AREA HISTORY: Peter Allen House, Dauphin County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/ _______________________________________________ PETER ALLEN'S A PENNSYLVANIA LANDMARK The Story of a Dauphin County Historic Stone Edifice, Built Before June 9, 1729 By NEVIN W. MOYER Late of the 28th Division, A. E. F. With an Introduction by Henry W. Shoemaker TRIBUNE PRINT ALTOONA, PENNA. INTRODUCTION Professor Moyer has performed a valuable historical service by rescuing the history, traditions and legends concerning Peter Allen's stone house, the oldest edifice in Dauphin County, from oblivion, and it is safe to assume that this little booklet will become an indispensable corollary to the study of Colonial period in Pennsylvania. It is remarkable that this great mansion, so architecturally conspicuous, should stand for years with a cloud on its identity. Even the present owner, Mr. Christian W. Lynch of Harrisburg, was extremely dubious that the house was Peter Allen's, and had some very excellent reasons, including an old map, to bolster up his doubts. These, happily, were smoothed away by the indefatigable labors of Professor Moyer, and it is believed that Mr. Lynch and his cultured wife are agreed that they reside in the midst of scenes of rare historic import. In order to make doubly sure, for there are various ways to read old histories and manuscripts, and all sorts of angles to ancient maps, the writer interviewed Mrs. H. E. Wilvert, who resides in another large stone house at the head of a lane, a mile nearer the Susquehanna River than Peter Allen's, and at the very foot of the towering height of Peter's Mountain. Mrs. Wilvert is about seventy years of age, well preserved and interested in all matters historical. She has lived all her life in the old stone house where she now resides. It will be well to repeat her statement verbatim: "Colonel Lynch resides in the original Peter Allen house, once the Hocker tavern. All the other stone houses along Peter's Mountain are of a much later construction, even the one further up Clark's Valley near the Highwayman's Gap. My home was not built until 1801, and there is a beam in the attic on which this date could be clearly seen if the whitewash is scraped away. The Geiger home, which stands closer to the Speeceville road, and nearer to Peter Allen's, was also built about 1801. My mother is descended from the Geigers, who bought from the Berryhills, who were among the earliest settlers in this region. There is no other old stone house that could by any chance have been Peter Allen's. And what a house it was in the old days, and what balls they gave there! They kept them up until daylight. Government officials and high ranking military men danced with Indian girls, and fine wines were brought all the way from Lancaster. The dance hall was the biggest room in the house, so you will know what they liked in those days. There were only two traveled roads across the mountain, the one which goes past Peter Allen's - it followed a slightly different route and was much steeper years ago, but it passed the old house - and the road four miles up the valley, that crossed at Highwayman's Gap. There never was a mountain road back of my house, not past Geiger's. The Lynch home is Peter Allen's. It was a wild country still when by [sic] grandfather moved here before 1801; he used to tell of seeing a bear and two cubs walking across the field between his home and the Geiger mansion. He could tell of wolves and panthers, and he had a few visits from wandering Indians. Those were great days; we don't have much more than foxes and woodchucks these days, and I haven't seen a wild pigeon in many years. Even the chestnut forests are passing away, blighted." This good lady's statement ought to settle the matter for all time, leaving Peter Allen's in undisputed possession of the crown of antiquity. "Tinian," the Grubb mansion near the Swatara, was of much recenter development, hardly going back much further than 1740. Peter Allen's, according to Professor Moyer, harks back to days when the Eighteenth Century was in its teens. Historically it is an imposing structure, and even as an inn during packing and stage coach days it was worthy of careful study, for every day history, human or public, was added to within its massive walls. At the present time Peter Allen's goes by the unassuming name of "Edgewood," but it is in refined hands, and bids fair to welcome as many centuries as the stone tower at Newport, Rhode Island. Colonel Lynch has added to the house, but with excellent taste, making it commodious for his family and guests. The spring above the house, which issues from the rocks beneath towering tupelos and chestnut trees furnishes a copious supply of water. A bathroom has been installed, and some of the larger upstairs rooms divided. Yet it has lost little of its pristine charm or "atmosphere," and, seated by the open fireplace in the living room in the chill of a November dusk, one can feel translated back to the realms of history and romance. The present occupants consist of Mr. and Mrs. Lynch, their daughter, a recent graduate of Wellesley College, and Mrs. Baskin, Mrs. Lynch's mother. Mrs. Baskin is connected with all the old-time historic families about the mouth of the Juniata, and is a veritable repository of interesting historical reminiscences. She tells how her parents' pewter was placed in a chest and hidden in the barn when the Confederates bombarded Carlisle, and how these wily Southerners in looking for horseflesh discovered the cache, and carried it away, great deep platters, huge porringers and all. Visitors at Peter Allen's will receive courteous receptions, though it is a bit embarrassing to intrude into a home as perfect strangers, in order to gaze at a shrine of history. At "Abbotsford," the family of Sir Walter Scott were wont to shut themselves up in small quarters two days in every week, during incursions of the curious, but such as that could hardly be expected at yclept "Edgewood." And a word about the view from the porch, looking out towards Harrisburg. Professor Moyer has called it "one of the most glorious views in Pennsylvania." Meadows and orchards lie in the foreground, and the shaded banks of Clark's Creek in the middle distance; oft to the left is the termination of Short Mountain, the crowning eminence of which is Pulpit Rock, where the Conestoga Indian King's Stool died, after being shot to pieces by the whites, his bones bleaching there as if on a Hindoo Golgotha until about 1840, when they were taken down and given decent burial. Among the clefts in the rocks the stately cultures rear their young. Beyond the rise the first and second ridges of the Blue or Kittochtinny Mountains, broken through by the Susquehanna, where sometimes the bald eagles soar above the spray. Then there is the grand Rockville Bridge. Still further on can be seen the State Capitol at Harrisburg, once Louisbourg, the seat of justice of Dauphin County, (named for the ill-fated King Louis XVI and his son) and the various spires and domes and stacks and the smoke of this picturesque old river metropolis. The entire earlier setting of the history and development of Central Pennsylvania was begun within the radius of that view; all that has come since have been kaleidoscopic variations. But to know how all this came to pass we must turn to Professor Moyer's pages, realizing our debt to him as the examplar of our earlier records. We cannot close this hasty preface without a brief sketch of our Professor's career. Nevin Wilberforce Moyer was born in Linglestown, Dauphin County, Centennial year. He was the son of Professor and Mrs. B. F. Moyer, and comes of a sturdy Colonial ancestry. On his mother's side he is descended from Colonel Mease, of the Paxton boys. He was educated in Normal schools, and has, like his father, followed teaching most of his life. He has been an instructor at the Pennsylvania Training School at Morganza, and at present is principal of a school near Middletown. He is a veteran member of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution. When the World War received the active participation of the United States he became a member of the famous One Hundred and Eighth Field Artillery of the Twenty-eighth or "Keystone" (Iron) Division, seeing active service against the Hun overseas. J. R. Hogentogler, his tent mate, tells how he once volunteered to "clean out" a nest of German snipers and succeeded; his lieutenant, who lay back in the bushes, received the Croix de Guerre, buy Moyer butchered the Huns! His letters from abroad to the Middletown "Press" attracted almost state-wide attention. When he returned home in July, 1919, he fetched with him an extensive collection of military relics, one of the best that has been brought to his section of the State. In addition, he possesses a unique collection of Pennsylvania domestic relics and utensils, Indian curios, old clocks and many other objects of interest to the lover of history. The Professor is unmarried, but his many friends have intimations that this deplorable state will not be of long duration. HENRY W. SHOEMAKER. Altoona Tribune Office, Dec. 3 1919 PETER ALLEN'S Story of Dauphin County Historic Stone Structure Built Before June 9, 1729, Written for the Altoona Tribune by Nevin W. Moyer, Late of the 28th Division, A. E. F. At this time of the year we have so many people taking pleasure trips, going sight seeing, calling on distant relatives or visiting some historic spots. Let me draw your thought to the oldest historic object standing, that is connected with our state, county of Dauphin, or township of (Lower) Paxton, rightly called Peshtank. It is in the form of a fine two-story stone house, known in early history as the Peter Allen house. It stands at the foot, on the south side of Peter's Mountain, and on the east side of the pike that leads over this mountain. This is about two miles north of Dauphin (Greensburg), formerly called Port Lyon, Dauphin County, Pa. June 9, 1729, when the township was surveyed, the surveyors, in marking the northern boundary of old Paxton Township, make mention of this fine, two-story stone structure. We do not know how many years before this it was erected, but this date we have as a positive fact. There is a date on the east gable of the house, but in recent years it has been somewhat obliterated with paint, but looks much like the date of 1716. If this old date stone is handled with care, I am quite sure the exact date will be exposed. I have gone over the old records in the State Library, and found this bit of interesting history: "John Harris, from Yorkshire, England, locates as a trader, about 1717, on the present site of Harrisburg, Pa. (Harris Ferry, later Louisbourg). The Chambers, natives of Antrim, Ireland, who, in 1726, took up land and built a mill at the mouth of Fishing Creek, now known as Fort Hunter." "Perhaps as early a settler as either of those was that of Peter Allen, whose stone house yet stands in excellent state of preservation, along the pike leading across Peter's Mountain, where it stood on the 9th of June, 1729, when the Township of Peshtank (Paxton) was laid out. Today, with all the modern conveniences, it takes quite a time to erect a stone house, so it can easily be seen that Allen's house must have been erected before 1729. Its owner was probably the first permanent white settler north of Paxton Creek. We are sure to say that this particular stone house is the oldest in the original Paxton Township, as well as the oldest building in Dauphin County, Pa." - Rupp's and Egle's History. Well do I remember my father, B. F. Moyer, a teacher, lover of local history, and whose family was one of the early settlers, point this particular building out to me as the oldest in the county. If he had it from tradition or books I cannot say, but I believe from both. With the above and other articles I have seen pertaining to our early settlers, I am positive this is the Peter Allen house we find so often mentioned in our early state, county and township history. The stones in the wall, the masonry, the thick walls, the Gothic gable window, arched doorway, the double chimney, the massive hearth, with magnificent wood carving around it, all tell the story of antiquity. On each side of the hearth is the thistle leaf with a bulb carved in its centre. This is part of the coat of arms of the Allen family. The banister that borders the winding stairway, the heavy floors, the wood work, all is a pleasure for the eye that loves history. Here and there in the house are seen bits of added history, such as the grandfather clock, fat light, pictures, etc., seen around in the room, makes all these surroundings more sweet. The house today is equipped with gas light, hot and cold water upstairs and down, extensive bathroom, and when we see all this and the splendid condition of the house we can hardly believe that this grand structure is as old as it is. Above the house is a very strong spring, from which a white pine pipe line was laid about 1775, which carried water to a trough on the southwest side of the house at the road, where it furnished fresh running water. In about 1840 a new line was laid, but today both lines and trough are dry. In the park above the house are some of the primeval forest trees. The house, as it stood originally, was too small to accommodate all of its many travelers, state officials, missionaries, etc., that halted here, so an addition was built to it on the east, about 1775, of about the same material as the original house is built. Now a wide porch surrounds the whole house, making it one of the most pleasant spots to rest and take in the surrounding section in the country. From the north the cool breeze and the sweet and healthy odor is inhaled, as well as the musical notes of birds and wild animals are heard. On the east we cast our eyes up Clark's Valley till our view fades into a distant haze, like smoke, seemingly smoke from the Bayard furnaces, now no more. On our southeast is the famous Pulpit Rock, which is at the end of the Short Mountain. This rock is as high as the trees and very difficult to ascend to its top. Here the remains of an Indian were found many years ago. They were buried at its base. On the south we can see old Colonel Timothy Green's mill, now run by the Shoup family. This slope of land was known years ago as St. Anthony's wilderness. Next the borough of Dauphin; the most beautiful river in the world (Susquehanna); the old railroad piers at this point; the abandoned canal; old Fort Hunter; and the longest stone bridge in the world in the distance; and beyond that can be seen the smoke of our Capitol City, Harrisburg. On the west get nothing more than perhaps on a very windy day we may hear the water flowing over the dam at Clark's Ferry. Its abutment is made up of Indian remains from an old mound on the island. Peter Allen secured his warrant of 400 acres of land, October 26, 1734. His neighbor, Joseph Hoff, 250 acres, March 16, 1733, and somewhere I saw in some history that the land of Simon Girty adjoined that of Peter Allen - Simon Girty or Gerdes roamed with our unfriendly Indians, hence was a sneaky enemy of the whites. Now I wish I could tell you all of the interesting things that happened in this fine Colonial building. We do know that many Indian, animal and bird scalp bounties were paid, treaties and bargains made, girls courted and matches made, and many interesting conversations held, but of all these we know little, but what we find in the early records of our state, county and township. Let me tell you the names of some of the men that I have found in our early records that did stop here at Peter Allen's: 1. John Penn, who was a descendant of William Penn, but not a Quaker, hence that is the cause for one of his war-like measures against the Indians. He was infamous as promulgator of the Indian scalp bounty of 1764. He had married a poor working girl by the name of Maria Cox, in England, and for that reason had been sent to America to get away from her. He put up at Peter Allen's, but his wife followed him, and perhaps her parents, too. If we knew who the forefathers were of the Cox family that founded Coxestown, just south of this spot, that might tell us, too, an interesting story. John Penn later married Miss Anna Allen, the daughter of Chief Justice Allen, but the marriage was an unpleasant one, on his account, for he was found very seldom at home. He is known as the discoverer of Penn's Valley in Centre County. 2. Colonel Conrad Weiser, the greatest Indian language interpreter in the state. He had the confidence of all the Indians. Before the death of many of them it was their wish to be buried where Conrad Weiser was buried, for they knew they would be dealt with squarely in his Happy Hunting Ground. He is buried near Womelsdorf, and many Indian graves are all around his. He often halted here on government missions, and on his way to the Isle of Que, which he got from Sheckalemy, an Indian by a dream, and the Indian got Weiser's rifle in the same manner. 3. Sheckalemy, a noted Indian, who was the friend of the whites, and connected with many Indian treaties. He died in 1749. 4. David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary and great explorer. 5. Bishop Spangenberg, a noted Moravian missionary. 6. Martin Mack and wife Anna, Moravian missionaries. 7. Samuel Maclay, a noted United States Senator, who is buried under an $11,000 monument at Dreisbach Church, near Lewisburg. Our State is sometimes very generous! 8. Peter Grove, a noted Indian scalp hunter, and perhaps of white persons, too, if he had a chance to get a black haired one when no person saw him. He died in 1802, and is buried at Dunnsburg. 9. Michael Grove, his brother and partner, and with Michael was 10. Genevieve Loverhill, who became infatuated with Michael, dressed up like a man so that she could get along with more ease, on account of brushes, etc., and being recognized as a woman. A girl scout. 11. Peter Pentz, another of the party, member of the Rangers. He died in 1812. 12. Long John, a giant Indian, seven feet tall, buried at Herrold School House, Snyder County. Grave known but not marked. He worked with the above four scalp hunters, acting as a spy for them in locating peaceful and savage Indians and black-haired travelers for their scalps. In 1763 the government wanted to punish the Paxton boys, or Rangers, for killing Indians that they could prove killed their friends, destroyed their buildings and crops and stole their animals, but, July 7, 1764, one year later, John Penn had a bill passed to pay $134 for an Indian scalp and $150 for a live Indian, $50 for an Indian female's or child's scalp. The two Groves, Pentz, Genevieve Loverhill and Long John, who secured many scalps, received their bounty here at Peter Allen's. Other bounties were paid here, too. 13. Arvas, by us called Silver Heel, a famous Indian scout, David, a Mohawk Indian, John Davis and Thomas Greimes, the last two were with the former over "Peter's Hills." The former went on a mission. When they came to Peter Allen's, January 21, 1756, it rained. 14. Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, a French traveler and writer. 15. History does not say it, but it looks very likely that Benjamin Franklin stopped here on one of his journeys to the interior. 16. Proprietary commissioners or scalp commissaries, correctly named "crown commissioners," suggesting that appointment came direct from the English Government. During the Revolution the American Government of Pennsylvania apparently paid some of the bounty money, but discontinued it in 1781. 17. Count Zinzendorf, a famous missionary. 18. Rev. David Brainerd, another famous missionary and historian. A very interesting writer. 19. Colonel Benjamin Chambers, founder of Chambersburg, Pa. 20. Colonel John Elder, pastor of the old Paxton Church and a colonel of the Paxton boys, or Rangers. He did not take part in the brutal massacre of the Conestoga Indians in 1763. 21. Colonel Lazarus Stewart, an early captain of the Paxton boys. 22. John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, or Louisbourg, Dauphin County. 23. Colonel Timothy Green, Colonel of the Hanover Riflemen, Hanover Township, in the Revolution. 24. Simon Girty, who sided with the unfriendly Indians. 25. James and George Girty, brothers of the above. 26. Surveyors, etc., on their surveying trip, June, 1729. 27. Ettwein and Camerhoff, missionaries, bound for the interior. 28. Innis Green, founder of Dauphin County and a Senator. 29. Without a doubt, our friendly Indian, John Goodaway, and party stopped here, too. 30. Many drovers, teamsters, travelers, explorers, hunters, traders, outlaws, officials, professors, doctors, ministers, etc., that we know nothing about, but oh, how much more sweet it would all be if we had a record now of it all. Captain Mock, coming down from Fort Halifax with the Augusta Regiment to protect Fort Hunter, met the savages on Peter's Hills, very likely near Peter Allen's. Shots were exchanged, but no person killed. October 27, 1757. This was a tavern or hotel for many years. Some of the last keepers were Peter Hocker, who built the large stone house just south of this place; then a Benjamin Umberger, whose name is carved in a stone on the south side of the house; and, if I am not mistaken, Benjamin Moyer was its last keeper, and whose son Peter owns the farm just south and lives in the stone house built by Peter Hocker. Perhaps if a hunt would be made some valuable old records could be secured in the Hocker or Moyer families. The pike that passes this place is the third to the oldest that crosses Peter's mountain. The one farthest east is the oldest. On the top of the mountain where this one crosses Peter's Mountain a stage coach road leads out over the top to Pine Grove, but this old stage road today can hardly be seen. All is grown up or washed out by age. Over this road the Colonial Paymaster rode when he went to pay his Colonial troops in the French and Indian war. On one occasion he expected to be robbed, hence he hid his money in a gap. Since that time this gap is known as Gold Mine Gap. Some years ago Jacob Coffroad's family, from Philadelphia, bought the farm and at once set to work to repair this house where it was necessary only to use it as a summer resort, they not knowing anything of its historic value. The present owner, Christian W. Lynch, 13 S. Front Street, Harrisburg, an attorney of that city, was the next and last owner of this valuable historic spot. During his ownership he did much repairing, added a fine stone fortress wall along the pike, new barn for horse or auto, water and light plant, and in general has added much to the preservation of this old spot; but he, too, like the former owner, knew nothing of its historic value, but with his good wife, formerly Miss Baskin, of the old Colonial family of that name, their attractive daughter, and also Mrs. Lynch's venerable mother, were very much interested in knowing all about the old spot that could be told them. That is one of the reasons these words have been penned, as well as to inform the present generation of their most ancient and historic building of the State of Pennsylvania, as well as of the County of Dauphin and Township of Paxton. On August 10, 1919, Dr. Henry W. Shoemaker, Oliver D. Schock, John H. Chatham, J. Herbert Walker, David M. Unger, John Stoudt, Charles Lukens, E. J. Swinehart, a soldier, myself and other history lovers, visited this historic shrine and were entertained by the good host and hostess, right in the ancient dining room where many a pleasant meal was eaten and exciting questions discussed. Mrs. Lynch is a charming hostess, a fitting chatelaine for such an historic mansion, dispensing hospitality with fine Colonial charm and grace, as befits one descended from an heroic ancestry such as hers. This structure surely is a magnificent monument or memorial to our early pioneer and settler, Peter Allen, of which I am quite sure nearly all of the Allens of the state are his offspring.