The Walking Tour of Hellertown traces its roots back to an original Walking Tour developed by then HHS member Nancy Sutton in 1987. Her tour was unique in that it was from the perspective of Amy the mouse on the tour. Nancy created Amy, the character who lived at the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill, and watched all the ongoing activities from many vantage points throughout the historic site.

In 1993, Borough of Hellertown boy scout, Nathan Yonney, in pursuit of his Eagle Scout rank, designed and developed a Walking Tour as his Eagle project. He dedicated the tour to his Grandfather, Richard Ackerman, a former Army veteran who was active in many Borough civic groups. Nathan’s “Walking Tour of Hellertown – Past and Present” featured various historic sites in the Borough of Hellertown. Beginning at the site of the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill, the tour covered twenty-eight historic sites throughout the Borough of Hellertown, ending at the original starting point.

While some of the information contained within each of these tours was duplicated, other included items were unique to one tour. Both listed brief histories of each included site featured in their respective tours, some with accompanying photos when available. Both tours were the foundation for the current “Walking Tour of Hellertown – Past and Present” that is available from our giftshop and via our website. While the graphics in these first tours are poor due to the period and means by which they were created, both of these previous tours are available to review at these links…

Walking Tour with Amy – Nancy Sutton

The Walking Tour of Hellertown – Nathan Yonney

In 2021, in recognition of the Society’s 40^th Anniversary, HHS member, Donald Mills, decided to rewrite and release an improvement on the previous walking tours by writing a detailed booklet with maps, key locations and walking directions, all on pre-determined routes that start and end at the same point. The finished tour book features three separate loops, each just under 1.5 miles in length. Each loop includes a tremendous increase in historic sites over the previous tours, each with detailed descriptions, history and nearly all feature photos. These sites, fifty-seven in all, some of which still exist, and some that are now gone, tell the story of Hellertown from its humble beginnings in the 18^th century through the passage of time to present day. There is already a plan in place to revise the booklet and add more tour loops to include many more historic sites. As one of the HHS members remarked…“It’s like a history book of Hellertown with so much to learn simply by just reading it.”

Copies of the current “Walking Tour of Hellertown – Past and Present” are available to view and download from our website under the “News – Publications” menu along the top of the Homepage. Or you may purchase copies at our Gift Shop within our Office for $10 per copy which covers the printing and paper costs.