Picture three cast iron stoves warming this stone house — Schifferstadt, the oldest house in Frederick, Maryland. Built and completed in 1758, this stone house is celebrated as one of the nation’s finest examples of German-Georgian colonial architecture. As you listen, picture the three cast iron five-plate stoves that were installed when the house was finished — only one of those original stoves survives today, a quiet witness to everyday life here.
The house sits on land first settled by German immigrant farmers Josephus and Cathrina Brunner in 1736; in time Brunner purchased 303 acres of a 7,000-acre tract known as Tasker’s Chance from Frederick Town developer Daniel Dulany. He named the property after Klein Schifferstadt, Cathrina’s hometown in the Rhineland-Palatinate near Mannheim. Three grown sons and two married daughters settled on nearby parcels, including the eldest daughter, Anna Barbara Bruner Getzendanner.
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016, Schifferstadt now welcomes visitors as the home of the Frederick County Landmarks Foundation and opens on weekends from April through December as a local history and architectural museum. Josephus Brunner's 303-acre tract once covered the ground under this stone house and the land that spreads out from it.