{"nrhp_refnum":"92000937","name":"Boyer-Mertz Farm","other_names":["Angstadt Farm"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Jct. of Noble St. and Bastian Rd., Maxatawny Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kutztown","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.497877856500054,"lon":-75.7672988910847,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-09-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 102-acre working dairy farm in rural Maxatawny Township near Kutztown, Berks County, Pennsylvania, with a farmhouse, tenant house, bank barn, summer kitchen and numerous outbuildings built ca. 1871-1940.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the farm is important for its over-100-year association with Berks County agriculture, having moved from a diversified non-mechanized farm to a mechanized dairy operation. It also argues the farmstead is an architecturally significant example of Berks vernacular buildings, with the 1905 house described as a fine example of a vernacular farmhouse using high style features.","narrative":"Rural farmstead of brick and frame buildings in Maxatawny Township near Kutztown, built between about 1871 and 1940 and still operated as a dairy farm. The 1871 brick bank barn carries a datestone naming Benneville and Mary Boyer, and the family's cherry-trimmed brick farmhouse dates from 1905 and combines Late Victorian and Colonial Revival features. The complex includes a ca. 1850 stone summer kitchen, a 1871 brick tenant house, a butcher house, corn cribs, a carriage shop once used to make buggies, a milk house, and five stone cisterns that supplied water for the farm. The property is listed for its long agricultural use in Berks County and for its intact group of vernacular outbuildings that were adapted to mechanized dairy farming. Ownership passed from the Mertz family to the Angstadts in 1945, and the farm has stayed in that family's hands since.","period_of_significance":"1871-1940","architect_builder":"Benneville and Mary Boyer (barn datestone, 1871); the Mertz family is named as builder of the 1905 house","architectural_style":"Vernacular with Late Victorian high style features; Colonial Revival porch; Pennsylvania bank barn","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Working farm in active use; the 1871 house now serves as the tenant house, and some outbuildings are used for storage or as chicken houses.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.868054-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/92000937.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000937/4e250cdfb6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000937/4e250cdfb6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BOYER-MERTZ_FARM,_MAXATAWNY_TOWNSHIP,_BERKS_COUNTY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BOYER-MERTZ_FARM,_MAXATAWNY_TOWNSHIP,_BERKS_COUNTY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992318","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyer%E2%80%93Mertz_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4952440"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/boyer-mertz-farm-92000937/"}