Spend a morning along the Monoshone Creek on this special tour of Historic RittenhouseTown with Chris Owens, the site’s executive director.
Philadelphia has been at the center of the paper-making industry since 1690, when the Rittenhouse family constructed the first paper mill in British North America at the confluence of the Monoshone (aka Paper Mill Run) and Wissahickon Creek. For the next 150 years, eight succeeding generations of the Rittenhouse family and laborers continued to live and work along the Paper Mill Run; at its height, the settlement comprised over forty structures, including six mills, a church, a school, and a fire company. Historic RittenhouseTown– birthplace of Enlightenment polymath David Rittenhouse and considered to be one of most significant early industrial communities– was designated a National Historic Landmark district in 1992.
Experience the transformation of industry, architecture, and the Wissahickon Valley from the early modern era to the present as we tour the six buildings that once formed the core of the industrial village, including 1707 Rittenhouse Homestead, the c. 1725 Bake House, and c. 1845 Enoch Rittenhouse Home. Learn about the creation of Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc and the private non-profit’s ongoing work to preserve, restore, and interpret the centuries-old settlement.
$10 – Member of the Preservation Alliance or Historic RittenhouseTown
Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-up guests will be accommodated.
Time: 10 AM to 12 PM
Location: Meet at the Visitor Center in the Enoch Rittenhouse Home.