Most of southeastern Pennsylvania was settled by people of diverse national backgrounds during the first half of the 18th century. In the area around Lancaster, settlers of Germanic origin made up the largest population segment and came to dominate the farmland of the area. Much of the area's heritage is derived from these German-born rural pioneers and the Settler's Farm recreates the type of farmstead which a typical German settler's family would have established in the mid-I8th century.

Pennsylvania German settlers typically acquired farmsteads of one to two hundred acres of land. For the first few years after it was established, a typical settler's farm was a subsistence operation, the farm producing most of the settler's needs and the settlers consuming everything the farm produced. In these early years, as they struggled to clear land, build farm buildings, put up fences, and produce an adequate amount of food, the settlers grew corn and vegetables, raised a few hogs, sheep, chickens, and probably a milk cow, and supplemented their diets by hunting, fishing, and foraging.

After perhaps five to ten years, a settler's farm was usually fairly well established with most of the necessary buildings completed, fifteen to twenty-five acres under cultivation, and a growing number of livestock. At this time, the farm began producing surpluses of crops and livestock which were taken to market and sold for cash. Thus, the settler usually made the transition from a subsistence to a commercial farmer quite rapidly and began to produce the rich harvests which made Pennsylvania the most prosperous agricultural region in America by the time of the Revolution.

The Log Farm at Landis Valley erected in 1971 consists of a cluster of buildings surrounded by fields, an apple and pear orchard, and a meadow. The farm buildings include a log house, log barn, stone spring house, pig sty, hay barrack, sheep shed, and combination bake oven - smokehouse. The buildings exhibit construction techniques of the period as well as a variety of materials which were available to the settler including hewn logs, field- stone, sawn planks, straw thatch, split shingles, and clay tiles. Split-rail fences of "zig-zag" and post-and-rail configurations surround the fields and orchard to keep livestock out of the crops.

Most early settlers constructed buildings in the styles of their European homelands. Pennsylvania Germans typically built two or three-room central chimney houses of log or stone, much as they had known in the German Rhineland and the northern cantons of Switzerland. The log house at the Settler's Farm consists of two rooms downstairs, the "küche" or kitchen with a massive fireplace for cooking and heating and the "stube" or living room which is actually a combined working, sleeping, and family room. Upstairs, a loft provides a storage area and additional sleeping space.

The stube contains a bed for the farmer and his wife, a trundle bed for children, and a cradle for an infant. The bedstead is complete with a chaff or straw mattress, a feather bed (which is actually a ticking filled with goose down and used as a covering), and woolen coverlets. Also in the stube is a walnut "schrank" or cupboard in which the family's small supply of clothing and linens would be stored. Other things in the stube reflect the household activities of the settler's family. For example, the equipment, used for textile production and candlemaking illustrates representative household crafts.

The kitchen was the domain of the 18th century farm woman. Here, the family's meals were prepared over an open fire and eaten around a simple table. The kitchen is furnished with examples of equipment necessary to operate an 18th century kitchen: earthenware plates, bowls, and crocks; heavy iron pots, trammels, forks, and other utensils; wooden spoons and plates; and items of pewter and tin.

Outside the cabin door stands a small structure housing a smokehouse for preserving meats and a bake oven in which all the family's baking would have been done.

As important to the settler as his house was his barn. The Pennsylvania German settler built a tight barn as soon as possible because he knew from experience that it was more economical to keep livestock warm and comfortable during the winter than to increase their feed or even risk their loss due to exposure.

The Log Barn is a "ground barn" a typical 18th century Pennsylvania German barn. The barn is a three-bay structure with a threshing floor in the center flanked by stables at either end. The stables can house two horses and two or three head of cattle, about the proper numbers for a small frontier farm of the colonial period. Above the stables are lofts for storage of hay and grain.

The thatched barrack next to the barn provides shelter for a hay or grain crop too large for the barn's storage capacity. The spring house was the source of the farm's water supply and was an important factor in the preservation of food. The other structure in the Log Farm is a pig sty of board and batten construction.