Hex Signs Sacred and Celestial Symbolism in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars

A Collaborative Exhibition Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University March 1 - November 3, 2019 A Collaborative Exhibition Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University March 1 - November 3, 2019 Hex Signs: Sacred and Celestial Symbolism in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars is a collaborative effort between Glencairn Museum and the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University. Glencairn invites a diverse audience to engage with religious beliefs and practices, past and present, with the goal of fostering empathy and building understanding among people of all beliefs. The exhibition features items from the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, Special Collections at the Martin Library of Franklin and Marshall College, the Pennsylvania Folklife Society at the Myrin Library of Ursinus College, as well as the private collections of Eric Claypoole, Patrick J. Donmoyer, and the relatives of barn star artist Milton Hill, especially Harold & Esther (Hill) Derr, Lee Heffner, and Bart Hill.

This exhibition catalog is dedicated with gratitude to the memory of barn star artist Milton J. Hill (1887-1972) of Virginville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, and to his wife Gertrude (Strasser) Hill, who supported his work, as well as to his family, especially his daughter Esther (Hill) Derr and her husband Harold Derr; his nephew Bart Hill; his grandson Lee Heffner; his granddaughter Dorian (Derr) Featheroff, and all of his descendants living and departed. A true artist of the stars, Milton Hill’s commitment to the celestial orientation of this unique Pennsylvania art form preserved and continued the folk culture’s traditional views for generations to come.

Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center Glencairn Museum Kutztown University of Pennsylvania 1001 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, PA, 19009 22 Luckenbill Road, Kutztown, PA19530 www.glencairnmuseum.org · 267-502-2600 www.kutztown.edu/pgchc · 610-683-1589 [email protected] © 2019 Patrick J. Donmoyer. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. Sacred & Celestial Symbolism in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars By Patrick J. Donmoyer Nestled in the rolling hills and valleys of Just as humanity has marveled at the stars in the southeastern Pennsylvania, a cultural treasure sky throughout history, and sought some sense of lies hidden in plain sight. Vibrant murals of meaningful interpretation of their order and light, so stars, sunbursts, and moons painted in vivid too have these folk art depictions of the stars evoked colors punctuate the exteriors of the generously- a sense of wonder in all who behold them. For the proportioned barns of the Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Dutch they are part of the fabric of life, but for those from outside of the Dutch country in a manner that community, the stars are thought to is unique among American be representative of that which artistic traditions. Complex, is otherworldly, mysterious, geometric, yet deceptively or supernatural. simple, these abstract Between these two representations of different views, the heavenly bodies history of the folk once saturated the art barn stars has rural landscape, been the subject and now serve as of debate for cultural beacons nearly a century, of the robust and and is only now persistent presence beginning to take of the Pennsylvania shape yet again as Dutch, who once Pennsylvanians in the present settled and still day not only maintain a strong rediscover the art presence in the form, but also strive region. to preserve their open The residents of these spaces and agricultural quiet rural communities communities. It is regard the stars as something abundantly clear, however, to be cherished, yet perfectly that no matter how the stars have been celebrated, interpreted, ordinary - an agricultural expression commercialized, or appropriated of folk art, and as commonplace as eating pie. throughout the centuries by inhabitants and visitors Nevertheless, for the outside world, the barn stars, alike, their history is inextricably linked to the also commonly called hex signs, have captured the Pennsylvania barns themselves, and the Pennsylvania American imagination as generations of visitors to Dutch folk culture that built the barns, transformed the region marvel at the seamless integration of art the landscape, and continues to persevere in an ever- into the agrarian countryside. changing world. Weathered Barn Star, Windsor Castle, Berks County, ca. 1920. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University, Gift of Bart Hill, Nephew of Milton Hill. This restored sixteen-pointed star is one of a series from a barn in Windsor Castle, Berks County. Due to the star’s complexity, it was attributed to the work of the prolific barn star artist Milton Hill who painted extensively in the immediate area. These stars were likely painted in the early twentieth century, but show patterns of highly pronounced relief, produced by the sun’s weathering of the wooden barn siding. 3 A Classic Decorated Pennsylvania Barn, Albany Township, Berks County, ca. 1850, courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. The barn standing at the location of the Old Ida Bond Hotel was last painted in the 1980’s by Jonny and Eric Claypoole of Lenhartsville, Berks County. The barn is a classic mid-nineteenth century Pennsylvania barn, featuring arches over the doors, and four twelve-pointed stars across the barn’s forebay siding. No longer visible are three sets of arches over the windows, with three crosses within the arches. A Survey of the Region region has diminished, leaving behind fragmented rural landscapes. Although the decorated barns of the region have It was with these dramatic changes in mind been photographed and documented in numerous that I embarked on a journey to comprehensively waves over the years, beginning in the first half of document all decorated barns in Berks and Lehigh the twentieth century,1 the landscape is in a state of constant change. Until recently, no comprehensive counties—the heartland of the tradition—and surveys of the region’s decorated barns had taken to continue beyond the counties’ borders into place since the 1950s,2 when the tradition was still Northern Montgomery, Northampton, Upper very much in its hey-day and farming communities Bucks, Southern Schuylkill, Eastern Lebanon, and were substantially more stable. Due to rapid Northern Lancaster counties. As an artist myself, I land development, suburbanization, changes in felt compelled to document this cultural and artistic ownership, and economic circumstances, the range phenomenon before significant portions of the work of visual expression in Pennsylvania barns of the was lost to memory. 4 Map of Southeastern Pennsylvania, courtesy of the Library of Congress. Photos of stars by Patrick Donmoyer. Southeastern Pennsylvania is home to two distinct concentrations of barn decorations, defined by geographical features that separate the region. Star patterns are predominant along the Blue Mountain, part of the Appalachian Mountain Range bordering Berks, North- ern Lehigh and Schuylkill counties. Floral motifs are found throughout the Lehigh Valley, which spans Northampton, Lehigh, Bucks, and Montgomery counties. Barn stars are rarely found west of the Susquehanna, except for traditional wooden applique stars found in Bedford, Somerset, and Washington counties.

I set to work advocating for the support of a Although I had expected to document an artistic present-day survey of the region, and received tradition in decline—and that was precisely what I research funding through the Peter Wentz Farmstead found in some areas—I was surprised and delighted Society of Montgomery County, which awards to find that the sheer number of decorated barns in the Albert T. and Elizabeth Gamon Scholarship Berks alone had outstripped previous estimates for to support studies in Pennsylvania Dutch culture. the whole region.4 I documented over 400 decorated Although I had already started photographing barns barns in 2008 with the majority in Northern Berks, as early as 2006, in the summer of 2008 I set out with and have added scores from neighboring counties atlases, and systematically drove every public road ever since, tallying over 500 for the total region. The in Berks County to photograph and document the epicenter of the barn star region is geographically locations of decorated barns with original barn star located in Kutztown, with the overwhelming paintings.3 majority of the total tradition within a 30 mile radius. 5 Most surprising of all was the fact that these The Pennsylvania Dutch numbers continue to increase by as many as half a dozen barns a year, as active artists, such as Eric The Pennsylvania Dutch are the present-day Claypoole of Lenhartsville, as well as property descendants of several waves of German-speaking owners, continue to paint barn stars in the immigrants from central Europe region. This is a sign of a healthy folk beginning at the tail end of the tradition, and one that is currently 17th century, up until the time in no danger of disappearing of the American Revolution, from the landscape altogether. While the value of a survey is and shortly thereafter. These to create a snapshot in time, immigrants came from this survey has become a German-speaking regions living record, including of what is today Germany, both the occasional loss of a including the Rhineland- historic barn, as well as the Pfalz, Rhine-Hesse, and documentation of a living Baden Württemburg, as tradition that continues to well as parts of Switzerland, shape the landscape in new Alsace, France, and as far and exciting ways. east as Silesia in Poland and As with all forms of the Czech Republic.5 research, an understanding of Fleeing the economic, the barns was only possible through social, and religious disruptions close cooperation with the cultural of perpetual warfare throughout the community of the Pennsylvania Dutch. As a continent, these agrarian people departed native of Lebanon County, with roots in Berks, and Europe through the corridor of the Rhine River as a speaker of the Pennsylvania Dutch language, my research is based not only in surveying the Valley, and arrived at ports in Philadelphia barns, but also in exploring the cultural and New York before settling memory of the region through southeastern Pennsylvania. Upon oral histories, interviews, their arrival in the New World, primary source documents, they were required to swear an and continued dialog with oath of loyalty to the British the elders of the community Crown, and their English and the families of property neighbors referred to them owners and artists. It is as “Dutchmen”—a word through this lens that the that originally applied cultural significance and to the broader family of social history of the art German-speaking people form is best understood, from European territories.6 and in doing so we can reach a better understanding of the Beginning with the folk culture of the Pennsylvania founding of Germantown in Dutch. 1683, and spreading throughout Above: A classic eight-pointed star, Albany Township, the region, the Pennsylvania Berks County. Dutch settled much of what is today Below: A Lehigh County star, including raindrop shapes and floral the counties of Berks, Lehigh, Schuylkill, petal border characteristic of the region. Lower Macungie, Lehigh Northampton, Northern Montgomery, Upper County. Bucks, Lancaster, Lebanon, and beyond. Their Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. distinctive agriculture, religious expression, arts and 6 Twenty-Four Original Barn Stars, Surveys of Berks, Lehigh, Schuylkill, and Montgomery Counties. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. Barn decorations exist in a wide diversity of forms, drawing upon celestial imagery blended with floral geometry. While the influence of specific artists can be clearly seen in certain communities, as a whole the entire region displays a broad range of patterns, colors, and proportions. Star patterns occur most commonly in eight, six, twelve, and four pointed varieties, with numerous border styles and articulations between each point. Floral patterns combine lobed points, raindrop shapes in a variety of configurations, and borders suggesting the petals of a blossom. architecture, industry, and trades, have shaped and What originally unified them, in all their been shaped by the broader American experience as diverse creeds and places of origin, was the German these immigrants and their descendants migrated language, spoken in a wide variety of distinctive throughout the United States and into Southern dialects at the time of immigration. This coalesced Appalachia and the Shenandoah Valley, the Midwest into the spoken vernacular language of Deitsch, and the Ozarks, the West Coast, and Ontario, or Pennsylvania Dutch, a distinctive American Canada. hybrid that is similar in structure and sound to The majority of the Pennsylvania Dutch the Palatine dialects of High German today, along established communities organized around Lutheran with an admixture of Swiss elements and English and Reformed congregations. Only roughly four loan-words. Pennsylvania Dutch is spoken by over percent were members of sectarians groups, consisting of Anabaptist and Pietist Communities, 400,000 people in North America today, and it is including the plain communities of the Amish, the considered one of the fastest growing small minority Mennonites, as well the German Baptist Brethren languages in the United States, with the core of its and the Moravians. Less than one percent were speakers in the plain communities of the Old Order Roman Catholics.7 Amish and Mennonites.8 7 However distinct the plain communities may be they know that their work would one day capture the in the American public imagination of today, these interest of people across the United States, and come groups once formed only a relatively small portion to symbolize Pennsylvania Dutch culture as a whole. of the Pennsylvania Dutch population, while the Large and bold enough to be seen from Lutheran and Reformed families who across fields and valleys, barn stars embraced American fashions and 9 appear in series across the façades customs were the majority. It and gable ends of barns and was from this broader cultural outbuildings, serving as focal group that the tradition of points in the farmscapes of the decorated barns proceeds, Pennsylvania Dutch. These culled from a vibrant past elaborate geometric murals, and rendered in colorful when paired together folk art expression into the with decorative painted present day. trim, accent an otherwise ordinary agricultural Art of the Barn building, elevating it beyond mere utility to the As a living tradition, level of folk art. Many of these barn star painters have graced designs are celestial, depicting the landscape of southeastern sunbursts and geometric stars of Pennsylvania with their artistic varying numbers of points. Other presence for centuries. No one knows designs are floral, featuring radial who the first artists were and precisely when bursts of petals in organic patterns. These two they began to paint stars on the wooden siding of types of motifs form the basic visual vocabulary of 10 Pennsylvania barns. They were likely farmers, Pennsylvania’s barn decorations. carpenters, builders, and tradesmen who These classic geometric star painted as a secondary occupation. patterns have been called a variety Over time, their art inspired the of names over the years, even classic arrangements of stars, within the predominantly painted arches, and decorative Pennsylvania Dutch borders that characterize the communities where the rural landscape. Although tradition originates.11 In the first artists kept no the local vernacular, these records of their work, wrote motifs have been called no firsthand accounts, Schtanne (stars), a term and even their names are descriptive of their angular, lost to the sands of time, radial forms as abstract, their story is preserved geometric representations in the nineteenth-century of heavenly bodies. Another barns which still stand proudly name in Pennsylvania Dutch throughout the region. Little did is Blumme (flowers), suggesting the very same geometry that is Above: An eight-pointed star within a star, characteristic of also commonly found in the delicate the Northern Berks-Lehigh border. blossoms of the terrestrial sphere. In keeping with Bottom: An eight-pointed star with raindrops between each star point, painted in the classic Lehigh Valley color scheme this notion of plant geometry, barn decorations in of red, white, and black. Upper Milford Township, County. this region also feature distinctive rain-drop shapes Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. 8 between each point of the radial patterns. These are Sacred & Celestial Geometry combined in ways that suggest certain floral species, and were once occasionally called Paralleling the wide variety of Lillye (lilies) or Dullebaane (tulips).12 barn star motifs and designs, there Although these Pennsylvania has been a diversity of associations Dutch terms predominated and meanings for the various star long before English terms were patterns throughout the centuries. commonly used, nevertheless the While artists and barn owners barn decorations are widely known alike see the stars as alternately as “hex signs” – an idea that did “decorative,” “representative,” not originate among the folk, but “symbolic,” or all of the above, first appeared in tourism literature very few resist the idea that the of the early twentieth century.13 These star patterns have represented many outsider theories promoted the spurious different things throughout the generations. claim that the stars served the sole purpose Just as humans throughout the ages have of protection from the supernatural. projected countless interpretations Although these accounts were upon the orderly movements highly imaginative and lacking of the celestial sphere, so too any basis in fact, they were have the artistic renderings nevertheless some of the of these celestial bodies on very first travelogues Pennsylvania barns been written about the decorated the subject of a wide variety Pennsylvania barns, of interpretations, theories, which served to introduce and organizing principles. American audiences to the folk art of Pennsylvania. While some historic barn star painters resisted Nevertheless, these the idea that the star patterns stars of seemingly infinite variety, color, and form, tell had any inherent literal an altogether different story of meaning, others embraced a very the vibrant artistic, agricultural, and basic form of visual symbolism that spiritual traditions of the Pennsylvania parallels many aspects of the folk culture Dutch. Barn stars were not expressions of in Pennsylvania, as well as in Europe, where “superstition” as the tourist literature similar designs appear in folk art and suggested, but abstract images of architecture. Certain contemporary the heavens, refined by generations Above: An eight-pointed star with maltese of artistic interest in geometry cross pattern in the center. Jackson Township, and agricultural interest in the Lebanon County. stars. These beacons of celestial Middle: A twelve-pointed star recently restored by artist Eric Claypoole, with interlacing border order and heralds of the annual and circular motifs between each star point, progression of the seasons were composed of two of the raindrop shapes common in the Lehigh Valley. Albany Township, Berks once an essential part of the folk- County. cultural world view, and the inspiration Bottom: A four-pointed star from the Berks-Lehigh for artistic expressions that permeated border with symmetrical arrangements of raindrops, the material culture and architecture of suggesting the opening of a flower. District Township, Berks County. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. Pennsylvania.14 9 Historic Bucks County Barn, Photograph by Guy F. Reinert, ca. 1950, Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. This barn once stood in Bucks County, near the border with Lehigh and Montgomery, and was painted by the prolific Noah Weiss (1842-1907), a hotel proprietor, wood carver, and folk artist of the Lehigh Valley. Weiss had no formal training, but was a master carver and painter, producing religious scenes of biblical stories for the walls of his hotel. He was also an innovative designer whose elaborate barn stars featured intricate raindrop patterns in radial formations that have become classic in the Lehigh Valley. painters, such as Eric Claypoole of Lenhartsville, of the twelve apostles with a solid red circle in the Berks County, draw upon oral history in the region center to symbolize Jesus Christ, while still others to describe what the stars may represent numerically. have compared the twelve points to the twelve tribes On the most basic level, many associated meanings of Israel.15 are based upon the number of star points or other Other examples of numerical significance visual elements. However, since the numbers do not that are religious in nature include the six-pointed have a single, fixed meaning, but are associated with star - as a symbol of the six biblical days of creation a wide variety of concepts, the numerology of the in Judeo-Christian tradition; the five-pointed star barn star is also thought to express a wide variety of corresponding to the five wounds of Christ; the cosmological or religious ideas. seven-pointed star representing the six days of For instance, some have considered four- creation plus the Sabbath day of rest; the nine- pointed figures to be expressions of the four seasons, pointed star as the manifestation of the Holy Spirit or the cardinal points of the compass, while others in the nine “fruits of the spirit” in the Book of have attributed the four-pointed star to the Christian Galatians; and the eight-pointed star as a reference concept of the cross. This alternately cosmological to resurrection, as Christ rose on the first day of the and religious significance of numbers is also applied next week following his death, or the eighth day, to the pattern of the twelve-pointed star, which signifying renewal and a new beginning. according to some is illustrative of the twelve These classic Christian interpretations of months, and according to others is representative geometric figures are widespread in church liturgical 10 Historic Lehigh County Barn, Photography by William Ferrell, ca. 1940, Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University Once called “the most decorated” in the region,this barn is located in New Smithville, Lehigh County close to the border with Berks. The front forebay wall features three pairs of six-pointed repeating star patterns. Each door and window is crowned with a star and a pair of moons. On each gable end, there is a triad of star patterns with a small star in a white triangle appearing to shine down from just under the pinnacle of the roof, as if the other stars were projections of its light. symbols and architecture,16 but have never been the week are not only a measurement of time specific uniformly accepted in their entirety as part of to biblical literature, but are also connected with the Pennsylvania’s folk culture. Protestant communities seven visible planets of the ancients, who named in early Pennsylvania deliberately avoided the the days of the week after these celestial bodies. continuation of Roman Catholic symbolic emblems, Likewise, the number twelve is not only the number and only later accepted these ideas when Protestant of the establishment of earthly spiritual authority churches in America intentionally reintegrated and organization through the Apostles, it is also the such liturgical elements during the Victorian gothic number of the signs of the zodiac, the twelve-fold revival. However, these ideas certainly held some division of the solar year. In this same manner, the appeal among the Pennsylvania Dutch of the late four-pointed star can symbolize the four elements nineteenth century, who treasured their highly and physical manifestation, and the eight-pointed ornamented Victorian family Bibles, and eventually star, the cardinal and intermediate points of the replaced many of their small, austere meetinghouse compass, defined by the annual progression of the churches with the rural and urban American sun.18 17 equivalents of cathedrals. Although many of the celestial patterns For barn star patterns, however, numerological found on Pennsylvania barns have held countless religious meanings are complementary and are symbolic associations over the centuries, their use as interwoven with cosmological significance, such as traditional decorative motifs has remained constant in the case of the number seven. The seven days of both in Europe and the New World. 11 The Barn at Grim Manor, Maxatawny Township, Berks County. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. A classic Berks County arrangement of stars, painted trim and decorative borders. Although the stars are not locally believed to serve a protective func- tion, the three crosses above windows and doorways are not merely a decorative scheme, but a blessing of the structure. The Decorated the Old World, and is a distinctly American in its evolution and form. Indigenous to Pennsylvania, yet Pennsylvania Barn informed by centuries of agricultural production, this barn was developed as a practical solution to the It was once commonly believed that the barn needs of a variety of immigrant groups farming the stars first appeared on the landscape with the advent of commercially available ready-mixed paints and Pennsylvania countryside. the widespread establishment of painting crews in Drawing upon architectural traditions of Europe, the late nineteenth century.19 We know today that the eighteenth-century German and English-speaking earliest stars were painted generations prior, when immigrants from Central Europe and the British paints were mixed by the artists from old recipes Isles had built a variety of barns in the fertile valleys combining oils, pigments, and raw materials that of Pennsylvania before settling upon a New World were both locally available and imported for sale. form that revolutionized farming in early America.21 Thus the availability of paint was never a limiting Standing separate from the home, the Pennsylvania factor in the painting of barn stars,architectural barn was a two-level hybrid engineered for diversified 20 elements, or decorated furniture. farming operations. Banked into the gently sloping The Pennsylvania barn was the veritable landscape, the lower level consisted of stables for canvas of agricultural expression. This distinctive dairy cows and draft horses, and the upper level was architectural structure was unlike anything in divided into bays or work areas dedicated to grain 12 The Blümlisalp Chalet, constructed in 1571, in Aeschi, Canton Solothurn in Switzerland. A decorated folk-house, bearing sunburst and rosette pat- terns, as well as running borders, and the following inscription: “Highest Lord above us, with your graceful hand protect our house and village from sickness, storm, and fire, Amen.” And elsewhere on the same structure: “It is not in the field nor in the trees, but it must germinate in the heart, if one is to become better.” From Gilfian Maurer, Hausinschriften in Schweitzerland. Spiez: Verlag G. Maurer AG. processing and storage, copious space for hay and European Precedents straw, and the housing and loading of wagons. This new Pennsylvania barn combined the Considering the point of origin for the ancestors distinctive cantilevered overhang, or forebay, of of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Pfalz or Palatinate Swiss dairy barns, and the convenience of a banked, region provides surprisingly little or almost no ramped access to the second story shared by both direct correspondences, either in barn types or English and Swiss barns. These two identifying barn decorations that compare to Pennsylvania. features – the forebay and the bank ramp – served to These European barns differ dramatically from the Pennsylvania barn and are typically neither banked set the Pennsylvania barn apart from other types of into the earth nor equipped with a cantilevered barns in early America. The framing largely followed overhang of the second story. The barns of the English patterns, but the form was distinctively Palatinate are constructed largely of stone, and Germanic, and often referred to early on as a “Swiss leave no large expanses of wooden siding upon barn” or a “Pennsylvania German bank barn.” which to decorate.22 Such barns are often connected As integrating features, barn stars are not simply structurally to the farmhouse as part of a courted decorations applied to the barn, but an important farm complex or Hof, and clustered in small part of the overall architectural plan that visually rural towns, rather than scattered throughout the connects and completes the appearance and function landscape as in Pennsylvania. As a by-product of the of the structure. medieval era, rural and urban spaces are blended in 13 Stars in the Architectural Traditions of the Palatinate in Rhineland-Pfalz and Rhine-Hesse, Germany. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. Clockwise from top left: A door panel carved with six-pointed rosettes, Keiserslautern; rosettes an a cross on the ventillators of the fifteenth-century St. Martin’s Catholic Church, Ober-Olm; 1891 house blessing inscription for Jos[eph] and Katherina (Theobald) Bootz, Oberalben; a rosette on the eave of a half-timbered home in Romersheim; an arched farmyard gate, featuring a sunrise, Oberalben; a whirling swastika on a home in Romersheim; a house blessing inscription for Karl and Katherina (Gilcher) Helm, 1883, Oberalben. 14 the European countryside in a way that is unknown outer worlds, separating the public and private, in Pennsylvania, and the barns bear no large murals these inscriptions serve as public dedications of stars (or anything else for that matter) to set them of establishment and blessings of the house and apart from other buildings in the landscape. occupants. While these blessing inscriptions are Nevertheless, the same basic star patterns diverse in format and structure, common themes emerge as a common theme in the Rhineland are present throughout the tradition, indicating a countryside with a close inspection of the timber number of parallel approaches to the dedication of framing of homes, painted and carved furniture, a building. Some of these European blessings are the stonework of churches, cemeteries and tombs, no more than date-stones, capturing the specifics and the widespread use of architectural inscriptions. of the time of construction, while others are literary Although smaller and more subtle than the large and religious, alternately invoking divine protection barn stars of Pennsylvania, these carved, painted or offering some inspirational message for those or inscribed stars are often found in significant passing by. locations, above doors and windows in centuries- Two excellent examples of these blessing old town houses, carved into arches and fenestration inscriptions, written in tandem with circular star of city gates and churches, inscribed into the eaves patterns remarkably similar in form and scale to or upper gables of timber-frame buildings, or the barn stars of Pennsylvania, adorn the façade of integrated into elaborate house blessings. a 16th-century Swiss folkhouse in Aeschi, But just as elements of the architecture Canton Solothurn. Folkhouses are of the Pennsylvania barn can be traced massive alpine farm dwellings to parts of Switzerland, so too are combining the house, barn, stables, Swiss alpine farmsteads, called and grain storage under one roof folkhouses,23 some of the most for convenience during the harsh decorated structures in Europe, winter weather. The Blümlisalp combining a wide variety of Chalet folkhouse, built in 1571, house inscriptions, geometric bears the following prayerful motifs, religious emblems, and inscription: heraldry, or family crests. This Herr Höchster über uns mit deiner combination of decorative and Gnaden Hand beschutz uns Haus und religious elements produces a Dorf vor Krankheit, Sturm und Brand, decidedly different aesthetic than Amen. (Highest Lord above us, with your the barns of Pennsylvania, but the basic graceful hand protect our house and village star patterns are still present, suggesting from sickness, storm, and fire, Amen.)25 the likelihood of a common origin.24 Elsewhere on the same structure, an inspirational The appearance of celestial elements on inscription is also proudly displayed in letters large architectural inscriptions is perhaps the most enough to be read from a short distance: intriguing aspect of the European connection to Pennsylvania’s barn stars. Often featuring stars, Nicht im Feld und auf den Bäumen, in den Herzen muss dates, the names of the founding family or builder, es keimen, wann es besser werden soll. (It is not in the and mottos or religious poetry, European house and field nor in the trees, but it must germinate in the heart, barn inscriptions are the intersection point of the if one is to become better.) religious and the mundane, and the integration of These two inscriptions characterize two primary belief into the domestic and agricultural spheres. genres of architectural blessing inscriptions in Located above the front door or façade of the Europe, namely, those which serve to invoke the house, at the transition between the inner and the protection of the divine, and those which serve to inspire righteous living. An elaborate rosette on the back of a nineteenth-century chip-carved chair from the Palatinate, from the collection of the Mennonite Research Echoing the house-name of the Blümlisalp Center, Mennonitische Forschungsstelle Weierhof, Germany. folkhouse in Aeschi, named after a so-called “floral” peak in the Bernese Alps, its latter message, that 15 Above (clockwise from the top left): A spread of circular house and barn blessing plaques —An 1820 barn star from Perry Township, Berks County; an elaborate star from the 1801 Isaac Bieber Homestead, near Kutztown, Maxatawny Township, Berks County; an 1805 star on a Georgian farmhouse, Oley Valley, Berks County; a six-pointed star in plaster on a mill in Northern Lehigh County; a sixteen-pointed star painted on a plaster farmhouse medallion, ca. 1780, Upper Frederick Township, Montgomery County; 1816 Peter Solomon Steckel House, Egypt, North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County; 1819 barn star on the Kistler barn, Greenwich Township, Berks County; an eight-pointed star in plaster on a farmhouse in Upper Macungie, Lehigh County; 1813 Joseph Peter barn, Washington Township, Lehigh County. Bottom: Paired house blessings painted on wooden plaques on the 1819 farmhouse of Johannes and Anna Maria Bolman, and their son Jorg Bolman, Millcreek Township, Lebanon County. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. 16 all true betterment must proceed from the heart, Architectural Blessings makes use of a botanical metaphor, comparing the refinement of the human soul to the blossoming of & the Earliest Barn Stars a flower. This clever connection may also shed light on two large geometric designs situated directly Among the earliest expressions of Pennsylvania’s below the gable of the roof, which appear to blend folk art stars still extant in today’s landscape are those which appear in the domestic and sacred both floral and celestial geometry, just as the two architecture of the first communities established by inscriptions alternately appeal to righteous living on the Pennsylvania Dutch in the southeastern part of earth and the protection of the heavens. the state. While these two classic examples of European In a similar manner to European blessing house blessing inscriptions are positively rife with inscriptions, early examples of painted architectural symbolism of the sacred, not all European blessings medallions emblazoned with stars appear on early offer such detailed explanations to accompany architecture along corridors of early settlement the geometric visual depictions of floral stretching from Northern Montgomery and celestial patterns found with County clear to the Blue Mountain them. Just like Pennsylvania’s ridge bordering Berks County barn stars, some of the to the north. Featuring alpine Swiss decorated colorful geometric patterns folkhouses feature large in combination with early star or floral patterns dates, initials, or even with no accompanying full names, these early text to lend meaning to structures run the the art. Nevertheless, gamut of architectural such stars are often expression – everything placed in locations that from houses built in the suggest a silent blessing late eighteenth century, to the structure, such as to early nineteenth- century barns and under the roof overhang 26 or at the upper gable mills. apex, simulating the starry With elaborate heavens above. examples located in Berks, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Similar uses of stars are Northampton counties, some of the found in the alpine architecture of most notable of these star medallions Switzerland and Austria, and along the occur on English Georgian farmhouses on border with northern Italy, as well as in Alsace, the upper gable apex. One of the earliest of these France, bordering the Rhine to the west, and across Georgian houses, located in Upper Frederick the Rhine in the Black Forest of Germany. While no Township, Montgomery County, features two sixteen- one region of Europe can claim to be the single point pointed stars with split points in contrasting green of origin of the Pennsylvania Dutch culture, such is and white painted on plastered medallions on either also the case for the Pennsylvania barn star. Just as of the upper gables. While no dates or names can be the Pennsylvania Dutch proceed from a wide variety found on this particular dwelling, which dates to the of European roots to form a distinctly American 1780s, a central circle in the middle of the star is large culture, currents of artistic expressions from many enough to have featured a date. This is comparable regions poured into Pennsylvania to create new to another star found on a nearby barn in Douglass artistic traditions in America. Township which bears the remnants of a six-pointed Above: An elaborate house blessing plaque dated 1820, with painted faux-brick border from North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County. Courtesy of Eric Claypoole. 17 rosette with a central circle of the same size, inside inscriptions records the names of revolutionary of which is a date from the 1780s that is weathered soldier Johannes Bolman and his wife Anna Maria beyond full legibility. This latter example occurs on Bolman, who settled near Millbach on the border an original wooden date-board set into the masonry of Lancaster and Lebanon counties following the of the gable end of an English bank barn, which was receipt of Johannes’s compensation after the war. This modified with the addition of a forebay to match the property was established for the purpose of sustaining local Pennsylvania barns favored by the Pennsylvania each subsequent generation, and Johannes and Anna Dutch. Maria’s son Jorg’s name appeared on a plaque adjacent In both of these early Montgomery County to the one recording his parents’ names. On each of examples, it is clear that Pennsylvania Dutch people these plaques, flowers and rosette stars connected by created a hybrid of English architectural styles vines burst forth from an urn, a symbol of growth, and Germanic features, reinforcing the notion emergence, and renewal, paralleling the intentions of that the culture was formed from a culmination of the house blessing plaques. Pennsylvania’s diverse communities. These early The most celebrated of all of these architectural forerunners to the barn stars must be considered in medallions is the 1819 barn blessing attributed to this light – not as a transplant of European artistry, the Kistler family of Greenwich Township, Berks but as something formed of new American identities. County.27. This painted wooden medallion is in all Dozens of these medallion plaques exist, respects a highly developed forerunner to the with scattered examples in remnants distinctive star patterns in Northern along the Kings Highway in Berks. Like its peers throughout Lehigh County, in the Oley Lehigh, Northampton, and Valley of Berks County, Montgomery, it was painted and along the base of on a medallion composed the Blue Mountain in of two wide boards stretching through and set into a circular Northampton, and recess in the original Northern Lehigh masonry. There it and Berks. was anchored with A wide ...hand-wrought variety of such nails to hidden inscriptions in Above: This semi-circular house blessing board was salvaged from the upper gable end of “sleeper” boards in alternate formats a stone farmhouse built for John and Lydia Anders in 1849, and originally located near the recess behind can be found on Towamencin, in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County. Courtesy of the Schwenkfelder the medallion. the gables of early Library and Heritage Center. Glencairn staff photo. A six-pointed nineteenth-century houses and barns throughout star with a central pinwheel of alternating colors, Pennsylvania. These include semi-circular date framed within a border of three concentric circles, boards featuring images of the rising sun in Northern bears a striking resemblance to the classic barn stars Lehigh, arched and rectangular plaques presenting painted with eight, twelve, and six points throughout stars and floral motifs along the border of Berks and the region. An inscription fills the spaces between Lebanon Counties, as well as semi-circular or oval- each star point with initials and a date, reading “S shaped plaques displaying images of stars or the K 1819 M K” – honoring the husband and wife Federal Eagle in the corridor of the Perkiomen Valley who established the farm property. Although it is spanning Berks, Lehigh, and Montgomery, and Bucks possible that the initials were for Samuel J. and Maria counties. Elizabeth (Ladich) Kistler, buried at the nearby Some of these plaques and their dated inscriptions Jerusalem Union Cemetery in Stony Run, records highlight the sense of pride of ownership present in the from this time are scant and cannot be confirmed.28 decades immediately following the Revolution, and Nevertheless, this inscription outlines the function of the emergence of a new American identity in the era the earliest barn stars in the region as a colorful means of the Early Republic. One such pair of house blessing to commemorate the establishment of a property. 18 The evidence of dozens of these earliest barn stars series of stones along the upper eave of the façade, suggests that they were mostly produced within to the listing the names of the church builders, masons, half-century following the American Revolution and and carpenters, along with a series of rosettes.31 no examples are known to exist after 1840. Perhaps Within this particular context the rosette and the this is because these early architectural blessings were keystone suggest a thoughtful, intentional, religious entirely dependent upon the stone construction of significance, although no records exist to verify the the upper gable as a place to anchor the decorative original builders’ reasoning. According to Christian plaques, and when architectural forms changed, the tradition, the keystone itself represents Christ, as format and style of the architectural blessing was the Book of Isaiah pronounces: “Behold, I place a adapted into the barn stars we recognize today. stone in Zion.”32 Psalm 118 describes “the stone the builders rejected is become the chief corner stone,” Sacred Architecture interpreted by Christians as prophecy of the coming 33 Even earlier than the oldest examples of house of Christ as the foundation of the church. and barn blessings, images of stars and flowers The rosette takes this significance a step further, emerge from the landscape as central symbols of evoking the star that signified the birth of Christ in sacred architecture. Especially among Protestant Bethlehem to the Magi,34 and again in the Book of congregations, celestial images served as focal points Revelation: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you of early churches constructed as this testimony for the churches: I am meetinghouses of the the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Georgian and 35 Federal styles, Morning Star.” where crosses ...Alternately, were not used the form of the to identify.... rosette has also their Christian been compared to the image of faith. For these 36 early American the lily, which congregations,.... graced the pillars of many of whom the Temple of King sought to distance Solomon, and elsewhere themselves from the refers to the renewal of A six-pointed rosette on the carved keystone the world by the coming cathedrals of the Roman above the door of the 1767 New Hanover Lutheran Church, of the Messiah: “I will be as Catholic establishment in serving the oldest continuous German Lutheran congregation in the dew unto Israel: he shall Old Europe, the cross was America, located in New Hanover Townsip, Montgomery County. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. grow as the lily, and cast forth thought to represent one’s his roots as Lebanon.”37 The internal faith journey, but 29 builders of the New Hanover Lutheran Church were was intentionally avoided as an emblem of the faith. likely familiar with these popular biblical passages. Instead, a number of early Pennsylvania churches featured six-pointed rosette stars on the structures In a similar manner in Central Pennsylvania in strikingly prominent locations. the Great Conewago Presbyterian Congregation established Henderson’s Meetinghouse for Scotch- Among these early churches are the 1768 New Irish families and some Pennsylvania Dutch who Hanover Lutheran Church in Montgomery County, settled in Adams County, and the structure included constructed for the earliest German Lutheran a large slate medallion featuring a six-pointed congregation in the United States, organized in 30 rosette along with the date of 1787 and the name of 1700. The building features a six-pointed rosette Joseph Henderson, the founder. The prominence of on a carved keystone above the main entrance, the rosette in the dedication stone suggests that the along with an inscription honoring the names of the Calvinists may have ascribed similar meaning to the builders. In a similar manner, the 1806 Swamp Union rosette. Church of Reinholds, Lancaster County, features a 19 Stars were also prominent in the churches of Gravestones Europe, where many chapels and country churches were painted with star-ceilings depicting the These early gravestones commonly record the canopy of the heavens complete with planets and biographical descriptions of the lives of the faithful constellations, as well as the sun and moon. These departed, including the dates of birth and death, star-ceilings suggested to those worshipping within the age at the time of death, as well as the names that the sanctuary mirrored the divine organization of spouses or parents, the number of children, or of the cosmos, as the creation and dwelling place even an occupation or locations of birth and death. of God. Star-ceilings were also documented in These life stories, provided in more or less detail, are Pennsylvania churches, such as the Bern Reformed framed with varying degrees of ornamentation and Church of Bern Township, Berks County; however, none of the original ceilings survive to this day. religious symbolism. Again, the earliest Protestant gravestones Later Federal style churches of the early 39 nineteenth century continued the tradition deliberately avoided the use of the cross, and of integrating star patterns into sacred instead a diverse range of images appeared architecture. The 1815 Belleman’s to serve as reflections of mortality and Union Church in Mohrsville, rebirth. Angels and winged busts Berks County, once featured suggested the messengers of six-pointed rosettes in the heaven and the passage of configuration of clear the spirit of the deceased glass windows on the to the afterlife. Hearts upper gable ends of 38 depicted the seat of the the meetinghouse. human soul and its Similarly, sunbursts capacity to experience once accented the gable windows of both mortal and the 1805 Bindnagel’s divine love, while the Lutheran Church of skull, crossed bones, Palmyra, Lebanon the hourglass, and County. These elements the sickle represented were the standards the death of the body, of Protestant houses and the harvesting of the of worship up until the soul.40 Victorian era, when the Many of these symbolic Gothic Revival reaffirmed the cathedral as a desirable images were pictorial reminders architectural form and the cross once of scriptural passages commonly again returned to church architecture, and read at the graveside, such as the image gradually to rural Pennsylvania communities. of the crown featured in the comforting words of Christ from the Revelation of John, “Be thou One might easily observe that some of these faithful unto death, and I will give three a crown of expressions are in keeping with marks and 41 42 ornamentation favored by the building trades, and life,” or the gates of heaven. For the vast majority of that stone masons and woodworkers frequently gravestone symbols, biblical verses both inspired and embellished focal points of buildings or used reinforced the use of particular images, establishing geometric designs in their maker’s marks. However, a standard of meaning with the potential to be easily one need only to look to the church yards and identified and widely recognized. cemeteries to see that such imagery extended beyond Above: The elaborately carved dedication stone featuring a central the realm of the trades and featured prominently rosette and an inscription of the 1787 Joseph Henderson Meeting House, in the symbolism of early gravestones, which were serving the Great Conewago Presbyterian congregation in Adams County. equally an expression of sacred, consecrated space. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. 20 Many early stones feature images of flowers, and surrounded by flowers below, suggesting her especially three blossoms rising out of a funerary soul’s passage from the earthly realm to the celestial urn. This particular motif is commonly accepted as realm of the heavens. a symbol of resurrection, and repetitions of three The stone of Rosina McGartney was carved by invoke the Trinity. But floral patterns as a a prolific anonymous stonecarver of Northern whole have a wide range of possible Lancaster, County who created scores of interpretations, including the gravestones throughout the Cocalico frailty of mortal life as described and Brubaker Valleys. His specialty in the Psalms, “As for man, his was the image of the winged Sophia, days are like grass; he flourishes a symbolic representation of the like a flower of the field;”43 spirit of wisdom favored or represent Christ, the by some Pietist groups in Messiah as described Pennsylvania, especially by the Prophets Hosea the community at the “he shall blossom Ephrata Cloister. The like the lily” or as the carver’s Sophia is often Bridegroom in the crowned with a star, a song of Solomon: “I am blossom, or a flame.46 a rose of Sharon, a lily of In some cases, 44 the valleys.” however, the image The images of of winged busts are flowers also suggest the to represent the soul’s earthly realm of mortals, transformation, as in where in some gravestone certain stones in the Cocalico carvings the flowers are Valley of Lancaster,47 which depicted at ground level, depict a bust of the deceased with a shining star above. on the west side of the One such gravestone, stone, and the same bust, in the cemetery of Zion complete with wings on the Evangelical Lutheran east side. These directions Church in Manheim, align with the most Lancaster County, common orientation for was carved for Rosina gravestones: facing east, in McGartney, infant the direction of Jerusalem daughter of John and and the rising of the sun, Elizabeth McGartney, echoing the symbolism who was born and died of Christ’s death and on the same day: May resurrection. 27, 1784.45 This tragedy Carvings of rising inspired the carved image suns are also common, on the stone, depicting the as well as images of the soul of the departed little waning moon, a symbol of girl under the illumination the mortal soul committed of a single star from above to the earth.48 Stars and

Above: Early Gravestone of Rosina McGartney, Courtesy of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Manheim, Lancaster County. This intricately carved headstone reads: “Departed this life, Rosina McGartney, the daughter of John McGartney & Elizabeth his wife, born and departed May 27, 1784.” This tragic inscription is now only partially legible, having been worn away by the elements over time. 21 rosettes are among the most common gravestone part of an art form recognized today as Fraktur, images, depicting the beacons of the heavens, and named after the particular style of blackletter symbols of divine order. calligraphic writing called Frakturschrift. Rarely do such illustrated stones offer an The images accompanying these calligraphic inscription to elaborate upon the beliefs which documents have received much attention over the undergird the images. One such stone, at Emanuel past century as manifestations of art poised at the Lutheran Church in Brickerville, depicts a personified intersection between symbolic, social, and religious image of the sun and moon and two rosettes carved narratives. Although Fraktur scriveners and artists in relief, along with a series of incised stars, and the did not always provide overt visual and textual English-language inscription: relationships, certain examples provide powerful God my redeemer lives, reminders of the way that such illustrations frame the Who often from the skies, sacred experience with images of the natural world Looks down, and and the heavens above - two Members all my dust till be, essential components of a Shall bid me rise.49 divinely created universe. This cryptic inscription A particularly elaborate confirms that such celestial example that successfully images are neither whimsical integrates image and text or merely polite decorations, into a coherent inspirational but meaningful iconography message is the certificate describing the infinite commemorating the 1771 heavens as the dwelling birth and baptism of place of the divine and part Johann Adam Laux, son of of a sacred, ordered cosmos. Peter and Cathrina Laux, produced on September From 3, 1773 and attributed to Johannes Mayer of The Cradle Bedminster Township, Bucks County.50 The central to The Grave motif of the document This symbolism extends depicts the face of a clock beyond the art of the articulated with Roman churchyard gravestone and numerals and a twelve- equally embraces the highly pointed rosette star, flanked decorated documents on either side by verses from the Book of Psalms: “My celebrating birth and 51 baptism at the very time stands in thy hands,” beginning of life. Featuring and “Behold, my days are as a handbreadth to thee.”52 elaborate images of stars, Bookplate and Birth Record for Marya Wenger angelic messengers, birds, Below the clock stands an FFLP B-125, Rare Book Department, Free Library of Philadelphia. urn from which spring forth and floral patterns, these This highly embellished bookplate commemorates the birth illuminated certificates, or of Marya Wenger on “the 6th of February, in the year 1845.” A blossoms. Geburts- und Taufscheine nine-pointed star, hand-painted in alternating shades of red, Like the early yellow, and blue, is enwrapped in a floral vine. This illuminated (Birth and Baptismal inscription was pasted onto the inside cover of Marya Wenger’s gravestones that carefully certificates), celebrate new New Testament, printed by Scheffer & Beck of Harrisburg in 1848. record the dates of one’s life with depictions of the Testaments and prayer books are among the most personalized birth and death, and a religious items, strengthening their role as tools of daily devotions. heavens and the natural reckoning of the age of world. Such documents are the deceased person in 22 Birth and baptismal certificate for the 1771 birth of Johann Adam Laux, son of Peter and Cathrina Laux, created in 1773 by Johannes Mayer of Bedmin- ster Township, Bucks County. Whereabouts unknown; from William J. Hinke’s History of the Tohickon Union Church, 1925. years, months, and days, the Adam Laux birth and of the document than even “the father and mother of baptismal provides a reflection on the ephemeral this child;” they are listed as the baptismal sponsors, duration of a human life, demonstrating the but their specific names are absent. special emphasis of time in sacred material culture. The care and detail displayed in these records Although the certificate provides only the year of of human life serves as a reminder, not only of the birth, many such documents record not only the particulars of one’s birth, but also the brevity of life. In day, month, and year of birth, but also the sign of the addition, this later consideration is meant to inspire zodiac, and occasionally the ruling planet or phase 53 the living to consider the spiritual condition of their of the moon under which the child was born. lives, and examine their deeds and accomplishments. A birth and baptismal certificate for Benjamin Printed birth and baptismal certificates from the Meyer (1800-1824), son of Heinrich and Mary mid-nineteenth century, produced by the thousands Meyer of Miles Township, Centre County, records throughout Pennsylvania, reflected the shortness of his birth “in the year 1800, on the 26th of August life in these common lines of poetry: around 4 o’clock in the morning, under the Sign 54 Our wasting lives grow shorter still, of the Scorpion.” The celestial images of the six- As months and days increase, pointed rosette stars are notable, considering And every beating pulse we tell, the emphasis placed upon the birth of the child Leaves but the number less. under the constellation of Scorpio. While this is a The Year rolls round and steals away, common feature of both printed and handwritten The breath that first it gave, certificates, it is unusual that this detail is given more Whate’er we do, whate’er we be prominence in the limited space of the central circle We are traveling to the grave. 23 Birth and baptismal certificate for Benjamin Meyer, giving the precise hour and sign of the zodiac under which the child was born on August 26, 1800 at 4 o’clock in the morning, under the sign of the scorpion, in Miles Township, Centre County. Courtesy of the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center. Glencairn staff photo. Infinite joy or endless woe He can give and he can take, to each as it pleases Attends on every breath, him.” The blessing inscription is enclosed in an And yet how unconcern’d we go, arched cartouche, topped with a simple pattern Upon the brink of dead! composed of four whirling rain-drop shapes.56 Waken, O Lord! Our drowsy sense, This emblem was once one of the most popular To walk this dangerous road; images in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, and featured And if our souls are hurried hence, prominently on the barns of Montgomery, Lehigh, 55 May they be found with God. and Bucks counties.57 An ancient symbol associated While these reflections may at first appear to with good luck, the Swastika comes from the be a morbid intrusion into a document celebrating Sanskrit word for “bringer of good fortune,” and new birth, for centuries among the Pennsylvania was used widely across the world by many cultures Dutch, the anticipation of death began at the very throughout the millennia. This pattern was used beginning of life, when infant and childhood widely in Pennsylvania, and throughout the United mortality was an all too common experience; death States, long before the European adaptation of the claimed equally the young and old, the rich and motif as a German military symbol for the Third poor, without prejudice for one’s achievements or Reich during the Second World War. Nevertheless, station in life. this particular curved, lobed pattern has persisted An elaborate barn blessing near Sinking Spring, in many variations as a barn decoration, as its Berks County, that echoes these sacred sentiments gentle appearance suggests the opening of a flower, was created in 1802 by the stone-mason Heinrich the turning of a fly-wheel, and the sun’s passage of Iertz (Hertz). It reads: “God can build and destroy. time throughout the ages. 24 This whirling wheel parallels the biblical home was somehow elevated above the experience reflections on mortality and the frailty of human of daily life. Instead, it suggests the opposite, that endeavors, presenting an important aspect of the the stars and their artistic representations were a Pennsylvania Dutch folk-cultural worldview in part of everyday life, and that every aspect of life was which the interrelation of life and death, heaven equally deserving of their celestial presence – both and earth, the temporal and the eternal, are all in sacred and mundane. the hands of the divine creator. In each of these instances, the star motifs are not Domestic & Celestial merely placeholders, but evidence of folk art and belief in process. While previous generations of scholars While various forms of celestial symbolism have pointed to the diverse application of celestial are common, and perhaps even expected, in both motifs throughout the culture as an indication that the religious art and sacred objects, the Pennsylvania designs were purely decorative, with no inherent Dutch applied the same motifs on even the meaning,58 on the contrary, the presence of the most mundane of objects. Artists and stars throughout even the most mundane craftspeople carved, embroidered, contexts could suggest that the stars wove, painted, and inscribed the played an important role in same celestial patterns on folk art as a form of social decorated chests, butter- ritual. Celestial motifs were molds, coverlets, spoon- present at an overwhelming racks, spice-boxes, cheese- majority of life’s transitions presses, tapelooms, rifles, in early Pennsylvania, powder horns, musical whether they are found instruments, and on a decorated cradle wood-working at the beginning of life; tools. While on a hand-illuminated this common certificate at baptism; everyday artistic on a decorated blanket expression could chest given to a young at first appear to bride at her wedding; suggest that such on an inscribed blessing motifs held little or stone of a new home; no discernable meaning to the makers and owners of on the façade of a well- such common objects, instead maintained barn; or on such decorated objects the headstones of the communicate a remarkable faithful departed. These sense of thoughtfulness, celestial images followed craftsmanship, and early Pennsylvanians appreciation of the mundane that is essential through life, offering many layers of meaning to to the Pennsylvania Dutch culture. This certainly common human experiences. does not indicate that each and every object in the Interestingly, while many of these traditional Barn Blessing in Plaster, Photo by Guy F. Reinert, ca. 1950. motifs are commonly identified as “stars,” it is rarely Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. considered that the geometric expression of a star is This elaborate barn blessing features floral motifs and a whirling flywheel quite different from the visual form of an actual star, pattern, along with a German inscription: “1802. The Lord can build and he which appears as a point of light in the celestial sphere. can destroy; he can give and he can take to each as it pleases him. Heinrich Hertz, Stone Mason.” Although the barn structure still stands today, the This type of geometric pattern can therefore be called German inscription and symbolic elements are no longer visible. abstract, as opposed to realistic. 25 Haus-Segen (House Blessing) Isaac Palm, Brecknock Township, Lancaster County 1860. This classic house blessing is a reflection on departure from the household, asking the divine in rhyming couplets for protection of the home during one’s absence. The blessing reads in translation: “In God’s name, I go out. O Lord, reign over the house today. Let the lady of the house and my children be commended unto thee, O God…” Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

While they are not strictly representational, these Indeed, even until fairly recently in human abstract designs became widely accepted as images history, the stars in their courses were identified, of the stars over thousands of years of folk-cultural along with the rising and setting of the sun and the use across the globe. This universal identification of phases of the moon, as the clearest indicators of the radial geometric motifs as having celestial qualities passage of time and the belief in a stable, ordered would seem to indicate that elements of the designs universe. It is therefore not surprising that the themselves were inspired by, and directly related to, the observation and experience of the stars. observation and monitoring of the progression of Visual qualities such as symmetry, rotation, balance, the sun, moon, and stars is a central feature in many regularity, and cyclicality point to the celestial traditional, agrarian societies, where celestial activity movement and progression of the stars as the source is believed to directly influence the mechanics of of this inspiration. earthly life. 26 Astronomy activities are charted and interpreted for their influence on the mechanics & The Almanac of earthly life. Each almanac is essentially an annual household As with many agricultural reference booklet, and includes the societies, the Pennsylvania Dutch liturgical church calendar of saints’ possess a well-developed system of days and festivals, charts of the lunar beliefs concerning the movements phases, the day-to-day progression of the heavens and their effects of the zodiac constellations and on earthly processes, as well as planets, as well as calculations for on botanical, animal, and human the appearance of comets, eclipses, affairs. While the bulk of these and other astronomical phenomena. beliefs in Pennsylvania proceed This information was once used to from the European traditions of orchestrate the activities of daily the agricultural almanac, these life into a meaningful and coherent conceptions have been liberally whole, and the almanac is still used blended with religious attitudes. by some farmers and gardeners Thus, the stars in their courses, today.60 along with the rising and setting of the sun and the phases of the Whether in planting or moon, were not only regarded as harvesting, felling trees or tilling the clearest indicators of the passage the soil, baking bread or fermenting of time, but were emblematic of the vinegar, breeding or slaughtering belief in a stable, ordered, sacred livestock, bearing children or universe.59 getting married, there were believed to be appropriate days of the week, The progression of the sun, times of the month, phases of the moon, and stars are a central feature moon, saints’ days, or alignments of in the agricultural almanacs still used celestial bodies which would either in the present day, where celestial positively or negatively affect the

Above: Chip-Carved Mattress Paddle, Nineteenth Century. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University An elaborately carved wooden paddle used for preparing and smoothing a rye-straw mattress tick on a nineteenth-century rope bed. Such highly embellished objects were typically carved during winter evenings and presented as gifts for sweethearts or loved ones. Some of these objects were dated and initialed to demonstrate a sense of pride in craftsmanship, while others, like the paddle, are anonymous and without attribution. Below: Butter molds were once common everyday objects used by rural households where butter was made by hand. After the butter was churned, it was stored in one-pound blocks that were portioned using butter molds, which often bore carved geometric, botanical, or animal motifs that would leave a distinctive mark on the butter. This was not only a fancy presentation of the butter for household use, but also for sale, as butter was the most profitable dairy product, and decorations enhanced its salability. Left: A butter mold with a whirling swastika pattern. Heilman Collection of Patrick J. Donmoyer. Right: Eight-pointed star butter mold. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. Glencairn staff photo. 27 Clockwise from the left: Woven coverlet decorated with stars and floral motifs, ca. 1830. Hamburg, Berks County. A late ninteenth-century tin dust pan, featuring a six-pointed rosette pattern with split lobed star points and small cross motifs between each point, just like some local barn stars. A nineteenth-century wooden canteen inscribed with six-pointed rosettes carved from a single block of wood, with pairs of stars on either end. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. 28 outcome of life events.61 This system was an attempt a time to build up...”64 The Old Testament is not the to harmonize the progression of human life with the only place in which the celestial sphere is celebrated progression of the heavens, and was believed to be as a means of understanding the will of the divine. the manifestation and visible order of the divine will. In the New Testament, the birth of Jesus Christ is 65 Almanac traditions were followed to different signaled by a star in the east, and in the Book of degrees by different families in a way that was by Luke, the second coming of the Messiah is said to no means uniform. However, the system of beliefs be heralded by astronomical phenomena: “There was so firmly established that the agricultural will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the Earth dismay among nations... for the powers of the almanac was one of the most common works of 66 printed literature found heavens will be shaken.” in the Pennsylvania In all of these biblical Dutch home, second passages, the stars in only to the German the sky are viewed as a family Bible.62 While to constant, ever-present modern audiences, these reminder of divine order, two books may appear only changeable under to represent opposing the most momentous of systems of thought and circumstances. belief, on the contrary, It is through this it was biblical literature concept of agricultural itself that undergirded and religious order that the belief in the efficacy the significance of the of the almanac tradition. stars in Pennsylvania According to the Dutch culture can begin Book of Genesis, it was to be understood, not on the fourth day of merely as points of light creation that the creator in a distant sky, but as said, “Let there be lights powerful forces which in the firmament of the were believed to govern heaven to divide the day even the most minute from the night; and let aspects of life. At the them serve as signs, and same time that celestial for seasons, and for days, and years, and let them folk art illustrations be lights in the expanse connect a people with of the sky to give light on their sense of placement the Earth.”63 This message in the cosmos, in a similar is continued in the Book manner, traditional folk of Ecclesiastes, which art connects a culture explains, “To every thing with its ancestral legacy. there is a season, and a The repeated use of folk time to every purpose art motifs over many under the heaven: A time generations creates a to be born, and a time to “The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his sense of continuity in die; a time to plant, and handywork.” - an engraving by Carl Friederick Egelman (1782-1860) of Mount Penn, Berks County, and the frontis piece of The Complete the aesthetic experience a time to pluck up that Explanation of the Calendar, with a Comprehensive Instruction of the of the domestic and which is planted; A time Heavenly Bodies, by the Rev. E. L. Walz, Lutheran minister of Hamburg, sacred spheres of life. to kill, and a time to heal; Berks County, printed in Reading by Johann Ritter in 1830. Heilman Collection of Patrick J. Donmoyer. This sense of chronology a time to break down, and not only applies to the 29 Left: Cover engraving of Egelman’s Improved Almanac, by Carl Friederick Egelman (1782-1860) of Mount Penn, Berks County, the foremost astronomical calculator of Pennsylvania, whose tables and engravings of the movements of the heavenly bodies were featured in annual farmer’s almanacs throughout the state. It depicts the phases of the moon, the planets, the signs of the zodiac, the seasons, as well as Psalm 19 in German: “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Folklife Society Archive, Myrin Library, Ursinus Collge. Opposite: A heavily used Egelman’s Improved Almanac for the Year of Our Lord 1846, with the original leather loop still in tact, commonly used for hanging the almanac on a nail by the kitchen door for ease of daily reference. Heilman Collection of Patrick J. Donmoyer, Gift of Reginald Good. intergenerational use of such traditional motifs, but verse of the nineteenth Psalm of David accompanies also reflects the cradle-to-grave application of folk art the image: “The Heavens declare the Glory of God over the span of a human life in domestic and sacred and the Firmament sheweth his handywork.”68 material culture. The reference to time therefore is an This engraving is the work of Carl Friedrich important element in the interpretation of celestial Egelman (1782-1860) of Reading, Berks County, the symbolism. foremost astronomical calculator of Pennsylvania, The order and progression of the heavens is whose tables and engravings of the movements of essential to the human understanding and experience the heavenly bodies were featured in annual farmer’s of the passage of time. According to the Lutheran almanacs throughout the state of Pennsylvania and Minister E. L. Walz of Hamburg, Berks County, in Maryland, as well as his own “Egelman’s Almanac” his 1830 astronomical treatise entitled, Complete published in Reading, where he lived on Mount Explanation of the Calendar, with a Comprehensive Penn.69 A master engraver, Egelman’s work combined Instruction of the Heavenly Bodies, the celestial astronomical and religious imagery, and the cover division of time “brings light and order in all the of his almanac featured an engraving showing a multitudinous and the innumerable relationships cosmological diagram, including the phases of the and operations, with which the people of Earth are moon, the sun and planets, the signs of the zodiac, interconnected.”67 This belief was well established the months and seasons, as well as the German text among the Pennsylvania Dutch, as it relates to from Psalm 19, used as the motto of the calendar. external physical affairs, as well as communal and Egelman depicted himself in the very center with the personal spiritual life. horn of a messenger, proclaiming his astronomical 70 The frontis engraving opposite Rev. Walz’s title observations for the glory his divine creator. page depicts the celestial sphere, complete with the The prolific Egelman also produced printed moon, stars, and the milky-way, surrounded by the birth and baptismal certificates, an extensive signs of the zodiac, and the sun shining forth as a series of engravings for a manual for penmanship beacon from a stylized church steeple. The opening instruction,71 and penned religious astronomical 30 poetry. In his German-language poem, Empfindungen The Establishment of a eines Astronomen (Sentiments of an Astronomer), appeared in Der Neue Readinger Calender (The New Tradition Reading Almanac) of 1822, Egelman ponders the Around 1840, a general shift in construction wonders of the cosmos: methods occurred throughout the region, when With what almighty, infinite Force the abundance of cheaply-produced wooden siding Were the planets and stars, enabled the widespread construction of barns with Celestial works of eternal space, framed gables rather than stone. In the absence of Brought out of the dark night into orbit? a stone gable, star patterns and date inscriptions Who maintains the order of the were painted directly onto the siding of the barn, radiant stars? although the new location of preference was on Who guides the suns at wondrous the front forebay wall, where details like names or distance? dates were closer to the viewer and far easier to Who restrains the orbit of the read. Matching the dimensions of this laughing moon. new location, the arrangement If thou, almighty creator, did not there abide? required two, three, or more stars to Who contains the turbulent seas? adequately divide the Who confines the hordes expanse of the forebay of preying beasts to the siding into manageable wilderness? Who provides nourishment, visual spaces. The date who gives bread for all? of the structure was often Who defends from the recorded below the star in dangers of abject the very center of the barn, poverty? where there was sufficient Who endows humanity area for the inscription of with the capacity the name of the family, and to think? sometimes the name of the farm From whom proceeds itself. The earliest documented reason, and who structures with this arrangement can guide it? record date from the 1840s and And who maintains 1850s.73 the scales of all things in balance? Thou dost, O Creator, and thine is Numerous barns of the mid- the kingdom.72 nineteenth century in Berks and Lehigh are adorned with three or It is notable that Egelman’s period of influence as more stars across the front of the barn, in an astronomer, almanac maker, and artist—roughly concert with other painted elements that accent the 1820-1860—coincides with precisely the time and architectural form of the structure. These include place when celestial images were widespread in the decorative borders on the bottom edge of the siding, traditional arts, when geometric representations or in vertical stripes along the edges and dividing of the stars became a popular art form in Berks the front siding into equal areas, as is common County. While likely mere coincidence, this suggests along the border of Western Berks and Lebanon. perhaps that religious and folk-cultural interest in the movements of the heavens, and the traditional Most common of all are the painted outlines around farmer’s almanac, were at a high point among the doors and windows, in most cases crowned with a rural Pennsylvania Dutch at that time. semi-circular arc or half of a barn star, illustrating 31 the rising sun below the dome of the heavens. On the of Virginville, kept a ledger that outlined his hourly bank side of the barn, small stars or even hearts are project schedules, his paint pigments, and precisely clustered above the large wagon doors, and vertical how long it took him to paint the stars. Hill’s father, stripes outline the dimensions of the entrances. John M. Hill (1855-1933), was also a painter, It was in the mid-nineteenth century that specializing in houses, barns, and even barn stars, these painted arrangements became somewhat although little is known of his work. Milton learned standardized in particular regions by certain artists his trade from his father, who worked with him (and supervising painting crews. Painting crews, under eventually under him) well into the 1920s, creating the direction of master a seamless continuation of painters, were responsible tradition in the family. for painting the interiors In 1912, Hill and of homes as well as barns, another painter collectively and the barn stars were part spent 411 ¾ hours to paint a of the total package that house, a barn, and a series of was offered for the farm stars on the barn of George property.74 Hoch.76 According to his It is clear that the notion ledger entry from 1912, of commercially available Hill painted the house and paints did not enter into barn from May 23 to June the equation until far 8 and, beginning on June later. Instead, pigments 10, he spent 10 ¼ hours could be obtained locally starting the series of stars. or ordered and mixed by On June 11 and 12, Hill and hand with boiled linseed his assistant each put in 22 oil for exterior paints, or hours painting the stars, milk-based casein paints for a total of 52 ¼ hours. for interiors. In fact, After 42 additional hours some artists mixed their for cleanup and finishing own paints well into the work on the barn, the job twentieth century, knowing was complete. Hill was paid that their tried-and-true 15 cents per hour, and his recipes were likely to partner only 10 cents, with outlast anything purchased each of them receiving a commercially.75 total amount of $30.90 and Unlike the painting $20.57 for 206 and 205 ¾ After 1840, when barns many barns were built with no stone gable to hours respectively! crews of today, which are anchor a circular medallion to mark the date, artists painted these able to prepare and paint dated barn stars on the front and center of the forebay siding. Although adjustment a barn with commercial Upper Milford, Lehigh County. Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. for inflation would paints in a matter of days, suggest that their wages painting crews of the nineteenth century spent time would be worth a combined total of $1,300 today,77 preparing the paints as well as the surfaces that were it is still easy to see that labor was comparatively to be painted. No ledgers of barn star painters from inexpensive in those days, allowing for artists to the nineteenth century are known to exist which produce colorful barn paintings at rates far below the could help to illuminate the particulars of time, labor of today. The painters were compensated only materials, and process employed to decorate a barn. $7.03 for the painting of the stars, which amounts However, one particular barn painter of the to an adjusted $182.43 in today’s currency. If Milton early twentieth century, Milton J. Hill (1887-1972) painted a total of 4 stars on the barn (an average in 32 his immediate community in Virginville), each star was unlike anything else in the landscape up until was valued at $1.75 each. that time combining a repeating eight-pointed star The inexpensive nature of this form of art made pattern with an elaborate border of concentric circles it easily within the means of farmers of moderate and interlacing arcs of color gradients. His geometric income. Milton Hill recommended that his stars be composition was intricate and meticulous, and he repainted every ten years or so, allowing for a steady combined high-contrast colors in the star points flow of work over the course of the decades that he with subtle variations in the border. This created an painted throughout the region. optical, pulsating pattern that appeared to spin from Although it is uncertain how many barns Milton a distance. Hill painted over the course of his long career, his This signature star was composed of ten colors. work and legacy provided a continued folk-cultural The star itself was black and yellow on a white narrative consistent with the experience of earlier background. Concentric circles in three shades of red generations. Milton asserted that his paintings were formed an interior border against interlacing arcs, in “stars” – Schtanne in his Pennsylvania Dutch four shades of blue or green for the outer border. mother tongue – artistic representations The outer border colors were mixed of the heavens. in sequence by taking a true royal blue or a green composed of An Artist’s Tale royal blue and chrome yellow, and cutting it in equal A lover of the stars, proportions with white to artist Milton J. Hill began form a secondary shade, his career painting barn and again with an equal stars at the age of 14 amount of white paint under the mentorship for each successive of his father, John M. layer in the border. Hill, who paid him the The resulting gradient generous going-rate of added a level of depth, ten cents per hour, and producing a profound asked him only to furnish visual effect. 78 his own paint. This of By 1910, Milton Hill course required Milton to eventually formed his own learn the art of mixing his three-man painting crew with own colors from linseed oil and Oscar and Wilson Adam, two commercial pigments, rather than cousins from Temple, Berks County. the loathsome ready-mixed “patent” Each barn took a little over one week paints that performed unpredictably even in the for the three of them to paint, and the stars took best of circumstances. Milton about eight hours to complete with two coats In 1902 Milton painted the very first star which of paint. Throughout his life as a master painter, would later become his signature pattern on the Milton’s process was methodical and precise. Along barn of Samuel Hepner in Windsor Castle, Berks with his common painting tools, he carried the tools County. This “Hill Star” as it would later be known, of a draftsman, consisting of compasses of various Milton Hill star re-creation, painted on weathered barn wood at the sizes, trammel-points, straight edges, squares, and Kutztown Folk Festival in 2016, modeled after a star from the Leiby scribes. Each star was scribed directly into the Homestead in Virginville, by barn star artist Milton J. Hill (1887-1972) of Virginville, Berks County, ca. 1940. Hill began painting this star pattern on wood, creating cleanly divided edges for each color barns in 1902 at the age of 14. This pattern incorporates 10 different colors, area in the design. This technique allowed him to and includes the bold interlaced border for which he was best known. maximize his time and effort, by providing straight Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. score-marks to guide the edge of his brush. Milton 33 also occasionally used patterns, composed of metal than debating, but he became impassioned when shapes cut from tin that were backed with leather, he defended his work against those who called which formed a pad that would not slide against his stars “hex signs” and presumed them to have a the surface of the barn siding. While it is unknown supernatural significance. Milton had been painting exactly how many barns Milton painted over the for decades before this word was invented and came course of his life, his career as a professional painter into common use, and he deeply resented that his lasted over fifty years - a staggering statistic which work, and the work of fellow artists in the region, stands as a testament to his prolific and hard- was subjected to this interpretation. working life. Nevertheless, he tended to be an unassuming Throughout his career, Milton quietly carried man by nature, and even resisted the title of “artist,” with him a memento calling his son Milton of his childhood days Daniel Hill “the artist when he attended a of the family” because one-room schoolhouse he painted farmscape in Virginville – three scenes of livestock 79 small paintings of on local barns. Hill stars that he carefully referred to himself as folded and tucked a “barn decorator” and into his toolbox. He “painter of various star had painted them in patterns” – suggesting watercolor sometime that he was merely a around 1899, when technician, as opposed he completed his final to the creative genius year of school after that he really was. only six grades. The In fact, were it paintings are extremely not for Milton Hill’s advanced even for a public appearance at child as precocious as the Kutztown Folk Milton must have been, Festival, and the and the complexity of promotion of his the stars is matched work to a national only by the accuracy of audience, he might their rendering. What have remained only is most evident in these a local personality illustrations is that, with limited influence even at such a young on the tradition as age, Milton had already a whole. Instead, begun to develop a The barn star artist Milton J. Hill (1887-1972) of Virginville, painting his classic Festival director star pattern on a barn in Berks County, ca. 1950. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Alfred L. Shoemaker distinctive style that Folklife Society Archive, Myrin Library, Ursinus College. would continue to set and his coworker Olive his work apart from Zehner recognized the that of all others in his time. A quiet man of few importance of Hill’s work, and courted him for years words, Milton carried these fragile paintings with before he finally agreed to attend the Kutztown Folk him throughout his life, and showed them to only Festival to demonstrate his art. This put Milton into a select few who showed great interest in his work. the national spotlight as the foremost barn painter of the twentieth century, and this encounter with the Milton Hill was a humble and introverted Festival staff launched the evolution of painting barn artist who spent far more of his time painting stars on commercial signboard. 34 Above left: Barn star artist Milton J. Hill (1887-1972) painting on Masonite panels after 1950 in his studio at his farm west of Virginville, Berks County. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Folklife Society Archive, Myrin Library, Ursinus College. Above right: A pair of original watercolor paintings by Milton Hill from his days in the one-room schoolhouse in Virginville, ca. 1899. Gift of Esther (Hill) Derr, Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. Left: Milton Hill’s business card. Courtesy of Lee Heffner, grandson of Milton Hill. Below: Weathered 1848 house blessing board of Jacob and Magdalena Hill, great- grandparents of Milton Hill. Courtesy of Harold and Esther (Hill) Derr.

35 The Tradition Evolves have had the time to respond so quickly to such a request for commercial production of his work. According to Milton’s family and those who Nevertheless, by 1953, when Milton first remember the earliest days of the Kutztown Folk appeared at the Festival as a demonstrator,81 he had Festival, Milton was asked to attend the Festival already embraced the idea of painting his stars on on its inaugural year in the summer of 1950, but Masonite, a new commercial composite signboard. he was unable to do so due to the demand for his Milton scribed each and every one of these signs, work as a painter and his busy schedule. The Festival just like his barns, giving them an authentic feel, staff requested samples of his work to display in his despite the novelty of the art form. absence, but this was impossible as he had up until this point only painted his stars on barns. Instead, The very same year, artist John J. “Johnny” Ott of Lenhartsville (1890-1964) also arrived at the the Festival encouraged visitors to see the country 82 side for themselves, and included many barn Kutztown Folk Festival for the very first time, images in the 1950 Festival Program. and both artists offered competing 1951 the Festival took busloads of explanations for the origins of the art visitors through the countryside form. While Hill maintained that to see the work of Hill and his work was an extension other artists.80 of an old tradition of painting stars on barns, According to local Johnny Ott assumed legend, visitors asked the title of “Professor Hill if they could of Hexology,” and purchase pieces of explained that his his work, but he work was imbued answered that he could only be hired with magical power. to paint barns. This He told tourists was not particularly that each design helpful to visitors not only had a from New York, New succinct meaning, Jersey, or California but also served as who had neither a charm for a wide barns, nor geographic variety of concerns and proximity to Berks infirmities – everything County. from assurance of success and prosperity, to assistance It was Dr. Alfred Shoemaker with love and romance. This who first suggested that Hill paint concocted commercial mythology his stars on commercial sign board, but ensured that Ott’s customers not only it is unknown precisely when, and under what received a piece of his work, but also a story – a tall- circumstances, Hill embraced this new art form. tale that created lasting memorable encounters with Some stories claim he stayed up that very night the exotic “Hexologist” of the Dutch Country.83 to prepare several stars which he promptly sold the following day, but it seems unlikely that Hill Ott was not only a painter, but the proprietor of embraced the idea literally “overnight.” Hill, who the Lenhartsville Hotel, the walls of which featured was too busy to attend the Festival, and operated a his paintings and resounded with the jokes and farm in partnership with his wife Gertrude, may not tall-tales his visitors expected as he tended the bar. Ott first began as a painter of decorative tinware, An original star by Milton Hill, painted ca. 1960 on commercial Masonite sign board. Although he did not sign his work on the front side, on the specializing in the curvilinear patterns of birds, reverse of all of his stars on signboard, he stenciled his name and mailing tulips, hearts, and flora. After successfully painting a address: “Made and Designed by Milton J. Hill Hamburg, R.D. 2. PA.” chair for his wife sometime in the 1940s,84 featuring Courtesy of Eric Claypoole. an elaborate hybrid of a star with his floral elements, 36 he decided to take on the challenge of integrating the persona as a “joke” which eventually evolved into a motifs of barn stars and his classic tinware patterns commercial success.87 Implicitly, this story suggests into something distinctly new. After first practicing that Ott’s enterprise answered a commercial demand on discarded hubcaps, he eventually settled on fueled by the interest and misconceptions of visiting commercial signboard. By 1951, he was painting tourists, but the history of this public perception “hex signs” in the evening hours from a side porch predates Ott’s work by decades and is rooted in the studio, which visitors from the hotel frequented to tourist travelogues from the early twentieth century. buy his wares. His star patterns were an entirely different breed of art than the strictly geometric patterns used by barn painters. Ott never actually Myth of the Hex Sign painted on barns, but loved to regale his customers with stories of how his In the early twentieth paintings magically century, the invention of provided fertility to the the automobile enabled crops, or brought about tourists from all across miraculous life changes the Mid-Atlantic to travel to those who bought and 85 to rural Pennsylvania displayed them. communities. For the One of his favorite first time, these unique stories was widely communities were circulated in the national subject to the curiosity news, claiming that of visitors eager for two of his signs created to magically increase explanations of the rainfall had been left distinctive cultural outside too long against landscape of the region. his advice to the farmer, The decorated barns were resulting in the flooding a popular attraction, as of the Delaware River they were easily visible and millions of dollars in from public roadways. 86 damage. In the absence of any While Ott certainly widely disseminated profited from this information on the performative artistic subject, authors and persona, he was not entrepreneurs hurried the originator of the to fill the void with misconception that travel journalism that was often fraught with traditional barn star motifs held supernatural significance. Early in his career, Ott himself was misconceptions, commercialism, and dubious openly skeptical about this when interviewed by the interpretations of the culture. Many myths about press, and even let it slip that he started the whole decorated barns originated during this time, and have been perpetuated into the present day. The Baltimore Sun Magazine of October 14, 1954, featuring Johnny Ott (1890-1964), self-proclaimed “Professor of Hexology” and owner of This includes the mythology of the “hex sign,” a the Lenhartsville Hotel. The article, entitled “Hexer Hextraordinary” suggesting that Ott’s signs were imbued with magical powers, along with term that was coined in the 1920s by journalists from the caption “Johnny Ott is probably the Pennsylvania Dutch country’s outside the area who promoted Pennsylvania as a biggest producer of hex signs. He is shown here with a sun-and-rain sign, supposed to bring crop fertility.” This staged shot depicts Ott working in tourist destination. By virtue of national audiences his studio in his classic tophat, which he later abandoned in the 1960s to eager for tourist publications, readers throughout don a flat black hat like that of the Amish of Lancaster County. the United States became rapidly aware of the “hex 37 Wallace Nutting’s Pennsylvania Beautiful (1924) featured original pen and ink drawings of decorated barns, such as this one located in Earl Township, Berks County. This one bears his original caption connected with the misguided notion of the “Hexafoos” as a dialect word for “Witch’s Foot” - a term that was never embraced by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. sign” myth, and locals remain divided on the issue. which these decorative marks were potent to protect the barn, or more particularly the cattle, from the influence In 1924, an antiquarian, retired Congregational of witches. It is understood by those who are acquainted minister, and author of romanticized travelogues, with witches that those ladies are particularly likely Rev. Wallace Nutting (1861-1941) of Framingham, to harm cattle. As the wealth of the farmer was in his Massachusetts, released the first detailed explanation stock, contained in his remarkably substantial barn, of the origins of southeastern Pennsylvania’s the hexafoos was added to its decoration as a kind of 88 decorated barns to national audiences. spiritual or demoniac lightning-rod! This piece of travel journalism was included Although Nutting never actually used the word in Nutting’s The States Beautiful series in a book “hex sign,” his phonetic spelling of the obscure entitled Pennsylvania Beautiful. The Reverend’s dialect term “hexefuss,” a term translating to brief account of the barns, nearly hidden amidst “witch’s foot,” was the inspiration for “hex sign” in his photographs of bucolic landscapes and line predominant use today. Nutting even provides the drawings of colonial antiques, was singlehandedly caption, “A Witch Foot Barn” for a line drawing of a responsible for inspiring the myth that the region’s highly decorated barn that stands in Earl Township, 89 barn star decorations were supernatural in origin.87 Berks County. Nutting wrote: It is notable that Nutting describes his subject in They are a decoration sometimes applied on the door an unusual way, as “marks” “on or about the door” heads or on or about the door. They are supposed to be rather than with precise descriptions of stars in a continuance of a very ancient tradition, according to elaborate arrangements on the siding of the barns. 38 However, there is a kernel of truth to Nutting’s no visual similarity with the colorful painted stars account that occasionally farmers would carve or on the barns, and Mercer would likely have been draw a “hexefuss” in chalk on a door. aware of Nutting’s error. Nutting’s description follows precisely what What is abundantly clear, however, is that fellow Harvard graduate, archaeologist, and collector Nutting was citing an altogether separate practice of early American material culture Henry Chapman from the painting of barn stars, and ushered in an Mercer (1856-1930) documented in his field notes era when such confusion was acceptable to both ca. 1900 in the border region between Berks and popular audiences and the self-taught gentleman- Lehigh.90 Mercer’s notes confirm, however, that he scholars of the times. was not describing the barn Eventually, Nutting’s star tradition, but rather story evolved into the myth subtle apotropaic ritual of the “hex sign.” It’s a marks written in chalk on hybrid word, combining the the interiors of barn doors Pennsylvania Dutch word far from the public eye. for “witch” and the English Although it is uncertain word “sign.” Journalists if Mercer himself was the preferred this simplification, source of Nutting’s accounts, both of these men were which was later embraced part of the upper echelon by the region’s tourist boom of avocational collectors of of the 1950s. early Americana, and were The Kutztown Folk well aware of one another’s Festival, founded by the work.91 Pennsylvania Dutch Mercer, curator of the Folklore Center (later called archaeological collections the Pennsylvania Folklife at the University of Society) at Franklin and Pennsylvania, and fellow Marshal College, served faculty member and to energize the tourist folklorist Dr. Edwin Miller industry by promoting, not Fogel, both documented only the largest regional the “hexefuss” (plural folk festival of its kind, but also some of the first “hexefees”) at the turn of the illustrated tourism guides twentieth century as chalk to the region. Ironically, marking used by farmers to it was a trio of scholars, ward off the influence of the Dr. Alfred Shoemaker, Dr. supernatural.92 This was an J. William Frey, and Dr. Don Yoder, who created ancient ritual marking that resembled the upright these first tourist guides, which included scholarly foot of a goose, and in some cases farmers would photo essays on different aspects of the culture. even nail the actual foot of a goose onto a barn door However, the lavishly illustrated covers of these for protection from evil.93 This ritual, however, bore guides perpetuated a misconception that the Amish Above: The Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center, Franklin and Marshall painted barn stars, a fact later regretted by founding College, later known as the The Pennsylvania Folklife Society, founded the Kutztown Folk Festival in 1950, and issued some of the region’s first directors of the Society, who understood only too tourist guides that included scholarly photo essays on different aspects late the impact of such illustrations, seemingly of the culture. However, the lavishly illustrated covers of these guides sanctioned by the Society.94 perpetuated a misconception that the Amish painted barn stars. In fact, the reason that barn stars are largely absent from Lancaster County is Many subsequent tourist promotions suggested because the Amish do not decorate their barns as part of their religious the stars were originated with Amish artists, but these commitment to plain living. designs were never found on barns in Lancaster, 39 except along the border with Berks and Lebanon. In working closely with Ott, Zook promoted the In fact, the reason that barn stars are largely absent notion that each hex sign stood for a very succinct from Lancaster County is because the Amish do not verbal meaning, and it was this meaning that typically decorate their barns, due to their religious provided the magical effect of the sign.98 For instance, commitment to plain living. Although this is not Ott’s sign featuring two stylized turtledoves flanking necessarily a rule across all Anabaptist groups, it a large red heart stood for “Love and Friendship,” is certainly discouraged as a whole across while a six-pointed rosette in yellow, blue, and the plain communities. Rarely, certain red, with hearts between each point was Mennonite farmers have, within to evoke “Love and Romance,” - both the past generation, painted their promoted as having the power barns in the Kutztown area, but to affect one’s love life. Ott’s this is largely because some have “Daddy Hex” was called the chose to have their properties father of all hex signs, having restored to their original been allegedly copied from a states, including the stars cathedral window in Europe that adorned the barns.95 The used to ward off “disease, famine, starvation and Mennonites in the Kutztown 99 area were not the original plague.” These were among owners of these properties, a wide range of patterns that but instead are descended from were strictly modern, and were Lancaster County families that not historically painted directly purchased large tracts of land in on barns. Others were influenced Berks in the 1950s and 1960s. more directly by barn star patterns, such as Johnny Claypoole’s sixteen- Nevertheless, visitors to Lancaster pointed barn star in green and yellow, County today will likely see commercial hex which was promoted as symbolizing “success” and sign plaques for sale at tourist gift shops and an eight-pointed star with rain-drop shapes applied to storefronts, restaurants, travel was called “Sun, Rain, and Fertility.” agencies, and commercial attractions Although all of these notions were all along the Route 30 corridor, presented as traditional, it is clear marketed as original features of that traditional folk art motifs the “Amish Country.” were codified at this time for Interestingly enough, it marketing purposes. was the influence of Johnny Ironically, for previous Ott of Lenhartsville, Berks generations of the County, who introduced Pennsylvania Dutch, it the hex sign to Lancaster was the stars in the sky through a partnership with themselves that were thought Lancaster silk-screen printer to influence the weather and Jacob Zook, who became Above: The Distelfink is the Pennsylvania the understudy of Ott in the Dutch word for a golden finch, or “thistle 96 1950s. Zook produced novelty finch,” which feeds upon the seed of the thistle items starting in the late 1940s, but and makes nests with the down. Since the golden finch curbs the propagation of thistle, farmers have created a veritable hex sign empire admired the bird and considered it to be good luck, and by mass-producing simplified versions of a symbol of perseverance in the face of adversity. This inspired Johnny Ott’s work with silk screen technology. These silkscreen artist Jacob Zook to mass produce a stylized distlefink as a hex first printed hex sign disks were originally credited sign in the 1950s, and it is still widely available at tourist destinations in to “Zook & Ott” and later simply to “Zook,” but he Lancaster County today. Below: “The Daddy Hex” - a classic hex sign by Johnny Ott of Lenhartsville, also later partnered with Ott’s successor, Johnny who claimed its alleged origin was in the stained glass window of a Claypoole of Lenhartsville, to produce a line of cathedral somewhere in Europe. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage “Zook and Claypoole” signs.97 Center, Kutztown University. 40 the fertility of the land, and even human affairs to barns covered in patent shingle or metal siding such as success and prosperity, love and romance. which could not be painted in the old style. Whether in biblical verses, or in the sacred calendar Although Johnny Ott lamented in the early 1960s outlined in the common farmer’s almanac treasured 100 by the Pennsylvania Dutch folk culture, it was not that he foresaw a “fading away” of the tradition, the representations of the stars which governed this couldn’t have been further from the truth. Ott these aspects of life, but the divine order and forces was concerned that there were too few artists to of nature that the art represented. In a classic case of meet the growing demand that his work had created, mistaking the map for the territory, such motifs were and he feared that no one would take up his mantle promoted to tourists as having the power that had following his impending retirement. So in 1962 he for previous generations belonged to the placed an advertisement in the classified section realm of the celestial and the divine. of the local newspaper, advertising that he sought a willing apprentice to learn A Living the trade and eventually take over the business. A metalworker Tradition answered the call who had recently moved to In the generations Lenhartsville from to follow, the artistic Philadelphia with tradition flourished, his family. His but it formed name was Johnny two distinct Claypoole (1921- and divergent 2004), and he branches— the modern hex signs eagerly sought produced in the out Johnny Ott style of Johnny to establish the Ott and Jacob apprenticeship. Zook, combining While Ott both geometric had originally and pictorial demanded three images of birds, free- dollars in cash paid form flowers, and in advance for each figures on commercial lesson, he never once signboard, as well as the permitted Claypoole traditional geometric stars to actually pay for his painted directly on the barns. apprenticeship.101 Barn artists also adapted to new Johnny Ott instructed Claypoole modern surfaces on barns, and produced in the creation and layout of his repertoire of traditional stars on signboard in order to apply them popular patterns and motifs, as well as the preparation of various materials, including Masonite disks, milk Above: A weathered barn star “ghost,” salvaged from a once-decorated wagon shed in Windsor Castle, Berks County. Barn stars weather in the cans, and metal wares. Claypoole received all of the elements, and the interaction between the rays of the sun and the surface technical training in the art, but he also learned the of the wood produces a pronounced relief over the course of many years. subtler aspects of the trade. This relief, often called a “ghost,” is still visible even if the star is painted over. Although many people have assumed that “ghosts” are carved, they Claypoole’s big personality resonated strongly are not. Instead, they are produced unintentionally by a process called with Ott, and he became quickly aware that differential solar weathering. Barn star artists, like Johnny Claypoole Claypoole had the ability to assume the role not (1921-2004) and his son Eric use this weathering process as a guide for restoration of the old stars. Gift of Bart Hill, nephew of Milton Hill. only of a commercial artist, but also of a storyteller, Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. who could effortlessly promote traditional folk art 41 through the magnetism of his public persona. While Claypoole’s booth accompanied by six children— Johnny Ott certainly had a reputation for stretching and returned the sign to him saying they no longer the truth about the magical significance of his work, wanted it in the house! Claypoole was a humorist, who appreciated his Although telling these stories was a highlight of instructor’s tall-tales, and repeated them with gusto Claypoole’s promotional efforts, he also spoke plainly as an homage to his mentor. about his work, saying that any belief in the magical It was not long after Ott’s retirement that efficacy of his art was a form of “mind over matter.” Claypoole took his place at the Kutztown Folk He would often explain candidly that if customers Festival, where he became wanted to believe that his a national sensation. paintings had the ability Johnny Claypoole’s work to affect their lives, that was later commissioned perhaps his art would for installations at the function in a positive Smithsonian Institute way for those people— in 1969, the British because they believe it Embassy, and the to be so, but not because Philadelphia Zoo, and his work was magical in featured in widespread any intentional sense. publications such as the Thus Claypoole was National Geographic and able to participate in the The New York Times.102 artistic dialog of his era Johnny also collaborated without compromising with Jacob Zook of what he knew to be true Lancaster, the famous about the origins of the tradition. promoter of commercial silkscreen hex signs, Although Johnny so that thousands of Claypoole’s artwork his designs were mass closely resembled his produced for tourist teacher Johnny Ott’s markets. Despite this work in many respects, success, as Claypoole Claypoole took his matured as an artist, his painting to another level. public persona gained Instead of limiting his a level of introspection art to the commercial and depth that was hex signs on signboard largely absent in Ott’s and tinware, Claypoole clever, quick-witted began to paint on barns public persona. whenever he could. Johnny Claypoole Artist Johnny Claypoole (1921-2004) of Lenhartsville, who learned He not only painted continued to tell tall- his technique from the legendary “Professor of Hexology” Johnny Ott his original designs (1890-1964), owner of the Lenhartsville Hotel and the progenitor of on barns, but he also tales about the effects the commercial hex sign art of the 1950s and 60s. Claypoole painted of his commercial hex commercial hex sign disks like his mentor, but unlike Ott, he also undertook the repainting signs on his customers. painted dozens of historic barns with stars in the region. Courtesy of the of historic barn stars. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. For instance, it was said Despite the fact that that a couple, who were Johnny Ott was often struggling to have children, bought a hex sign for depicted in the popular media as being connected “fertility” from Claypoole at the Kutztown Folk with the painting of barns, he never actually painted Festival, and five years later the couple returned to a barn in his life. Numerous commercial disks 42 painted by Johnny Ott were installed on local barns, of decades. Although many people have assumed but these have seldom survived to the present day. that “ghosts” are intentionally carved, they are not. It is interesting to note that it was this development Instead, they are produced unintentionally by a in the career of Johnny Claypoole that enabled natural process called differential solar weathering. the cross-pollination of the commercial hex sign Johnny Claypoole often repainted historic barns motifs with the strictly geometric motifs found on using the ghosts as a template for his restorations. barns. Thus the two branches of the art form, both This allowed him to maintain the local aesthetics commercial and traditional, were able to blend in of the landscape, while exploring up-close the the work of Claypoole. geometric layouts of While Johnny Ott’s work previous generations of combined these two painters, whose works genres as early as the were emblazoned on the 1950’s, artwork resulting wood. from this synthesis Perhaps Johnny never appeared directly Claypoole’s most visible painted on barn siding evidence of success is that until Johnny Claypoole he never had to advertise began painting barns. for a pupil, as his teacher According to local did, in order to find a legend, it is Claypoole suitable apprentice. All who was credited with of Claypooles children coining and popularizing grew up around the art, the term “ghost” as a with many opportunities descriptor for historic to work with their father barn stars that weathered and experiment with into the wooden siding the trade. His son Eric over time. A “ghost” naturally gravitated as he described it, was to the work, and as a this ephemeral relief professional carpenter, that allowed for the he was perfectly suited old geometric designs to follow in the footsteps to be distinctly visible, of his father. Eric had even when painted over. begun as all of his Certain forms of raking siblings did, helping his light, common in the father as a boy, when he early morning and late would cut and prime his afternoon, would cause father’s disks, as well as these star patterns to sand and prep his father’s emerge visibly from the milk cans. It was not long siding, and disappear before his technical skill from sight when the with wielding a brush sun’s angle changed – Second-generation barn star artist Eric Claypoole of Lenhartsville, the also began to show. giving rise to the idea of most prolific barn painter of the present time, who has painted over 75 Eric persevered in a “ghost.” barns during the course of his career. He started helping his father Johnny Claypoole (1921-2004) paint barns in 1972. the artistic path, and Such weathering soon became his father’s takes place when barn partner in the business stars are exposed to the elements, and the interaction by helping with the painting of barns, and learning between the rays of the sun and the surface of the everything there was to know about the traditional wood produces a pronounced relief over the course forms and patterns. As Johnny grew older Eric’s role 43 increased, and after Johnny, at the age of 74, painted receive a grant for half of the total cost of restoration his last barn with Eric in 1995, Eric soon assumed of the historic barn stars. Eric Claypoole has worked full responsibility for the painting of the barns. with the Hex Tour Association for over a decade, Johnny continued to paint commercial disks until and has repainted many of the finest examples of the time of his passing in 2004. Berks County’s decorated barns. In this way, the 121 Today Eric Claypoole has continued his father’s Association is assisting Eric in his life’s work of legacy, and has become the most prolific painter in bringing the ghosts of Pennsylvania’s barn stars back the Dutch Country. He has painted stars on more to life— at a much faster rate than would otherwise than seventy-five barns in Berks, Lehigh, Schuylkill, be possible. Northampton, Montgomery, Bucks, and Dauphin Eric’s process for painting each barn is systematic. counties, and the numbers are steadily Whether repainting an historic ghost, or increasing. Eric typically completes six starting from scratch on new barn siding, barns per year, a rate which will allow Eric begins by prepping the surface to him to reach the milestone of more remove any damaged paint or debris than one hundred barns within less from the wood. Next he applies three than a decade. coats of the highest quality white As a restoration carpenter acrylic paint in order to create and artist in wood by trade, Eric a solid foundation for the star appreciates historic buildings and pattern. If a ghost is present, this is restoration minded about his white background helps to unify approach to painting barns. He the surface and bring out the supplements his primary daytime weathered image of the geometry, occupation with painting as side- serving as the basis for the next work. Despite this secondary step in the process. Eric then uses designation, painting is Eric’s a trammel compass, a straight passion. Methodical, process- edge, and a triangle pattern of 30° oriented, and exacting, Eric is - 60° - 90° to create a basic layout fascinated by geometry, and in pencil for the star pattern. Each color layer is then applied continually pushes the limitations individually starting with the of the tradition, by recombining lightest colors. A final touch-up celestial patterns in new and helps to resolve any pain drips or unique ways. inconsistencies in the weathered Eric Claypoole paints wood. A completed design lasts commercial hex sign disks on up to 25 years. signboard in addition to barns, While Eric is indeed a master and demonstrates annually at the The use of three painted crosses above the painter, his sense of propriety does Kutztown Folk Festival. While windows and doorways of barns finds its not interfere with his creative and the Festival is his largest annual origins in house and barn blessing traditions of Europe, where the three crosses refer to intellectual generosity in sharing exhibition, it is also an opportunity the Three Kings, or Magi ,who followed a his techniques with others. for Eric to raise awareness for star to the biblical nativity. Eric Claypoole Having come from a family of a preservation effort called the carries on this tradition today, painting three crosses above windows and doorways, like this five brothers and two sisters who Hex Tour Association, which example. Maxatawny Township, Berks County. all grew up around their father’s operates in partnership with the Courtesy of Patrick J. Donmoyer. artistic process, Eric is used Festival to generate thousands of to sharing and collaborating, dollars to assist with subsidizing the repainting of encouraging his family and friends to try their hand historic barns in the area immediately surrounding at folk art painting. Eric has taught his techniques Kutztown -the epicenter of the largest concentration to his two daughters, his son, his nephew, dozens of decorated barns anywhere in the United States. of his friends, and in recent years has collaborated Annually, about three or four barns are selected to 44 with Andrew Shirk and Patrick Donmoyer in qualities of his stars. Eric maintains that the central painting barns and demonstrating at the Kutztown radiating pinwheel of his classic star patterns Folk Festival. He takes great pleasure in his work, ,rendered in alternating colors, symbolizes the and offers lectures, workshops, and open studio ages of humanity spinning through time.103 This visitations to educate the public and increase public metaphor expresses a sense of continuity in the awareness of the tradition. human experience over the millennia, represented One important element that characterizes Eric’s in the stars and their celestial courses through the work is his love of learning and discovery. He is heavens. motivated to examine and understand the geometric layout of historic designs as a way to connect with Conclusion the artistic and mental process of artists who came before him. To Eric, the angles and proportions of As public expressions of art and tradition in the historic designs are not random, but part of a action, the barn stars of the Pennsylvania Dutch subtle geometric language that affects the perception have captured the interest and imaginations of of movement and rhythm within the radial pattern. generations of Americans and offer a unique Eric perceives sequences and regionalisms in the opportunity to visually engage with the history and historic designs that would be imperceptible to the folk culture of the region. The rich diversity of folk casual viewer, and attempts whenever possible to art patterns found on barns in the Dutch Country is compare the patterns that are spread throughout the rivaled only by the diversity of beliefs surrounding Dutch Country. their origins, applications, and history, and this textures the regional experience and appreciation Eric is interested in exploring all the possibilities for the tradition. of potential meanings in the designs, and remains open-minded about the history and cultural As a living tradition, barn stars are not merely implications of the traditional patterns. For instance, ancestral relics of the past, but opportunities for he keeps in mind the meanings passed to his father cultural expression among future generations who from Johnny Ott, such as sun, rain, love, fertility, will continue to explore their roots and spiritual success, and good luck, as well as the religious identities, their relationship with the land, and the implications favored by his Roman Catholic father, legacy of artistic expression in the rural landscape. who thought of the red central point of each design Just as the barn stars have come to symbolize the as symbolic of the blood of Christ, the twelve points Pennsylvania Dutch culture, so too are the stars in the of a star as representing the apostles, and three lilies sky reminders of humanity’s place in the cosmos and representing the Christian virtues of faith, hope, continued search for meaning. Although the stars in and charity. At the same time, he is fascinated by the heavens and their celestial arrangements have archeological evidence of such motifs in the ancient held a wide range of significance over the millennia world, as well as the sacred geometry found in all the and cannot be assigned a single, fixed meaning, the cultures of the world. ability of the stars to inspire humanity to consider The Claypoole legacy has been a tremendous the nature of cosmic order has had a profound and force for the present day preservation and revival lasting influence on the human imagination. This of the barn star tradition. Scores of barns in universal sense of wonder echoes throughout history southeastern Pennsylvania have been touched by among diverse cultures across the globe, uniting all the brushes and the hearts of the Claypooles, and the of us in our eagerness to seek meaning in our origins numbers are increasing each year. Eric’s energy and among the stars. innovation will undoubtedly continue to transform the landscape for decades to come, inspiring younger generations of painters to advance the artistry and agricultural heritage of the Pennsylvania Dutch. It is perhaps with this in mind that Eric offers a most compelling explanation of the rotational 2000s when early examples were discovered, and Rubi, Christian. (No date.) Beschnitze Geräte. Berner ENDNOTES challenged the idea that barns were only painted after Heimatbücher Nr. 22, Bern: Verlag Paul Haupt. 1. Among the first of these photographers to 1830. See Fooks, David. 2002. “In Search of America’s 25. Maurer, 1951. document the decorated barns of Southeastern Oldest Hex Signs,” Der Reggeboge 36(1):21–27; 26. Donmoyer 2013. These finding are based on and Central Pennsylvania was William E. Ferrell Fooks, David. 2003. “The History of Hex Signs.” The original survey work conducted in 2008. (1870-1949) of Bethlehem, President of the Easton Pennsylvania German Review, Fall 2003. Kutztown, 27. Donmoyer 2013; Fooks 2003 & 2002. PA: Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center; Car and Construction Company, whose travels 28. A plaque at Jerusalem Union Cemetery in Stony brought him into contact with over 700 decorated compare with earlier studies, such as: Shoemaker, Run lists Maria Elizabeth (Ladich) Kistler as Samuel’s barns in the 1920s through the 40s, as indicated in Alfred Lewis. 1953. Hex, No! Lancaster, PA: first wife, but no other vital statistics are given. a presentation given to the Pennsylvania German Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center, Franklin and Marshall College. 29. This absence of crosses in early Pennsylvania Folklore Society Annual Meeting, at the Bucks churches and graveyards was first described to me County Historical Society, in May of 1940. Other 11. Donmoyer 2013 by Dr. Don Yoder, and included in Donmoyer 2013. notable documentarians were Herman E. Wright, 12. Shoemaker 1953. 30. Kline, John Jacob. 1911. A History of the who photographed barns, but was better known 13. Yoder & Graves 2000. Lutheran Church in New Hanover, (Falckner Swamp) for his display of miniature paintings of designs 14. In the mid-twentieth century, scholars were Montgomery County, Penna. Lancaster, PA: The New found on barns throughout the region, featured at divided into two camps, those who believed that the Era Printing Co. the Kutztown Folk Festival in the 1950s; and Guy stars were strictly decorative, and those who believed 31. Swamp Union Church in Reinholds was F. Reinert (1892-1962), public school teacher and that they were protective or symbolic, as explained in constructed in 1806, with four stones naming the Secretary of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Don Yoder’s “Scholars’ War” in Yoder & Graves 2000. building masters, mason, and carpenter, and three Society, whose photographs appeared in the The third perspective that the stars motifs are celestial of the four stones have rosette stars in circles to educational essays in the Kutztown Folk Festival representations is the primary theory undergirding accompany the inscriptions. programs beginning in 1950. Hex Signs; Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch 32. KJV Isaiah 28:16. Barn Stars (2013), see Donmoyer 2013. 2. Guy F. Reinert’s surveys were limited to a series 33. KJV Psalm 118:22. of photographs published in the publications of the 15. These narratives were collected as informal oral 34. KJV Matthew 2:1-2. Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, notably in history by Eric and Johnny Claypoole in Northern the works of John Joseph Stoudt, including Consider Berks County. 35. KJV Revelation 22:16. the Lilies, How They Grow (1937) Vol II, Pennsylvania 16. Whittemore, Carroll E. 1959. Symbols of the 36. Stoudt 1937. German Folklore Society, Allentown, PA: Schlechter’s Church. Boston, MA: Whittemore Associates, Inc. 37. KJV Hosea 14:5 Publishing, and in the revised edition, Pennsylvania 17. The author’s home congregation at Holy 38. This is no longer extant, but visible in an old Folk-Art: An Interpretation. (1948) Allentown, PA: Trinity Lutheran Church of Lebanon is one of photograph in the Pennsylvania Foklife Society Schlechter’s. the finest examples of the Neo-Gothic revival in Archive, Ursinus College. 3. This survey culminated in the second volume of the Pennsylvania Dutch region, with the present 39. The author has examined scores of early the Annual Publication Series of the Pennsylvania building combining nineteenth- and twentieth- cemeteries throughout Southeastern and Central German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown century periods of construction, featuring the work Pennsylvania, and the only two early graveyards with University. Donmoyer, Patrick. 2013. Hex Signs: of Latvian-American stained-glass artist Leonids crosses on stones appear at the Catholic Church of Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Linauts of Mohnton, Berks County. the Blessed Sacrament, in Balley, Berks County, and Stars. Kutztown, PA: Pennsylvania German Cultural 18. For more discussion of these possible religious the old cemetery in Richmond Township, formerly Heritage Center, Kutztown University. implications, see Donmoyer 2013. associated with St. Henry’s Catholic Church. Even the old stones associated with the Catholic congregation 4. The 2008 survey was compared to the geographic 19. This idea was promoted by Alfred L. Shoemaker at Schpitzenberg, Albany Township lack crosses. scatter plot produced by Thomas E. Graves for in his classic essay published under several editions his 1984 dissertation, The Pennsylvania German and titles. See Shoemaker, Alfred L. 1953. Hex, 40. See also Barba, Preston A. 1954. Pennsylvania Hex Sign: A Study in Folk Process. University of No! Lancaster, PA: Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore German Tombstones: A Study in Folk Art. Allentown, Pennsylvania, and subsequently published in Center, Franklin and Marshall College, and again in Pa: Schlechter; and Stoudt 1948. Yoder, Don & Thomas E. Graves. 2000. Hex Signs: Shoemaker. 1955 The Pennsylvania Barn. Lancaster 41. KJV Revelation 2:10. Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Symbols & Their Meaning. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center, 42. KJV Revelation 21:21. 2nd Ed. Mechanicsburg, Pa: Stackpole Books. Inc., Franklin and Marshall College. 43. KJV Psalm 103:15. 5. For a more detailed summary of the immigration 20. Barn star artist Milton J. Hill’s ledger lists his 44. KJV Song of Solomon 2:1. of German-speaking people to Pennsylvania purchased pigments used in the early twentieth 45. The date is no longer legible on the stone, but and North America, see Bronner, Simon J., and century, and nineteenth-century barn painter Perry cemetery records held by the congregation at Zion Joshua R. Brown. 2017. Pennsylvania Germans An Ludwig’s recipe is mentioned in Kauffman, Harry H. Evangelical Lutheran, Manheim, show transcriptions Interpretive Encyclopedia. Baltimore, MD: Johns 1964. Golden Stars on the Barn. Privately published, of the stones perfomed sometime in the mid- Hopkins University Press; Louden, Mark L. 2016. no printing location. twentieth century, providing the date of “May 27, Pennsylvania Dutch : The Story of an American 21. For more on the origins of the Pennsylvania barn 1784.” Language. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University as a distinctive architectural type, see Ensminger, 46. Other examples of this carver’s work include Press. Robert F. 2003. The Pennsylvania Barn: Its Origin, stones in the cemeteries at Emanuel Lutheran, 6. Yoder, Don. 1950. “Pennsylvania Dutch... Evolution, and Distribution in North America. Brickerville, Old Zion (Royers) Reformed, or Pennsylvania German?” The Pennsylvania Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Brickerville, and the Ephrata Cloister. Dutchman. II(1), May 1. Press. 47. These stones are at Muddy Creek Lutheran 7. Bronner & Brown 2017. 22. Author’s 2018 surveys in the Palatinate and the Cemetery, Denver, and Bergstrasse Lutheran Church, 8. For the most comprehensive study of the Swäbische Alb; see also Ensminger 2003, and Yoder Ephrata Township, both in Lancaster County. Pennsylvania Dutch language see Louden 2016. & Graves 2000. 48. These stones are prominently found at cemeteries 9. Yoder, Don. 1960. “Plain Dutch and Gay Dutch: 23. Ensminger 2003, uses the English term Folkhouse in the Cocalico Valley, especially Swamp Union Two Worlds in the Dutch Country.” Pennsylvania not used in Europe; European studies include the Church Cemetery, Reinholds and Muddy Creek Folklife. II: Special Festival Issue, Summer 1960. classic text, Weiss, Richard. 1946. Volkskunde der Lutheran, Denver. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/9 Schweitz. Erlenbach-Zürich: Eugen Rentsch Verlag. 49. This inscription is on the reverse side of the 10. The question of the chronological parameters has 24. Maurer, Gilgian. 1951. Hausinschriften im gravestone of the child James Old (1773-1777), been hotly debated; for a history including examples Schweitzerland. Spiez: Verlag G. Maurer; and in buried at Emanuel Lutheran Church, Brickerville. from the eighteenth century through the present context with other Swiss applications of the same 50. Hinke, William John. 1925. “A history of the day, see Donmoyer 2013. The dialog concerning motifs, see Rubi, Christian. 1965. Bauernmalerei aus Tohickon Union Church, Bedminster Township, the earliest stars was utterly changed in the early drei Jahrhunderten. Verlag: Bern Paul Haupt; and Bucks County, Pennsylvania: with copy of church 46 records, Reformed congregation, 1745-1869, 70. Egelman, Carl Friderich. 1846. Verbesserter 90. “Hexefuss” in Henry Chapman Mercer Lutheran congregation, 1749-1849”. Pennsylvania- Calender aus das Jahr 1846. Reading, Pa: J. C. F. Collection, Archaeological Research Notes. Folder German Society, XXXI. Egelman. 17. Madrid, Delaware Valley, Yucatan Field notes. 51. KJV Psalm 31:15. 71. Selections of this manual are in the archive of Including notes for Tamanend article, draft of Lehigh 52. KJV Psalm 39:5. the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Hills papers for magazine, sunbonnets, Powwow 53. Manuscript, Georg Börstler birth records, Kutztown University. See Moyer 2003; and Winkler formulae, Macungie notes -FH 150. 1863-1930. 1973. Schwartzwald, Berks County. Heilman Collection of 91. Schlereth, Thomas J. 1999. Material Culture Patrick J. Donmoyer. 72. Translation by the author. See Moyer 2003 for an alternate translation. Studies in America. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira 54. In the Collection of the Schwenkfelder Library Press, 16-17. and Heritage Center. Fraktur Artist Daniel Otto 73. Early examples documented by Patrick J. lived and worked in Miles Township in Centre Donmoyer and Guy F. Reinert include examples 92. Fogel 1995. County, where this certificate was produced, but this from 1840 in Perry Township, Berks County; 1849 93. Long, Amos. 1972. The Pennsylvania German fraktur is unlike Otto’s other known works. in Greenwich, Berks; 1850 in Upper Milford, Lehigh Family Farm: A Regional Architectural and Folk 55. Birth and Baptismal Certificate, Printed and For County; 1852 Milford, Bucks County; 1857 in Cultural Study of an American Agricultural Sale at the “Eagle” Book Store, No. 542 Penn Street, Albany Township, Berks; 1857 in Greenwich, Berks; Community. Breinigsville, Pennsylvania: Reading, PA ca. 1880. 1858 in Maxatawny Township, Berks. Pennsylvania German Society. 56. This blessing was photographed by Guy F. 74. Donmoyer 2013, Graves 1984. 94. Foreword by Don Yoder, in Donmoyer 2013. 75. Pigments are listed in Milton J. Hill’s ledger at Reinert circa 1950. The original 1802 barn was 95. There are several examples of this in the the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, located by Christopher Witmer in 2017, but the Kutztown area, most notably, the restoration of the blessing inscription is no longer legible. Kutztown University, and in accounts of Perry barn at the Isaac Bieber homestead of 1801. Others 57. See “Blumme & Schtanne” in Donmoyer 2013. Ludwig in Kauffman 1964. include the property of the “Burkholder’s Produce” 58. Shoemaker 1953. 76. This is likely George K. Hoch (1860-1948) of Richmond Township, Berks County, husband of stand, which was restored by the owner, but later 59. See Donmoyer, Patrick. 2018. Powwowing in covered over with white metal siding, as well as the Pennsylvania: Braucherei and the Ritual of Everyday Fannie S. (Hill) Hoch, buried at Zion Moselem property of the Sauder’s roadside market. Life. Kutztown: Pennsylvania German Cultural Lutheran Church Cemetery, Berks County. PA Heritage Center, Kutztown University; Donmoyer, Death Records, 1948. 96. Zook listed himself as “apprentice” to the 2013, 53-64. 77. The Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, “Professor Johnny Ott, Hexologist” on a set of 60. The Agricultural Almanac series started by U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor printed notecards dated 1963, which Zook screen printer and publisher Johann Baer (1795-1858) of Statistics. printed and marketed in Lancaster County. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has been in print for over 78. Information in this section on the life of Milton 97. A hex sign in the collection of Eric Claypoole Hill comes from three sources: Interviews with two centuries. The firm, later called Johann Baer is marked “Zook & Claypoole,” and it is a sixteen & Sons, and eventually Johann Baer’s Sons, issued Harold and Esther (Hill) Derr and Lee Heffner in Virginville in 2012; Milton Hill’s Ledger at the pointed star in yellow and green, with a red center. both English and German almanacs. Baer’s Almanac This design eventually became part of Zook’s is still widely distributed today in English only as Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, repertoire, and is no longer credited to Claypoole, one of the classic almanacs in the German almanac Kutztown University; and Zehner, Olive G. 1953. tradition. “The Hills from Hamburg.” The Pennsylvania who introduced the design to Zook. 61. Grumbine, Ezra. 1905. Folk-lore and superstitious Dutchman, IV(2): 16, 13. 98. These meanings are widely available in the form beliefs of Lebanon County: A Paper Read Before the 79. Zehner 1953. of advertising sheets, which show little hex signs Lebanon County Historical Society, October 20, 1905. 80. Frey, J. William. 1951. “Three Worlds Came the size of postage stamps, each with a succinct Lebanon, PA: Lebanon County Historical Society, to the Second Annual Pennsylvania Dutch Folk meaning. One is titled “Jacob Zook Original Hex 282-284; see also Fogel, Edwin Miller. 1995. Beliefs Festival.” The Pennsylvania Dutchman, III(6): 1. See Signs: Designs Currently Available” (no date) and and Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans. also “Festival to Sponsor Tours through the Dutch another as recent as 1990 is titled “Handcrafted in Editor C. Richard Beam. Millersville, PA: Center for Country” in the same issue of the Dutchman. the Pennsylvania Dutch Country by Jacob Zook, Pennsylvania German Studies. 81. Zehner, Olive. 1953. “Folk Festival Hexologist,” along with the motto: “If it doesn’t say 62. Yoder, Don. 2016. The German Bible in America. Dinkelfoodles.” Pennsylvania Dutchman, V(4):16. Zook it’s not original.” Editor Patrick J. Donmoyer. Kutztown: Pennsylvania 82. Zehner 1953. 99. Two labels on the back of a 1950s hex sign say German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown 83. Donmoyer 2013. “Johnny Ott, Hexologist, Hex Sign and Distelfink University. 84. Newspaper article, “Hex of a Way to Make a Artist, Lenhartsville, PA” and a hand-typed label 63. KJV Genesis 1:14. Living.” Pittsburgh Press. Sunday, Sept 25, 1955. The reading “THE DADDY HEXER, The beginning of 64. KJV Ecclesiastes 3:1-3. earliest dated Ott hex sign is dated “June 1951” and all hex signs, this is in a church in Europe to keep 65. Matthew 2:1-2. is in the collection of Steve Stetzler of the the Deitsch away disease, famin[sic] starvation. & plague. and 66. Luke 21:25. Eck Restaurant, formerly the Lenhartsville Hotel, in this is the one you see in the church today. JOHNNY 67. Title and passage translated from the introduction Lenhartsville, Berks County. OTT.” Heritage Center, Kutztown University. of Walz, E. L. 1830. Vollständige Erklärung des 85. Donmoyer 2013. Calenders, mit einem faßlichen Unterricht über die 86. This story was even endorsed as evidence of 100. Newspaper article “Pennsylvania Hex Artist himmelskörper. Reading, Pa: Ritter & Co. Ott’s alleged “powers” according to Gandee, Lee R. Seeks Technique Revival.” The Pocono Record. 68. KJV Psalm 91:1. 1971. Strange Experience: The Autobiography of a Monday, Dec 4, 1961. 69. A birth and baptismal certificate in the Heritage Hexenmeister. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 101. Donmoyer 2013. From interviews with Eric Center provides the location of Mount Penn. For 105. Pittsburgh Press. Sunday, Sept 25, 1955; and Claypoole in 2007, 2012, 2017 & 2018. “Johnny Ott - Expert painter of ‘Hex’ Symbols.” The an overview of Egelman’s career and interests see 102. Donmoyer 2013. Morning Call. Allentown, Sunday, Nov 13, 1955. Winkler, Louis. 1973. “Pennsylvania German 103. Interview with Eric Claypoole 2018. This Astronomy and Astrology VII: Carl Friederich 87. Yoder & Graves 2000; Donmoyer 2013. interview was translated into Pennsylvania Dutch, Egelmann (1782-1860).” Pennsylvania Folklife 88. Nutting, Wallace. 1924. Pennsylvania Beautiful. Magazine. Book 56. ; and Moyer, Del Louise. 2003. Publishers. Interview mit em Eric Claypoole” in the world’s only “The Skies Proclaim the Work of His Hands ~ Carl 89. Donmoyer, Patrick J. 2018. “Berks County Pennsylvania Dutch language newspaper, Hiwwe Friederich Egelmann (1782-1860)” Official Blog of Barns Inspired Hex Sign Myth.” Berks Country, a wie Driwwe, 20:1, Spring-Summer. Kutztown & the Philadelphia Free Library. Accessed 01/15/2019. publication of the Reading Eagle. Wednesday, June Ober-Olm: Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage < https://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/post/1789> 27, 2018. Center, Kutztown University. Tools of the Trade (clockwise from the top left): $10.00 A fragment of old wooden barn siding showing a weathered barn star “ghost” with a relief created ISBN 978-0-9987074-2-6 overtime by solar weathering. Weathered stars serve as templates for painters restoring old barns in the 51000 region. Courtesy of the Kutztown Folk Festival. A trammel or bar compass, used to create the geometric layout of a barn star; a pair of patterns used to create the cross motifs between starpoints on Berks County barn stars; a square for creating right angles in the geometric layout of a star; the compass dividers used by the prolific barn star artist Milton J. Hill (1887-1972) of Virginville, Berks County. Gift of Harold and Esther (Hill) Derr, daughter of Milton Hill, Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University. 9 780998 707426