{"nrhp_refnum":"74001751","name":"Old Swede's House","other_names":["Mouns Jones House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Old Philadelphia Pike","address_restricted":false,"city":"Douglassville","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.25334310000005,"lon":-75.72806209299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-01-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small two-and-a-half-story stone house in Douglassville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, built in 1716 by an early settler of the area. The form also calls it the Mouns Jones House.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is the oldest surviving house in Berks County and one of the few remaining examples of a Swedish settler's house. It is linked to Mouns Jones, who took up land in 1701 with other Swedes and who served as an agent for local Indians in dealings with the provincial government. Its corner fireplace, casement windows and datestone are cited as distinctive features.","narrative":"Built in 1716 by Mouns Jones, one of the early Swedish settlers of the area, this two-and-a-half-story stone house stands in what is now Amity Township, near the Schuylkill River. It measures 24 by 30 feet, is built of coursed, squared stone, and retains about half of its original mud and lime pargeting. Its large kitchen fireplace, a corner fireplace, a winding staircase and a carved datestone survive, though floods and a fire in the 1950s destroyed much of the second floor. Jones took up 10,000 acres with fourteen other Swedes in 1701 and acted as an agent for local Indians in dealings with the provincial government. The house is regarded as the oldest surviving house in Berks County and one of the few remaining examples of a Swedish settler's dwelling. It was later used as a ferry house and for a time was known as Lamb's Inn. It has been restored by the Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County.","period_of_significance":"1716","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The roof collapsed during a fire in the 1950s, and the house has been restored by the Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.445672-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/74001751.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001751/1b2c27de84-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001751/1b2c27de84-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Swedes_Dville.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Swedes_Dville.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995248","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouns_Jones_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7085169"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/old-swedes-house-74001751/"}