history: Woodstock Turns 40
- 08/12/09 11:38 AM
Ex hippies, yuppies and college students of a certain age may remember, in the summer of 1969, seeing ads for "3 Days of Peace and Music" posted around Greenwich Village in New York City, college campuses, and other places where the young and hip were likely to find it. I almost got to the Woodstock Festival myself - entirely by accident! My fiancee and I had planned to go for the weekend upstate to the Concord Hotel & Resort in Monticello, NY, where I had previously worked. We were surprised to find heavy traffic on route 9W that seemed more like weekday rush … (17 comments)
history: Lancaster PA Museums
- 02/08/09 05:13 AM
Lancaster, PA has a long and colorful history extending back to colonial days. Here are some of the museums that bring Lancaster's cultural and architectural history to life: The Landis Valley Museum, 2451 Kissel Hill Road, is the largest Pennsylvania German folk museum. There are exhibits of Pennsylvania German (also known as Pennsylvania Dutch) artifacts, and live demonstrations and interpretations of rural life in Pennsylvania from 1740 to 1940. There are activities for the children, buildings, artifacts and crafts, and the Weathervane Museum Store. The Landis Valley Museum is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. James Buchanan's Wheatland is the … (5 comments)
history: Thaddeus Stevens - Lydia Hamilton Smith Historic Site, Lancaster PA
- 07/02/08 09:15 AM
As the construction of the Lancaster PA Convention Center and Marriott Hotel reaches new heights, several historic buildings around it are being spared. A $20 Million project is planned to preserve and restore the law offices of Thaddeus Stevens, and the next door home of his housekeeper and business manager, Lydia Hamilton Smith. Thaddeus Stevens was born in 1792 and died in 1868. He was a lifelong crusader against slavery, and is considered the driving force behind the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery, and the 14th and 15th Amendments, which granted equal rights, and the right (for all men) to vote.
Lydia … (4 comments)
history: Classic Car Show, Lancaster, PA
- 06/30/08 05:06 AM
June 26 Was Oldies Night at the Greenfield Business Park, Lancaster, PA, featuring Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
A classic car show helped recreate the nostalgic feeling of the 1950s and 1960s.
The first half hour of the show was marred by rain, tut it soon cleared up. Owners of the classic cars could be seen wiping the raindrops off their beloved automobiles!
The next free concert at Greenfield will be held Friday, July 18, featuring Jasmine Morgan, a rising country music star.
history: The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance
- 06/30/08 02:03 AM
As we get closer to the Fourth of July, Americans are in a patriotic mood. Joan Mirantz wrote a blog about a program in New Hampshire that has put 4,000 flags in classrooms in 400 schools. In the comments, I wondered whether the kids really understand what the words to the Pledge of Allegiance mean, and Joan wondered how many people know the story of how the Pledge originated. In the years following the Civil War, wounds were still fresh from a war that had been fought to keep the country united. Great strides were being made in the industrialization of the United States - … (8 comments)
Its Art Deco marble interior is reminiscent, on a small scale, of Grand Central Station in New York City. Lancaster is the third busiest train station in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
The main lobby features a soaring ceiling with art deco lighting fixtures and a magnificent glass paned ceiling insert.
Over the past decade, restoration has been ongoing, including painting and improvements to the heating system.
The building will now be air conditioned. Shops and … (10 comments)
history: What Do We Memorialize on Memorial Day?
- 05/25/08 05:32 AM
Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. In 1865, following the Civil War, Henry Welles, a druggist in Waterloo, New York, suggested that the graves of fallen soldiers from the war be decorated in honor of their service to their country. The town embraced the idea, and wreaths, crosses and flowers were placed on each grave. Flags were flown at half mast. In May of 1866 and 1867, other towns adopted the ceremony, and services and speeches were held at the cemetaries. In 1868, the first official recognition of Decoration day was observed, with the date being changed from May 5th … (3 comments)
history: Historic Log House Update
- 05/14/08 01:11 PM
On March 19 I wrote a blog about an eighteenth century log cabin in Lancaster, PA that had been slated for demolition, but was now to be dismantled and preserved on another site. If there is any doubt about the exposure that Active Rain blogs get, this should put it to rest. I was contacted by a man over a thousand miles away in Minnesota, who had spent the first fifteen years of his life in that very house! Not only was Steve Landis kind enough to fill in some of the details of when he and his family lived there, … (16 comments)
Next door to it was a house in the process of being torn down (you can see it in the corner past the sign).
The roof had already been torn off. As I passed by, I noted, to my surprise, that underneath the clapboard, the home was an eighteenth century log house!
I was dismayed, thinking that yet another piece of Lancaster County history was about to be destroyed. I turned around, which in rush hour traffic on … (24 comments)
history: Lancaster County, PA Firsts and Biggests
- 03/16/08 04:04 AM
Robert Fulton, born in Lancaster County in 1765, was the first to make navigation practical with a ship powered by steam. Fulton did not invent the steam engine, but he made history with his steam powered voyage on the Hudson River in 1807. A township in southern Lancaster County is named after him. Milton S. Hershey, whose name has become synonymous with the chocolate bar, actually started his first milk chocolate factory in Lititz, Lancaster County, PA. Hershey learned his trade in Lititz, before founding the famous factory and town that was named after him in nearby Dauphin County. The Stehli Silk Mill … (10 comments)
history: The Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Conestoga Wagon
- 03/16/08 02:45 AM
Did you know that the Philadelphia to Lancaster Turnpike, first completed in 1794, was the first successful turnpike in the new American nation? It was built with the help of Conestoga wagons from Lancaster County! The cigars that the Conestoga wagon drivers smoked became known as"stogies". Turnpikes were originally built as for-profit enterprises with private money. A toll taker would rotate a pike or timber that blocked the highway, after a toll was paid, clearing the way for a vehicle to pass - hence the name of "turnpike". Later on, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, started in 1938 and completed in 1941, became the first … (10 comments)
history: Happy Leap Day!
- 02/29/08 05:08 AM
Today is Leap Day - February 29 - a day which only occurs every four years! Technically called Bisextile, the name comes from the early Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar, or Julius the Czar (King). The calendar, introduced in 46 BC, had only ten months, which is why December is named for the Latin root word for ten. It was calculated at that time that an extra day would occur every six years; hence the bisextile. Of course, now it's known that the extra day accumulates approximately every four years. In today's Gregorian calendar, leap day comes in every year that can … (19 comments)
history: An Homage to Abraham Lincoln
- 02/12/08 12:13 AM
Today, February 12, is the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, considered by many to have been the greatest President in our nation's history. Born in meager conditions on this date in 1809 in a small log cabin in Illinois, Lincoln educated himself with borrowed books and went on to become a lawyer, a congressman, and in 1860 the first nominee for President from the newly formed Republican party. An early outspoken opponent of slavery in America, Lincoln as President introduced the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, and precipitating the secession of the southern states. Lincoln's life was often tortuous: losing a wife, … (22 comments)
history: Childhood Music Memories
- 01/11/08 11:14 AM
I have always had some musical aptitude, so when I was eight years old, my parents bought me a second-hand piano. They found a local music teacher who would come over to our house, and she was duly hired to teach me the fundamentals of music, which to my folks meant classical music. My uncle, Julius Schulman, was a well known violinist with the Boston Pops at the time, and it may have been their wish that I follow in his footsteps. Alas, it was not to be. I struggled with Mozart's Sonatina in C Major and Bach's Solfeggietto week after week, while earning disapproving … (25 comments)
history: Marietta, PA Candlelight Tour of Homes
- 12/03/07 06:55 AM
On Sunday, December 2, 2007, the 42nd Annual Marietta Candlelight Tour of Homes took place. All week the Borough of Marietta held its breath for the weather report, which had for the previous four or five days been predicting a wintry mix of snow, sleet, ice and and rain. The advance purchase tickets were probably not affected too much, but the on-site day of sale tickets definitely were down due to the dreary start of the day's weather. As it turned out, the temperature stayed just above freezing all day, so the on-and-off precipation was all rain - which failed to dampen the … (9 comments)
history: Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata PA
- 10/28/07 02:59 AM
Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata PA Nestled close to the intersection of Routes 272 and 322 lies an ancient compound that predates the modern roads by centuries...
The Ephrata Cloister was a Seventh Day Baptist community established by devout German settlers in 1732.
The Ephrata Cloister is now a museum run by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The community was run by "brothers" and "sisters". Today, "brothers" and "sisters" can be seen in period costumes as guides, and in activities that would have been typical of life 250 years ago.
Conrad Beissel, the founder of Ephrata, was … (20 comments)
history: Historic Smithton Inn, Ephrata, PA
- 10/24/07 11:17 AM
Historic Smithton Inn, Ephrata, PA At 900 West Main Street, Ephrata, PA, not far from the Ephrata Cloister, stands an inn which has been in business for 237 years! The Historic Smithton Inn, a beautiful estate of multicolored stone, was originally built in 1763.
Innkeeper Dorothy Graybill was born only a mile away from the Inn. The rooms are furnished with antiques and hand crafted furniture. Each room has an operating fireplace, which is in use from November through April. The rooms can be candle lit, and are decorated with Pennsylvania Dutch quilts and stencils. The Historic Smithton Inn was built … (8 comments)
history: Lancaster PA Civil War Encampment
- 09/17/07 02:18 AM
Lancaster PA Civil War Encampment September fifteenth turned out to a beautiful pre-autumn day for the recreation of a Civil War Encampment on the grounds of the Lancaster County Historical Society, at the corner of North President and Marietta Avenue.
The pungent smell of campfires burning permeated the cool morning air.
The "Mayor" was in attendance in full top hat and tails!
A military drill practice included a musket firing demonstration.
The Lancaster Civil War Round Table was in attendance. They meet on the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm (except December) at … (14 comments)
history: Lancaster County Historical Society Civil War Encampment
- 09/13/07 06:02 AM
For the 19th year, the Lancaster County Historical Society, 230 North President Avenue, will conduct a Civil War encampment on its grounds at the corner of North President and Marietta Avenues. Some fifty volunteers in period uniforms and costumes will portray Union soldiers and civilians. the reenactment will be open to the public 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, September 15, and 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday, September 16. Refreshments will be available. There will also be a candlelight tour at 7 pm Saturday. Musket firing demonstrations, military drills, and even a surgeon with an authentic civil war era amputation kit will … (4 comments)
history: Where Were You on 9/11?
- 09/11/07 12:43 AM
Years ago, everyone, myself included, remembered exactly where they were on November 22, 1963 - the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The world changed again on September 11, 2001. We all remember what we were doing and where we were on that fateful day. I and three friends were in Ocean City, MD in a condo by the shore that week. It was a beautiful morning, and while we talked about our plans for the day and prepared breakfast, we had the TV news on in the background. The first picture I noticed was a high rise building in … (21 comments)
Ex hippies, yuppies and college students of a certain age may remember, in the summer of 1969, seeing ads for "3 Days of Peace and Music" posted around Greenwich Village in New York City, college campuses, and other places where the young and hip were likely to find it.
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