Burtner House needs volunteers to keep history alive

The desire to maintain one of the oldest homes in Allegheny County remains strong for volunteers at the Burtner House in Harrison, but the hearty work is a lot to shoulder for the aging group.

A handful of do-gooders at the Burtner House Restoration Society are tasked with mowing the field that surrounds the property just off Route 28 and tending to the 1821 farmhouse where four generations of the Burtner family lived until 1960.

“We’re always looking for people to help,” said Jeff Jones, the group’s president.

“We’d like to start giving more tours and maybe extend programs to area schools, but it’s hard with a small group. We do what we can.”

A major part of fundraising by the organization comes courtesy of socials each summer that include the Strawberry Festival in June and Harvest Festival in September.

The grounds transform with vendors and demonstrations that give a peek into life two centuries ago. There are butter churners, wool weavers, beekeepers and civil war reenactors.

Nearly 1,000 people converge on the site for each event.

“It’s a great thing when people can come learn about history in their own area,” said Pam Seguin, the society’s secretary.

Guides also give a few hundred private tours each year, but numbers have dwindled as volunteers can no longer field all the requests.

Seguin said if the group can get a solid group of young, eager people to help, it will fortify efforts to bring local history alive.

The three-story homestead, built by Phillip Burtner, lacked indoor plumbing or electricity when it was constructed.

Guests learn how it was to live and work in those times, when every member of the family worked on the farm, even children.

“It’s good for kids to learn how different times were,” said Patty Jones, Jeff’s wife and vice president of the group. “You didn’t get to play all day. It was hard.”

Clothes were made from flour sacks, and food was cooked over an open fire.

The large farm was used as a polling place for President Andrew Jackson’s election in 1828. In the 1830s, the land housed the Negley Mill after it moved from Tarentum.

Today, Burtner House visitors are treated to five fully furnished rooms featuring period furniture, photos and other mementos.

The kitchen boasts yokes used to carry water from the stream, a pie safe and cast iron skillets that sit by the home’s one and only appliance — the fireplace.

In 1972, when construction of the Route 28 Expressway was underway, the Restoration Society successfully lobbied to have the expressway rerouted so the house didn’t have to be razed.

The house was named to the National Register of Historic Places later that year.

“We put a lot of work into keeping the house up, and we want more people to be able to come enjoy it,” Jeff Jones said.

Anyone interested in volunteering should email Jones at bhrs1821@gmail.com.