GWHS - HISTORY

HISTORY

Early in 1957, upon hearing that the Wolf Academy was for sale, Elias W. Spengler called a meeting of interested citizens to consider its purchase from the Berlin family. On February 19, 1958, 103 individuals and organizations incorporated with the purpose of "acquisition, renovation, restoration, furnishing, and maintenance, as a historic site, of the old academy, commonly known as the 'Wolf Academy' situated in East Allen Township." The articles named thirteen directors and assets of $1,000 for the Wolf Academy Restoration Society and the Bath Area Historical Society was called by Spengler, president of both groups. The two groups merged and became the present day Governor Wolf Historical Society.

Today the Society is active in preserving the Lehigh Valley's rich historic heritage. We are restoring the Ralston-McKeen House and the Siegfried Log Cabin, and coordinating local archaeological digs at these sites.

The Scotch-Irish Settlement

Among the first to settle in the Lehigh Valley were the Scotch-Irish, who founded the "Craig Settlement" in 1728 with the purchase of 247 acres of land where Bath and East Allen Township now exist. Settlement founder Daniel Craig's home still stands near Weaversville. The Scotch-Irish were Presbyterians who came to America to escape Ireland's widespread famine and to freely practice their faith. They built log and stone homes and established farms in this area, already inhabited by the local Lenai Lenapee Indians and by Germans who were also settling in the Lehigh Valley. By 1790 the American frontier had moved westward and many of the Scotch-Irish left to settle in western Pennsylvania and beyond, leaving Pennsylvania Dutch farmers of German descent to inhabit most of the fertile lands in this area.