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 <b>Harmonist Room</b>: Here is gathered most of the museum's collection of Harmonist furniture. It has been arranged to depict the lifestyle of the communal group. Encased exhibits supplement the docent's description of Harmonist beliefs and accomplishments.<br/><br/>
<b>The Kitchen</b>: Artifacts displayed here were generated in a period that covers well over one hundred years. The table is Harmonist. A carved stone dry sink and a few utensils are of Harmonist origin. Collections of churns, buttermolds and crockery, and an enormous cast iron cookstove, are not Harmonist. Encased exhibits also include products from Harmonist activities at Economy, their final home.<br/><br/>
<b>The Wine Cellar</b>: Outside the kitchen and just off the hall is a narrow stairs, a shortcut descending to join the wine cellar's magnificent cut stone steps. These originally led through massive wooden doors to the outdoors. The vaulted stone wine cellar, dressed-stone entry and floor are marvels of engineering. Stone for the floor was cut at the nearby Harmonist quarry, and fitted on flat ground, with each piece numbered to match the next. Transported to the wine cellar, the giant puzzle was reassembled. To build the arching ceiling, we are told, cut stone was laid up over a wooden rack and cemented into place. After the vital keystones were set, the rack was disassembled and removed. Wine was made outdoors and then stored in the wine cellar's consistent 50-65 degree temperature. Ascending to the museum hallway again, one views a likeness of Father Rapp. There is also a copy of the original deed to Harmonie written on sheepskin. Harmonie and its environs were sold in 1815 to Abraham Ziegler, a Mennonite blacksmith from eastern Pennsylvania.<br/><br/>
<b>The Mennonite Room</b>: This was recently walled and separated from the large "History Room" to house the museum's Mennonite era collection. From his framed likeness on the wall opposite the entryway, Abraham Ziegler seems to oversee all, including a homey setting of a walking wheel, yarn measured, cane-seated rockers, and so forth. Fine brass-edged showcases contain smaller articles. A primitive corner cupboard was hand-crafted in the 1840s. A photograph of the 1825 Mennonite meeting house is also displayed. This stands not far from the museum and is the most original early Mennonite meeting house in the nation.<br/><br/><b>The History Room</b>: This was designed to exhibit museum acquisitions which may not be precisely representative of other specific periods. Shown are Native American artifacts from this locale. One exhibit contains postcards and important documents from the region's past. A working model of a turn of the century oil well shows how the now outdated "cable tool" method of drilling was utilized even just a few miles from the museum. "Tools of History" presents rugged, primitive implements from Early America. Finally, a beautiful cabinet contains an impressive collection of percussion rifles, the oldest dating back to the early 1850s. They were crafted locally by famed gunsmith, Charles Flowers and span his gunsmithing career.<br/><br/><b>The Victorian Room</b>: Furniture and other pieces associated with the history of the Victorian era are grouped here in a parlor setting. Among these are one of the first pianos made in the United States. A collection of European bone china, a rocking horse (with horse hair tail and mane) and two folding chairs with Brussels fabric are well over a century old. A huge framed charcoal drawing of Mrs. Elias Ziegler in her "widow's weeds" is hung in one corner. Her husband was paid by the Harmonists in 1869 to build a stone fence and revolving gate at their Harmony cemetery. This site is nearby on PA Route 68.<br/><br/><b>The Log House</b>: Across Main Street from the museum is a dwelling made of huge hand-hewn white oak logs. A placard on the exterior states that it was constructed in 1819 several miles from Harmony. Becoming a museum property in 1973, it was disassembled and reconstructed on its present site. Fitted with a stone fireplace and chimney, it's a cozy stop during the museum Open House and other events. Used as an educational site, the house contains early American furniture as well as implements for spinning and weaving, rope-making, dyeing corn grindings, bread making and other crafts.<br/><br/>
<b>The Wagner-Bentel House</b>: This is the sole brick duplex that the Harmonists built, constructed for two sisters and their families. The structure, although containing only one chimney, had two very large stone fireplaces, one for each family. Walled over at some time in the past, they were recently exposed and restored by the museum. The Wagner-Bentel House walls contain photographs and descriptive materials pertaining to the Native American, Harmonist, Mennonite, and Victorian eras. An important artifact displayed here is the huge clock that once hung in the tower of the Harmonist Meeting House close to the museum. Souvenirs may be purchased here in the Museum Shop. The Wagner-Bentel House is primarily dedicated to the early history of the local medical profession.<br/><br/><b>The Harmonist Cemetery</b>: During the 10 years the Harmonists remained at Harmony, 100 members of the Society were buried in the commune's cemetery just east of town. The Society did not mark the graves of its dead. The memorial to the son of George Rapp, Johannes, who died in Harmony, was created by non-Harmonists. The Harmony Society contracted with Mennonite stoneworkers in 1869 to construct the cemetery wall and its unique rotating gate.<br/><br/>
<b>The Mennonite Meeting House</b>: Harmony's Mennonites built their stone meetinghouse in 1825 near their hilltop cemetery just north of town. The brick annex was an early addition. Services were always conducted in German. The congregation dwindled as the 19th century progressed, and the last regular services to be held in the meetinghouse occured in 1902. It is the oldest Mennonite meetinghouse west of the Alleghenies, and the most original early Mennonite meetinghouse in the nation.


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<br/><a href="index.wml">HOME</a><br/><a href="history.wml">HISTORY</a><br/><a href="poi.wml">POINTS OF INTEREST</a><br/><a href="hr.wml">HALL RENTAL</a><br/><a href="membership.wml">MEMBERSHIP</a><br/><a href="directions.wml">DIRECTIONS</a><br/><br/>
<small>© The Harmony Museum 2001</small><br/><br/><small>site designed by <a href="http://www.sureshots.net/mobile/index.wml">Sureshots Media and Ministry</a></small>
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