HOSENSACK VILLAGE

HOSENSACK VILLAGE, in southern Lehigh County, stands at a crossroads where Limeport Road runs into King’s Highway on one side and Schultz Bridge Road starts down Hosensack Creek on the other. It is large enough to appear on state road maps, but it no longer qualifies for a post office. Mail comes by carrier from Zionsville.

A wide, green meadow lies beside Hosensack Creek in the middle of the village. Since this is prone to flooding, no houses are built on it, preserving its rural aspect. All the buildings visible at the center; store, hotel, creamery and several old homes remain from the past, so it is easy to imagine stepping back in time. Three enclaves of suburban housing on adjacent hills cannot be seen from the center and have no effect on the rural appearance of this hamlet. Not a single commercial sign is to be seen!

In spite of its grand name, KING’S HIGHWAY is narrow, hilly and winding. Originally called The King’s High Road, it was the first public road in the region. Built in 1735, as a result of petitions from residents, it followed an old Indian trail and was once described as "little more than two ruts through the wilderness." It ran from Macungie, a few miles north of Hosensack, to Philadelphia. A milestone which once stood in front of the tavern indicated that Philadelphia was 43 miles distant. It has not changed much over the years except for blacktopping. It is hard to imagine horses handling heavy loads in the best of weather, much less in icy or muddy times. As it enters Hosensack from the south, King’s Highway, falls almost 1000 feet in a very short distance. Built without switch-backs, it has some breath-taking drops, rather like starting down a roller coaster!

HOSENSACK HOMES The houses, barns and mills of dressed stone, typical of eastern Pennsylvania German farms, are strikingly handsome and well proportioned. It is hard to describe them without an extravagant use of adjectives. Many fine old Roeder homes are still to be found in the Hosensack valley and will be described when telling of the people who lived in them.

Four or five old Roeder houses remain on the original Johannes Roeder land. These are near the top of West Mill Hill Road near where Buhman Road joins it above the Schultz Mill. One is stone, with a very old portion built about l730, long before the Roeders came to the valley. This would have been where Johannes lived; before him John Yund, and originally Michael Zimmerman. Over many years, added portions have made it almost a mansion. Just down the hill on an adjoining farm stands a brick federal house, home of Jonas C Roeder and his son, "Squire" Henry. Behind it is an older house, probably home of Jonas’s father, Samuel.

Many stone houses were covered with white stucco or plaster. The stone was sometimes water permeable. The plaster acted as seal and insulation. Today’s owners are removing this often badly stained covering, then sealing the original stone, restoring these houses to their original beauty.

A STOP on the RAILROAD! In the late 19^th century, the Perkiomen Railroad ran through these hills so it was easy to get to East Greenville or Allentown for a day of business and shopping. Remnants of the brick water tower and the railroad tracks are still visible near where the Hosensack station stood and a tunnel can be seen from the Vera Cruz Road. Part of the line remains and is used for freight by small businesses. HOTEL In l758 George Klein opened the first tavern in the valley. It was known as Hosenhassen Tavern, the name of the village at that time. Later it was called Buckhorn Tavern because a large pair of antlers was attached to the sign. The two-story stone hotel bears a marker, "Bachman 1871," the year the owner, George Bachman, tore down the log tavern to build it. Betty Roeder Bleam, descendant of John Roeder Jr, renovated the building and makes her home there. An adjacent barnlike building, once a recreation center, is decorated with colorful hex signs which Betty paints and sells.

The old CREAMERY, now a home, stands across from the hotel. It was organized in 1880 by two Roeder brothers, William M and Reuben M; their second cousin, John Mohr Roeder, and Milton Schantz. In addition to producing the usual milk, butter and cheese, casein powder was extracted by dehydrating the whey. This was sold to make plain, durable buttons for underwear. Betty Bleam thinks her grandfather, John Mohr Roeder, invented the process, but never patented it. John was also postmaster, and made electricity for the village. His father, David, was a blacksmith. The smithy stood in the triangle between the house and Limeport Road. John was not a smith himself, but always arranged that one was in business there.

A GENERAL STORE was at the crossroads before the Revolution. In l850 the owner built a large brick building with stepped gables which still stands. Peter Berish, the last storekeeper, kept the store for 40 years. He closed it in the 1960’s.

WATER-POWERED INDUSTRY The water of the Hosensack was harnessed to operate many small mills. We think first of the essential grist mill which produced flour, meal and feed, but mills performed many other tasks. Farmers grew flax which was woven, together with wool, to make linsey-woolsey, a durable linen and wool cloth. The flax seed was crushed for linseed oil (used in paints and as a lubricant) leaving a rich, nutritious meal for feeding stock; tanbark was ground for the tanning of hides; clay was pulverized by a potter; and a fulling mill put the finishing touches on woolen cloth made in the homes.

In 1829 Johannes Roeder bought a sawmill, log house and barn for $l,600 and turned them over to his son, Samuel. The sawmill was just downstream from the stone bridge on which King’s Highway crosses the Hosensack.

Eventually Samuel’s oldest son, Daniel C and then Daniel’s son, Reuben, operated it

The BIG BANG! Gun powder was manufactured by combining locally burned charcoal, with saltpeter and sulphur. The mixture was so volatile that lightening or just grains of powder which ac-cumulated in the cracks in the floor, combined with a chance spark, could send the whole operation sky-high, and did on more than one occasion!

Grist mills were often substantial 3 story stone buildings. The top floor was divided into bins where farmers could store grain until they needed to have it ground. Long abandoned, most old mills have tumbled in, but a few remain, sturdy and handsome, either empty or converted into dwellings like the Schultz mill downstream from the center of the village.

Considerable land is still farmed around Hosensack, but many residents of the scattered houses commute to their jobs, making the area more suburban than rural. With neither retail businesses nor farm-based manufacture, the village must be a good deal less bustling than it was l50 years ago when store, post office, smithy and tavern were gathering places for its citizens!