Saucon Valley Conservancy

Heritage Day is an annual celebration of the history and culture of the Borough of Hellertown and surrounding Lower Saucon Township. The event is sponsored by the Hellertown and Lower Saucon historical societies and the Saucon Valley Conservancy.

This year’s event will be held May 16 at two locations: the 1761 Heller-Wagner Grist Mill Complex off West Walnut Street in south Hellertown, and the Michael Heller Homestead along Saucon Creek, adjacent to the Water Street Bridge connecting Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township.

Heritage Day will feature a much larger celebration in 2026 to honor the 250thanniversary – the semiquincentennial anniversary – of the founding of the United States. 

Visitors to the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill Complex – the event’s main campus - will enjoy a wide range of attractions reflecting the country’s past: a field filled with colonial-era living historians; a site dedicated to 18th- and 19th-century crafts; antique and classic automobiles; a series of history presentations in the grist mill’s Tavern Room focusing on the settlement of Pennsylvania and the founding of the United States; and tours of the Grist Mill Museum and Pole Barn, where exhibits reflect the work of early farmers, woodworkers, and blacksmiths. 

Lower Saucon Township Historical Society will be at the Grist Mill Complex exhibiting township history and conducting its annual Maypole dance to celebrate the arrival of spring. Hellertown and Lower Saucon civic and church groups will be on hand to explain their longstanding roles in the communities’ social and cultural histories, some going back to the 1750s.

Other activities at the complex include horse-drawn carriage rides, old-fashioned children’s games and activities, a petting zoo with farm animals, and afternoon concerts by Big Valley Bluegrass and the Allentown Band, America’s oldest civic band, founded in 1828. Lost Tavern Brewery of Hellertown will explain colonial brewing practices, and also offer adult beverages. 

Activities at the Conservancy’s Michael Heller Homestead will follow a theme of “Honoring Saucon Valley Revolutionary War Roots”. Conservancy researchers will recognize 70 Saucon Valley Revolutionary War veterans – Michael Heller among them - who served in the Northampton County militia and Pennsylvania Continental Line; some in milestone events that defined the colonies’ fight for freedom. 

The Conservancy will have a historic wagon on site, where donations for local food banks will be collected, in recognition of the wagons of food the Hellers supplied to soldiers at Valley Forge. The Heller Homestead farmhouse will be open to visitors. There will be activities for children, including a historically themed scavenger hunt and magic shows. Re-enactors will talk to visitors, live music will be performed, and period baked goods and refreshments will be served.

Heritage Day is open to the public free of charge. Shuttle service from off-site parking areas in Hellertown. will provide to and from both event sites. For more information, visit the Hellertown Historical Society Facebook page, and website at www.hellertownhistoricalsociety.org.

Get an opportunity to meet some fellow community members and have a good conversation. 

It’s just something free, fun, and please don’t feel pressured to be a history buff! But, if you would love to learn about some of the Hellertown history and heritage we can offer you tours and the chances to learn about our towns little historical gems!