William Lowmiller House Muncy Homes Tour 2007 William Lowmiller House Muncy Homes Tour 2007

This charming, simple 3-bay, 2-story I-house once housed Lycoming County’s only Jacquard coverlet weaver. William Lowmiller moved his family from Level Corners, now Linden, to Muncy in the late 1830s and it was on these grounds that he dyed his yarns and weaved the highly prized one-, two-, and three-color bedcoverings that have stood the test of time. A sampling of his work will be on display both here and at the museum.
The house, located in Muncy’s Historic District, has a front gable, a characteristic found almost exclusively in the earliest structures in Muncy. The front door, which is on the home’s south side, leads into the main foyer that opens into the front parlor. The foyer is substantial, housing the main staircase, a hallway leading to the back of the house, and the entrance to the formal parlor. The parlor, beautifully decorated with family heirlooms and portraits, is charming, with an air of formality, yet cozy and inviting. As you move through the first floor, into the comfortable family sitting room, dining room and kitchen areas, listen carefully. Can you hear the shuttle being thrown back and forth on the loom? Can you hear the cards advance as the yarns are pulled to make the coverlet designs? Can you smell the dyes that Lowmiller used to color the yarn those many years ago?
The Lowmiller House, which has been tastefully and lovingly restored and is currently on the market, is in wonderful, move-in condition.

Taggert-McBride House Muncy Homes Tour 2007 Taggert-McBride House Muncy Homes Tour 2007 Taggert-McBride House Muncy Homes Tour 2007

Built in 1848 by Judge Thomas Taggart, his descendants lived here until 1925 when the McBride family bought the property at auction. In 1991, the home was sold and its new owners spent three years working on its ground-up restoration. The square-shaped brick home is Georgian in style, complete with its hip roof line and symmetrically placed windows. The transom and sidelights at the decorative front entrance add an air of formality to the house, while the double sun porches on its east side more typify the informality of a farmhouse.
The dentil molding at the roofline and on the portico is carried inside – similar dentil work graces the ceiling of the formal parlor. Rare for a farmhouse in central Pennsylvania is the walnut woodwork used in the formal dining room. As you walk through the kitchen notice the lack of wall space due to the original built-in cupboard, working fireplace and the room’s seven doorways. A quilt collection will be displayed throughout the second floor bedrooms. You’ll walk through the family room, a clapboard-sided addition, and out into the screened-in, newly painted porch. Light refreshments will be available here.
The recently overhauled gardens also are on the tour. Feel free to walk around the house and into the backyard. The boxwoods, assorted evergreens, and knock-out roses lend a more formal look out front, while the side and back gardens are informal with unusual trees and perennial gardens. Greg Renn, a local organic gardener, is responsible for the design and plantings selections, the installation and maintenance of the Taggart-McBride House gardens.
(The Taggart-McBride House features a shopping opportunity for Selinda Kennedy’s redware. Selinda is a nationally recognized artist whose work is an expression of her sense of color, craftsmanship and whimsy.)

Murray Brown House B&B Muncy Homes Tour 2007

This home was built in circa 1905 for Charles Waldron, a son of John Waldron, one of the co-founders of Sprout, Waldron & Company. Dating to the late Victorian Era, this is a rambling clapboard-sided Queen Anne eclectic-style house with a major addition made in 1928.
In 1943, Carrie R. Murray purchased the house, and her descendents live in the home to this day.
As you enter the large center hall, which opens to a front parlor on one side and a formal dining room on the other, notice both have bay windows. The dining room boasts a floor-to-ceiling, built-in china closet. The dining room table and hutch were hand crafted by Roy Egly, a highly regarded 20th century Muncy furniture maker.
As you move through the front parlor into the large living room take note of the original fireplaces. Following the turned stairway to the second floor please take note of the 3 bedrooms, bath, and master suite. When the addition was done, many of the hardwood floors were redone in the log cabin style, which can be easily seen in the upstairs hall.

Wood Family B&B Muncy Homes Tour 2007 Wood Family B&B Muncy Homes Tour 2007

A new generation, with immediate plans to turn this brick farmhouse into a bed and breakfast, has been renovating and redesigning this circa 1866 family homestead. As you walk the driveway to the front of the house, notice that the family has revitalized the tennis court, which was built in the 1940s, using the property’s soil as its clay surface.
Enter by way of the front porch and move through the entrance hall directly into the front parlor, newly renovated with Victorian period wallpaper, carpet and handcrafted crown molding. Then, you’ll move into the relocated dining area and you’ll exit the house through one of the home’s two kitchens. Take a moment to contrast the 1950s-style kitchen to the more modern version that will soon service the household. Here, at the back of the house, notice the beautifully carved mantelpiece recently added in the breakfast nook area.
Exiting, move to your right and onto one of the gardens several flagstone patios. Almost immediately, you’ll see a massive trumpet vine, which meanders its way high across the yard and then creeps almost to the top of the nearby tree. Don’t miss the small pond that is flanked by flagstone and impressive greenery and imagine sipping your morning coffee in the quiet that this area affords.
Feel free to move off the walkways as you make your way to the rear of the property. Notice as you go, the fireplace from the early summer kitchen that is long gone, and examine the patio’s beams, which were salvaged from the property’s original barn and recycled as its roof supports.

John Beeber house Muncy Homes Tour 2007 Hurricane Crazy Quilt (in John Beeber house)

The John Beeber House is a Federal-style brick home. Born in 1761, Beeber was a young man when he joined a Berks County militia unit as a substitute, first, for his brother Nicholas, and a year later, for his brother, Adam. His militia unit marched up the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to Shoemaker Mills and then on to Fort Muncy. Following the war, the three brothers moved to the Muncy area, with John Beeber settled in familiar territory along Muncy Creek. From 1792 to 1816, he received warrants for 754 acres and, on this land, he and his wife built their home.
Sidelights and a wide transom surround the impressive Beeber homestead doorway, which leads to a commanding entrance hall with plenty of doors. The woodwork is substantial and the beautifully turned stairrail makes its way to the third floor. The Beeber’s, both of German descent, had at least eight children and a copy of their eldest child’s fraktur, or birth certificate, will be on display.
The front parlor and dining room still have the original built-in cupboards next to the two first-floor fireplaces. The homeowners will have a special quilt, titled “Hurricanes Make Me Crazy,” on display on the stairway landing, visible from the front entrance hall.
Animals have returned to the Beeber property so visit the impressive 19th Century Pennsylvania bank barn across the street from the homestead. There, visitors will find sheep and goats, chickens and turkeys, and perhaps a cat or two. From the barn hill or just inside, Rich Nornhold will share the art of coopering, a skill that takes many years to learn and perfect. Coopering means to do the work of a cooper, a tradesman who makes or repairs casks. While the art of coopering dates back centuries, the basic trade has remained unchanged. The coopers will demonstrate “white coopering,” which is the earliest form of coopering and involved making buckets, churns, and other items associated with vessels that held both water and milk. It also was the first branch of coopering to die out because of the tinsmith. The other branches were “wet” (barrels) and “dry” coopering (nail kegs and flour barrels).
Beeber was involved in the establishment of the Immanuel Lutheran Church and served as one of the first trustees. It has been recounted that, “The Muncy Beebers walked to church and crossed the creek near where the Wyalusing Path crossed, the women and children taking off their shoes and stockings and walking over the smooth, flat stones at the fording place.”

Immanuel Lutheran Church Muncy Homes Tour 2007

This first Lutheran Church in Lycoming County was built in 1791 and made available to other denominations, some occasionally, and others regularly. While Immanuel’s doors have been closed to regular worship for many years, they are opened for special services and they will be open for the 2007 Homes Tour. (Only a mile or so from the Beeber homestead, fording the creek is not the recommended travel mode on tour day. As you make your way across Muncy Creek, notice the gristmill stones that commemorate the site of Shoemaker Mills where John Beeber was initially stationed some 225+ years ago.) Historic memorabilia will be on display in the sanctuary and feel free to sit a spell in the straight-back pews.
The Reverend Jacob Miller, an itinerant minister from the 19th Century, will be in the church or out in the historic graveyard where John and Margaret Beeber are buried. Reverend Miller was born in 1811, and he began his life as a Lutheran here — first preaching the Methodist Episcopal doctrine, then the Methodist Protestant doctrine as he traveled the countryside, preferring not to hold a regular church charge. Miller never forgot his religious roots. He attended the centennial celebration of the Immanuel Church in 1891 where one of the guest speakers described him as an “apostle … who preached more sermons, traveled on foot more miles to do so and received less pay, in proportion to his labor, then any other minister who ever labored in Lycoming County…”

John Adlum House Muncy Homes Tour 2007

John Adlum built this substantial limestone house which showcases some of the finest woodwork north of Harrisburg. Adlum, who held officer ranks in both the Provisional Army of the Revolution and the Pennsylvania Militia, was a highly regarded land surveyor. These 18th century frontier lands beckoned him and it was here that he perfected the growing of the Catawba grape for his winemaking.
The home, in high style Philadelphia fashion, has twelve over twelve windows, four fireplaces and a central chimney. In the dining room the hand-blocked wallpaper, a reproduction wall covering used by Thomas Jefferson, one of Adlum’s good winemaking friends, in his Monticello home. In the center hall, the “Magnolias:” wallpaper, a reproduction used in Washington’s Mount Vernon, was chosen to complement the magnolia trees found on the property. And, although John Adlum is away on business, he has left several bottles of chardonnay, named in his honor by a Virginia winery, for his guests to sample.
In the period gardens, boxwoods create the formality, while wisteria vines surround the teahouse. Perennials, which bloom through the three growing seasons, provide a relaxing atmosphere for unwinding at the end of a busy day.

House Gardens Muncy Homes Tour 2007

To access this home’s gardens, walk through the carport and past the wishing well. For the superstitious at heart, feel free to make a wish and throw a coin or two! And then, move through the iron gate to the well-manicured yard and garden area. A laid-up stone wall separates the gardens, which fall away from the rear of this clapboard-sided home. The flagstone and stone pathway beckons you into the yard. The garden’s greenery, lush and rich with shrubbery and evergreen beds and borders, dominate this backyard landscape. A wonderful wisteria vine ambles along the south side fence while garden statuary add an air of whimsy and interest on the property’s north side.

Russell Glass’ Carriage House
(Muncy Homes Tour 2007)

Russell Glass owned the Muncy Lumber Company and he had lumbering operations in Lycoming, Fayette and Somerset counties. A successful businessman, his interests included cement and paint products and storage facilities. In 1909, Glass purchased this corner property and we might presume that he wished to make some kind of statement to his fellow townspeople. First, he removed the much-smaller house that stood on this corner of Main and Penn streets and replaced it with the massive brick home. For this year’s tour, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the 2-story brick and clapboard-sided carriage house at the rear of the property.
While not attending to the horses, a young groom stands guard at the entrance to the carriage house, which has been carefully restored, adapted and converted into living quarters for people. The bay, where once the family’s carriage was stored, now serves as the main living room, with the ½ cast iron bars and wooden stall doors preserved, serving as room dividers for the kitchen and dining room areas. Notice the hay shoot — the vessel that supplied feed to the horses from the second-floor hayloft.
For the sure-footed, watch the first short step and ascend to the second floor where you’ll find another large sitting area, hallway master bedroom and bath. Notice the stained beadboard panels of varying widths, which, when first introduced in this country, were mostly used in less-formal dwellings such as cottages and carriage houses. And, for the really sure-footed, ascend the steep stairway to the loft, which seems so much steeper on the descent, and you’ll find yourself closer to the stained glass cupola area.

Gardener-McKee Gardens
(Muncy Homes Tour 2007)

The beautiful gardens surrounding this family home whisper comfort, hospitality and respite. The gardens have been designed to bloom throughout the growing season beginning with bulbs and irises progressing to clematis and peonies, and then to lilies and butterfly bushes. Perennials add color, fragrance and texture to the landscape and they transform the yard into an alluring place. The gardens are more than a group of plants – it’s the room the owners have made to enjoy the show! From the front yard, along the side yard and into the back yard, perennial beds and borders abound, adding loads of personality and charm as they bloom throughout the season. Look carefully – you don’t want to miss the ornaments and lighting tucked into the garden foliage.
Birds are invited to share a meal at any one of the many feeders and the large wooden bird house provides a welcome shelter to many of the garden’s fine feathered friends. The patio offers a cool place to appreciate the colorful surroundings and light refreshments will be available; sit a spell or move out into the yard and rest awhile on one of the yard benches.

Joshua Alder was educated as a chemist and practiced his trade at his father-in-law’s company, Lewis Glass Works, in Eagles Mere. While the Glass Works flourished for several years, its owners soon found themselves in dire financial straits when their fragile product continued to shatter and break on the way off the mountain. When Alder left his position in 1817 he took up residence in Muncy and, in 1822, built the original brick section of this Federal-style home. Antique furnishings accessorize the updated kitchen and the backlighting complements the owner’s collection of yellow ware and early kitchen utensils and tools. Before moving into the large formal dining room, take a peek into the pantry which boasts of floor-to-ceiling built-in cupboards. The federal period furniture plays host to some of Alder’s glass, including a wonderful piece of bulls-eye and different colored chunks. (Dr. Musser married into the family and Mussers Lane is named for him.) As you move along, pay particular attention to the wood – heavily used in the built-in cupboards, for the crown moldings, on the fireplace mantels and surrounds, and around the windows.
The formal front and back parlors greet you next (and look for the coffin door built under the window) and then on into the grand hallway. On the deacon bench you’ll find a 1917 wedding signature quilt, an 1852 jacquard coverlet, a monogrammed carriage blanket, and framed needlework, all family heirlooms.
At the first landing, you’ll bear right and move through the guest bath and into the first bedroom. An heirloom canopy spotlights the 1930s high–posted bed. Along the wall, you’ll see the unusual hooded cradle and a standing Victorian-era medicine chest. The original pine floors beckoned you along into the sitting room with its built-ins and another of the home’s five fireplaces. Two of the other bedrooms can be glimpsed before making your way down the narrow, back stairway.
You’ll exit onto the slate and marble patio. Members of the Garden Club will be available to highlight the garden plantings and features. Feel free to walk all around the grounds and enjoy its special features, the monogrammed swing seat, Elizabeth and Joshua Alder’s foot stones, the lightning rod and fountain to name a few.

Colors and charm abound in this home – from the stained glass transom over the front door to the ceramic tile-adorned fireplace in the front parlor, you’ll find this home comfortable and inviting. Watch your head and your step as you move throughout the first floor – the door clearances are quite low in places and the original portion of this home had additions built all around it. Notice the original plank door as you take a peek up the back staircase – imagine this as your only way to the second floor when this section was built in the 1830s! In every room, you’ll find an artist’s special touches and family heirlooms abound. Built on the site of one of Muncy’s community wells, imagine the gossip that was whispered when people came here to fill their buckets.
Step outside to enjoy the colonial bed gardens, created as a bird- and bee-sanctuary. The artist’s creativity is everywhere you look – flowers blooming on the garden shed, the placement of the statuary, the use of recycled street pavers to create patio areas, and the restful lull of the wall fountain. Take time to visit the artist’s studio before moving on to your next stop.
Oh yes, perhaps, Lizzie, from an earlier time, will make an appearance – her presence has been felt in the house and she’s been known to walk this property from time to time.

Hundreds of perennials and plantings surround the property right next door. To fully enjoy the gardens, you’ll have to stray from the sidewalks and meander all around the property. Green- and brown-colored preying mantis help rid this garden of pesky insects and handmade inscribed bricks identify the plantings. From the herb garden, enjoy a glass of fresh mint tea!

When you step inside these fenced-in gardens, you’ll immediately forget that you are still on Muncy’s Main Street. The shrubbery and plantings have been carefully selected to create an air of privacy, richness and serenity. Imagine enjoying your morning coffee on one of the 1st- or 2nd-floor porches or sharing a cup of tea with friends in the courtyard. Notice how the garden is more than a group of plants – it invites you to explore the space.

One of Muncy’s finest buildings, the church was built under the direction of Sarah Hall, a wealthy parishioner, and was designed by the well-known architect, Richard Upjohn. Upjohn’s career spanned the middle years of the 19th century and New York’s Trinity Church and Boston’s Central Congregational Church are among his creations.
St. James is a 2 ½ story stone, Gothic Revival style church. The stone was brought from the Montgomery hills and was hauled across the frozen Susquehanna River on sleds. The church features a 107-foot tower topped with a hexagonal spire, double and single lancet windows in each of the four-bay southern and northern sides, and a beautiful twelve-light rose window graces its Main Street façade.

Before leaving the church property, visit its quaint Parish House for refreshments. The original Episcopal Church, built in 1832, was dismantled to make room for this larger structure and its bricks were recycled here. Beautifully landscaped gardens surround the property and feel free to sit a spell on one of the inviting benches.

The fieldstone Bailiff House on Muncy Farms was built in 1788 by Samuel Wallis. The middle brick section was added in 1840 and the western section was completed in 1926. The bailiff would have been Samuel Wallis farm manager. At that time the 5-square mile farm was called “Longreach” reflecting the location stretching between Muncy and Montoursville along the Susquehanna River.
The Bailiff House has been totally renovated keeping much of the colonial style intact. The original eastern section has an enormous cooking fireplace

This early clapboard building is home to Muncy’s Museum of History. Take your time to appreciate the charm of one of Muncy’s earliest clapboard homes which still features the original beehive oven in the colonial kitchen, dating to 1812. This year Society volunteers have decorated the Museum using heirloom quilts and coverlets and a collection of Byers’ Carolers – both collections are on loan to the Society especially for the weekend festivities.
Listen carefully for the creaking of the pegged circa 1800 barn loom as our weaver pulls the beater bar toward her. Nearby find the “jacquard attachment” – one of only six known to still exist worldwide – which was used by Lycoming County’s only known jacquard weaver, William Lowmiller. The attachment revolutionized the weaver’s world, allowing him to produce a wide variety of designs using cardboard patterns. In addition to Muncy-made Lowmiller coverlets, you’ll also find examples of jacquard-produced bed coverings by other Pennsylvania weavers, including Netzly and Wunderlich of Lancaster County, Angstadt of Union County, Kaufman and Musselman of Bucks County, Dornbach of Luzerne County, and Kaley of Lebanon County.
In addition to the coverlet and quilt makers, there are other artists featured at 40 N. Main Street. Lining the front stairway wall is the Jean Mohr Collection which includes examples of his work in pencil, charcoal, watercolor, and oil. These works are very different than the wall murals featured in the restaurant section of the Fort Brady.
There are two worthy oil paintings in the front parlors (second floor) – over the fireplace hangs Miss Calder’s rendering of Muncy as it looked to her in 1856 and, above the tiger maple bureau, look for the still life painted by Jennie Noble Wood. As you stroll into the newer exhibit area, the Society’s pair of Severin Roesen oil paintings might just captivate your fancy.
On loan from both museum and private collections, the quilts illustrate hand- and machine piecing, appliqué and a variety of quilting techniques. Displayed on racks, in room settings, and on canvas, the bed coverings represent all categories – antique, traditional, grassroots and contemporary compositions. Many of the quilts and coverlets will be 150+ years old while some have just begun their life and will someday be family and community heirlooms. All are recognized and valued as art works. You will be entertained by a variety of color, design patterns and texture, with each piece depicting a personal art form that represents the artisan’s craft coupled with creativity.
“It was not a woman’s desire…to be forgotten. And in one simple, unpretentious way, she created a medium that would outlive even many of her husband’s houses, barns, and fences; she signed her name in friendship onto cloth and, in her own way, cried out, Remember me.” Linda Otto Lipsett

This circa 1810 large, three and one-half story, eight bay frame hotel and tavern has decided Victorian overtones. Six different additions give the present structure a rambling air which includes double bracketed eaves and thick window heads. The building has housed a tavern-hotel business since its initial construction by Robert Risk, a local landholder and merchant, and later owned by two of his sons, William and James. Step up to the impressive lobby desk and ‘register’ for the free door prize drawing.
Your room won’t be ready so pass the time with artist Jean Mohr who is madly working on the hotel’s wall murals. Step into the dining room – but stay away from the walls so you don’t get paint on your clothes! Jean has quite the story to tell and, if he likes you, perhaps he’ll spin you a yarn and will tip a ‘pint or so’ with you, too. Perhaps, he’ll share some stories about the family’s 13-room mansion or perhaps you can get him to describe his “Gibson Girl.”
This relatively unknown, but prolific, artist studied under Howard Pyle, a well-known teacher at Drexel Institute who developed quality illustrators, including Maxwell Parrish and N.C. Wyeth – persons who could tell a story with pictures and incorporate the most sophisticated artistic techniques into their work. He also studied portraiture under Cecelia Beau and several of his portraits will be on display as well.

In 1872, Jeremiah Gernerd, author of the Society’s publication, Now and Then, had this to say about the Wood-Rankin Home: “… contributing to the general advancement of a correct taste for architectural embellishment, and promoting sensible ideas of domestic enjoyment, [is] the new home of Adam Rankin.”

Purchasing the property from the Wood estate, Rankin proceeded to turn the existing house around and move it further back on the lot. For the tour, you’ll enter the 2-and-1/2-story Victorian style brick by way of its front door which served the family as the main entrance to their private residence. Throughout the day, there will be music coming from the front parlor/library and you’ll be captivated by the charm of the dining- and sitting rooms.
Next, you’ll find the original portion of this home is the rear 1-and-1/2-story section built in the style of Greek Revival. At one time, facing in the opposite direction and just off the sidewalk, this portion served as the medical office for one of Muncy’s earliest physicians, Dr. Thomas Wood. You’ll find some of the Wood Family’s 19th century medical instruments on display here – perhaps you might want volunteer to be “bleed” or sit still for a quick, but most likely, painful tonsillectomy! Make sure you go outside and look back to view the pedimented gable and columned porch.

If you’re up to the challenge, ascend to the second floor by way of the back narrow stairway – turning you first in one direction and then the other. You’ll exit by way of the front stairs.

This large stone church features a square three-story bell tower topped with battlements, a symmetrical floor plan interrupted by a number of small side bays, and Tudor arches enhancing the various entrances. Its first pipe organ was installed in 1914 and it was partially paid for by Andrew Carnegie, of Pittsburgh. The church was designed by M. I. Kast and constructed by J. A. Miller and Company using stone from the West Branch Canal aqueduct which traversed Muncy Creek at its confluence with the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Built in 1905, this is St. Andrews’ centennial year.

This home, which sits on lot’s 1 through 4, was built in the 1960s in what is known as Muncy’s Shuttle Hill development section. Entering through the front door, you’ll make the turn into the kitchen which features the owner’s springerle cookie mold collection and a 1840s Swedish-made sampler. In the garage-converted-to-family room notice the family heirloom trunk and tea cart, the hand-crafted coffee table and the Fenton House stemware collection. Windows span two sides of the home’s dining/living room area which has been decorated for the Christmas season.
Keeping with this year’s ‘quilt’ theme be sure you check out the hand-painted and numbered quilt-scene prints hanging in the guest bedroom.
In this house that seems to go on forever, also take time to descend to the basement which features an entertainment and guest suite, with its own mini-kitchen and bath.