The adjacent farm was home to Lepley family members as recently as the early 1970s, and the old Lepley Family Cemetery is located there. When Alonza Lepley, the owner of the adjacent farm, died, a relative of mine bought a bucket full of interesting muzzle loading gun hardware, such as lock pieces, trigger guards, gunsmithing tools, etc. at the estate sale.
The above 1975 photo of the Lepley stone house is reproduced from volume one, page 87 of the 2005 book "A Look At Southampton Township Pennsylvania The Way It Used To Be!", with permission of the author. You can tell from the difference in siding that the house used to have a full length front porch. That is an important forensic detail.
The aforementioned 2005 book indicates that Adam Lepley III divided the farm among three children: Simon who eventually gave his portion (across the road from the stone house) to his son Elmer, Samuel who eventually gave his portion to his son Alonza, and Effie who owned the portion with the stone house, married William Kennell, and had eleven children. This photo of the stone house reminds me that there was a cool spring that was quite near, or possibly part of the house. In the general time-frame of this photo, there was always a tin cup hung outdoors at the spring, ready to provide a refreshing drink. The building on the right was the Lepley Pennsylvania long rifle gun shop, which was being used as a corn crib in the late 1960's.
The above photo was reproduced from volume two of the 2007 book "A Look At Southampton Township Pennsylvania The Way It Used To Be!", with permission of the author. The boy in the photo is Ray Kennell. I have been describing this picture wrong. The house on the right is the big Lepley stone house, when it had a full length front porch. The house on the left a smaller stone structure that is shown in more detail below.
The above photo was reproduced from volume two of the 2007 book "A Look At Southampton Township Pennsylvania The Way It Used To Be!", with permission of the author. The Lepley stone house can be seen in the distance. According to the book, this is the "William Kennell farm in the 1920s. Formerly known as the Adam Lepley farm. Will & his family are gong for a sleigh ride." Note the large central chimney that is visible in this photograph. Notice that there is a smaller structure on the near side of the big stone house, this is a smaller stone structure that was gone before my time.
The above photo is reproduced from volume one, page 87 of the 2005 book "A Look At Southampton Township Pennsylvania The Way It Used To Be!", with permission of the author. This is the stone structure that appears in two other photos above. Looking at the big stone house from the road, this structure stood nearby on the left. The 2005 book reports the local tradition that it is the original Lepley house. My first cousin (who grew up on the farm next door) never saw this building before it collapsed, but helped Burkett fill in the foundation hole after the walls collapsed inward. My first cousin thinks he remembers the Lepley's calling it a house, and based on what he saw of the foundation, he thought it was a little too elaborate for a summer kitchen.
This is probably an early house of the early settler and gunsmith Adam Lepley II. Like any settler, he would have first had a small and primitive log cabin to live in as he cleared his fields, and then built something a little more substantial. I've seen this sort of thing on other regional farms, where the dream house was built right beside an older smaller house. Here and in most mountain places the reason would be to take advantage of the same spring -- which at the Lepley place was between this structure and the big house, adjoining the big house. As can be seen from the first picture above, the big house was built beside and partially over yet another stone structure that was torn down a long time ago and replaced with a frame addition.
On April 25, Tom wrote "The Mr. Burkett that you mention was Howard Burkett, who purchased the farm in the late 1950s (I think) and owned it until his death in 1974. The 1975 photo was indeed taken from the road. If you look at the base of the house on the left-hand side, you can see a small stone wall that is mostly obscured by a large bush. The spring water came from a pipe that stuck out of the wall. An old bathtub was positioned under the pipe to collect the water. The bush, which I do not recall being there the last time I saw the house, is blocking your view of the bathtub. My family visited the farm for about a week every summer during the 1960s. Living quarters at that time were the two ground-floor rooms in the small addition to the old house. Later, Howard Burkett had a new house built up the hill from the old one. In addition to the corn crib that you mention, there was an outhouse just across the road from the corn crib. Farther up the opposite side of the road from the house was a large barn and a well."
On April 28, Tom wrote "Howard Burkett was born in Vale Summit, Maryland, which is just across the border from Somerset County (in the George's Creek area of Allegany County). He, like a lot of other residents of the area, left during the years after WWII to find work elsewhere. He wound up in Akron, Ohio, working for Goodyear. He bought the farm, intending to move there after he was able to save enough money. So he lived in Akron and made frequent trips to the farm. I don't know what arrangements he had with the Lepley and Korns families, but I was under the impression that they helped take care of the place when he was away. Howard married my grandmother after my grandfather died (she was also originally from Allegany County)."
The above photo of the old stone farmhouse on the former Lepley homestead was developed in June of 1960.
Regarding the photo above, Tom Seggie wrote, "Here is a picture that shows the old house and addition with the corn crib to the right." The corn crib is the building that used to be a Pennsylvania Long Rifle gun shop. For a photo of the gun shop in its prime, click here.
Regarding the above photo, Tom Seggie wrote, "Here is a picture of the entrance to the addition after the roof was added to the porch."
The 1962 photo above shows the barn on Southampton township, Somerset County, PA Lepley homestead, which Howard Burkett owned during the 1960's. The Allen Korns "new barn" can be seen in the distance, near the left hand edge of the photo.
Here is what Tom Seggie wrote about the photo above, "Here's a photo from 1960 that gives a good overview of the farm. The house is at the far right-hand edge of the picture. It is hidden by trees, but you can see the addition to it. The corn crib is just to the left of the house, and the outhouse is directly across the road from the corn crib. The barn is farther up the road (in the center of the picture)." The building that Tom refers to as a corn crib used to be a gun shop a long time ago. I helped to convert the gun shop into a corn crib back when I was a kid in the 1960s. The building that Tom refers to as an outhouse seems much too large to be an outhouse, and looks like a corn crib in another picture I have. However, in the photo above there is what looks like an outhouse-sized addition to the back of the building. I suspect that little extension is why Tom calls the structure an outhouse.
Here's what Tom Seggie wrote about the photo above, "Here is a picture of the corn crib (left) and outhouse (right." We know through local tradition that the corn crib was formerly a Lepley gunsmithing shop for making Pennsylvania Long Rifles.
The photo above shows the house that Howard Burkett built on the Southampton township, Somerset County, PA Lepley homestead. Here's what Tom Seggie wrote about the photo, "Here is a picture of the brick house that Howard Burkett had built."
The following picture of the Lepley stone house was provided by Richard Sturtz. Way back when when I was a young man, a cousin of mine who grew up on an adjoining farm told me that the cracks on this end of the house made it impractical to restore the house. I didn't know how bad the cracks were until Richard forwarded this photograph to me in 2025.
Click here to see more old photos of the Lepley farm.
Click here to see how the Lepley farm appears from the former Dan Korns, Jr. farm.
Click here to see a 1939 aerial photo of the Lepley farmstead.
L. Dietle
Aug. 20, 2008
Revised February 20, 2025
