Note: The following information was provided by the Hellertown Historical Society and is published here for the community’s benefit.
The Hellertown Historical Society is in need of new volunteer tour guides and field trip docents to lead student field trips and public tours currently in development for 2024 and beyond.
People interested in becoming a guide or docent will undergo a six-week training program in March and April that will prepare them to interpret Hellertown’s history and exhibits inside the 1761 Heller-Wagner Grist Mill for visiting students and adults. Training will be provided by members of the Society’s Education Committee, most of whom have years of experience as classroom teachers and providers of public tours for other nonprofit organizations. New volunteers will attend six 75-minute training sessions (one per week for six weeks) at the grist mill and other buildings at the grist mill complex. Volunteers will receive a detailed step-by-step training manual that also includes information regarding Hellertown’s history and cultural, societal and commercial aspects of the borough over time. Guides and docents will wear hand-sewn Colonial-era costumes while on duty, and also be taught to help collect contact information from visitors that will help the Society with future marketing and fundraising programs.
If you would like to become a guide or field trip docent, or are interested in learning more about the HHS visitor program, please contact Dennis Scholl, Education Committee Chair, at 484-379-7974 or DS********@gm***.com.
The oldest section of the historic Heller-Wagner Grist Mill in Hellertown, pictured above, dates from the mid 18th century. The restored mill is home to a museum and the first-floor Tavern Room, which is an event space operated by the Hellertown Historical Society. Volunteers from the society are responsible for maintaining the mill and nearby structures, including the 1861 Pony Bridge, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year. (FILE PHOTO)
