A Cornerstone Comes Home

A couple of weeks ago Jeff King of Hellertown donated a valuable historical artifact to the Michael Heller Homestead operated by Saucon Valley Conservancy. This item, I told him, should live here, and it will be dedicated on April 27 at 10:30 a.m. during Saucon Valley History Day.

It is none other than the last cornerstone of the Limekiln School House, put in place when the building was reconstructed for the last time in 1891. The edifice had been constructed first in 1802 but had burned down and was rebuilt in 1864.

It is most appropriately to be displayed at the homestead since nearly 20 Hellers lie at rest in the adjoining graveyard, including Michael Heller, the Elder, who named three of his sons Michael. The building had first been a church which for a time doubled as a school during the 19th century.

The school along historic Creek Road—in an area that was once part of Lower Saucon Township, but is now within Bethlehem city limits—came into possession of the King family in 1951, and now is occupied by the Brown family. The Brown family wrote the complete history of their home and consented to have it published in recently released "Saucon Secrets, Vol. 2."

Coincidentally, my paternal grandparents attended this one-room school at the same time when at elementary student age. My grandpa was then named Frank Waidner and my grandma Annie Werst. The pages of the rolebook filled out by their teacher and very old photos of the school with steeple also appear in "Saucon Secrets" at a time when Creek Road consisted of dirt.

I am personally indebted to Jeff King for this vital donation, especially since the 1891 bricklayers had written their signatures in pencil on the back of the cornerstone, and they are still legible. History often comes together with perfect timing.