A look inside Pottsgrove Manor, a Revolutionary War headquarters frozen in time in Montgomery County, Pa.

As Montgomery County looked forward to the nation's 250th birthday, museum educators carried forward the history of how it all came to be, where a home birthed a whole town.

Pottsgrove Manor museum educator Anna Meitzler ran through a list.

"He has a grist mill built on-site, a sawmill, Pottsgrove forge," Meitzler said.

It started in 1752 with all the necessities for 18th-century Pennsylvania.

"Then, by 1761, he says to himself," Meitzler said of the late John Potts. "'You know what this house really needs? It needs its own town.'"

That spurred the birth of today's Pottstown in Montgomery County. The epicenter of it all is the manor, home to the town's founding father, John, and his wife, Ruth.

Meitzler said Pottsgrove Manor is now home to colonial-era examples of resistance, like a floor-to-ceiling cabinet in the home that was owned by the couple's eldest daughter, Martha.

"It was basically a boycott of British goods. So no longer are we buying imported luxury-good items," Meitzler said. "We are going to make them here at home with the materials here in Colonial America."

Of the couple's 13 children, one became a physician. Dr. Jonathan Potts turned to Black slaves, like Pompey and Hester, to help fight disease and injury during the American Revolution.

"Jonathan tasked Pompey and Hester to help cultivate a medicinal garden in Albany, New York, that would help supply the medical hospital at Fort George," Meitzler said.

As Meitzler looked over mannequins depicting Pompey and Hester, she explained that the slaves' help in the war fight did not mean freedom was guaranteed, except for one final act.

"Jonathan writes in his will that they are to be freed within five years of his passing," Meitzler said.

Pottsgrove Manor was also home to an iron forge. This is where weapons that today can be seen in several display cases in the home were made and repaired during the Revolutionary War, said Justin Clement, manor historic site supervisor.

"They're also cobbling together weapons from a lot of different parts," Clement said. "So, we have represented various muskets as well as sword parts."

Clement said the stone house was more than just a home — it was also a military headquarters in the fight for freedom.

"They essentially are answering the call to arms in order to defend the state of Pennsylvania from the British," Clement said.

And, this is how all this history grew into an entire town that thrives today.