There's nothing quite like the comforts of home. And along the Schyulkill River in Berks County, you'll find a place that's been a source of shelter for close to 300 years. WFMZ's Karin Mallett takes us on a tour of the Mouns Jones House in this week's One Tank Trip.

  >>PEGGY: Welcome to the Mouns Jones house. 

>> REPORTER: Built in 1716, the home near Douglassville is the oldest documented dwelling in Berks County. Mouns Jones was a second generation Swede.. he lived here with his wife Ingabor and their family. Inside these days.. you'll find Peggy.. who happens to know quite a bit about how they got here.
 
>> PEGGY: The reason they came was because William Penn offered the Swedes 10,000 acres to develop the land. 

>> REPORTER: Mouns took him up on the offer but it wasn't like moving across town. Back then.. this was the wilderness.
 
>> PEGGY: Very primitive here. out here it was pretty much all by himself except for the Indians, the Lenape Indians were still here then. 

>> REPORTER: Daily life was difficult even dangerous.. and each task.. taxing. 

>> PEGGY: People think oh how nice to sit by the fire and spin, yes, but you had to spin all the time if you had a family to clothe. 

>> REPORTER: The Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County acquired the home and one and a half acres of property as a gift in 1965 but from the looks of the inside of the house at that time, it's last inhabitants were chickens.. it was in a state of ruins. But the chickens are gone.. replaced by living historians and the home is now fully restored.  

>> MATT BARNHART: I believe it's real important for us to understand how we grew to where we are- and the effort and the work in this building is significant. 

>> REPORTER: And standing the test of time.. giving us a glimpse of life in the 1700s... 

>> PEGGY: Their families, their survival, their communities- very different but very much the same in their personal interactions.
 
>> REPORTER: Getting to know one of Berks County's first families on a One Tank Trip to the Mouns Jones house. Karin Mallett 69 News, Berks Edition.

One-way time: 20 minutes
One-way distance: 15 miles

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