{"nrhp_refnum":"88002370","name":"Lincoln, Mordecai, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Lincoln Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lorane","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.28155045500006,"lon":-75.83353627799994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-section stone house in the Lorane area of Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, set in a narrow stream valley along Hiester's Creek with a separate stone summer kitchen about 20 feet away. The earlier east section dates to c.1733 and a west addition to c.1757-1760.","why_significant":"The house is regarded as a rare surviving example of a primitive stone settler's dwelling from the early settlement period in Berks County, one of only about twenty pre-1740 stone dwellings known there. It is locally important as an example of early to mid-eighteenth century English architecture and as representative of buildings illustrating the settlement of the Oley Valley by different ethnic groups. Its association with Mordecai Lincoln, great-great grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln, is also cited.","narrative":"Stone buildings in a narrow valley along Hiester's Creek in Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, the Mordecai Lincoln House consists of an east section built c.1733 and a west addition of c.1757-1760, both of stone walls about eighteen inches thick. The plan of the original section is one room wide and two rooms deep, with a walk-in basement kitchen, and its banked gable orientation combines features associated with Chester County Penn Plan houses and Pennsylvania German bank houses. A stone summer kitchen of the early 19th century stands nearby, with a hand-dug well about forty feet deep beneath it. The house is regarded as a rare survivor of the primitive stone dwellings of the settlement period in Berks County, one of only about twenty pre-1740 stone dwellings known there. It is locally important for its early eighteenth-century English architecture and for illustrating the settlement of the Oley Valley. The house was restored in 1987-1988 using original materials where possible.","period_of_significance":"C. 1733-1760, C. 1824","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Abandoned and neglected for about twenty years before a restoration begun in fall 1987 and scheduled for completion in 1988.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:35.794088-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002370.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002370/5a61b8ebce-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002370/5a61b8ebce-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mordecai_Lincoln_1733.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:Mordecai_Lincoln_1733.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996313","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Lincoln_House_(Lorane,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6909618"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/lincoln-mordecai-house-88002370/"}