Joseph Schneider, his wife Barbara and their four children arrived in what is now Waterloo Region in 1807. They were among a small group of rugged pioneers who trekked to the new frontier from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in search of arable farmland. They found what they sought but they also found an intimidating landscape of uncleared bush, swampland and sandhills. Bolstered by their Mennonite religion and assisted by their closely-knit brotherhood, these hardy settlers adapted quickly to their new life. By 1816 Joseph Schneider had erected a sawmill and substantial Georgian-style wood-frame home for his family. He had cleared a road, Schneider's Road, that linked his farm to the Great Road through the German Company Tract and had completed his family with three more children. One of these, a twin, Joseph Eby Schneider, eventually took over the operation of the farm and mill and by the mid 1850s had a thriving enterprise and growing family. It is the life of this second Schneider family that plays itself out in the restored historic house today. Much has changed since the 1850s. Schneider's original 448 acre farm has shrunk to less than an acre, Victoria Park occupies the land where the sawmill once stood and Schneider's Road is now Queen Street. Even the town of Berlin has been renamed Kitchener. But the house that Joseph built still stands beside the creek (now underground) and the farm kitchen still hums with activity throughout the changing seasons. The Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation secured this important building for the community. Restoration began in the fall of 1979 and within 18 months the house and adjoining wash house had been transformed into a living history museum and modern support wing.