The Depreciation Lands Museum

The Depreciation Lands Museum Heinz History Center Affiliate Program
Costumed volunteers bring 18th century history to life. This is the official DLM Facebook site.

Serving our communities for 49 YEARS. The Depreciation Lands Museum is comprised of five components: displays of period artifacts and antiques, a research and lending library, a hands-on living museum with demonstrators and docents, a historic cemetery, and a serene park with picnic benches.

“A Village Where History is Real Life”

Created by Hampton Township in 1973, the museum seeks to preserve

and interpret the early years of European settlement in the Depreciation Lands. In 1783, the state of Pennsylvania set aside 720,000 acres of land in western Pennsylvania to compensate its Revolutionary War soldiers for their services, since the dollar had depreciated drastically during the war. Known as The Depreciation Lands, the area included all of the North Hills of Pittsburgh, and further, to a line 4 1/2 miles north of the present city of Butler, thereby, encompassing parts of Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Lawrence and Armstrong Counties. The Museum's peaceful wooded grounds transport the visitor into an earlier time, with costumed demonstrators every Sunday afternoon during the season, April - November. The site includes the Pine Creek Covenanter Church, built in 1837, and the associated cemetery, a library, the Armstrong log house, built in 1803, an herb garden, a replica school, ( circa 1885) , working blacksmith shop, beehive bake oven, replica Native American wigwam, wagon house which houses a Kramer Freight wagon and displays, the mercantile, and the Deacon’s Tavern. Dedicated volunteers and docents offer a variety of family oriented activities through out the year. All proceeds support the maintenance and improvement of the buildings and grounds. Be sure to check our weekly hours and the calendar of special events. There are special group activities for school, scout, and adult groups. The living History Museum is located in Western Pennsylvania,just north of Pittsburgh, at 4743 S Pioneer Rd, in Allison Park, PA.

🌱Dance was an important part of life in the 18th century for social events and even theatrical entertainment. This Sunda...
06/11/2026

🌱Dance was an important part of life in the 18th century for social events and even theatrical entertainment. This Sunday, July 14 we are having an 18th century dance demonstration and audience participation is encouraged!
The museum is open for our regular hours of 1-4PM but the Dance presentation takes place from 2-3PM.
While you are welcome to be a spectator, we hope you'll consider learning a simple but fun dance with us (no dance experience necessary 🙂)!

The first yard of our walking fabric is woven! Join us August 23rd to take part in the centuries old process to weather ...
06/07/2026

The first yard of our walking fabric is woven! Join us August 23rd to take part in the centuries old process to weather proof fabric.

🌱Curious about what life was like in centuries past? Well we're open today so come out and visit us🌱Come visit anytime t...
06/07/2026

🌱Curious about what life was like in centuries past? Well we're open today so come out and visit us🌱
Come visit anytime today (Sunday) between 1-4PM and spend the afternoon chatting with our villagers and taking a walk through the 18th century🌱

🌱And we're open today! We thank you all for your patience as our walkways we're worked on this past week and weekend. We...
05/31/2026

🌱And we're open today! We thank you all for your patience as our walkways we're worked on this past week and weekend.
We are back open for our normal Sunday hours 1PM-4PM and look forward to seeing you🌱

Join the textile volunteers on Sunday August 23 starting at 2:00 as we once again Waulk a length of cloth spun and woven...
05/27/2026

Join the textile volunteers on Sunday August 23 starting at 2:00 as we once again Waulk a length of cloth spun and woven in our museum shop.

The cloth had to shrink before it was finished. That is the physical reality behind the waulking song — not a performance, not a cultural decoration, but the sonic technology of a manufacturing process that required sustained rhythmic effort to complete.

Harris Tweed and other Hebridean woven cloths, once off the loom, were too loosely constructed to be wearable without a final working. The waulking process — known in Gaelic as luadh — involved soaking the cloth in warm liquid and then working it continuously around a table by hand, each woman pushing it forward and to her neighbour in a rhythm that could not be allowed to break. The mechanical pressure from human hands, repeated in sequence over the full length of the cloth for hours, caused the individual fibres to mat and bind together, tightening the weave to its finished density and strength. The cloth that emerged was a different object from the cloth that was placed on the table.

The songs that accompanied this work were not optional. They were functional. The rhythm of a waulking song was calibrated to the physical demand — the beat controlled the pace of the workers' hands, which controlled the quality of the finished cloth. The lead singer drove the process. She chose the next song when one ended, she raised or lowered the tempo as the cloth required, and she kept the group working in synchrony across two, three, or four hours of sustained physical effort. The songs carried within them genealogies, love stories, political commentary, and grief — content that was preserved through the work rather than despite it.

The Hebridean waulking song tradition is among the most substantial bodies of oral Gaelic literature that survives. Collectors including Frances Tolmie and later the School of Scottish Studies recorded versions into the twentieth century, long after mechanised finishing had ended the communal necessity of the practice. Some women interviewed in the 1950s and 1960s could still recall the exact order of songs their mothers used, and the specific songs suited to different stages of the cloth.

The singing kept the hands moving. The hands kept the cloth alive. The cloth kept the household dressed. Nothing in that room was separate from anything else.

🌱Thank you to everyone that had visited us this season so far and we look forward to seeing you over the course of the s...
05/24/2026

🌱Thank you to everyone that had visited us this season so far and we look forward to seeing you over the course of the season.

**This Sunday, May 24, we will be closed due to construction being done on our walkways.
But we will reopen NEXT weekend for our regular hours.

Have a great holiday weekend🌱

🍂And that's a wrap! Our 2025 season has come to a close and we want to thank everyone that came out, volunteered, visite...
10/27/2025

🍂And that's a wrap! Our 2025 season has come to a close and we want to thank everyone that came out, volunteered, visited, and helped bring our 18th century village to life.
So while we won't be open for out regular until May, keep watching our social media pages and website for some winter events we have coming!
Thank you again for an amazing 2025 season🍂

🎃👻Coming to the Lantern Tours tonight? Well here's a peek at what you might experience!A few spaces are still left so be...
10/25/2025

🎃👻Coming to the Lantern Tours tonight? Well here's a peek at what you might experience!
A few spaces are still left so be sure to reserve your space in one of our tour slots👻🎃

10/20/2025

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION

As you deck out your porch or yard this fall, remember — you’re sharing your neighborhood with more than just humans. 🐿️

Here are a few ways to make your spooky setup shine without putting Pennsylvania’s wildlife at risk:

🎃 Skip the chemical pumpkin washes. They won’t stop decay — they’ll just make your pumpkin toxic. Let nature take its course and enjoy the natural rot of the season.
🎃 If painting instead of carving, choose non-toxic or natural paints so your pumpkins stay critter-safe if nibbled. Or, keep your painted masterpieces indoors and dispose of them properly later.
🎃 When it’s time to switch from spooky to harvest décor, consider composting your pumpkins or donating them (if chemical-free) to farms, shelters, or zoos that use them as tasty treats.

🕸 Ditch the faux “spider webs” outside — real animals like birds, bats, and squirrels can get tangled in them, leading to serious injuries or even death.

Thanks for helping keep Pennsylvania’s wild neighbors safe and happy this Halloween season.
Have a frightfully fun and wildlife-friendly Halloween! 👻

Pennsylvania Game Commission

👻Thank you to everyone that came out to the Lantern Tours last night. We hope you had a great time, and if you missed la...
10/19/2025

👻Thank you to everyone that came out to the Lantern Tours last night. We hope you had a great time, and if you missed last night you have another chance this coming Saturday, October 25 so be sure to watch this page.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE: We will NOT be open for our normal 1-4PM hours today. But we look forward to seeing you for our lantern tours this coming Saturday and then Beggars Day on Sunday, October 26🍂

Address

4743 S Pioneer Road
Allison Park, PA
15101

Opening Hours

1pm - 4pm

Telephone

(412) 486-0563

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