Step back into history at mansion

SCHWENKSVILLE >> Visit the General Store and shop using 1900s prices.

This re-creation of the local Pennypacker & Bromer General Store in Schwenksville has a vast counter top of food and dry goods.

Children of all ages can step back in time and explore how shopping a hundred years ago was different than today. Meet our store clerk, grind grain into flour, weigh beans, and check the mail too.

Discover what people in 1900 thought life would be like in 2000. Imagining a hundred years from now is something we may or may not think about. Now it’s your chance to predict what life will be like in 2100.

Explore what transportation was like in the early 1900s as you sit on our buggy seat that bounces up and down, see an antique horse drawn carriage and compare transportation today with that of yesteryear.

Experience life as a breaker boy with handson sorting and sizing coal. Many young children worked long hours in the coal mines. Discover the other jobs that boys held and find out what jobs girls had too.

Gov. Pennypacker wrote Child Labor Laws for Pennsylvania which stated children under the age of fourteen must be in school. This saved the lives of many children.

Before you leave visit the parlors, bedrooms, guest quarters, and the Washington Room in the mansion when you receive a free guided tour through the now air conditioned family home.

Pennypacker Mills is located a 5 Haldeman Road, Schwenksville, PA. The site is operated by the Montgomery County Division of Parks, Trails & Historic Sites and is open yearround for free guided tours Tuesday through Saturday: 10 am to 4 pm; Sunday: 1 to 4 pm. Closed Mondays and County holidays.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA The Continental Army camped in September and October in Perkiomen Township. Both times Gen. George Washington stayed at the home of Samuel Pennypacker. In the 1900s the house was owned by Samuel W. Pennypacker, former governor, who had it enlarged and remodeled.