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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
PASSPORT TO HISTORY WEEKENDS – 2025
Free Admission & Activities at Historic Sites in 9 Counties
PASSPORT TO HISTORY – SUMMER WEEKEND
COMING UP ON JUNE 27-29
LEHIGH VALLEY (June 20, 2025) – Our Passport to History Summer Weekend is coming up on Friday, June 27 through Sunday, June 29.
One dozen historic sites in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding counties invite you to step back in time with FREE admission, tours, activities, and programs for visitors of all ages.
Celebrate summer with a weekend of old-fashioned fun!
Our June weekend features:
- Local history right around the corner! Explore partner sites in Berks, Bucks, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Northampton Counties.
- Museums, libraries, & special exhibitions
- Historic sites including homesteads, barns, mills, tile works, schools, gardens, 18th-century mansions, and cemeteries.
- Learn about the people, cultures, events, and innovations that shaped our community, from the original Native American inhabitants to modern day.
- Living history re-enactments, Bangor 150th time capsule, and heritage craft & skill demonstrations
- Archaeological digs, industrial history, and special exhibitions on Pennsylvania German folk art and European art quilts
- Farm stands and gift shops
- For children and families: old-fashioned games, Kids Dig History! archaeology and gardening, crafts, stories, scavenger hunts, interactive exhibitions, and activities
“As our partner sites prepare to commemorate the upcoming America250 anniversary celebrations, Passport to History Weekend is a perfect way to explore your own local history and heritage,” notes Megan van Ravenswaay, Executive Director of Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society. “We invite everyone to discover the stories of our past and the vital ways our communities helped shape the nation.”
WAYS TO ENJOY PASSPORT TO HISTORY WEEKENDS
- Visit old favorites or new-to-you sites in your town or region.
- Venture out of town. Use the map and list of activities on the Passport to History website to plot a course, and make a day of it.
- Follow your interests: What time periods or events in American history interest you? Do you enjoy touring historic buildings and gardens? What kinds of history do you enjoy (e.g., military history, industrial history, Native American history, fraktur or textiles)? Would you like to see living history or heritage skill demonstrations? Our partner sites appeal to a range of interests.
- Take in a special exhibition at one of our partner museums or historical societies.
- Seek out family-friendly activities on the Passport to History website and plan a day out with the kids.
- Try something different. Every site has welcoming staff and volunteers eager to share our community history. Visitors will find fascinating stories and people wherever they go.
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Passport to History – Summer Weekend Sites
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June 27-29
- 1803 House – Saturday
- Boyertown Area Historical Society – Bahr’s Mill – Saturday
- Emmaus Historical Society + God’s Acre Cemetery Tour – Saturday
- Governor Wolf Historical Society – Saturday
- Historic Trappe – Saturday
- Horner’s Cemetery – Sunday – Tours by appointment
- Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center – Friday – Sunday
- Shelter House – Saturday
- Slate Belt Heritage Center – Saturday & Sunday
- TileWorks of Bucks County (Moravian Pottery and Tile Works) – Saturday
- Whitehall Historical Preservation Society, Helfrich Springs Grist Mill – Sunday
- Williams Township Historical Society – Saturday
Click the link below for a map, schedule, and activities for each partner site.
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Explore the history of Bahr’s Mill, a 19th-century woodworking and grist mill. Enjoy guided tours, blacksmithing, and living history demonstrations. Then unearth the past by joining the archaeological crew to help uncover the secrets of the mill. Lend a hand (gloves recommended) and see what hidden treasures we might find together.
Image courtesy of Boyertown Area Historical Society
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Kids (and families) dig history this weekend at Historic Trappe! Get your hands dirty at the archaeology field school and in the historic kitchen garden. Enjoy guided tours of the 18th-century Muhlenberg House and Dewees Tavern and view a special Pennsylvania German folk art exhibition.
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Discover what was hidden in the time capsule beneath this stone marker. Community treasures were recently unearthed for Bangor’s 150th Anniversary celebrations and are on display at the Slate Belt Heritage Center.
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Visit three partner sites in historic Emmaus on Saturday, June 28. Enjoy tours, old-fashioned children’s games and scavenger hunts at 1803 House, a tour of God’s Acre Cemetery with Emmaus Historical Society, and tours of Shelter House, tucked away on the northern slope of South Mountain since 1734. Image: 1803 House
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This is your chance to step inside Doylestown’s renowned Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, established by Henry Mercer in 1912. Learn about the Spanish Mission architecture and the American arts and crafts movement, watch artisans makes tiles from wild Bucks County clay, and browse the gift shop.
Image: interior, Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (TileWorks of Bucks County)
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Tour a Pennsylvania bank barn, make folk art nature crafts on Saturday, and see Ocean, the international traveling quilt exhibit at Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center. Image: Courtesy of Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
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Meet the friendly docents of Williams Township Historical Society at Chrinergy Park in Easton and learn more about the Northampton County canals, mill towns, and resources that helped fuel the American Industrial Revolution. Image: Courtesy of Williams Township
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2025 Passport to History
Weekend Events
This year’s events will be held on the fourth weekend of the following months:
Saturday, January 25 & Sunday, January 26
Spring
Friday, March 21, Saturday, March 22, & Sunday, March 23
Summer
Friday, June 27, Saturday, June 28, & Sunday, June 29
Fall
Friday, September 26, Saturday, September 27, & Sunday, September 28
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Passport to History Weekends are supported in part with funding received through the County of Northampton Hotel Tax Program, the County of Bucks Tourism Program, and the County of Lehigh Tourism Development Program.
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About Passport to History:
Lehigh Valley Passport to History is a partnership of 75 historic sites and resources in and around the Lehigh Valley region, including sites in Northampton, Lehigh, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Monroe, Montgomery, and Warren counties. The group helps to promote local tourism and shares historical activities, events, tours, and exhibitions throughout the Valley, and beyond.
Explore more at lvhistory.org.
Passport to History is supported in part with funding received through the County of Northampton Hotel Tax Program, the County of Bucks Tourism Program, and the County of Lehigh Tourism Development Program.
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