A Harvest Luncheon will be held for members and their guests at Wallenpaupack Creek Farm in South Sterling on Monday, September 13. Since seating is limited, reservations are required. The cost for the catered luncheon is $13 per person; you can download the luncheon brochure and reservation form here.
Following the luncheon, the Society will present its 2021 Historic Preservation Award to Brittany Gross and Kelly Cumiskey for their restoration and preservation of the historic Christoph and Elizabeth Rohrbacker farm, now known as Wallenpaupack Creek Farm. The restored 175-year-old Pennsylvania Bank Barn will serve as the rustic yet elegant venue for the program.
The Rohrbacker barn, shown below in the 1930s, was reconstructed in 2017 with the help of professional barn builders from Lancaster County who are skilled in the time-tested mortise-and-tenon type of construction. The new barn rests on the original stone foundation and incorporates most of the original framework of hand-hewn beams. It was sided with new planks milled from local timber.
The original owners of the property, Christoph and Elizabeth Rohrbacker, left Germany with their six children in 1824 and settled along Mill Creek in what was then Sterling Township. In addition to their 100-acre farm, the Rohrbacker family built a gristmill, which remained in operation for three generations. One of their descendants who lived on the farm and operated the gristmill changed the spelling of his surname to Robacker.
The mill was lost during the Flood of 1955, but the house and barn remained and have been given new life while preserving their unique history.
Henrietta Robacker with daughter Norma, c. 1930.
