German immigrant Jonathan Hager, founder of Hagerstown, arrived in this country in 1736 when western Maryland was frontier country and Maryland’s colonial governor was offering cheap land to settlers. In 1739, Hager obtained 200 acres called “Hager's Fancy” and began building this home, which he presented to his new bride, his German neighbor Elizabeth Kershner, in 1740. Its 22-inch stone walls offered protection from attack and the elements, rye straw and mud filler between floors and partitions provided insulation, and two cool springs under the house made the basement a pleasant retreat in hot summer weather. Hager prospered here, opening a trading post in the house and acquiring more land, then in 1745 sold “Hager’s Fancy” to Jacob Rohrer for a substantial profit. The house remained in the Rohrer family until 1944, when the Washington County Historical Society purchased it; it was presented to the City of Hagerstown in 1954 and opened to the public in 1962. Restored and furnished, it offers a glimpse of 18th-century life, while the adjacent Hager Museum preserves period artifacts, including items discovered during the house’s restoration. The museum also displays Little Heiskell, a Hessian soldier weather vane made by a German tinsmith named Heiskell that became the symbol of Hagerstown after once adorning the cupola atop City Hall; during the Civil War, a Confederate sharpshooter reportedly fired a mini-hall through its “heart.”