Pennypacker Mills
Welcome Center
Pennypacker Mills is the Welcome Center for the Perkiomen & Skippack Townships Region of the Route 113 Heritage Corridor Tour.
Nostalgia for the agrarian past, an escape from city life -- gentlemen farms dotted the outskirts of Philadelphia in the early 20th century. Governor Samuel Pennypacker, Pennsylvania's 25th chief executive (1903-1907), created one such haven on an old family homestead along the Perkiomen Creek in Schwenksville. Pennypacker Mills served as a country estate for this hardworking Progressive Republican who successfully promoted reforms in the State government and established key social, environmental and preservation initiatives.
Before the governor, a general—a very famous one indeed! General George Washington made the ancestral Pennypacker home his headquarters prior to and after the Battle of Germantown in 1777. At the time the homestead, which had been in the Pennypacker family since 1747, consisted of a modest stucco-over-stone farmhouse and gristmill on 500 acres of farmland.
In the early 1900s Governor Pennypacker had the old farmhouse enlarged and renovated into the handsome Colonial Revival mansion that stands today. An avid collector of antiques, artifacts and memorabilia, he filled the house with Colonial, Victorian, Pennsylvania German and family treasures. Pennypacker also hired a topnotch landscape architect to design the picturesque grounds for this property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tour the house and see changing exhibits, a vast collection of artifacts and exquisitely furnished turn-of-the-20th-century rooms where Governor Pennypacker and his family entertained friends and influential guests. Walk the scenic trail or view the wildflower meadow from a rocker on the front porch. There are many free seasonal events like a Civil War re-enactment or fabulous Victorian Christmas decorations (Thanksgiving thru the first week of January), or make a side trip from the nearby Philadelphia Folk Festival.
