday living back in the 1800s,” said Sandy Knepper of Murrysville, as she gently carded wool using a homemade tool, its origins dating to the 13th century.

Knepper and others will host the society’s Historic Homesteading Day, the autumn event previously known as the Heritage Festival. It will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Sampson-Clark Toll House on West Pike Street.

Knepper will be on hand to demonstrate a spinning wheel and how to card wool. Society membership chair Carol Intrieri will demonstrate how to clean clothes using a washtub and washboard. President Sam Staymates will bring his Conestoga chuck wagon for photographs.

They are just a few of the folks who will show how life was lived in the early 19th century.

The toll house was originally built between 1780 and 1795 to collect a fee from travelers along the old Northern Turnpike connecting Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

In 2019, the society commissioned a replica of the one-room schoolhouse that used to stand on the toll house property. “Schoolmarm” Suellen Watt will return to teach 1800s-era lessons during the festival in the schoolhouse.

“We’ll have Roberta Jones demonstrating beekeeping, we have a corn sheller and grinder from Gearhard Farm along with a corn scavenger hunt, and there will be presentations on the history of bagpipes and the history of Turtle Creek,” Intrieri said.

In addition to those and other demonstrations of pioneer life, the Country Flair Farm will bring a petting zoo of agricultural animals from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and there will be food vendors on-site. Parking is available on Triangle Lane, and a free shuttle will bring attendees to the festival.

For more, see MurrysvilleHistory.com.