EAST GREENVILLE PA – A special screening of the award-winning movie about the Fries Rebellion of the late 1700s, created by the Lower Macungie Historical Society, will be presented March 15 (2025; Saturday) at 1 p.m. in the Grand Theater, 252 Main St.
Admission is free, with first-come, first-served seating available to the public. Volunteers from the historical society, as well as from the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsburg, will greet audience members as they arrive. The theater doors will open at 12:15 p.m.
“This extraordinary effort on the part of the historical society,” and movie production companies In the Wee Hours and ubiFire Video Productions, “has resulted in a superb 30-minute film,” the heritage center says in a media release. The Fries Rebellion “(brings) to life the story of this period of upheaval from 1798 to 1799 in our local tri-county area,” the Schwenkfelder adds.
“Through juxtaposition of past and present and personal versus national interests, the film subtly addresses the ongoing search for what liberty, freedom, patriotism, loyalty, and duty mean in the United States of America,” according to The Fries Rebellion website.
About the Historical Society
The Lower Macungie Township Historical Society “was founded in 1989, after a log house in Wescosville was moved to the nearby township park … Today it has a number of typical furnishings and tools that would have been used by earlier generations of farmers and householders,” its website reports.
The log house is open several times a year for the public to tour. An adjacent kitchen garden was recently expanded and contains plants that would have been common in the nineteenth century for medicines, ointments, food, and flavoring.
The society’s stated goal is to “collect, preserve, and celebrate the history of Lower Macungie Township.” It operates a museum with free admission that is open Sundays from 1-4 p.m. or by appointment, except on holidays or during special events.
About The Schwenkfelder
The Schwenkfelder is the regional history museum for the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Many area residents and visitors are familiar with the center’s museum and exhibits, which are free to attend and open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 1-4 p.m.
They’re likely also to know about or have participated in some of its weekly and monthly programs, its annual Penn Dry Goods Market, or its Pennsylvania German Christmas observance.
Fewer may be aware that the library is an established regional resource for the history from the early 1700s in the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Conducting research in the library also is free. For more information call 215-679-3103.
Grand Theater exterior top photo by Danielle Kerwin, from Google Maps
Schwenkfelder photo above by Travels With The Post
