HARMONY, Pa. – The Harmony Museum, operated by Historic Harmony and the only museum in Butler County open all year, may be toured 1-4 p.m. daily, except Mondays and holidays.
Appointments are recommended for Saturdays and required for groups of more than 10 persons. Guided tours begin at the main museum building at 218 Mercer Street, at the center of Harmony’s National Historic Landmark District.
Plenty to see. Visitors learn about the region’s Native Americans, George Washington’s 1753 mission that sparked the French & Indian War, the communal Harmony Society of German Separatists who founded Harmony in 1804, Mennonites who resettled the area beginning in 1815, Charles Flowers’ fine percussion rifles, the oil era, Victoriana, early medical practice and more.
Tours. Tours involve three buildings, but visitors may also visit the Harmony Society cemetery with a revolving one ton stone gate, the historic Mennonite cemetery and, if up to the challenge of a steep trail, the Harmonists’ Vineyard Hill above the Connoquenessing Creek.
By advance arrangement, visitors may also see the Harmonists’ 1805 barn, western Pennsylvania’s oldest, and the 1825 Mennonite meetinghouse.
A guided tour of the Landmark District is available by appointment, as is research in the museum’s Veith Library.
Harmony is on Pa. 68 at Interstate 79 exits 87-88, about 30 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh, 10 miles north of Pennsylvania Turnpike exit 28, and 30 miles south of Interstate 80.
Learn more. For more information contact the Harmony Museum, 724-452-7341, toll-free 888-821-4822, or on the Internet at www.harmonymuseum.org.
