Fisher House, Oley Township, Berks County

I'm deeply pleased with all the attention my last two posts have received. Thaddeus Stevens is such a fascinating person and subject, and I'm so thankful to everyone who took the time to read what I had to say about him.

This week's quest is a much simpler one, at least on the surface. You can blame my weary eyes for it; to quote from a certain ridiculous commercial, "I have special eyes," and they've had to be tested a fair bit this week. So I decided to make the quest a bit easier on them than usual. We collected this marker on the way home from Zenkaikon last month - husband Kevin deliberately took a scenic route home just so I could grab some to keep me busy for a while. 

The marker stands in front of the house, situated at
1839 Memorial Highway, Oley.

The Fisher house, as it's simply known, dates to 1801. I've seen its address as being listed in Oley Township and also in Yellow House, so I've included both in the tags because to be honest, I don't know Berks County well enough to be absolutely sure which is correct.

The original owner of the house in question was Heinrich Fischer, more commonly known as Henry Fisher. It's a little tricky to find information about Henry himself, since his name wasn't unusual and there was another, more famous Henry Fisher in Delaware who also has a house with a historical marker. But we do know that he was born on December 8, 1758, in South Heidelberg, Berks County. He was the eldest child of Johan Peter and Appolonia (Heckert) Fischer. He, his father, and at least one of his brothers all served in the American Revolution; they are all in the rolls as having been enlisted in the sixth battalion, third company of Captain Conrad Eckert's Berks County militia. In 1781 he married Susanna Ruth, who had relatives in that same company, and they had at least five children together.

Ten years later, in 1791, Henry and Susanna purchased a plot of land from John Lesher, where they established a successful farm and raised their young family. By 1798, the Fishers were apparently quite wealthy, and they decided to have a huge and elegant house built on the farm. They employed the master carpenter Gottlieb Drexel, who is credited with having designed and constructed a number of the area's most beautiful buildings of the day, including the historic Reading Furnace district in Warwick, Chester County. The Fisher house took three years to build and cost its owners $6,000 (which would be around $136,000 in today's money).

The house (front view seen at left) is regarded as possibly the most exquisite surviving example of a home from the time period in all of Berks County. It's largely of Georgian design, an English style of architecture, dating from (and named after) the reigns of Kings George I through IV. Georgian architecture is characterized by symmetrical layouts and exteriors made of brick or stone; in the case of the Fisher house, the exterior is made of limestone. Georgian design incorporates details such as symmetrical chimneys, relatively simple outside design, and dormer windows on the top floors. However, because of the success of the American Revolution, by the time the Fisher house was completed there had been a movement away from Georgian style in this country, sort of as a visual indicator of our newfound independence. I'm guessing it's for that reason that Drexel chose to also incorporate various elements of Federal and Germanic designs in the interior detailing.

I can only surmise that Henry and Susanna were very pleased with their new home. They occupied it for many years until Susanna's death in 1821; she's buried not far away, in the Oley Cemetery in Spangsville. Henry lived another two years, but died unexpectedly while visiting his oldest daughter Mary at her home in Huntingdon County, and was buried there rather than brought back to Berks County. 

The farm complex was expanded over the next several decades to include a Pennsylvania Dutch style barn and assorted other outbuildings, as well as a low stone wall and a garden, and a small creek runs through the property. The house itself also received an addition at some point, of which you can see a little bit in the picture at right; this photo shows the house from its northern side, and the addition is on the back. According to the application to have the house placed on the National Register of Historic Places, this extra wing was added to the house in order to provide a kitchen as well as extra bedrooms.

You can't go into the Fisher house. I mean, I guess you could, if you got permission, but it's not open to the public. That's because ever since its completion in 1801, it has been continuously occupied by the direct descendants of Henry and Susanna. That's right - this architectural treasure is still in the family. But if you're curious about how it looks inside, you can click on the link in my sources section for the Library of Congress records about the house. They have several black and white photos showing details of the interior, including the elegant staircases, fireplaces, and door frames. The family has clearly made an effort over the past 200 years to change as little as possible about the house.

I would have liked to possibly inquire about seeing the inside, or at least asked for permission to take more photos of the outbuildings. However, we had to get back on the road for a somewhat unexpected reason, as you can see in this final picture. A snow squall was rapidly approaching the area, and we hoped to get as far away from it as we could. But if you should happen to pass through Oley Township sometime on your own explorations (and don't have a storm threatening your view), I hope you'll get the chance to drive past the Fisher house and appreciate it for yourself. It's an enduring monument to Pennsylvania Dutch farm life in the 18th and 19th centuries, and to the diversity of architectural style in its time.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Nomination form for the Fisher House for the National Register of Historic Places

Fisher House in the Historic American Buildings Survey by the Library of Congress

Croll, P. C. Annals of the Oley Valley. Reading Eagle Press, Reading, PA, 1926.

Profile of Henry Fisher on Geni.com

Henry Fisher at FindAGrave.com

Fisher House at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.