The Shenkel Farm is located in Oley Township National Historic District, in Berks County. The pioneers who settled this homestead were Martin and Magdalena Shenkel, immigrants from German-speaking Europe (probably from the Palatinate). The Shenkels settled here by 1719, and the family held the property through at least 1805. Many members of the family are buried in the farm's cemetery plot.

The date of this smithy building has not been determined. Although now in ruins, this building represents the traditional stone-masonry construction predominant in the Oley Valley through the 1700s and in the early 1800s. It is not known whether the structure was built for use by a blacksmith who conducted a business on the property or simply to house the blacksmith equipment that was frequently necessary on a substantial southeastern Pennsylvania farm. It was common for the region's farmers to master at least rudimentary smithing skills and to have blacksmith tools and an operable smith's hearth available for their own use.

Among the buildings no longer standing at the Shenkel Farm are the original house of circa 1719 and the various structures built by Magdalena while a widow (and administratrix of Martin's estate): a stone springhouse built in 1740, a stone barn built in 1744, a cider press house built in 1746, and an evident addition to the dwelling house also built in 1746.

The Shenkel Farm, like many historic places, also represents an archaeological site, and offers us the opportunity to Save the Past for the Future.

Fifth annual public archaeology program on City Island Park in Harrisburg sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) and the City of Harrisburg.  The opening ceremony, scheduled for September 24, will be presided over by the Honorable Stephen R. Reed, the Mayor of Harrisburg.  The closing ceremony, on October 8, will feature the launch of a dugout canoe (manufactured for the event) and a summary of the results of the excavation.
     The  1999 program will feature a new excavation area, located just north of the 1994 to 1998 excavations in a previously unexplored area of the island.  Demonstration projects will include the manufacture and use of Native fishing equipment; construction of an Eastern Woodland bark house; harvest of plants from a river-side Native garden, planted this spring; manufacture and launch of the dugout canoe; and observation of an on-site artifact processing field laboratory.
     The State Museum's Education Division will once again be operating their "field classroom" on the island.  All members of the public are invited to join the archaeologists from the PHMC's Commonwealth Archaeology program and dedicated volunteers.  The site is open to visitors 9:30 am - 4:00 pm daily.

Open House (weather permitting), excavations at the Yellow House, Battles Farmstead Museum, Girard, PA, 9:45 - 11:45 am.  Sponsored by the Edinboro University of PA Archaeological Field Studies Program and the Erie County Historical Society, Dr. Renata B. Wolynec, Project Director.  Contact: (814) 732-2573.

Open House, Noon - 4:00 p.m., Fort LeBoeuf Museum, Waterford, PA., a project of the Department of Sociology/Anthorpology/Social Work, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA.  Contact: (814) 732-2573.  (On display are archaeological remains discovered during WPA excavations in the late 1930's and Eagle Hotel excavations conducted by Edinboro University Archaeological Field Studies from 1975 through 1987.)  There is no admission charge.
 
 

Displays and exhibits at Baron-Forness Library and Hendricks Hall, Edinboro University of PA.

Displays and exhibits at Stapleton  Library and campus of the Indiana University of PA.

Fifth grade field school, West Postgrove Elementary School, Montgomery Co., headed by teacher Ken Biles.
 
 

Pennsylvania Archaeological Council Day (PAC) at City Island Park, Harrisburg, PA.  Highlighting the day's events will be the Archaeology Month Essay Contest Award Ceremony. 

Archaeology Display, Apple Festival at Hibernia County Park in West Caln Township, Chester County, sponsored be the SPA Schuylkill Valley Chapter 21.  The display will feature photographs of Chapter activities and artifacts.  Contact: (610) 678-1274.

Children's Workshop, 10 am - Noon - Children ages 8 to 12 learn how to look for clues, make archaeological notes, do archaeological drawings and take measurements, to earn a Museum Scientist certificate!  University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, PA.  $5 materials fee.  Pre-registration required: (215) 898-4015.

Excavations at Smicksburg Heritage Days, Indiana County, PA., Dr. Phil Neusius Project Director, INdiana University of PA.  Contact: (724) 357-2733.

Knap-in, sponsored by Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, Mercyhurst College, Erie, PA.  Contact: Kathy Pedler at (814) 824-2578.

Loren Eiseley Society Lecture and Dinner (by invitation only), University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, PA, 6:00 pm - "Excavation in Foreign Countries and the Impact on the University of Pennsylvania Museum in the 21st Century" presented by Dr. Charles K. Williams II, Director Emeritus, Corinth Excavations, American School of Classical Studies.  For information on becoming a member of the Loren Eiseley Society call (215) 898-5093.

Display, Archaeology at the Yellow House, Girard, PA - highlighting twelve years of collaboration between the Erie County Historical Society and Edinboro University of PA., 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.  The display is part of a larger community open house at the Battles Museums of Rural Life.  Admission charge. Contact: (814) 454-1813.

Archaeology Display, Apple Festival at Joanna Furnace, about three miles north of Morgantown on Route 10 Berks County, sponsored by the SPA Schuylkill Valley Chapter 21.  The festival is sponsored by the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association.  There will also be a display of archaeology at Joanna Furnace including artifacts, photographs, and the activities of the summer field school for gifted middle school students from the Owen J. Roberts School District.  The on-going excavations at the hot blast engine area will be open for visitors to see.  Contact: (610) 678-1274.

Archaeology in Action School Program at Bushy Run Battlefield.  Contact: David Miller at (724) 527-5584, ext. 202.

Lecture, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, Hendricks Hall Room 147 - "Studying the Past from Human Mortuary Behavior" presented by Dr. Renata B. Wolynec, Edinboro University of PA.  Contact: (814) 732-2573.

Lecture, 4:00 - 6:00 pm - "Flooding the Black Sea: Noah and Early Agriculture?"  Geologists Bill Ryan and Walter Pitman of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, present evidence linking the flooding of the Black Sea and the story of Noah's flood.  Sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Center for Ancient Studies, and the Center for Environmental Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Harrison Auditorium, Philadelphia, PA.  Lecture free; reception follows (fee).

Archaeology display and presentation at the Social Science Teachers Conference, John Heinz Regional History Center, Pittsburgh, PA.

Lecture, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, Hendricks Hall 147 - "The Archaeological Past in Jeopardy" presented by Dr. Renata B. Wolynec, Edinboro University of PA., Edinboro, PA.  Contact: (814) 732-2573

Open House, Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, Mercyhurst College, Erie, PA.  Contact: Sue Prescott (814) 824-2531.
 

Poster sponsors:  Pennsylvania Archaeological Council  -  Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc.  -  Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission  -  National Park Service  -  Allegheny National Forest  -  Edinboro University of Pennsylvania  -  Indiana University of Pennsylvania  -  Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute  -  Louis Berger & Associates, Inc.  -  GAI Consultants, Inc.  -  John Milner Associates, Inc.  -  ASC Group, Inc.  -  CHRS, Inc.  -  KCI Technologies Inc.  -  Ecoscience, Inc.

For information on Pennsylvania Archaeology Month events, please call 717.783.8946.  TDD relay service at 800.654.5984.

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