The Kemmerer Home
The Ludwig Kemmerer House is the fourth in the cutout series of historical State Line area buildings. Johan Ludwig Kemmerer originally lived in an old log home before he built his fortress stone house, built to stand off any further Indian attacks. Ludwig's frontier home stands preserved and sturdy to this day much the same as he built it in 1774. His initials, LK, with the date is visible on the gable of the east wall. Massive trees were shaped with broad-ax and adz into 6 X 16 timbers for the sub-floor. A centrally located German style chimney with a 10 foot wide fireplace , crowned by a 22 inch high timber chosen to withstand flames from the fire stands in the basement kitchen. Spring water runs along the south basement wall, and was used for drinking, cooking and preserving food. The stone walls are 2 feet thick with slotted windows for the use of firearms from inside the the fortress. The 1 1/2 story house actually has four levels; the basement kitchen area, the first floor living area, the bedroom level, and the attic ( Slave quarters ) which has a small window.
It is written that Ludwig was " A man's man on the wilderness frontier of Lord Baltimore's colony. He cleared the site for his house, felled the massive trees, gathered the limestone rock for its walls, and built a small fortress over its own water supply, with walls two feet thick to make it impervious to Indian attack. "
Ludwig Kemmerer, Peter Rentch, and others, who settled near Hagerstown, came to America on the same ship ' Harle ' in 1736, along with Jonathan Hager, the founder of Hagerstown, MD. After Ludwig's wife died in the 1790's, he followed his children to Westmoreland County, PA, in the early 1800's. He sold Buck Spring Farm to David Brumbaugh in 1805, and it remained in the Brumbaugh/Hartle families for the next 156 years.
