A 107-acre Waynesboro farmstead museum centered on the 1812 Royer House, named for two sisters killed and scalped near the Antietam Creek in 1764, whose tragedy underlies the park's enduring ghost lore.
1010 East Main Street, Waynesboro, PA 17268
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
The 107-acre park and grounds are free to walk during daylight hours. House-museum tours have a separate admission and are offered seasonally; check the museum website for current tour fees and hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Open farmstead grounds with lawns, gardens, and walking trails along the Antietam Creek; the historic house has steps and is less accessible than the grounds.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1812 · Named for the Renfrew sisters killed and scalped along the Antietam Creek in 1764 · 1812 Royer House and 1808 Fahnestock House anchor a Pennsylvania German farmstead · Holds one of the largest collections of John Bell pottery in the United States · Became a public museum and 107-acre park in 1975 by bequest of Emma Geiser Nicodemus
Renfrew Museum and Park preserves a historic Pennsylvania German farmstead on 107 acres along the Antietam Creek in Waynesboro, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The land takes its name from the Renfrew family. According to long-standing local history, in July 1764 -- a period of frontier conflict in the Cumberland Valley -- two young Renfrew sisters were killed and scalped by Native raiders while doing the family wash at the creek. The episode became one of the area's most-remembered colonial tragedies.
The farmstead itself was developed somewhat later by Daniel Royer, a German-American tanner, who with his descendants built a thriving cottage industry on the land. The main residence, the Royer House, was completed in 1812, and a second dwelling, the Fahnestock House, dates to 1808. Over the nineteenth century the property grew into a substantial farmstead with outbuildings including a grist mill and a lime kiln.
The museum is known for its collection of Pennsylvania German decorative arts, including what is considered the largest collection of John Bell pottery in the country. Renfrew became a public institution in 1975: its last private owner, Emma Geiser Nicodemus, who died in 1973, specified in her will that the house and surrounding 107 acres be given to the Borough of Waynesboro and made into a museum and parkland. Today Renfrew operates as a nonprofit house museum and public park at 1010 East Main Street.
Sources
The paranormal reputation of Renfrew Park is rooted directly in its founding tragedy. Local tradition tells that in 1764 two young Renfrew sisters were attacked and scalped while washing clothes at the Antietam Creek, on land that is now part of the park. That documented colonial-era killing has made the sisters the central figures of the site's ghost lore.
According to an anonymous Shadowlands submission, visitors have reported seeing the two Renfrew sisters as spirits with bloody heads, described as searching for their scalps -- a vivid retelling that mirrors the historical manner of their deaths. The legend has been carried forward in regional ghost-story collections, in Waynesboro-area haunted-places listings, and in a Shepherd University graphic-novel project devoted to 'The Renfrew Sisters,' which dramatizes the 1764 episode.
The museum itself focuses on the documented history rather than the haunting, and the more graphic apparition details come from folklore rather than firsthand verified accounts. HauntBound presents Renfrew as a genuine historic site whose ghost tradition is a respectful echo of a real and tragic frontier event, not a sensationalized invention.
Notable Entities
Explore the 107-acre Renfrew farmstead -- gardens, trails, and the banks of the Antietam Creek where the Renfrew sisters are said to have been killed in 1764 -- on a self-guided daytime visit.
Take a seasonal docent-led tour of the 1812 Royer House and its noted collection of Pennsylvania German decorative arts and John Bell pottery. Check the museum site for current schedule.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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