Historic Fallsington Day celebrates continued preservation
Every second Saturday in October, for the past 55 years, Historic Fallsington celebrates the area’s heritage — and the fact that it wasn’t lost to development. On Oct. 10, it will hold Historic Fallsington Day at Meetinghouse Square, in the heart of the Nationally Registered historic community.
Historic Fallsington executive director Erica Armour said the celebration has grown into an all-encompassing event, to which several community organizations are invited, like the Methodist and Episcopalian churches, the local library, the Falls Friends Meeting, the PTO from the grade school and the local American Legion post.
“It’s really a community-wide celebration of our history and our culture, and our future,” Armour said.
Museum buildings in the village will be open for free tours, replete with interpreters and re-enactors. And the entertainment will include puppet shows, Colonial and Native American dancers, jugglers and folk singers.
Historic Fallsington includes 90 historically designated buildings in its historic district.
The first building designated as such was a meetinghouse that dates back to the late 1600s, though the community also contains buildings from the Revolutionary War era. Most of the 90 buildings are privately owned, save for the six owned by Historic Fallsington.
Amour said the mission of the organization is to preserve and educate people about the history and culture of the village of Fallsington, adding that the area was almost lost to development, as are many suburban areas today.
“There was a huge threat of development,” she said. “After World War II, the Fairless Hills Steel Mill came in and started buying up farm land. At the same time that was happening, William Levitt was in here building Levittown. The whole geography of this area of Bucks County rapidly changed within ten years.”
Residents then became concerned historic buildings would be lost.
“That’s why people who could trace their roots back to the beginnings of the township became concerned that valuable historic buildings could be lost — and they were, as many old buildings were razed when they built the steel mill by the river.”
Historic Fallsington Day runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the event is free, as is parking, and the festivities will include crafts, bake sales, book sales, horse-drawn hayrides, a quilt raffle and children’s activities in addition to the museum tours. All of the proceeds benefit the preservation and educational programs of Historic Fallsington. For more information, visit www.historicfallsington.org; or call 215-295-6567.
Historic Fallsington executive director Erica Armour said the celebration has grown into an all-encompassing event, to which several community organizations are invited, like the Methodist and Episcopalian churches, the local library, the Falls Friends Meeting, the PTO from the grade school and the local American Legion post.
“It’s really a community-wide celebration of our history and our culture, and our future,” Armour said.
Museum buildings in the village will be open for free tours, replete with interpreters and re-enactors. And the entertainment will include puppet shows, Colonial and Native American dancers, jugglers and folk singers.
Historic Fallsington includes 90 historically designated buildings in its historic district.
The first building designated as such was a meetinghouse that dates back to the late 1600s, though the community also contains buildings from the Revolutionary War era. Most of the 90 buildings are privately owned, save for the six owned by Historic Fallsington.
Amour said the mission of the organization is to preserve and educate people about the history and culture of the village of Fallsington, adding that the area was almost lost to development, as are many suburban areas today.
“There was a huge threat of development,” she said. “After World War II, the Fairless Hills Steel Mill came in and started buying up farm land. At the same time that was happening, William Levitt was in here building Levittown. The whole geography of this area of Bucks County rapidly changed within ten years.”
Residents then became concerned historic buildings would be lost.
“That’s why people who could trace their roots back to the beginnings of the township became concerned that valuable historic buildings could be lost — and they were, as many old buildings were razed when they built the steel mill by the river.”
Historic Fallsington Day runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the event is free, as is parking, and the festivities will include crafts, bake sales, book sales, horse-drawn hayrides, a quilt raffle and children’s activities in addition to the museum tours. All of the proceeds benefit the preservation and educational programs of Historic Fallsington. For more information, visit www.historicfallsington.org; or call 215-295-6567.
