Franklin County is home to a flourishing group of Old Order Brethren, a sect of German Baptists also known as Dunkards, who established a congregation in the area around Bowman Place about 1765. Most are farmers who lead lives apart from what they refer to as “the world.” Their first meetinghouse in the county was at Bowman Place, which was a residence that doubled as a meetinghouse. Today the house has a c. 1900 two-story, frame front section with a later Craftsman porch. The rear ell is the initial two-story, brick section, laid in Flemish bond with a corbeled brick cornice. Inside, the residence's two first-floor rooms could be converted into a large meeting room for religious services by swinging up large partitioning panels and hooking them onto the ceiling. The property includes a large mid-nineteenth-century bank barn as well as an extensive vineyard.