Hammerstein Museum to Reopens for Tours with New Historic Objects on Display

Nonprofit The Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center will offer tours of Hammerstein’s Doylestown home at Highland Farm six times weekly this Spring, beginning with kickoff weekend events featuring entertainment by local high school theatre clubs. On Saturday, April 12 at 1:00 and 3:30, tour visitors to Highland Farm will enjoy songs by students from Central Bucks High School South’s Titan Players, featuring a medley from their upcoming production of Sweeney Todd, written by Highland Farm former childhood resident Stephen Sondheim. On Sunday, April 13 at 1:00 and 3:30, visitors can enjoy a medley from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella by the Harlequin Club students of Central Bucks High School West.

The tours will feature newly installed objects including Oscar & Dorothy Hammerstein’s bar cart, a gift from the Young/McCoy Family in honor of their mother, Jennifer Reiko Watanabe. “Jeney” was niece to Dorothy Hammerstein and lived at Highland Farm with the Hammerstein family as a child, attending The George School. Jeney married Richard Young at Highland Farm in 1957. In a family photo from the wedding, Oscar waits at the foot of the main staircase as bridesmaids and bride process down. Directly next to Oscar is the bar cart. Watanabe passed away in 2022.

“We are absolutely thrilled that thanks to the generosity of the Young/McCoy Family, Oscar and Dorothy’s bar cart has returned home and will now be on view to the public,” said Greg Roth, President of the Hammerstein Museum board. “It is a symbol of the many celebrations that undoubtedly took place at Highland Farm while the Hammerstein family lived there, including Jeney’s wedding. We are grateful to Kevin, Jimmy, and Jeney’s entire family for this historically significant contribution to Hammerstein Museum.”

The nonprofit purchased the Highland Farm property in December 2023. Since then, board members have begun transitioning the home from its previous use as a bed-and-breakfast, to a house museum that honors Hammerstein’s legacy. On the first floor, visitors can explore a display of original cast albums and sheet music from Hammerstein’s early hits like Rose-Marie (1924) to the iconic Rodgers and Hammerstein collaborations from Oklahoma! to The Sound of Music–the lyrics for many of which were written at Highland Farm. Many of the albums are autographed by original cast members. Nearly all of the 40 objects on display are Gifts of Ron Jacobs, a retired educator and passionate collector who taught classes on the history of musical theatre, who made a sizable donation of priceless objects to the museum in 2024.

Also new on the tour is an inkwell set that sat on Hammerstein’s desk, donated by Hammerstein’s grandson William, of Solebury, PA. Will Hammerstein donated a large collection of family photos, portraits, and memorabilia which will be on view on a rotating basis as the museum develops. Along with the inkwell, a display in Hammerstein’s second-floor study, where he composed the lyrics to many of his best-loved musicals, will feature copies of books that served as source material for Hammerstein’s shows, Playbills from original Broadway productions, and more.

A bedroom on the third floor is known as the “Sondheim Room” because it was frequently used by future composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim during his childhood stays at the farm. There, visitors will see a painting of the Bucks County countryside by Sondheim’s mother and Stephen’s 1942-43 report cards from The George School–where he received highest marks in all categories, except, ironically, “Art of Expression.” Both objects were purchased by the nonprofit at the Sondheim Estate auction last year.