Washington's Army to Camp at Pottsgrove Manor

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor.

Uncover the lives of the Revolutionary War soldiers who camped in your neighborhood back in 1777 at Pottsgrove Manor’s Camp Pottsgrove, on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The continental army marched throughout the Philadelphia countryside in 1777, patrolling the area and keeping much-needed supplies out of British hands. 

From Sept. 18 to 26, 1777 Washington’s troops were encamped in the surrounding Pottsgrove countryside, regrouping and resupplying. 

On Saturday, Sept. 21, you can talk with living history interpreters to uncover more about the fall campaign of 1777 and learn about the Continental Army. 

Discover the details of soldier life by talking with interpreters throughout the day, and kids of all ages can practice their drilling and marching under the watchful eye of the commander. 

Visit the reproduction kitchen to learn what the soldiers had to eat in their rations. Find out what jobs women in the camp did to ensure the army’s survival.

Parts of the Potts family 1752 manor home will be open for tours. The Museum Shop will be open to purchase books, games, period reproduction items, and much more. This event is rain or shine and welcomes all ages. There is a suggested $2 donation per person for this event.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off of Route 422 near the Carousel at Pottsgrove and Manatawny Green Miniature Golf Course, in Pottstown. Pottsgrove Manor is operated by the Montgomery County Division of Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites.

For more information, call 610-326-4014, or visit https://www.montcopa.org/930/Pottsgrove-Manor. Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

Pottsgrove Manor Hosting Living History Sundays

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor:

Learn a new historic skill every Sunday in August at Pottsgrove Manor’s Living History Sundays.

Living history interpreters will be at Pottsgrove Manor on Sunday, Aug., 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2019, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Take a turn to churn cream into butter. 

Learn how to weave colorful strings into useful tape on a loom. 

See the tools of the leather-smith trade in action as the hide is transformed into pouches and bags. 

Join the cook in the reproduction kitchen to uncover an 18th-century dish brought to life, and stroll through the kitchen garden to find the plants which colonists would use for food and medicine. 

Everyone can try their hand at period toys and games to complete their historical experience. 

Try your hand at churning butter Sunday at Pottsgrove Manor.

Each weekend brings different historical skills to life. 

• This Sunday's activity is butter churning and tailoring.
• On Sunday, Aug. 11, the activities will be leather working, loom weaving, wool spinning and cooking.
• On Sunday Aug. 18, the activities will be needlework and cooking.
• On Sunday Aug. 25, the activities will be needlework, gunsmithing and cooking.

Parts of the Potts family 1752 manor home will be open for tours. The Museum Shop will be open to purchase books, games, period reproduction items, and much more. This event is rain or shine and welcomes all ages. There is a suggested $2 donation per person for this event.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off of Route 422 near the Carousel at Pottsgrove and Manatawny Green Miniature Golf Course, in Pottstown. Pottsgrove Manor is operated by the Montgomery County Division of Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites.

For more information, please call 610-326-4014, or visit https://www.montcopa.org/930/Pottsgrove-Manor. Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

Aug. is Living History Sundays at Pottsgrove Manor

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor.

Living History is happening every Sunday in August as Pottsgrove Manor presents Living History Sundays.

Pottsgrove Manor is coming alive on August 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th for Living History Sundays. 

From 1 p.m to 4 p.m., staff and volunteers will be interpreting 18th century trades and everyday life with demonstrations and hands-on activities. 

Explore how to make butter and tape weave using box looms with period interpreters. See and smell food being prepared in the reproduction colonial kitchen. Try your hand at embroidery and needlework, and find out how to make 18th century soap. Learn about the skills needed to spin wool into yarn and more. 

In addition to the activities each week, there will be colonial games for everyone in the whole family to play with and enjoy. 

The activities will vary week by week, so be sure to check the website (www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor) or call Pottsgrove Manor (610-326-4014) to discover what will be happening on the days you’d like to visit.

Colonial ironmaster John Potts’ 1752 manor house will also be open for tours during the day. The current exhibit, "Rise and Shine at the Manor," delves into the daily morning routines of both the Potts family and their household staff. 

Visitors will also be able to shop at the manor’s museum store for colonial games, books, and unique gifts.

These programs welcomes all ages; suggested donation $2 per person. The programs will be held rain or shine!

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422 near the Carousel at Pottstown and Manatawny Green Miniature Golf Course. 

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by the Montgomery County Division of Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites.

Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

Be a Jack or Jill of All Trades at Pottsgrove Manor

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor.

Do you have what it takes to be a “Jack of All Trades” at Pottsgrove Manor? 

There will be cooking in our reproduction 18th century kitchen where you can learn the skills needed to make a Georgian meal in a hearth fireplace. 

Weavers will be working on tape looms and turning wool into yarn and thread. 

The mason, or brick/stone layer, will be illustrating the steps in stone carving by hand. 

Discover what a seamstress will be piecing together to create and hand-sew colonial garments. 

Explore what a book binder, colonial shoe maker, and broom maker are showcasing, teaching about their craft, and showing off their wares. 

Hands-on activities allow everyone to experience the noises, sights, and smells of the different 18th century careers and skills that crafted both everyday and luxury items. 

It will be held Saturday, July 22, 2017 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Colonial ironmaster John Potts’ 1752 manor house will be open for tours during the day. 

Trades were a necessary part of colonial life as friends and neighbors worked to sell and share their wares and services.  Visitors will also be able to shop at the manor’s museum shop for colonial games, books, and unique gifts.

This program welcomes all ages; suggested donation $2 per person for the event. The event will be held rain or shine.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422 near the Carousel at Potttown and Manatawny Green Miniature Golf Course, in Pottsown. 

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by the Montgomery County Division of Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites.

For more information, call 610-326-4014, or visit the website at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor. 

Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

It's A Man's World at Pottsgrove Manor June 12

Angling expert Ken Reinard will give Colonial fishing tips June 12.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor.

Visit historic Pottsgrove Manor on Sunday, June 12 between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. for a living history program and find out why “It’s a Man’s World.”

With Father’s Day just around the corner, Pottsgrove Manor is featuring some of the masculine pursuits of the colonial era.

See living history demonstrations and learn about colonial fishing from angling expert Ken Reinard, 18th-century firearms and hunting sports from gunsmith John Symborski, and get some colonial culinary tips from historic cook Zachary Long.

There is a suggested donation of $2 per person for this program.

During the program, visitors will also have an opportunity to take a guided tour of Pottsgrove Manor and the site’s current exhibit, “Potts and Family: Colonial Consumers” (offered on the hour until 3 p.m.) and to shop in the museum store.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100  in Pottstown..

Regular museum hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours begin on the hour. The last tour of the day begins at 3 p.m..

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites Division of the Assets and Infrastructure Department.

For more information, please call 610-326-4014, or visit the website at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor. Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

Living History Sundays Coming to Pottsgrove Manor

Gunsmithing will be among the activities at Pottsgrove Manor during Living History Sundays in August.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor

Come spend a casual summer Sunday afternoon at historic Pottsgrove Manor and enjoy the 18th century surroundings as volunteers demonstrate colonial trades and pastimes.

Horn-smithing was another colonial craft that will be demonstrated.

On August 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Pottsgrove Manor’s living history volunteers, dressed in colonial period clothing, will be living life the 18th century way.

Activities may include needlework, spinning, tape weaving, gunsmithing, hornsmithing, cooking, and more.

Visitors can watch, learn, and even join in! Activities will vary from week to week, so call ahead or check the site’s webpage at www.montcopa.org/ PottsgroveManor to find out what will be offered that day.

A donation of $2 per person is suggested for this program. Guests can also tour the manor house, see the museum’s current exhibit, “Pride of Place: The Local Legacy of the Potts Family,” and shop in the museum store on their visit.

Colonial stitching methods will also be demonstrated.

The “Pride of Place” exhibit can also be viewed during a guided tour of Pottsgrove Manor during regular museum hours now through November 8th. Regular museum hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tours are given on the hour.

The last tour of the day begins at 3:00 p.m. The site is closed Mondays and major holidays. Groups of then or more should pre-register by calling 610-326-4014.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422, in Pottstown.

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites Division of the Assets and Infrastructure Department.

For more information, please call 610-326-4014, or visit the website at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor. Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder at Pottsgrove Manor

Learn about colonial cosmetics at a special program Saturday at Pottsgrove Manor.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor.

Learn how colonial women beautified themselves with “In the Eye of the Beholder,” a lecture and demonstration taking place at historic Pottsgrove Manor on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Standards of beauty have varied over the years, and just as clothing can mask problems and call attention to more desirable attributes, make-up can do the same.

People in the 18th century did not have the cosmetic technologies of today, but they did have various lotions, salves, and other treatments to renew and enhance beauty.

In this program, historian Dr. Clarissa F. Dillon will discuss and display colonial cosmetics, and attendees will even get to try some themselves.

A former teacher, Dillon was a founding member of the Past Masters in Early American Domestic Arts and has spent the past four decades researching everyday life of the 17th and 18th centuries.

An expert on historic foodways, gardens, and other aspects of colonial domesticity, Dillon uses her vast knowledge to make the past come alive.

After the presentation, visitors will have an opportunity to take a guided tour of the mansion at Pottsgrove Manor.

They can also shop in the site’s museum store, which carries several of Dillon’s publications, as well as some of the soaps, salves, and scents of the 18th century.

There is a $2 per person suggested donation for this program.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites Division of the Assets and Infrastructure Department.

For more information, please call 610-326-4014, or visit the website at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor.

Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

The Roots of Colonial Cooking

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Manor.

Historic Pottsgrove Manor will present demonstrations of the type of open-hearth cooking with food that preserved well which was often on colonial menus at this time of year with the program, “Raiding the Root Cellar” on Saturday, March 14, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

While the wealthy Potts family could afford luxury items like imported citrus fruits, expensive spices, and fine spirits, their diet still depended greatly on Mother Nature. 

Foods that kept well in the cellar, such as root vegetables, would be on the menu frequently at this time of year. 

In this demonstration, historic cook Connie Unangst will use these hardy ingredients to prepare a late winter meal fit that would appear on a well-to-do family’s colonial table. 

Visitors can stop in the kitchen at any time during the hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to see what’s cooking. 

Guided tours of the manor will also be offered on the hour throughout the day, and the site’s museum shop will also be open. There is a suggested donation of $2 per person for this program.

Visitors can also take a guided tour of Pottsgrove Manor during regular museum hours: Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

Tours begin on the hour. The last tour of the day begins at 3 p.m.

Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422.

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites Division of the Assets and Infrastructure Department. 

For more information, please call 610-326-4014, or visit the website at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor. Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

An Evening With Dr. Franklin

Bill Ochester portrays Benjamin Franklin

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Lynn Symborski, educator at Pottsgrove Manor.

Come to Pottsgrove Manor on Saturday, June 8, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for a visit with one of John Potts’ friends for “An Evening with Dr. Franklin.”

In 1742, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Grace (who would later become John Potts’ brother-in-law) cast the first Franklin stove at Warwick Furnace in Chester County. 

In this program, visitors will get a chance to meet Dr. Franklin, as portrayed by Bill Ochester, and learn about his invention, the “Pennsylvania Fireplace.” 

 Ochester has been portraying Benjamin Franklin for over a decade, appearing at venues all over the country, including Valley Forge National Historical Park, Old City Philadelphia, the National Constitution Center, and the National Fourth of July Parade in Washington, DC.

After his formal presentation, visitors can chat with Dr. Franklin, enjoy colonial-style refreshments, and tour the first floor of the Potts’ mansion. There is a $2.00 per person suggested donation for the program, which is recommended for children ages 10 and up.

This program is being held in conjunction with Pottsgrove Manor’s current exhibit, “Forging a Lifestyle: Ironworking with the Potts Family.” 

The exhibit can be viewed during a guided tour of Pottsgrove Manor during regular museum hours Tuesday to Saturday from 10 0.am to 4 p.m., and Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

Tours are given on the hour. The last tour of the day begins at 3 p.m. The site is closed Mondays and major holidays. 

Groups of ten or more should preregister by calling (610) 326-4014.

Pottsgrove Manor, home of John Potts, colonial ironmaster and founder of Pottstown, is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100. 

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites Division of the Assets and Infrastructure Department. 

For more information and a full calendar of events, visit the website web at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor. Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PottsgroveManor.

Living History Sundays Coming to Pottsgrove Manor

Pottsgrove Manor's Living History Sundays get started this Sunday and run through August.

Blogger's Note: The following was submitted by Lynn Symborski, the educator at Pottstown's own Pottsgrove Manor.

A colonial hornsmith at work.

Come spend a casual summer Sunday afternoon at Pottsgrove Manor and enjoy the 18th century surroundings as volunteers demonstrate colonial trades and pastimes.

On August 5, 12, 19, and 26, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Pottsgrove Manor’s living history volunteers, dressed in colonial period clothing, will be living life the colonial way.

Activities may include needlework, gunsmithing, butter churning, tape weaving, and more.

Visitors can watch, learn, and even join in!

Activities will vary from week to week, so call ahead or check the event listing on Pottsgrove Manor’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor to find out what will be offered that day.

A donation of $2 per person is suggested for this program.

Guests can also tour the museum’s current exhibit, “Matters Personal, Details Private: Cleanliness, Hygiene, and Personal Pursuits in the Colonial Home” on their visit.

The gunsmith at work.

The exhibit can also be viewed during a guided tour of Pottsgrove Manor during regular museum hours now through Nov. 4.

Regular museum hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Tours are given on the hour. The last tour of the day begins at 3:00 p.m.

The site is closed Mondays and major holidays. Groups of then or more should pre-register by calling 610-326-4014.


Pottsgrove Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422, in Pottstown,.

Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks and Heritage Services Department. For more information, call 610-326-4014, or visit us the website at http://historicsites.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor.