Michael & Margaret Heller Homestead

The story of  Heller Homestead is based on Johan Michael Heller’s ambition to create  his farmstead for sustenance, and the sawmill for his livelihood.

Four  existing and original structures remain at the Heller Homestead:   Michael Heller House (c.1751), the Widow’s House (1850), an original  Root Cellar, and remains of 2.5-story stone barn (c.1751). Traces of the  first sawmill exist as stone ruins along present-day Creek Road.

The  Heller Homestead is located approximately 1/2 mile west of Route 412  and Water Street in Hellertown, PA, at 1890 Friedensville Rd, Bethlehem  PA.

On  June 28, 2010, the National Park Service listed the Michael &  Margaret Heller House (Heller Homestead) in the National Register of  Historic Places for its architectural significance.  
​

For everything you ever wanted to know about the Michael Heller Homestead and its history, look under the section additional information on the homestead below.

 Constructed of native limestone, the two-story structure is an  example of a late 18th and early 19th century farmhouse built in this  region.

German-born Johan Michael Heller, “Alt Vater,” like most  immigrant Germans arriving in Pennsylvania, was quick to understand the  value of the land he purchased because of its rich natural resources,  including limestone, naturally present in Saucon Valley's geological  makeup, which afforded a permanent building material and, once “burned”  in limekilns, enabled powdered limestone to enrich the soil. The  forested region supplied settlers with a ready supply of lumber and  fuel.  

 Michael’s father, Johan Christoph, built his family’s log home“Delay” in  Seidersville. The structure was built in the Germanic style, that is,  constructed with the chimney in the center of the dwelling. This allowed  a central source of heat to radiate into the rooms toward the exterior  walls. It wasn’t until Irish and Scottish house builders settled in the  region that architecture featured chimneys at the gabled ends of their  homes. As elder German immigrants died, regional architecture outdated  the old methods of building and the German style died out with them.

Michael  Heller’s stone house featured this “new” style of architecture: a  symmetrical facade of five double-hung windows across the second floor,  and a front door in the center on the first floor. Matching chimneys on  the roof line at the gables completed a sense of balance.

The  small windows called for thin mullions to hold glass panes in place. The  first floor windows were protected with solid plank shutters; they also  kept heat inside during winter months and the rooms cool in summer.

During  the Colonial period, fire originating from the hearth was feared by  many home owners. Ovens were built in out-kitchens for this reason. In  time, as fears lessened, the kitchen was added to the main house. In all  cases, however, the fireplace and bake oven were always positioned on  the exterior wall, opposite the main house. This addition gives this  period’s home its distinctive “el” shape.

Remaining to this day  is the original dentil molding, which can still be seen beneath the roof  at Heller House. This restrained decoration gives texture to the fascia  which would otherwise be plain.

Heller House was the birthplace of fourteen Heller children. When Michael Heller “Alt Vater” died in 1803, the Homestead went to his fourth child, son Michael, known as “Creek Mike” because of the proximity of his house to Saucon Creek. He operated a sawmill nearby on Creek Road which was water-powered by a race originating from Saucon Creek. 
​
When“Creek Mike” died  in 1828, it was apparent that all of the Heller children had moved  beyond the Homestead to pioneer their own lives thus leaving behind  Heller Homestead’s architectural legacy to history and chance. ​