HARMONY BOROUGH                           HISTORIC HARMONY INC.
Municipal Building 218                                 Mercer St., P.O. Box 524
217 Mercer Street, P.O. Box 945                Harmony, PA 16037
Harmony, PA 16037                                    724-452-7341
724-452-6780                                             www.harmonymuseum.org
www.Harmony-PA.gov

 

HARMONY MUSEUM INVITES PUBLIC TO MAY 12 OPEN HOUSE

HARMONY – Historic Harmony invites the public to an open house 6:30-9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, to learn more about the organization, its Harmony Museum, and activities for those of all ages seeking volunteer activities important to the community and region. Light refreshments will include  goodies fresh from the first-ever bake with the museum’s recently restored 19th century beehive oven.

HH relies on volunteers with diverse personal interests who are committed to assuring ongoing success of the organization’s work. “Many people during the past 66 years have made it possible for the historical society to preserve Harmony’s history and historic sites and interpret them for visitors from across the country and around the world,” said President John Ruch.

The open house is an opportunity for people less familiar with Historic Harmony to get to better know the community as well as the organization and its active volunteers.

“Whatever an individual’s interest, we can benefit from their involvement,” Ruch said. “Whether a longtime or brand new member, or someone who is just curious about what Historic Harmony is about, all are welcome. Folks of all ages and talents keep the museum functioning with ever-improving quality and professionalism that has brought Historic Harmony so far while garnering a deserved reputation as the region’s most active historical society and preservation advocate.”

The Harmony Museum is the only Butler County institution among the region’s top 25 museums in an annual ranking compiled by the Pittsburgh Business Times. More information is available from Historic Harmony at 724-452-7341.

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4/26/2009
CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator, 724-452-7341

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HARMONY MUSEUM WELCOMES SPRING WITH GERMAN BUFFET

HARMONY, Pa. -- The Harmony Museum welcomes the spring season with the first of its popular German buffet dinners for 2009, presented on Saturday, April 18, in Stewart Hall adjacent to the museum at the center of Harmony's National Historic Landmark District.

The buffet will be laden with stuffed pork, meatballs in caper sauce, assorted sausages, dandelion salad, asparagus, glazed carrots, German potato salad, spaetzle, red cabbage, potatoes, applesauce, and a dessert assortment. Tea and coffee will be available for those who don't bring their own favorite German beverage.

Cost is $15 per person, and all proceeds benefit the museum. For required prepaid reservations for either of two sittings, at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m., contact the museum office at 724-452-7341. The dinners have become so popular that the museum can no longer accommodate walk-ins.

Harmony, a heritage tourism attraction for 200 years, is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, 30 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh and 30 miles south of I-80. Its recorded history began with a Delaware Indian village visited by George Washington during his 1753 mission seeking French withdrawal from the region that sparked the French & Indian War. The war’s first shot was fired at Washington nearby by a "French Indian."

The original Harmony, founded in late 1804 by German Lutheran Separatists, comprised some 9,000 acres spanning today's borough as well as major portions of what became Jackson and Lancaster townships. Their communal Harmony Society, which adopted celibacy while anticipating the imminent return of Christ, soon gained international renown and substantial wealth. The Harmonists departed in 1814 to create a new home in Indiana Territory, returning a decade later to establish Economy, now Ambridge, where it was dissolved in 1905. The resettlement of Harmony began in 1815, led by Mennonites from eastern Pennsylvania.

Harmony Museum visitors learn about these nationally significant aspects of area history, as well as of the region’s Native Americans and pioneer life, the boarding school attended by daughters of affluent southwest Pennsylvania families that operated 1817-1826, classic hunting and target rifles made by local master gunsmith Charles Flowers 1850-1897, oil and gas booms in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the practices of local physicians, and Harmony's award-winning historic preservation successes. Guided museum tours are available 1-4 p.m. daily except Mondays and holidays.

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CONTACT: Administrator Kathy Luek, 724-452-7341
3-15-2009
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BUY THE BOYER HOUSE

HARMONY, Pa. -- The anticipated sale near year-end of the cut stone house built in 1816 by John Boyer, first bishop of Harmony's 19th century Mennonite congregation, did not occur, so HH has listed the property for $119,900. We believe original chestnut floors are hidden by the carpeting. The original spring house is in the hillside just outside the back door. We've installed a high-efficiency forced air furnace and a hot water tank will be installed shortly. The property is zoned residential and in the Seneca Valley School District, with downtown Pittsburgh 35 minutes away. The house is serviced by a well but public water is available; it is on public sewerage. The full basement has a concrete floor, and the spacious attic could become additional living area. A preservation easement will protect the house facade and spring house. View the listing at www.northwood.com/759349 ; contact Pat Murray, 724-452-1400, or the HH office, 724-452-7341.

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HARMONY SOCIETY MUSIC & SONGS TO BE PERFORMED AT HARMONIEFEST

HARMONY, Pa. -- A concert of 19th century music will be performed by the 1830 Old Economy Orchestra and Old Economy Singers during Historic Harmony's 42nd Harmoniefest on Valentine's Day, Saturday, Feb. 14. The annual dinner and historical program fundraiser benefits Harmony Museum operations and is held in the museum's Stewart Hall at Main and Mercer streets.

Harmoniefest begins with a 6 p.m. reception. Dinner entree choices are crab fettucine in wine sauce, stuffed roasted pork tenderloin and, for vegetarians, fresh pasta with vegetables and cheese. Admission is $25 per person. Reservations are required, and must be received with advance payment by Friday, Feb. 6. Information and reservations can be obtained from the Harmony Museum office, phone 724-452-7341 or e-mail hmuseum@zoominternet.net.

The orchestra's professional musicians, playing instruments identical to those of the early 1800s, and the vocalists appear in authentic 19th century Harmonist costume. Volunteers, they perform period music that includes works written or commissioned by the communal Harmony Society of German Lutheran immigrants who settled Harmony in 1804 and Economy, now Ambridge, in 1824.

A portion of the program's proceeds will be donated by Historic Harmony, the volunteer historical society and preservation advocate that operates the museum, to the music program of Old Economy Village. The Ambridge historic site commemorates the Harmony Society's final home and is operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Historic Harmony will also recognize contributions to the preservation of area heritage, as well as its own volunteers for support of museum activities.

Special Heritage Commendation Awards will be presented to Joan Teichart, whose efforts to conserve area heritage have included preservation of Zelienople's 1805 Buhl House and the Strand Theater; Patrick J. Boylan, for assuring continuation of the historic Baldinger's Market by buying and relocating the business; and the Dietz Family, which also chose to assure Baldinger's continuation by encouraging Boylan's purchase rather than closing and liquidating the business.

Harmony was founded in 1804 by pacifist German Lutheran Separatists, led by Johann George Rapp, who left the Stuttgart area to escape militarism and enjoy freedom of religion without state interference. They organized as the communal Harmony Society in February 1805, an event celebrated with an annual feast they called Harmoniefest. Their first American home, which eventually had a population of nearly 900, encompassed the town and much of what became Jackson and Lancaster townships. The celibate Harmonists, who believed Christ's return to be imminent, relocated to southwestern Indiana Territory in 1814. They returned 10 years later to settle Economy along the Ohio River only 22 miles from Harmony. The most successful communal group of 19th century America, which was dissolved in 1905, is commemorated at Ambridge by Old Economy Village, the historic site operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Historic Harmony’s version of Harmoniefest celebrates not just the foundings of Harmony and the Harmony Society, but all of more than 250 years of extraordinary area history that began with Native Americans. George Washington, then only 21, visited local Delaware Indians during his 1753 mission demanding the French withdraw from the region, sparking the French & Indian War. The war's first shot was fired at Washington a few miles from Harmony by a "French Indian."

Harmony and Old Economy Village are recognized as among western Pennsylvania’s most significant historic sites. Harmony's National Historic Landmark District comprises the town center and nearby Harmony Society cemetery. When "second founder" Abraham Ziegler bought the Harmony Society’s holdings in 1815, his and other Mennonite families led the area's resettlement. Other highlights of the area's history include troops camping at Harmony on their way to support Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet and protect Erie from British invasion during the War of 1812, songwriter Stephen Foster's brief residency as a youngster, production of fine classic Pennsylvania percussion longrifles by gunsmith Charles Flowers during the second half of the 19th century, and the area's involvement in Butler County's oil and gas booms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator, 724-452-7341
1/25/09

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HARMONY MUSEUM FLEA MARKET

HARMONY, Pa. -- A flea market at Stewart Hall, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7, benefits museum operations. Lunch will be available. Table rentals are $12 each or $20 for two. Vendors may set up during the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 6. Information and table reservations are available by phoning 724-452-5860.

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HARMONY MUSEUM PRESENTS ANNUAL GERMAN STYLE CHRISTMAS MARKET

HARMONY, Pa. -- Historic Harmony's WeihnachtMarkt (Christmas Market) during the Nov. 15-16 weekend promises a memorable holiday experience with unique shopping as well as entertainment and foods, all reflecting the historic community's German heritage. Self-guided museum tours are part of the event, with rooms decorated in early 19th century tradition.

The festive atmosphere of the market grounds is much like that of WeihnachtMarkts so popular throughout Germany, with many individual shops, a large entertainment tent, and food and refreshment stations. There's more shopping in the adjacent Stewart Hall, Butler County's two wineries will offer tastings and sales in the museum building's 199-year-old wine cellar, weavers will occupy a nearby log house museum annex and craft activities for children will be offered in another. The museum's Christmas market also launches the holiday season for its own gift shop as well as Harmony's other specialty shops.
Outstanding artisans from throughout the region, many demonstrating their crafts, offer quality goods as diverse as silver jewelry, tin ware, iron goods, treen (wood ware), folk Santas, hand-carved Santas, folk art, paintings and drawings, dolls, jewelry, pottery, Shaker wood boxes, cuckoo clocks, beeswax candles and ornaments, marbleized paper, birdhouses, quilts, woven goods, stained glass, art glass, furniture, ornaments, greeting cards, soaps, Christmas cookies and gingerbread. In addition, Little Germany of Berks County, Pa., a longtime WeihnachtMarkt participant, offers a large selection of authentic German items including toys, ornaments and lights, nutcrackers, smokers (carved wood figures in which incense is burned), steins, recorded music, cook books, foods and chocolates.

Children will encounter Father Christmas in the market village and can take part in craft activities at the Ziegler log house. The entire family will be entertained by German songs and dances of Pittsburgh's Teutonia Mannerchor and performances of dulcimer players, fiddlers and other musicians. A horse-drawn wagon is a fun ride through the heart of the historic district, and visitors are invited to join in singing Christmas carols when an outdoor Christmas tree is lighted early Saturday evening. A home made gingerbread house will be given away through a raffle.

Harmony Museum exhibits interpret the area's extraordinary history, which began with a Delaware Indian village visited by a young George Washington in 1753 and includes Harmony's 1804 founding by German Separatists, fine hunting rifles made by Charles Flowers from about 1850 through the 1890s, oil and gas booms, and physicians who have served the area during the past 200 years. Walking tours of Western Pennsylvania's first National Historic Landmark District are an opportunity to learn even more about 250 years of local history and landmark sites.

Traditional German foods and refreshments will be available, including soup, bratwurst and sauerbraten sandwiches, potato pancakes, German potato salad, home baked pie, the museum’s signature Harmony Society ginger cookies, home made root beer and mulled cider.

The market will be presented 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for students and free for children younger than six. A special rate for large groups is available by advance arrangement. Admission includes all-day access to the market, museum, entertainment and wagon rides. The Landmark District walking tour, at 3 p.m. both days, is an additional $5 per person but free for youngsters 16 and under. All proceeds benefit nonprofit Historic Harmony and its eight Harmony Museum properties.

Harmony is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, 30 miles north of Pittsburgh’s Point and 30 miles south of I-80. Its recorded history began with Murdering Town, an Indian village visited by Virginia Maj. George Washington during his 1753 mission demanding the French leave the region, thus sparking the French & Indian War. Pacifist German Lutheran Separatists, fleeing European militarism and a state church they considered corrupt, settled Harmony in 1804 and organized as the communal Harmony Society. The Harmonists left for Indiana Territory in 1814. Resettlement was led by Mennonites from eastern Pennsylvania, also pacifists, whose congregation faded away at the beginning of the 20th century, although many of their descendants remain in the area.

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10/16/2008
CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator
724-452-7341 or hmuseum@zoominternet.net
 

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ALAN & DOROTHY BALDINGER ESTATE FUNDRAISER AUCTION

The Alan & Dorothy Baldinger Estate Antiques Auction will be held as a fundraiser at the Harmony Museum Barn, Mercer St., Harmony, Pa 16037 on Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Preview day of sale at 9:00 a.m. Website has photos, www.jsdillauctions.com .

This will be an exciting auction of furnishings and objects from the Alan & Dorothy Baldinger Estate, as well as other sources. The auction also affords the HH the opportunity to accept donations of quality antiques and collectibles from members and friends, and to dispose of several unused and unneeded items from HH's "attic" -- NOT, of course, museum collection artifacts. Call Kathy Leuk at the office, 724-452-7341, to donate items to the sale.

J.S. Dill Auctions is donating its services for this benefit. See its web site for photos of some of the sale items, www.jsdillauctions.com . All proceeds benefit the Harmony Museum - auction being conducted as the result of the Baldinger Families' donation of quality heirlooms to the Museum. The Baldingers were an old-line banking family most locally-noted for their store ... Baldinger's Foods From All Nations, located on Route 19 South of Zelienople.

Note: a 10% Buyer's premium applies to all purchases. VISA/Mastercard and Discover will be accepted. Checks require two forms of ID. Auction conducted at the Harmony Museum Barn with off-street parking available. Removal encouraged on the day of sale. Auction services donated by Jack S. Dill, J.S. Dill Auctions, Inc. For more information, please call 724-452-5082.

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IMPORTANT BUSINESS MEETING FOR HARMONY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS

Members and friends are urged to be at Stewart Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9, for an historical presentation and important business meeting. Approval will be sought to sell the Bishop Boyer House, and a slate of officer and director candidates will be presented.

The departure of Boyer House tenants in early August presented HH with three options: rehabilitation ($20,000-$25,000) as a rental; restoration ($40,000-$50,000) as museum annex; protection with preservation easement and sale, generating funds to assure maintenance and restoration of of HH's other properties. The board determined the third option to be the best solution for HH, working with Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation to preserve the Boyer House with an easement while eliminating the many financial and other liabilities it represents for HH. This also supports the late Lillian Frankenstein's preservation objective in donating the house to HH in 2003, unfortunately without an endowment for maintenance and restoration.

Pursuant to HH's bylaws, the board recommends members approve the sale with an easement to be held in perpetuity by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF). In addition, the board recommends members assure similar protection for HH's other properties by assigning a preservation easement on each to PHLF. Full details will be presented at Sept. 9 meeting.

In addition, the nominating committee will present candidates for HH officers, (president, vice president, recording secretary and treasurer) and the two other director terms that expire at year's end.

The public is also welcome for Violet Covert's "Reflections" program, in which she interprets Sally Hastings' journal about her pioneer family's journey in 1800 from Lancaster to Washington County. Covert's novel, "Reflections from a Grass Widow", was self published in April and can be purchased at the program. The novel is based on the Hastings family's experience, but Covert also included the complete text of Hasting's original journal, "A Tour to the West 1800", its first reprinting in more than 200 years. Hastings, who died in 1812, was 27 when she wrote the journal for her mother.

Covert spoke at the Harmony Museum in 2006 after publishing "Map of Butler County, 1858". That unique book connected an important map with county history and information on townships, school districts and historical sites to create a travel and research guide useful to the general public. This book is available for sale at the Harmony Museum Shop.

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FAMILY'S 1800 JOURNEY ACROSS STATE DISCUSSED AT HARMONY MUSEUM

HARMONY, Pa. -- The public is invited to a presentation at the Harmony Museum on Tuesday, Sept. 9, by Violet Covert in which she interprets the 1800 journal of Sally Hastings describing her pioneer family's journey from Lancaster across the Allegheny Mountains to settle in Washington County.

Admission is free. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. in the museum's Stewart Hall, Main and Mercer streets in Harmony's National Historic Landmark District.

Covert's "Reflections from a Grass Widow" is a novel based on the Hastings family's experience. But she also included in the book the complete text of Hastings' journal, "A Tour to the West 1800" -- its first reprinting in more than 200 years. Hastings, who died in 1812, was 27 when she wrote the journal for her mother.

Self-published in April with Chicora's Mechling Bookbindery, the book can be purchased at the program.

Covert also spoke at the Harmony Museum in 2006 after publication of her "Map of Butler County, 1858." That unique book connected the important 150-year-old map with county history and information on townships, school districts and historical sites to create a county research and travel guide.
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DINE AS IN GERMANY AT HARMONY MUSEUM: MUCH SHORTER TRIP, AND VERY MODEST COST

HARMONY, Pa. -- Harmony is commonly compared with typical rural southwestern Germany villages. The comparison becomes even stronger when the Harmony Museum serves up one of its very popular German dinners, as it does again on Saturday, Aug. 16.

Excellent food reasonably priced is reason enough to be there. But also important these days -- an easy car hop burning little gasoline, an air conditioned respite from August's heat, plus other things for the family to do before or after dinner. No wonder seating at these occasional feasts always sells out quickly.

The menu this time: beef rouladen, assorted sausages, chicken cordon bleu, sauerkraut, spaetzle (German pasta), German potato salad, red cabbage, garden vegetables, cucumber and tomato basil salads, assorted breads and rolls, and homemade desserts. Iced tea and coffee are offered for those who don't bring their favorite German beverage.

Reservations are required for buffet seatings at 4:30 and 6:15 p.m., and can be obtained through the museum office by phoning 724-452-7341 or toll-free 888-821-4822. Cost is $15 per person, with proceeds benefiting museum operations.

Folks interested in regional history will want to tour Harmony's National Historic Landmark District and the museum (open 1-4 p.m.) to learn more about a truly rich heritage spanning 250 years: Delaware Indians, Murdering Town and George Washington, pacifist German Lutheran Separatists who founded Harmony in 1804 and formed 19th century America's most successful communal group, pacifist Mennonites who led area resettlement from 1815 after the Harmony Society moved away, fine percussion rifles made in Harmony 1850-1897 by ex-coal miner Charles Flowers, and much more. Families are also encouraged to visit Harmony's specialty shops while discovering why this picturesque town, honored for its ongoing historic preservation success, has been a cultural tourism destination for two centuries.

Harmony is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and 30 miles north of Pittsburgh’s Point.

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CONTACT: Administrator Kathy Luek, 724-452-7341
7/27/08
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HARMONY MUSEUM'S 4TH ANNUAL "REGION-MADE" ANTIQUE GUN SHOW

HARMONY, Pa. -- The Harmony Museum presents its 4th annual antique firearms show and sale on Saturday, Aug. 9. As with previous shows, visitors will find an emphasis on 18th and 19th century guns and accoutrements made in the Western Pennsylvania-Eastern Ohio region.

The event's founding chair is Richard Rosenberger, an authority on antique firearms who co-authored "The Longrifles of Western Pennsylvania - Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties." Admission to the 9 a.m.-4 p.m. show is $5. Visitors are welcome to bring items from their own collections to learn more about them and obtain informal values from exhibitors. Lunch and refreshments will be available. The museum shop and Harmony’s other specialty shops are added attractions for gun show visitors.

Pennsylvania and Ohio collectors will exhibit mostly non-cartridge firearms made before 1898 in the museum's Stewart Hall in Harmony's National Historic Landmark District. Many were used to hunt game and for target competition, although some will have military histories linked to the French & Indian War, American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War and other conflicts. Many guns on display are rare and historically important, and those representing exceptional craftsmanship are also considered works of art in metal and wood.

Exhibits are expected to include more than a dozen custom-built percussion hunting or target longrifles made ca. 1850 to 1897 by Harmony gunsmith Charles Flowers. Previously unknown Flowers rifles have also turned up at each of the museum's past shows, owned by Butler County residents who brought the family heirlooms to be examined by show experts. Hourly Harmony Museum guided tours will be available 10 a.m.-4 p.m. for an additional fee, where visitors can see the museum's outstanding Ball Collection of Flowers longrifles.

Additional information about the antique firearms show and exhibitor registration can be obtained from the Harmony Museum office, 724-452-7341 or, toll-free, 888-821-4822.

Harmony, which has attracted cultural tourism for 200 years, is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and 30 miles south of I-80. The area’s recorded history began with an Indian village visited by George Washington during his 1753 mission to the region that sparked the French & Indian War. Nearby, the war's first shot, fired from only about 40 feet away by a "French Indian," missed Washington. The communal Harmony Society of German Lutheran Separatists founded Harmony in 1804, but the Germans moved away in 1814 and the area was soon resettled by Mennonites. Harmony became the region's first National Historic Landmark District in 1974.

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CONTACT: Administrator Kathy Luek, 724-452-7341
7/20/2008
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HISTORIC HARMONY SPONSORS ALLEGHENY BRASS BAND CONCERT

HARMONY -- Historic Harmony, which operates the Harmony Museum, will sponsor the Allegheny Brass Band concert celebrating U.S. Independence at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 3.

Always the most popular of Harmony's free summer concerts, it will be performed in front of the Harmony Inn and conclude with Zambelli Fireworks, sponsored this year by the Inn, Kenny Ross Chevrolet-Buick and Swimming Pool Discounters.

The Allegheny Brass Band concert is the second of the 2008 series, originated in 1996 by Harmony Business Association and now co-presented by the borough. Several of Harmony's specialty shops, including the Museum Gift Shop, will be open during the concert.

Remaining concerts, all at 7:30 p.m.: July 17, Highway 18 (rockabilly); July 31, 706 Union (honkytonk/western swing); and Aug. 14, Kardaz (classic '50s-'60s-'70s).

Harmony is just off Pa. 68 near I-79 exits 87-88. Its recorded history began with an Indian village visited by George Washington during his 1753 mission to demand French withdrawal from the region, sparking the French & Indian War. Pacifist German Lutheran Separatists began to settle Harmony in 1804 and organized as what became the internationally famous communal Harmony Society. After they went to Indiana Territory in 1814, Harmony's resettlement was led by pacifist Mennonites whose congregation faded away as the 20th century began.
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6/26/2008
CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator
724-452-7341 or hmuseum@zoominternet.net
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ANNUAL HARMONY MUSEUM HERB & GARDEN FAIR JUNE 14

HARMONY, Pa. -- The Harmony Museum’s annual Herb & Garden Fair, offering an opportunity to exchange as well as purchase plants, will be held 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, at the museum's historic barn annex on Mercer Road just north of the Connoquenessing Creek. Admission is free.

Gardeners may trade potted plants as specialty vendors offer roses and other ornamentals, herbs and garden art. Seminars will take place throughout the day.

Plant donors and exchangers who bring plants to the event receive exchange vouchers. Museum volunteers recommend that plants be potted well ahead of time to assure they have a fresh, vigorous appearance when displayed at the fair.

A homemade lunch will be available, including quiches and basil tomato salad seasoned with herbs from the museum's garden. Visitors may also want to walk Harmony's 3/4-mile trail along the Connoquenessing, linking the 1805 barn with the museum's 1825 Harmony Mennonite meetinghouse, to look for birds and other wildlife.

Visitors are also encouraged to enjoy a few-blocks walk into Harmony's shopping and museum area. Back yard garden plantings at the museum's Wagner House annex on Mercer Street, in Harmony's National Historic Landmark District, include herbs as well as rare and unusual roses. A large arbor supports productive grape vines imported more than 150 years ago from Germany. The Museum Gift Shop there, and Harmony’s other specialty shops, also welcome browsers seeking the unusual and hard-to-find.

Guided tours of three Harmony Museum buildings, including a mid-1800s log house, are available from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is charged.

Harmony is one of the region’s most significant historic places. In the mid-1700s it was the site of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Murdering Town, visited by young Virginia Maj. George Washington during his 1753 mission to demand French withdrawal from the region, sparking the French & Indian War. A "French Indian" fired the war’s first shot at Washington nearby -- and missed.

The Harmony founded in 1804 by pacifist German Lutheran Separatists spanned some 7,000 acres of what is now Harmony Borough and Jackson and Lancaster townships. Their Harmony Society became 19th century America’s most successful communal group. A heritage tourism site for 200 years and Western Pennsylvania's first National Historic Landmark District, Harmony reflects an architectural character much like that of the southwest Germany hometowns of its founders.

In 1814 the Harmonists moved to Indiana Territory, and Mennonite Abraham Ziegler bought the society’s town and surrounding land. The Harmony Society returned in 1824 to settle 22 miles southwest of Harmony, and disbanded in 1905. Its final home is commemorated at Old Economy Village in Ambridge.

During the second half of the 19th century, Harmony’s Charles Flowers made fine hunting and target rifles, now collected as works of art as well as firearms. Oil and gas booms benefited the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Harmony Museum exhibits present these and other elements of the area’s remarkably rich history. It is open 1-4 p.m. daily except Mondays and holidays. Harmony is at I-79 exits 87 and 88, about 30 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh, 10 miles north of Pennsylvania Turnpike exit 28, and 30 miles south of I-80.
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CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator, 724-452-7341
5/19/08
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KNOECHEL RETURNS TO HARMONY MUSEUM WITH POPULAR QUILT IN A DAY PROGRAM

HARMONY, Pa. -- Zelienople native Patricia Knoechel brings her annual Quilt in a Day program to the Harmony Museum's Stewart Hall at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27.

This year's two-hour presentation is "Victory Quilts and Eleanor Burns' Signature Patterns." It will be based on the newest publications by Knoechel and her sister, Quilt in a Day founder and internationally popular television quilter Eleanor Burns, who now reside in California. Quilts will be displayed, and Quilt in a Day books and supplies may be purchased.

Admission is $6, will all proceeds benefiting museum operations. Reservations and advance ticket purchases are recommended because Knoechel's Harmony Museum appearances always fill Stewart Hall. Reservations may be made through the museum office at 724-452-7341 or toll-free 888-821-4822, or by e-mail at hmuseum@zoominternet.net. Tickets may be purchased at the Museum Shop in the museum's Wagner House annex, 222 Mercer Street.

The Museum is open for guided tours following the program.

Harmony, the region's first National Historic Landmark District, is among Western Pennsylvania’s most significant historic places. In the mid-1700s it was the site of the Leni Lenape (Delaware) Murdering Town visited by George Washington during his 1753 mission seeking French withdrawal from the region, sparking the French & Indian War. A "French Indian" fired the war’s first shot at Washington nearby. Pacifist German Lutheran Separatists founded Harmony in 1804, their Harmony Society becoming 19th century America’s most successful communal group. Mennonite Abraham Ziegler bought the society's town and surrounding land in 1815.

Museum exhibits present these and other elements of the area's extraordinary history, and the architectural character of the town remains largely reminiscent of a village in Germany.

Harmony is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 30 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh, 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and 30 miles south of I-80.

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5/8/2008
CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator, 724-452-7341

NOTE: Knoechel is pronounced nay-gehl
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"THE INVISIBLE SEX" AUTHOR TO SPEAK, SIGN BOOKS AT HARMONY MUSEUM PROGRAM

HARMONY, Pa. -- James M. Adovasio, founding director of Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute at Erie's Mercyhurst College and co-author of the book The Invisible Sex, will speak at the Harmony Museum's Stewart Hall on Saturday evening, May 3.

Admission is free for Adovasio's illustrated presentation, which begins at 7 p.m. He will discuss his newest book that unveils the important but previously ignored roles and contributions of women as the human race developed throughout the Stone Age. He will also sign copies of The Invisible Sex, published by Smithsonian Books, which will be available for purchase ($29 including tax). A wine and cheese reception follows the program.

Shaped by cartoons and museum dioramas, the public's typical image of human activity in the Paleolithic period is of fur-clad men attacking mammoths while women remain in hiding. More recent research -- by Adovasio, Invisible Sex co-author and University of Illinois anthropology professor Olga Soffer and others -- demonstrates a much different reality.

Adovasio and Soffer, among the world's leading experts on perishable artifacts such as basketry, cordage and weaving, present an exciting new look at prehistory in The Invisible Sex. They argue that women had a central role in development of language and social life, and invented such critical materials as clothing necessary to life in cold climates, rope for rafts that enabled water travel, and nets for communal hunting. The authors also note that it is unlikely anyone ever hunted mammoths, and that "Lucy," the hominid whose 3.3 million year old fossilized remains were found in 1974 in Ethiopia and whose name was suggested by a Beatles song, could well have been a man. The vision they present about women in prehistory offers provocative implications for gender assumptions in modern life.

BookLoon.com reviewer Alex Telander describes The Invisible Sex as "an amazing read that charts our ancestry from times when apes were the most evolved animal around, to some 4,000 to 6,000 years ago when humanity settled down and began farming. What makes this book different is that the authors [address] the known history of each period and then reveal evidence that shows women having a much larger role than was previously believed. Incorporating up-to-date information and discoveries on our ancestry, The Invisible Sex is a great, easy to read book for anthropology or archaeology addicts, and for anyone who wants to know what really was going on with our species in the last two million years."

According to Adovasio, "a variety of stereotypes have persisted on the role of women in the [prehistoric] past" largely because of "the inability of investigators to entertain alternative explanations as well as a fundamental failure to recognize and appropriately evaluate evidence contradictory to these stereotypes. This myopia was compounded by the domination of Paleoanthropology by males until relatively recently...If mentioned at all, women, as well as the old and young of both sexes, are characterized solely as minor players."

Adovasio is also provost, senior counselor to the president and dean of the Zurn School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Mercyhurst College and a former commissioner of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. His first international acclaim came during the 1970s when he began the archaeological exploration of Meadowcroft Rockshelter near Avella, southwest of Pittsburgh, site of North America's earliest proven human habitation that dates from ca. 14,000 B.C. Significant among Adovasio's ongoing fieldwork are the multidisciplinary investigations of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter as well as of sites at Mezhirich, Ukraine; Dolni Vestonice/Pavlov, Czech Republic, and Caesarea, Israel. He has published extensively and is a frequent presenter at national and international meetings.

He drew a capacity audience to the Harmony Museum in 2003 when he spoke about origins of the hemisphere’s earliest inhabitants following publication of The First Americans - In Pursuit of Archaeology’s Greatest Mystery. It was written with former Natural History editor and former Smithsonian science editor Jake Page, the third co-author of The Invisible Sex.

Harmony is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and 30 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh. Its recorded history began with Murdering Town, a Delaware Indian village visited by Virginia Maj. George Washington during his 1753 mission demanding the French leave the region, sparking the French & Indian War. Pacifist German Lutheran Separatists, fleeing European militarism and a state church they considered corrupt, settled Harmony in 1804 and organized as what became the internationally famous communal -- and celibate -- Harmony Society. They went to Indiana Territory in 1814 and returned to Beaver County in 1824 to found Economy, now Ambridge, where its last members dissolved the society in 1905. Harmony's resettlement began in 1815, led by pacifist Mennonites whose congregation also faded away at the dawn of the 20th century.

Harmony Museum exhibits interpret the area's extraordinary array of history, from the Indians, Washington and the Harmony Society, to maker of fine percussion hunting and target rifles Charles Flowers and oil and gas booms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its Wagner House annex houses exhibits on local railroads and physicians.

LIMITED NUMBER OF SIGNED COPIES OF THE INVISIBLE SEX NOW AVAILABLE!

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4/13/2008
CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator
724-452-7341 or hmuseum@zoominternet.net
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19TH CENTURY HARMONIST CLOTHING TO BE SHOWN AT HARMONIEFEST

HARMONY, Pa. -- Examples of attire worn by communal Harmony Society members when they immigrated from southwest Germany to settle Harmony in the early 1800s will be modeled at the 41st annual Harmoniefest on Saturday, Feb. 16. The dinner and historical program, a fundraiser to benefit the Harmony Museum, is held in the museum's Stewart Hall at Main and Mercer streets.

Admission is $25 per person. Reservations are required, and must be received by Friday, Feb. 8.

Curator Sarah Buffington of Old Economy Village in Ambridge will narrate the fashion show. Historic Harmony, the volunteer historical society and preservation advocate that operates the nine-property Harmony Museum, will contribute part of the evening's proceeds to a program providing authentic costumes for Old Economy docent-interpreters. Commemorating the communal Harmony Society's third and final home, Old Economy Village is operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Historic Harmony will also present two Heritage Awards for outstanding restoration projects, and recognize volunteers who contributed the most hours to museum activities last year. This year's Heritage Awards will honor James and Elizabeth Kelleher for restoring the facade of their ca. 1890 home on East New Castle Street in Zelienople, and Belynda Slaugenhaupt and Suzanne Spohn for restoring the 1862 Stauffer farmstead barn at their home on Camp Run Road in Lancaster Township.

Harmony was founded late in 1804 by German Lutheran Separatists. led by Johann George Rapp. They left the Stuttgart area to escape militarism and conduct their religious affairs free of state interference. They organized formally as the Harmony Society in February 1805, an event celebrated with an annual February feast they called Harmoniefest. Their first American home, called Harmonie, which eventually had a population of nearly 900, encompassed the town and 7,000 acres of what became Jackson and Lancaster townships. The celibate Harmonists, who anticipated the imminent return of Christ, moved to southwestern Indiana in 1814, returning in 1824 to found Economie, now Ambridge in Beaver County, only 22 miles from their original home. The Harmony Society, which became 19th century America's most successful communal group, was dissolved there in 1905 by its last survivors.

Although Historic Harmony’s Harmoniefest does mark the founding anniversaries of Harmony and the Harmony Society, it celebrates two and a half centuries of extraordinary history. The area's recorded history began with young British Virginia Maj. George Washington's visit with local Delaware Indians during his 1753 mission to the region seeking withdrawal of a growing French occupation, thus sparking the French & Indian War. Nearby, the war's first shot was fired at Washington by a "French Indian."

Harmony is one of western Pennsylvania’s most significant historic sites. The Harmony National Historic Landmark District comprises 10 old-town blocks as well as the Harmony Society cemetery in adjacent Jackson Township. When "second founder" Abraham Ziegler bought the Harmony Society’s holdings in 1815, his and other Mennonite families began resettling the area. The Mennonite congregation, also pacifist, faded away as the Harmony Society met a similar end.

Harmoniefest begins with a 6 p.m. reception. Dinner entree choices are stuffed pork chop, chicken scaloppini and vegetarian lasagna. Information and reservations can be obtained from the Harmony Museum office, 724-452-7341, toll-free 888-821-4822, or hmuseum@zoominternet.net.
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CONTACT: Kathy Luek, Administrator, 724-452-7341
1/27/08
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