Dritt Mansion & Museum - Wrightsville, PA
N 39° 58.660 W 076° 29.775
18S E 372236 N 4426350
Besides serving as the offices of the Lancaster-York Heritage Region, this NRHP site doubles as a museum. The entire house and tis furnishings are a lesson in history.
Waymark Code: WM9KKE
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/30/2010
Views: 2
The house has ben restored to what is believed its original late 18th century look. The floor boards are new but the stairwell is still original. Some places are modernized like the kitchen a d a few offices but some rooms are left to look period on the first and second floors. The house has announced openings and visitations complete with tours and all sorts of informational pamphlet and interpretives.
The attic and basement was supposed to be closed. I was luck enough to score a visit to the basement which had a curved ceiling and a brick floor which was probably added a hundred years after its initial construction. To make the curved ceiling, the made a huge dirt mound, covered it with cement and then dug it out and voila, ceiling!
This is considered to be a very important property for York County. This formal Georgian styled stone house overlooking the Susquehanna River is located 3 and ½ miles south of Wrightsville along Long Level Road. The building was constructed in 1758, although archaeological evidence suggests an even earlier date of construction. The Meyer family may have constructed it as early as the 1730s as it retains many German influences. The residence served as home to Captain Jacob Dritt from 1783 until his unfortunate drowning death in 1817. Dritt was an officer of the 5th Division of the Pennsylvania Militia and he operated a ferry across the Susquehanna in his later life. He was an astute businessman who transported wine and liquor across the river and was instrumental in the development of Washington Boro in Lancaster County. After his death, his family retained ownership of the house and surrounding land until 1851. The family must have made some improvements to the house including the removal of the pent roofs, construction of a late 19th century front porch and the demolition of a rear kitchen ell. Many of its original features were retained including several mantels and a vaulted basement. The house was used primarily as a rental property and summerhouse through the twentieth century, which in some way helped, preserved its integrity. John and Kathryn Zimmerman purchased the house in 1998 and began rehabilitating it for their own summer retreat as well as for office space.