Sometime probably in the 1790s, Jacob Rickenbach moved 20 miles north, from his late father's house in Caernarvon Township to Bern Township. There he lived in a small log house, until he built a permanent fieldstone house in 1817, as construction on the nearby canal was well underway.

Jacob's original 1817 stone house still stands today "beside the public road", today known as Cross Keys Road. The house is in excellent condition.

An inscription below the chimney on the east wall of the house may still be read: "JB Rickenbach 1817", perhaps the initials of Jacob and Barbara (Herzler) Rickenbach who built the house.

Photographs by Tom Rickenbach