The Zook House in Exton was home to eight generations of the Zook family. It became a haven for Amish and Mennonite travelers who were migrating westward to Lancaster County and Ohio. The building was restored and preserved by the Rouse Company during the construction of Exton Square Mall, 1971-72.  

Richard Thomas originally owned this property and a John Morgan bought the property in 1718. William Owen acquired the deed and 150Acres from Morgan in 1734, and built an original portion of the house during that same year.

The deed was then transferred from Owens to James Brown in 1760. In 1770 Brown sold the house and property to Morritz Zug, grandson of an Anabaptist preacher, who had immigrated from Switzerland to America in 1742. Zug probably changed his name to Zook to avoid religious persecution.

The house is constructed with 2 feet thick hill standstone walls. There are hand hewn 8” square walnut girders in the cellar, along with the remains of a huge walk-in fireplace with a ‘beehive’ built-in oven. The original stone stairway leading to the outside is in the NW corner of the cellar.

The eastern addition was constructed around 1790, enlarging the cooking facilities and adding the second floor rooms and an attic. The cellar kitchen was still being used at this time.

The western addition was added in 1820 to modernize for a new bride, closing off the stairway to the cellar, dismantling the beehive oven and creating single rooms upstairs and downstairs. Zook family initials that are carved around a door in the western wing are still visible.

The restoration process took almost two years to complete and the Zook House opened to the public in 1975. After the restoration Zook housed a Tea Room with servers in colonial dress, a Museum room featuring period antiques, a Community Room for meetings and arts and crafts classes, and the West Whiteland Historical Commission was headquartered there.