Old Wayne Street, Bethany Thomas Spangenberg came to Wayne County in the 1790s and when his home near Bethany was destroyed by fire in 1817 he moved into Bethany. Spangenberg kept a boarding house for many years, was a commissioner, a county treasurer, and for fifty-three years was a justice of the peace. During this time he married 160 couples. Phineas Goodrich in his History of Wayne County quoted Spangenberg, "I killed in Bethany one elk, two wolves, four bears, and thirty-seven deer, and all but the deer before 1800." The house was built on Lots 57 and 58 of Jason Torrey's plan of Bethany. Mordecai and Lucy Roberts sold the lots to Thomas Spangenberg in a deed dated 1823. Upon his death in 1864 he willed the house to Catherine Lewis. It was later owned by Susan Lenier. Susan Weston. Nellie Franzglau. and Phillip and Rosarie Hartigan. Margaret Freeman, mayor of Bethany, is the present owner. When a new kitchen was built off the spacious entry, solid cherry wallboards from the attic bedrooms were used to build the cupboards. The house once had a great room where food was prepared and served. Upstairs are a sitting room, three bedrooms, and a bath. The two-second floor fireplaces have the original mantels and the old cupboards. The three attic bedrooms once housed boarders, including University of Northern Pennsylvania students who paid $.75 to $2.00 a month for room and board, the lower figure if they worked in the garden. This fine example of early 1800's architecture is beautifully preserved and is still surrounded by wonderful gardens.

This page was one month of the calendar and was made possible through the Wayne County Commissioners and a Tourism Promotion Committee’s Tourism Grant.