Log House Kiosk
The Bortz Log House has been in the care of the Lower Macungie Township Historical Society since 1989, when it was moved to its present location in Wescosville Park. It was built in the late 1700s, and for many years it was one of only three buildings in what later became Wescosville. At first it stood close to Henry Bortz’s two-story stone inn, nearby on the old stage road, and may originally have been the inn’s kitchen.
The little house is very typical of homes built by German families throughout this area before they accumulated enough wealth to build a larger stone home. It was a warm, comfortable building of a kind that was very common in the 1700s. Houses like this typically featured clapboard or shiplap siding. This has been retained on the Bortz house. The logs are exposed only under the porch roof.
The house was moved a short distance west of the hotel in the early 1800s, and a frame addition gave it two additional rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, sometime between 1810 and 1820. It remained a family home until a developer decided to bulldoze it to make space for a new building at 4979 Hamilton Blvd. The township’s governing board acted to have the log house taken to a safe site in the township-owned park.
While plans were underway to move the log house, a group of citizens formed the township’s historical society. Initially our intent was to restore and manage the log house for the township, and now we do much more. Slowly, we returned the log house to how it may have looked during its early days. We placed a four-square garden, with typical kitchen and medicinal plants of colonial times, close to the kitchen, and boy scouts have improved and enlarged it over the years as Eagle projects.
We open the log house for tours several times a year, including a candle-lit open house in December. We are involved in many local history projects such as free public events and talks, and collecting photographs and items connected to Lower Macungie. Why not join us?
The little house is very typical of homes built by German families throughout this area before they accumulated enough wealth to build a larger stone home. It was a warm, comfortable building of a kind that was very common in the 1700s. Houses like this typically featured clapboard or shiplap siding. This has been retained on the Bortz house. The logs are exposed only under the porch roof.
The house was moved a short distance west of the hotel in the early 1800s, and a frame addition gave it two additional rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, sometime between 1810 and 1820. It remained a family home until a developer decided to bulldoze it to make space for a new building at 4979 Hamilton Blvd. The township’s governing board acted to have the log house taken to a safe site in the township-owned park.
While plans were underway to move the log house, a group of citizens formed the township’s historical society. Initially our intent was to restore and manage the log house for the township, and now we do much more. Slowly, we returned the log house to how it may have looked during its early days. We placed a four-square garden, with typical kitchen and medicinal plants of colonial times, close to the kitchen, and boy scouts have improved and enlarged it over the years as Eagle projects.
We open the log house for tours several times a year, including a candle-lit open house in December. We are involved in many local history projects such as free public events and talks, and collecting photographs and items connected to Lower Macungie. Why not join us?
