[Watch the video "A Strawberry Summer Day at the Burtners'" by clicking on the following link: http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1444 ]

The Burtner House

A piece of nearly-200-yr-old history lives among us. It is right in our backyards, and yet many of us may have never seen it. Fewer know anything about it.

Inside the Burtner House

It is among the first of its kind in our area, and because of that it received a stay of execution by the Governor himself.

Cooking Utensils and a Rocker on display

Today, a group of about 20 people lead the effort to preserve and protect this Alle-Kiski treasure.

Sometimes you had to sew, and sometimes you had to get your gun

This squad of quiet, unsung heroes is The Burtner House Restoration Society, and the house they have restored and now maintain is no ordinary dwelling.

President Pauline Arnold, in costume

Located just off Exit 15 of Rt. 28 in Natrona Heights, the Burtner home was built in a time when there was literally nothing else in the area.

Burtner's Backyard at the Strawberry Festival in June

Imagine, next time you pass it (you can't miss it if you travel north on 28; it sits on a small hill just off the exit), huge deep ravines covered in green and folded in between towering ridge tops. A small creek, Little Bull Creek, trickles at the bottom of the valley. There is no UPMC Natrona Heights, no Rt. 28, no access roads—only green as far as the eye can see.

Antique Car on display at the festival

And nestled on a small hilltop with the scenic view up the valley, is a small stone house.

MMMMM--Strawberries here!!

If you had been there in 1821, you would have seen Philip Burtner right in the middle of constructing his home of stone.

Burtner's Backyard

Burtner moved into the AK region in 1800 and married Margaret Negley, sister of Felix Negley, one of the earliest residents of what became Natrona, Tarentum, and Brackenridge.

Relaxing on the Burtner's back porch with music

(The Negleys' parents settled Highland Park in Pittsburgh years earlier.)

Inside the Burtner House

Philip Burtner apparently believed in his new country's great political experiment of democracy.

The Burtner Hearth

In the years before and after the home was finished, when a trip to Pittsburgh was a big trip with many details, he took part in Pittsburgh events celebrating the visits of President James Monroe and Lafayette. He became familiar with Henry Brackenridge, the prominent lawyer who settled near where Tarentum is today and for whom Brackrenridge is named.

Both Indians and Frontier Scouts were friends at the Burtner House, at least at this year's Strawberry Festival

Burtner's home also became a central meeting place for neighborhood and community events, including voting in elections. Many families traveled a long way to get there, and would stay in the home and the barn at night before returning home.

And after Philip's acquaintance with the Brackenridges, who had many Pittsburgh political connections, the sphere of influence of Burtner and his home only increased.

Members of the Burtner family lived in the home through the mid-1900s. The home of rock stood firm well past its centennial birthday.

But by the late 1960s, the structure was deteriorating and scheduled to be demolished.

Only minutes away from imminent death, with the demolition ball ready to swing merely a few feet away from its walls, the Governor of Pennsylvania sent an order with a reprieve that stopped the ball of doom in its tracks.

The stay of execution breathed a new life into the home and eventually The Burtner House Restoration Society was born.

Two yearly festivals are held to help raise funds for this bit of our local heritage. The 31rst Strawberry Festival is held in June, and the Harvest Festival is held in October.

The festivals (as well as private tours by appointment) provide doorways into our area's past. Visitors walk through the estate and see what 18th century life was like, complete with a wooden canteen, a block of tea, a wooden apple peeler, and an outhouse. Yesterday's lifestyles become alive and fresh at the festivals in the form of Civil War re-enactments, cloggers, a strolling President Lincoln and more.

Pauline Arnold, the Restoration Society President, gives tours and says "The kids just love it" when she points to a chamber pot (a kettle used indoors as a commode) and says, 'Now, if you'd been alive then, it would have been your job to empty it in the outhouse outside!'"

Arnold has been a part of the Society for 30 years, and along with the rest of the active members of the Society, does whatever needs doing, from cleaning the house to washing drapes to making exotic Rose and Violet jellies to sell at the festivals.

The festivals at the Burtner House are great opportunities to step into our local heritage. The next festival is held in October but private tours of the Burtner House can be arranged with Pauline Arnold at 724-224-7999.

The Burtner House Restoration Society has a website at http://www.akvalley.com/burtner.

The Our Local Heritage crew had opportunity to video parts of the Burtner House and visit some scenes from the past at the summer Strawberry Festival held in June. I invite you to come to our website at http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1444 and watch this month's Heritage special video, A Strawberry Summer Day at the Burtners'.