Josiah Benner Farm Spring House - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 50.772 W 077° 13.295
18S E 309932 N 4413048
This stone spring house sits next to an historic home. Both structures "saw action" during the Battle of Gettysburg. As of 2011, the spring house was being saved and rehabilitated.
Waymark Code: WMGYBW
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 04/23/2013
Views: 4
The springhouse (pre-1863) is a one-story stone springhouse/wash-house with an asphalt-covered gable roof at the southeast corner of the lot. It has vertical boards in the gable ends. Located just east of the house and adjacent to the Harrisburg Road, the building likewise would have been used as temporary cover for skirmishers of both armies and would have provided water and “refrigerated” food for wounded in the hospitals of the Benner house and barn. Until very recently, the springhouse was in grave danger of collapsing. Park staff are now working on the structure to do emergency stabilization and preservation. When I visited last year it was still being rehabilitated.
There is a plaque marking the home as standing during the Battle of Gettysburg located on the right or the northern end of the front porch. Several resources report the house, springhouse and barn are all contributing features to the park’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places. I have reviewed the 47-page nomination form and there is no mention of this site or the existing structures. The only other thing I can think of is it is located on the Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District and not the Gettysburg National Military Park Historic District.
I found this from the Gettysburg Times: The Gettysburg National Military Park announced its most recent property acquisition Wednesday afternoon, the Josiah Benner House in Straban Township. Purchased in May, GNMP took possession of the nine-acre, 980 Old Harrisburg Road property Monday. In 2001, the park purchased the three-acre parcel next door, which includes the Josiah Benner barn, but this $405,000 purchase of the farmhouse and springhouse completed the package.
The farmhouse, springhouse and barn are all contributing features to the park's listing on the National Register of Historic Places according to GNMP spokesperson Katie Lawhon. Lawhon said that the property was previously a private residence and that billboards removed from the site in June. "Even though there is a Congressionally authorized boundary of the park, inside that boundary there is still more than 900 acres of non-protected lands," said Katie Lawhon of the 5,989 acre park. SOURCE