Grand Opening: The Speaker’s House at Historic Trappe
Saturday April 11 was the Grand Opening of the newly restored Muhlenberg Speaker’s House at Historic Trappe in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
For this important event, the Society’s Color Guard provided a complete Static Display of all our Color Guard standards and flags as part of the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. This is the new location of our impressive collection of over one hundred and eighty 18th century artifacts that we have acquired since our founding in 1888. This collection was previously on display at Valley Forge as part of their Varnum’s Headquarters exhibit, and we are thrilled that these artifacts are now back on display for the public to appreciate.
This historic home of Frederick Muhlenberg, the country’s first Speaker of the House, has been restored and reopened in Trappe, Pa. The house recreates the living conditions of the prominent politician. Woodwork, paint and furniture have been carefully researched and used to decorate the quarters, including our PSSR collection of artifacts.
The house was on the verge of being demolished 25 years ago and was abandoned before being saved by a local group, now known as Historic Trappe.
The Society is also partnering with Historic Trappe on the restoration of a fragment of a battle standard of the 8th Virginia Regiment, famously known as the “German Regiment,” which was a Continental Army unit raised in early 1776 from the Shenandoah Valley and frontier counties, commanded by Peter Muhlenberg. Known for the famous sermon where Muhlenberg declared “a time to fight,” the unit was primarily German-speaking, and fought in key battles including Sullivan’s Island, Brandywine, and Germantown. This battle standard fragment was recently gifted to Historic Trappe and our Society’s Color Guard jumped at the opportunity to help in the restoration process.
For more information about Historic Trappe, please visit their website at https://historictrappe.org/
