2012-02-03 15:46:37
That famous movie line, "Here's looking at you, kid," will have time to echo in the halls of the Smithsonian this weekend as the son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall opens the first film festival at the National Mall's new movie theater.
"Casab......
2012-02-01 21:51:27
Clint Eastwood helped open a new movie theater on the National Mall Wednesday evening and the Smithsonian Institution honored the actor and director for his six decades of work in American film.
Eastwood, 81, visited the National Museum of American History to hel......
2012-01-31 16:33:10
Documents outlining the crime that landed Malcolm X in prison in the 1940s are among some 1,000 recently unearthed items purchased jointly by the civil rights leader's foundation and an independent collector of African-American artifacts.
The documents and other ......
2012-01-26 14:24:00
BY KATHLEEN DAMINGER
Moose-apalooza ... Saturday, Sunday
Chocolate mousse to an adult? Mmmm. Thick, creamy, decadent goodness. Chocolate mousse to a kid? Think Hershey bar and Bullwinkle. For 13 lucky years, the North Museum has given a nod to the latter vision with its "Chocolate Moose Daze" event, a celebra......
2012-01-25 19:18:42
Thomas Jefferson wrote "all men are created equal" to declare U.S. independence from Britain, yet he was also a lifelong slave owner who freed only nine of his more than 600 slaves during his lifetime.
That contradiction between ideals and reality is at......
2012-01-19 16:49:00
TOM KNAPP
There's a footprint hidden in the blue-black shadows surrounding the bed where Karl Kuerner rests. The World War I veteran (he fought on the German side) lies dying, swaddled in a crisp white sheet in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse.
The footprint, Victoria Wyeth reveals, belongs to her gr......
2012-01-11 21:40:00
BERNARD HARRIS
This week, members of the .918 Club began packing up.
The club is being evicted from its space on the third floor of the Heritage Center Museum on Lancaster's Penn Square.
The 1920s era printing shop, a fixture at the museum for eight years, faces the prospect of homelessness.......
2011-11-17 21:08:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Staff members at the SouthEast Lancaster Health Services' Arch Street clinic knew that many children in their waiting room needed dental care.
But the clinic didn't provide dental care. The dental clinic was at SouthEast's South Duke Street clinic.
And they knew many of those chil......
2011-10-30 20:52:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Monday night, when the sun goes down, Lydia Hamilton Smith will make an eerie return to Lancaster city.
The housekeeper and some say mistress of Lancaster's most famous 19th-century congressman, Thaddeus Stevens, will return to "The Old Commoner's" grave at Shreiner-Concord Cemetery to pa......
2011-10-23 00:10:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
Kids, you might be too young to stay up for television's "CSI," but come to the North Museum and you, too, can step into the shoes of Ted Danson and Marg Helgenberger, stars of the popular CBS crime-solving series. OK, "CSI" and its many spinoff shows deal primarily with deciphering murde......
2011-10-13 16:28:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
During last year's "Sleepy Hollow" Halloween program at Rock Ford, a visitor caught a glimpse of a young girl peeping around the corner of the Blue Parlor.
Dressed in period clothes, the girl seemed enamored with the dancing taking place in the hallway and couldn't resist sneaking a peek.......
2011-10-09 19:23:00
STAFF
Excerpts and summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They focus on events in the county's past that were noteworthy, newsworthy or just strange. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Pu......
2011-09-30 23:02:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Ah, the weekend. For some of us, it means a leisurely cup of coffee, followed by some light chores or a Walmart run, a comfy spot on the sofa before a football game and a nice dinner with the family. Not for Brian Barr. For him, a cup of coffee means a half-hour process involvin......
2011-09-22 14:21:00
Staff
Boomers Expo ... Saturday
Hey, all you boomers who never thought you'd get old: Guess what! You're all over 50 now and many of the issues you are dealing with now will be covered at The Life Expo for Boomers & Beyond, being held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Lancaster County......
2011-09-18 00:08:00
JACK BRUBAKER
"I am here to kill myself some damn rebels," John Burns told Union soldiers at Gettysburg in 1863. And so the Army of the Potomac, which needed every man it could find to defeat the invading Army of Northern Virginia, let Burns, the only civilian to fight at Gettysburg, do his thing. "I......
2011-09-14 19:24:00
GREG AMOS
Cemeteries can be somber places where we keep our heads bowed and speak in hushed tones out of respect for the dead.
Supporters of Mount Bethel Cemetery in Columbia Borough intend to spread cheer with a lively celebration of the historic resting place from 2 p.m. until dusk on Sunday.......
2011-09-01 15:17:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Ah, the teen years: Driving your parents crazy, pushing boundaries, rebelling.
If you think that stuff didn't start happening until James Dean or rock and roll, think again.
While they might have been a little less sassy than modern teens, kids from the Victorian era gave their pa......
2011-08-25 14:41:00
JACK ROBERTS and ALEJANDRO RIOS
Once again it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.
• Road trip!
Corty Byron is going to California, and he's making sure he spreads his music along the way. Sure, he could hop on a plane and make the tri......
2011-08-21 21:55:00
TOM KNAPP
It was hiding in plain sight, resting in a showcase along with an old waistcoat, a hymnal and a handwritten letter from Moravian Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. But the one-page broadside — published July 11, 1775, in Francis Bailey's print shop on what was then known as King's S......
2011-08-15 13:19:00
STAFF
The Oxford Area Historical Association's "A History of the Oxford Area Churches and Religious Groups" is in the final stages of preparation for publication.
It will include information, pictures, humorous and unusual anecdotes, and what area resident......
2011-06-23 16:26:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
What's bugging Belva? Everything under the sun -- or the stars.
And that pretty much sums up what's new at the North Museum of Natural History & Science.
Now, generations of visitors know the museum at the edge of Buchanan Park for its educational but fun approach to science. ......
2011-06-16 17:29:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
St. Paul, Minn., composer/arranger/pianist Raymond Berg didn't know quite what he was getting into when he agreed to arrange the music for "Sisters of Swing," the story of the Andrews Sisters, opening Thursday at Gretna Theatre.
The popular WWII-era trio (sisters Maxene, LaVerne and Patty......
2011-06-12 20:12:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2011-05-15 17:26:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-05-12 15:18:00
TOM KNAPP
It was a punch worth fighting for.
The tavern scene in 18th-century Lancaster didn't have a vast assortment of potables for its patrons. In fact, says local history buff Jim Landis, "people might be dismayed at the lack of variety. They didn't have mixed drinks. They weren't cocktail bars......
2011-05-03 22:31:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's general knowledge that when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was killed battling more than 2,000 Indians on that grassy slope overlooking the Little Bighorn River in Montana on June 25, 1876, that about 200 of his men, including two brothers, a nephew and a brother-in-law, died with him.......
2011-04-28 22:40:00
JANE HOLAHAN
It took three tries for Millersville to become Millersville.
The community in Manor Township is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year and on Saturday, "Milling About Millersville" will open at the Conestoga Area Historical Society and run through the end of the year.
The exh......
2011-04-26 22:10:00
CAROLE DECK
History and heritage. Both are important to the New Holland Area Historical Society. Centuries of change have taken place in New Holland since the first settlers put down roots in 1728. As a way to preserve the past for future generations, the nonprofit organization is in the process of......
2011-04-24 20:09:00
TOM KNAPP
Most of the taverns, once hives of local activity, are gone. The rail and trolley lines have vanished. Many of the people are dead, their businesses fading memories.
But Cory Van Brookhoven is keeping history alive in the Lititz area with his new book, "Images of America: Warwick Township......
2011-04-24 19:37:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2011-04-21 15:39:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
Someone -- or something -- keeps stealing bread from the cloister bakery. Brother Amos needs help finding the culprit.
That's where you come in.
The Ephrata Cloister is hosting a hunt for history Saturday.
Armed with a "passport" containing seven clues, visitors will be di......
2011-04-17 17:28:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-04-14 15:23:00
JANE HOLAHAN
How many comedians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Five.
Why?
That's how many will be in the area this weekend.
OK, not a funny joke. Hey, it's not easy being funny, so if you want a good laugh, go to the pros.
Bobby Collins, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Eng......
2011-03-20 16:25:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-03-17 16:39:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
Being called a fossil means you're old, right?
And being called a dinosaur means you're obsolete, yes?
Well, maybe. But two guys are setting out to change those impressions.
Drop into the North Museum of Natural History & Science at the edge of Lancaster's Buchanan Par......
2011-03-14 22:08:00
P.J. REILLY
LancasterHistory.org on Monday moved a step closer to creating the Lancaster County Campus of History at President and Marietta avenues.
The East Hempfield Industrial Development Authority unanimously approved the nonprofit group's......
2011-03-10 16:23:00
Staff
50 and growing ... Saturday
Train buffs from across the country visit Lancaster County's historic town of Strasburg to take in its array of railroad destinations. This weekend, one of those tourist hot spots hits a milestone. On Saturday, the Choo Choo Barn opens for the season with a ban......
2011-03-07 10:01:00
AD CRABLE
Lancaster County's public, private and homeschooled students dominated the National History Day regional competition held Saturday at Penn Manor High School.
Nearly 300 entries covering history papers, documentaries, websites, exhibits and history-themed live performances were submitted f......
2011-03-06 19:19:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-03-06 00:05:00
AD CRABLE
Born in a refugee camp in Cameroon. Nearly killed by malnutrition and malaria as a toddler. His family forced to flee their home in Chad when a relative was ousted as the African country's oppressive dictator. That's why history "is engraved into my mind-state and heart forever" says Ahmed A......
2011-02-27 19:33:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
He dazzled fans through three episodes of a shooting competition, but it all came to an end Tuesday night for local marksman Jermaine Finks.
Known as "The Fed" on Season 2 of History Channel's "Top Shot," Finks was eliminated after last week's team challenge.
Finks is a federal ag......
2011-02-20 17:44:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-02-07 12:02:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
Un hombre del condado de Lancaster estará entre los 16 participantes de la segunda temporada del programa "Top Shot" del Canal de Historia.
Jermaine Finks, un agente federal e instructor de armas de fuego con el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, fue elegido entre miles de aspiran......
2011-02-06 21:42:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
A Lancaster County man will be among 16 participants on season two of History Channel's "Top Shot."
Jermaine Finks, a federal agent and firearms instructor with the Department of Homeland Security, was chosen from thousands of applicants to compete in a series of grueling shooting challen......
2011-02-06 17:35:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2011-02-04 20:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Remember way back when, how cable TV was going to be this really cool place where anyone who was interested in, say, history could have an entire channel devoted just to that?
Ratings wouldn't matter because it was cable and the money you paid each month would pay for everything, and we c......
2011-02-03 16:08:00
TOM KNAPP
Bardie Keith doesn't want to say she hears voices when she works.
But she wants to give credit where credit is due for her art.
"My work comes from a spiritual and cultural perspective," Keith explains.
"I convey in my work truth, freedom and the oneness of people. The one......
2011-02-03 16:04:00
TOM KNAPP
Somewhere in the prehistoric seas that covered the American Southwest, the water was filled with dolphin-like ichthyosaurs and squid-like belemnites.
There was a pencil, too. And a cheeseburger. And, off to one side, artist Ray Troll floated in the water in swirly pink pajamas.
OK......
2011-01-16 19:36:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2011-01-14 22:46:00
TOM MURSE
John Ward Willson Loose, who could look at almost any building in Lancaster and tell you the name of the architect, the builder, the year it was constructed and a history of the families who lived there across generations, died Friday after an illness.
He was 85.
Loose, whom every......
2011-01-09 19:32:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2011-01-02 16:17:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2010-12-26 19:27:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-12-02 17:24:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Tom Reese loves Christmas.
He loves history.
And he loves Lancaster.
Oh yeah, he loves his family too.
All of those loves will be a part of "The Season Through the Ages," being performed by the Susquehanna Trio Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Stahr Center.......
2010-11-21 17:53:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2010-10-24 17:53:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke.
......
2010-10-21 16:34:00
Staff
Millersville on Parade ... Saturday
Everyone loves a parade. Especially the folks in Millersville. So in that college town, they do it up right. The Millersville Community Parade -- with its floats, bands, dancers and more -- will liven up the streets beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Started......
2010-10-17 00:06:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Joanne Hess Siegrist presides over the history-hungry — "detectives" she likes to call them — as they doggedly scavenge nooks and crannies for dog-eared, faded photographs, track down priceless family stories and heirlooms and even trek through overgrown cemeteries....
2010-09-26 22:54:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
When he started his book nearly two years ago, author Bill Simpson didn't set out to write a history of the past century in Lancaster.
He said he was just "trying to capture the place of the Lancaster Recreation Commission in Lancaster, and in the world, in the times when it was operating......
2010-09-26 17:56:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2010-09-19 19:48:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.
......
2010-08-26 16:41:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
Barring that proverbial fly on the wall, perhaps nobody hears more secrets, witnesses more weaknesses, or experiences more of the joys, sorrows and intimacies of a high-society family than its hired help.What better way to bring to life an era when servants were necessary for the running o......
2010-08-26 16:33:00
TOM KNAPP
Tiny bricks have been meticulously painted on the chimney of a small wooden house. Shingles have been roughly cut and individually placed on the roof with a delicate hand.Ed Guion's wee houses, perfect for a traditional rustic display beneath a Pennsylvania German Christmas tree, are j......
2010-08-19 16:18:00
TOM KNAPP
The Salisbury Township Historical Society is marking its 10th anniversary with a lot of hot air.The society will host a Hot Air Balloon Festival from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday (rain date, Aug. 28) at Salisbury Elementary School, 422 School Lane Road, Gap."This is the first one......
2010-08-12 16:21:00
STAFF
Rigs With Bling .... SaturdayWhat has 18 wheels and a big heart? Truckers Day at the Buck, of course. This 21st annual event at Buck Motorsports Park on Saturday features the Children's Miracle Network's "Truckers for Miracle Kids" Safe Truck Drivers Rodeo at 8 a.m. And a......
2010-08-01 19:57:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-25 21:27:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-22 16:37:00
TOM KNAPP
The violence of the Civil War never reached Lancaster County.But Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum isn't really interested in presenting the harsh realities of war. To historians there, it's the lulls between fighting that are most interesting."Maybe 5 percent, 10 p......
2010-07-18 17:21:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-11 19:25:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-04 17:32:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-07-02 20:14:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Whether it's ridding Lancaster of graffiti, feeding hungry families or spotlighting black history through a recent Juneteeth celebration, Cheryl Holland-Jones' life has been about bettering her community.Holland-Jones, 56, has been the director of Crispus Attucks Community Center s......
2010-06-27 17:32:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-06-20 20:27:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-06-20 00:19:00
JON RUTTER
In late April 1832, a ship carrying laborer John Ruddy rounded the Irish headlands and plowed west across the Atlantic. Ruddy, 18 and poor, was sailing for Philadelphia with dreams of a better life. By August, his body lay buried near the new railroad he'd been building in Chester C......
2010-06-17 16:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Big Bird and Elmo are leaving their digs on Sesame Street to visit the North Museum Planetarium in their new show, "One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure," beginning Saturday.Elmo's friend, Hu Hu Zhu, a furry blue pig who is visiting from China, will be joining the guy......
2010-06-06 18:17:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-05-30 16:33:00
CINDY STAUFFER
It's raining, a dull mist that coats our jackets on this dreary afternoon in mid-May.Carson Kauffman, Gary Roda, Everett Smith and I head out into the Stehman Memorial United Methodist Church cemetery in the countryside south of Millersville. Each of us holds crisp American flags in ou......
2010-05-13 21:33:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The veterans and civilians who endured World War II are called the Greatest Generation, and we are losing them at the rate of more than 1,000 a day.But this weekend, their contribution to freedom will be remembered as LancasterHistory.org holds its annual World War II weekend encampment....
2010-05-09 17:38:00
JEN KOPF
You can try it, too:Stand in Penn Square. Squint through the sunshine at the Gothic traceries of the old Harold's furniture store on Penn Square, then twist around to peer at the Colonial-era building that houses The Heritage Center Museum (the old City Hall portion was Pennsylv......
2010-05-09 17:36:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-05-02 00:08:00
PAULA WOLF
As a new faculty member at Franklin & Marshall College, Kostis Kourelis immediately grasped the teaching possibilities Lancaster city has to offer. So when Kourelis, an assistant professor of art history, was putting together a seminar for the spring 2010 semester, that potential was for......
2010-04-29 17:03:00
JANE HOLAHAN
There's been a lot of debate about Lancaster City's surveillance cameras, especially since Lancaster was named in a 2009 article in the Los Angeles Times the "most surveilled city in the United States," with 164 cameras in place around the city.Some argue for the added sa......
2010-04-25 18:06:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-04-11 22:26:00
TOM MURSE
Marian Schwartz was only 11 when German soldiers, carrying bayonets and threatening instant death, rounded up her family and other Jews living in central Hungary."I was just a kid. A frightened kid," she remembers.The Schwartz family eventually was loaded into cramped, fil......
2010-04-11 17:55:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-04-08 17:41:00
Kathleen Daminger
Longwood Gardens visitors expect sensory stimulation when they visit the world-class horticultural showplace in Kennett Square. They're used to extravagant floral displays, breathtaking seasonal exhibits, and unexpected surprises tucked along the way. But no matter how many times they ma......
2010-04-04 19:12:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-03-29 08:00:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Jonathan Williams knew that if he was going to open a museum dedicated to ghostly apparitions and paranormal phenomena, there would be no better place than what might be the most haunted town in America — Gettysburg.That's why he, his cousin Chris Williams and friends Brandy Ceci......
2010-03-28 23:05:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-03-21 00:09:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
When one thinks of historic innovations, duct tape seldom leaps to mind. Unless you are Sara Mimnall. The 16-year-old Columbia High School junior so adores the cloth-backed tape developed during World War II to water-proof ammunition cans, that she made it the focus of her project for the re......
2010-03-18 16:32:00
Staff
Collage Combo ... opens MondayCollages will collide at Millersville University when "Collage Menage" opens at Ganser Gallery Monday. The show will feature 40 Lancaster area artists who all have different styles but use collage techniques. The exhibit, which runs through Thursday,......
2010-03-14 21:25:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-03-07 22:37:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-03-01 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-02-22 09:00:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Soldiers & Sailors Monument at the center of Lancaster city was built to honor local Union veterans of the American Civil War.In its 136 years of existence, brass plaques have been added to its base to honor veterans killed in the nation's subsequent wars. There are plaques com......
2010-02-22 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-02-08 00:00:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Walter H. Shirk loves finding "echoes from the past."For years, Shirk has taken expeditions to find and photograph historical lime kilns, mile markers and carriage step stones.Shirk first became interested in searching for lime kilns in 2008 when he saw the kiln at Poole F......
2010-02-08 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-02-01 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-01-28 17:19:00
Staff
Roots & Music ... SundayBack in October of 1710, the first land patent in what was to become Lancaster County (10 acres near Pequea Creek) was granted to a group of Swiss-German Mennonites. Within just a few generations, our area became one of the most religiously and cultura......
2010-01-24 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-01-21 16:05:00
JANE HOLAHAN
He was a big guy, even by mastodon standards, standing about nine feet high and about 14 feet long. He weighed anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds.He roamed through Pennsylvania during the end of the Ice Age and one day, he wandered into a bog and died at about the age of 25 in what i......
2010-01-14 17:50:00
LAURA KNOWLES
You might have discovered the Discovery Room at the North Museum when you were a kid. Or maybe you took your children there and now have grandchildren who would love to check out the feet of a beaver, measure an anaconda and examine the silk of a spider.This Sunday, the Discovery Room at t......
2010-01-14 16:44:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Peter Boyer began his composing career when he was 17. "I got started in an unusual way," says the winner of this year's Lancaster Symphony Orchestra Composer's Award. "I really didn't know much about classical music. I was more influenced by pop music. Bu......
2010-01-11 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-01-04 09:00:00
AD CRABLE
Marion Lazan knows she is running out of time.What Adolf Hitler could not do — erase all witnesses to the Holocaust — time is accomplishing. Soon, there will be no more like her to remind new generations firsthand of the almost unspeakable horrors man is capable of through blin......
2009-12-22 07:23:00
MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press
2ND OF 3 PARTS A new test of how government agencies respond to records requests shows that a year after Pennsylvania's revamped Right-to-Know Law took effect, it may be transforming attitudes among government officials about the public documents and information unde......
2009-11-16 00:04:00
TOM KNAPP
The kitchen at Rock Ford Plantation was filled Sunday afternoon with people chatting, sipping cider and munching on ginger snaps.But on a night in July, someone in the kitchen apparently wanted Bridget Gallagher dead.Gallagher, co-founder of The East Coast Anomaly Investigators, was......
2009-11-01 00:08:00
MANDY STOLTZFUS
A century ago a stamp cost 2 cents; fashionable women didn't leave their homes without a decorated, broad-brimmed hat; and construction was just beginning on an unprecedented marvel called the Titanic. The year was 1909, and members of the new Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Landisvi......
2009-10-29 16:15:00
JANE HOLAHAN
George Mummert's work is all around Lancaster, including the "Serenity Tree" that stands in the Downtown Pavilion at Lancaster General Hospital and the 2003 bronze statue of Thaddeus Stevens that presides over the school of technology that bears the famed abolitionist's name....
2009-10-08 16:28:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Fifty years ago, as a way of life was changing and fading in Lancaster County, the Landis Valley Museum put on its first Harvest Days. "It was all about what farm families did to prepare for winter," says Clair Garman, who spent that very first Harvest Days weekend cutting straw an......
2009-09-24 18:19:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It will be Civil War and sauerkraut this weekend, as the two organizations that make up LancasterHistory.org — the Lancaster County Historical Society and James Buchanan's Wheatland — combine their annual living history encampment and arts festival. The historical society'......
2009-09-10 17:29:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A Revolutionary War hospital was a dreadful place. For a soldier with an arm or leg bone shattered by a .69 or .75-caliber musket ball, amputation was the best way to save his life. Strapped to a table or held down by hospital orderlies, biting down on a stick — there were no anestheti......
2009-09-01 08:18:00
AD CRABLE, Outdoor Trails
For years, local nonprofit nature groups have been permitted to meet for free, without supervision, in the North Museum of Natural History and Science. The museum's genesis comes from amateur naturalists and some of the groups provided the museum with their well-regarded collections. B......
2009-08-20 00:21:00
AD CRABLE
After a five-year search, the North Museum of Natural History & Science has settled on a downtown spot for a new science education center that officials believe will give people another reason to visit Lancaster city. Lancaster County commissioners Wednesday gave the museum a $100,000 Lanca......
2009-07-20 09:02:00
DIANA MARTIN
Melvin Allen still vividly recalls the words, spoken more than two decades ago, that drove him to act. After holding a mock trial at a local elementary school in honor of Black History Month, he was approached by several teachers. "You got lucky," they said, of the students' ......
2009-07-06 00:08:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2009-07-03 16:01:00
TAYLOR BUNDY, 18, Freestyle
www.USHistory.orgThe Point: USHistory.org is a virtual tribute to United States History, and a perfect stop for the online traveler on Independence Day.Breaking it Down:...
2009-06-23 00:29:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
With the state's budget sure to tighten, local museums are worried that Pennsylvania's commitment to preserving its past might become history.Under Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed $61.7 billion spending plan, funding for museums and other historical groups could see drastic cuts....
2009-06-18 12:31:00
LAURA KNOWLES
Thaddeus Stevens will be there. So will Lydia Hamilton-Smith and Frederick Douglass. There will also be a Civil War soldier who fought for the Union to free his own people. "This is the second year for our Juneteenth celebration, but this year we are adding many new activities," sa......
2009-06-18 12:24:00
LAURA KNOWLES
The best way to understand history is to live the experience. That is the premise of "Living the Experience," a program of Bethel Harambee Historical Services at Bethel AME Church in Lancaster. While Living the Experience usually relates to Lancaster's role in the Underground Railroad a......
2009-06-12 20:16:00
KELSEY WEITZEL, 18, Freestyle
REVIEW: BookEver wish you had a time machine? How about better luck in the romance department? What do you get if you combine both wishes? You get "The History of Lucy's Love Life in Ten and a Half Chapters" by Deborah Wright.......
2009-06-01 00:04:00
STEPHANIE WEAVER
Despite the sounds of nearby traffic, the soft, harmonic voices of the Ephrata Cloister Chorus brought serenity to the historical site Sunday afternoon.The chorus, which fell silent more than 200 years ago, was revived in 1959 by music teacher Russell Getz. The new vocal ensemble celebrate......
2009-06-01 00:01:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Historic figures will once again come to life and walk among the living when Lancaster Cemetery presents its seventh annual Victorian Day on June 7.Ladies in hoop-skirt dresses, men in high hats and frock coats, Civil War soldiers in full battle uniforms — all will be present.......
2009-05-18 00:25:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
By all accounts, Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, statesman, printer and generally a wily old cuss. But when dealing with Lancaster County farmers, he might have met his match.An article in the April issue of the William and Mary Quarterly by professor Alan Houston of the University of C......
2009-05-14 10:33:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is rolling out the red carpet to honor a movie star this weekend. A large and loud movie star. No it's not Rosie O'Donnell. It's the iron horse — a giant, smoke-spewing machine that has filled movie screens since, well, since there were......
2009-05-10 00:18:00
PAUL FRANZ
The decaying bones tell the tale of a man, likely of European descent. He dined on buttermilk and potatoes. And he died young, probably in his early 20s. His name? No one's sure. For now, researchers simply call the remains "Body No. 1." The man has been dea......
2009-05-06 10:59:00
BERNARD HARRIS
For nearly 80 years, the only visible reminder of Lancaster's downtown train station has been a line of yellow-painted stone pillars along the first block of East Chestnut Street. Those stones were once the base of iron columns that supported the Pennsylvania Railroad station's train shed that ......
2009-04-19 00:16:00
PAULA WOLF
Look out, Catherine Willows. Chelsey ZeRuth could be after your job. But unlike the fictional Willows, portrayed by Marg Helgenberger in the mega-hit CBS drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," ZeRuth is the real deal. The Franklin & Marshall College senior, eyeing a caree......
2009-04-13 00:08:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Imagine a lavish meal of turkey and ham with parsley potatoes, cooked in ironware over a wood-burning hearth, with fresh bread baked in a brick oven, all served in a rustic dining room in front of a large fireplace.If that sounds like something experienced by our Colonial forebears, it is.......
2009-04-05 00:06:00
PAUL FRANZ
A characteristically scowling portrait of Thaddeus Stevens gazed across the meeting room at the Stevens Fire Company station Saturday. Thad's dark eyes in the 19th-century print remained undisturbed as they stared at the 30 people gathered there — as they were the only ones who remembered......
2009-04-03 11:29:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Peter S. Seibert, president and CEO of the Heritage Center of Lancaster County, is resigning, effective May 1. Seibert, who brought the Esprit Collection of antique Amish quilts back to Lancaster County and saw the Heritage Center Museum increase its draw from 10,000 visitors a year to more tha......
2009-03-29 00:06:00
PAUL FRANZ
After years of searching, the mystery has been solved. William Watson, a history professor at Immaculata University, knew for years about 57 Irish immigrants who died in August 1832 after emigrating to Pennsylvania to build a railroad. But Watson could never pinpoint the resting place o......
2009-03-27 01:33:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's a normal day in the control room at Three Mile Island reactor Unit 1, when suddenly alarms begin flashing and panels light up.Quickly, the operators go into action. With the press of a few buttons, the steam turbines are tripped and the control rods, which control the rate of fiss......
2009-03-27 01:28:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It was 4 a.m., Wednesday, March 28, 1979, when a series of things that should not have happened in the operation of Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant happened.The plant was running at full capacity when a pump that controls the coolant level failed. Pressure began to incr......
2009-03-27 00:01:00
Saturday marks the anniversary of an event that changed the direction and history of American electricity generation. Thirty years ago, the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island suffered a partial core meltdown when a stuck valve allowed coolant to escape.The accident, which was contain......
2009-03-25 00:01:00
LINDA ESPENSHADE
Rodney Snyder can taste chocolate and tell you which country the beans came from, how long they were fermented, how they were dried and possibly even how they were roasted and ground.The Elizabethtown man also has an intense interest in the history of chocolate, collecting more than 500 bo......
2009-03-20 20:15:00
AMANDA KENNEDY, 18, Freestyle
Area middle school and high school students from four counties received a healthy dose of history at Penn Manor High School on Saturday, March 14. The high school hosted the regional National History Day competition, a venue for students to flaunt their historical knowledge through term papers,......
2009-03-20 05:00:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
In the 1960s, Hazel Jackson was rejected 12 times for a local teaching position. It wasn't because of her credentials. Jackson had bachelor's and master's degrees in education and had taught in her native South Carolina. But each time she applied, she says, she had to includ......
2009-03-18 19:35:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction — A graphic posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday incorrectly plotted the route expected to be used to haul two steam generators from Maryland to Three Mile Island. The generators will not be taken through Port Deposit on Route 222.......
2009-03-15 00:06:00
MANDY STOLTZFUS
From President James Buchanan to French fashion designer Coco Chanel, prominent individuals of the past, and their accomplishments, were on display Saturday for the regional National History Day competition at Penn Manor High School. Two hundred seventy-five students in sixth through 12th grade......
2009-03-15 00:05:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Late Thursday and early Friday, hundreds of thousands of marauding hordes and disciplined armies descended on Lancaster. Wondering how you missed it? Because most of the soldiers were either 15 or 25 millimeters high. They were brought here to compete in the Eastern Chapter of the His......
2009-03-09 00:02:00
MICHAEL YODER
For the past decade Charter Day has given Pennsylvanians the opportunity to spend a Sunday afternoon in March getting in touch with their historical heritage — for free.But this year's annual event took on a more poignant tone because proposed budget cuts threaten to close as man......
2009-03-05 12:11:00
TIM MEKEEL
The more Frank Bewersdorff learns about the local farming community, the more he believes that others will want to learn about it too. Now he's planning to give them that chance. Bewersdorff wants to create Lancaster Farm World, to tell the story of local agriculture "in an edu......
2009-03-05 11:56:00
JANE HOLAHAN
It's a First Friday weekend, which means downtown galleries will be bursting with art exhibits. But it won't only be the visual arts taking center stage. At the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, music and film will be part of the mix as well. The academy will feature an exhibi......
2009-03-04 10:02:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Thaddeus Stevens had a simple, direct answer for those who asked why Pennsylvania should adopt a public education policy. If an elective government is to endure, he said, all citizens must be educated, and "it is the duty of government to see that the means of information be diffused to......
2009-02-26 09:46:00
JACK BRUBAKER
A cozier merger would be difficult to imagine. The Lancaster County Historical Society and the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland, neighbors on Marietta Avenue, are becoming one. One organization on one campus. "Programmatically, we've been movi......
2009-02-22 00:10:00
PAUL FRANZ
Fifty-seven Irish immigrants died at at a rail site in Malvern nearly two centuries ago and no one knows why. Believed to be buried in an unmarked mass grave called Duffy's Cut, their bodies have never been found. The deaths of the 57 adult laborers are still an unsolved mystery, said Bill......
2009-02-15 00:21:00
PAULA WOLF
When someone mentions McCaskey High School, chances are the first words that pop into your head aren't "New Deal." But if you were a local resident in the late 1930s, that connection would've been unmistakable. Because McCaskey — whose construction was substantially......
2009-02-15 00:20:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Before Gov. Ed Rendell refloats his idea to consolidate the state's 501 school districts into 100 mega-districts, he might want to go back to school and study his own state's history. Subject? Lancaster County school districts. Course name? "The failed attempt to merge Columbi......
2009-02-08 00:19:00
JON RUTTER
Illinois is known as the "Land of Lincoln." Lancaster is becoming a body double. At least when it comes to filming documentaries about the country's 16th president. Scenes shot here by separate film crews will appear in two upcoming shows, "The Assassination of A......
2009-02-05 09:36:00
BERNARD HARRIS
It wasn't a railroad and it wasn't underground, but Lancaster County may lay claim to the term "Underground Railroad." Leroy Hopkins, a Millersville University professor, told an audience Wednesday that there are two different stories that trace the term's origin to Columb......
2009-01-29 11:59:00
LAURA KNOWLES
It may be the coolest exhibit ever. By cool, that means icebergs, polar bears, glaciers, beluga whales, tundra and the deep-down chill of the North Pole. The newest exhibit at the North Museum of Natural History & Science opens Saturday and it takes visitors on an "Arctic Adventur......
2009-01-13 10:50:00
BERNARD HARRIS
With as many as 300 workers busy each day building the surrounding Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott, it's no surprise that the old buildings of the Stevens & Smith Historical Site appear neglected. The one-time home and law office of Thaddeus Stevens and the adj......
2009-01-05 00:33:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Stroll the 19th-century aisles of Columbia Market House, and it's amazing what's offered: fresh fruits and vegetables, ice cream, flowers and Columbia's signature sandwich made with ham, cheese and pickles, The Shifter.When Columbia Market House reopened in 2005, elected offici......
2009-01-04 00:11:00
JON RUTTER
Len Eiserer is a self-described nature lover and collector. He compiled his observations about robins in a 1976 naturalist book. He's crammed a self-storage area floor to ceiling with dinosaur posters and original art. He nurtures more than 200 types of trees on his property in......
2008-12-11 11:52:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
When Santa Claus first started riding the rails at Strasburg Rail Road a half century ago, Strasburg's station was hardly bigger than a phone booth and the engine pulling the passenger cars was powered by diesel, not the trademark steam the railroad is known for today. Back in those earl......
2008-11-09 00:11:00
PAUL FRANZ
They call him the "archive." Reaves Goehring Jr. is getting older, but the 80-year-old retired history teacher from Columbia High School has never been sharper. He's the type of guy who could tell you everything down to the finest detail about any Civil War antique. &......
2008-10-17 02:34:00
PATRICK BURNS
Abraham Lincoln's ghost is said to haunt the White House, his home in Springfield, Ill., Ford's Theater and other places far away from Lancaster.But that didn't deter a film crew from conjuring Lincoln in Woodward Hill Cemetery on Thursday.The crew, from New York City-ba......
2008-09-22 00:16:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Sunday was a great day to spend in the park, especially Amos Herr Park in East Hempfield Township.More than 1,000 residents showed up for the 29th annual country fair, where they visited arts and crafts stands, checked out classic cars, listened to good old rock and roll music and wolfed d......
2008-09-21 00:08:00
JON RUTTER
Henry "Box" Brown had himself sealed inside a crate and shipped to Philadelphia by train. Such was the determination of blacks fleeing the pre-Civil War South. Many of the fugitives filtered into southern Lancaster County, where they found a haven amidst the large Quaker populati......
2008-09-15 00:21:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Frank Masters likes to say: "Learn to walk with your head down because you never know what you are going to find on the ground."Masters, a mineral collector and long time friend of Elizabethtown College, donated half of his vast mineral collection to the Masters Mineral Gallery....
2008-08-24 00:06:00
JON RUTTER
Their jobs are out of the ordinary. The social, educational and public health challenges they face are daunting. "They're all sort of self-made," Margie Marino, executive director of North Museum of Natural History and Science, said of her colleagues in a new professional dev......
2008-08-24 00:03:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Bill Maguire, vice president of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, said Exelon Nuclear's sponsorship of the North Museum Science & Engineering Fair represents an investment in the future for the company. The company operates nuclear power stations at Peach Bottom and Three Mile Island....
2008-08-03 00:02:00
JOHN McGONIGLE
The Delaware Museum of Natural History is a great place to take youngsters any time, but the often-stifling days of August might be the best time of all. Between computers, television and air conditioning, August outings can provide a challenge to parents attempting to interest their offspring ......
2008-07-03 11:10:00
JANE HOLAHAN
In 1681, when William Penn received a charter for the land that would become Pennsylvania, he began what he called a holy experiment to see if people of different faiths and traditions could live together peacefully. The Theater of the Seventh Sister is trying its own theatrical experiment by b......
2008-06-27 00:25:00
STEPHANIE WEAVER
Leon H. Martin's 18-foot-long replica of Hunsecker's Mill Covered Bridge will soon be heading to what he hopes is "its final resting place."The massive model will be transported Saturday morning from Martin's home in Leola to the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society......
2008-06-18 09:53:00
JACK BRUBAKER
In 1710, Pittsburgh was an uninhabited wilderness at the forks of the Ohio River. Kansas City was an uninhabited bend along the Missouri. Las Vegas was an uninhabited oasis in the Mojave Desert. Lancaster County, in 1710, was patented for its first permanent European settlement. ......
2008-06-16 00:02:00
CARLA DI FONZO
Honeybees have a friend in Christina Seldomridge.The Leola resident is an avid beekeeper who removes accessible swarms within Lancaster County — free of charge."Because some honeybee colonies have been dying off, people are encouraged to call in a beekeeper to safely remo......
2008-06-12 13:11:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
A penny a post bought an awful lot of Lancaster County history. In their heyday, beginning around 1907, postcards cost about a cent to send. Who would've dreamed then that so many "wish you were here" messages to loved ones would someday become part of a window into the past?...
2008-06-09 00:02:00
JOHN WALK
The North Museum of Natural History & Science will hold an open forum Saturday to discuss the possibility of creating an astronomy club for children.The museum is inviting parents and their children to attend the meeting at 9 a.m."Right now it's really open, and that......
2008-06-06 07:01:00
RON DEVLIN
(AP)Eric Claypoole has been around hex signs since he was 5 years old, but there's one question he still can't answer: Why do the Pennsylvania Dutch paint hex signs on their barns? Claypoole, 47, a Lenhartsville artist who paints hex signs, raised the question recently, when he spoke to......
2008-05-22 10:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Have a question about Lancaster County history? Jack Loose has an answer. Any time period, any subject. And if he doesn't know the answer, he'll find out and get back to you. "Jack's the county historian," says Tom Ryan, the executive director of the Lancast......
2008-05-15 13:16:00
By JANE HOLAHAN
During World War II, women's roles in the country changed dramatically, from Rosie the Riveter to the Donut Dollies. You've probably heard of Rosie, who represented the women who worked in factories, helping American industry gear up for the war that would consume the country for fou......
2008-05-15 12:03:00
New Era Staff
Welcome to the East Side. Sixteen stops will be featured on the Lancaster Township Historical Commission's East Side Tour, beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday. The 30-minute motorized tour, sponsored by the Lancaster Township supervisors, is free. Donations will be accepted at the Almshouse, 90......
2008-05-15 07:03:00
CATHY MOLITORIS
Kids in the kitchen
Looking for something fun to do this summer? Try cooking. Essen Kinder Camps offer opportunities to learn about food sources, kitchen safety and table manners, while acquiring basic cooking skills. Camps, for kids ages 10 to 14, are $225 per sessio......
2008-05-12 00:00:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
While many Lancaster County residents enjoyed the horn-blaring, diesel-engine-roaring Make-A-Wish truck convoy that snaked its way north from the city suburbs to Ephrata and back, a few found a more peaceful way to spend Mother's Day in the Sunday quiet of historic downtown Lancaster.T......
2008-05-04 00:16:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
If the 1971 ceremony to dedicate Lancaster Square had been held 20 years later, actor Kevin Costner could have delivered the keynote address. Its title? "If you build it, they will come." That haunting mantra coaxed Costner's character in the movie "Field of Dreams"......
2008-04-27 00:18:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Whether or not Thaddeus Stevens' property on South Queen Street served as a safe house for runaway slaves on the underground railroad is, for some, open to debate. What is not debatable, said Gail Tomlinson, director of the Stevens -Smith Historic Site (a project operated under the auspices......
2008-04-20 00:02:00
PAULA WOLF
It started with an unanswered question. That's what prompted Darlene Colon to research her family tree, a decades-long journey that has produced many unexpected — and fascinating — revelations. "When my grandmother died, my mother was wondering out loud about the origi......
2008-04-11 09:02:00
LARA BRENCKLE
(AP)Cheryl Heck is an anachronism. In spite of her thoroughly modern minivan and cell phone, when she retires to her home, you'll likely find her by the wood-burning stove, spinning wool into yarn, throwing pots or tending to the small flock of chickens in her backyard. "I've ......
2008-04-04 17:48:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Two Lancaster County historic railroad sites will be featured on national television Monday.The Strasburg Rail Road will be highlighted on History's "Modern Marvels" at 8 p.m., followed at 9 p.m. by The Learning Channel's "Jon and Kate + 8," in which the stars v......
2008-04-02 01:37:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
To Sir Jonathan Miller, God isn't dead — God just isn't.And this message, delivered not militantly but matter-of-factly, surprisingly didn't result in the spontaneous combustion of its Tuesday night venue, Franklin & Marshall College's Hensel Hall.If one we......
2008-03-23 00:06:00
JON RUTTER
In Columbia one recent morning, Noel Poirier pulled on white cotton gloves and picked up George Washington's watch. The stately, bewigged Father of Our Country was said to be uncommonly intent on the passing hours. Many times during the Revolution, Washington must have fished this piec......
2008-03-10 10:20:00
TIM BLANGGER
(AP)First-class stamps cost 5 cents, Allentown had two daily mail deliveries and the post office at Fifth and Hamilton streets served customers around the clock when Edward A. Schmidt Jr. started working there in February 1966. But Schmidt — Ed or "Schmitty" to friends and colle......
2008-02-29 02:19:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Young people at Crispus Attucks Community Center in Lancaster took time Thursday to pay homage to their African-American heritage during the center's annual Black History Month celebration."We've been working with the kids on the program for three weeks," June Wilson-Moor......
2008-02-22 13:41:00
Associated Press
Owners of The Carpenters' former home aren't feeling on top of the world about the legions of fans who keep stopping by to pay tribute. The five-bedroom tract house, where siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter lived and penned some of their greatest hits, was featured on the cover of the......
2008-02-18 01:02:00
TOM KNAPP
Justin Yurchak was bouncing with excitement at the prospect of demonstrating the monthly phases of the moon.Maybe it was because the 9-year-old Landisville student likes science. And maybe it was because he was using the creamy inner layer of an Oreo cookie as his model.The cookie, ......
2008-02-18 00:58:00
JAMES BUESCHER
It's an industry that employs about 36,000 people in Lancaster County and one the state ranks as its second-leading industry after health care.According to Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitor's Bureau, it's not agriculture — it's tourism.And thanks to a new effort by Lan......
2008-02-18 00:55:00
MICHAEL YODER
"Forty acres and a mule" is the rallying cry of disenfranchised blacks who are still waiting for compensation for the horrors of slavery.But for many, the "slave reparations movement" is not just about a paycheck and an apology — it's about the acquisition of real power to make Ameri......
2008-02-17 00:04:00
PAULA WOLF
Darlene Colon has been researching her family's roots for decades, and what she's discovered only keeps her digging deeper. "There's a myth that African-American history is too difficult because of slavery," said Colon. "It's difficult but not impossible.&quo......
2008-02-17 00:02:00
PAULA WOLF
Todd Mealy probably wouldn't describe himself as a Renaissance man, but for a 28-year-old he's got a pretty impressive résumé. A social studies teacher at Penn Manor High School, where he just completed his first season as head football coach, Mealy also does political con......
2008-02-10 00:18:00
JON RUTTER
More than two centuries ago, a black charcoal burner named Governor Dick blazed the land with his axe — and his name. The sturdy woodsman's legacy lives on in the namesake Lebanon County park created in 1953. But human memory is less robust. Some visitors to the park think it com......
2008-02-04 00:59:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Local author Todd Mealy has written a new biography. But it's not about the life of a person, but a city."Biography of an Antislavery City: Antislavery Advocates, Abolitionists, and Underground Railroad Activists in Harrisburg, Pa." is the story of the coming of age of a city......
2007-12-28 00:02:00
JAMES BUESCHER
It's a pesky little article shared by only The Hague in the Netherlands, The Bronx in New York and, of course, the Buck, which straddles the border between Drumore and East Drumore townships in southern Lancaster County.The answer to how the Buck got its "the" seems to raise ......
2007-12-17 00:35:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
When Christmas Day is over, avoid the inevitable letdown.Join the spirits of Christmases past at Rock Ford Plantation for some yuletide frolicking, 18th-century style."There's such a huge buildup to Christmas Day that there's a letdown when it's over," said Sam......
2007-12-14 01:20:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The spirit of Christmases long past will be present at Wheatland this holiday season, as Santa Claus — Civil War style — takes up residence for the annual Christmas Candlelight Tours. Portrayed by Civil War re-enactor Walter Bosch, Santa looks like a cross between Father Christmas a......
2007-12-09 00:10:00
JON RUTTER
Who is this bearded, jolly man toting a bagful of toys in place of his usual .44-caliber Remington sidearm? It's Walter Bosch, that's who. "I'm Civil War Santa," the retired Lancaster resident matter-of-factly tells people taken aback by his getup. His breed is r......
2007-12-09 00:07:00
HELEN COLWELL ADAMS
The man stopped at Bob Thomas' office out of the blue. His father had run the Bob Hess Inc. car dealership in the old Eastern Market building years ago, and the visitor had photos. Would Tabor Community Services like to have them? That's how Tabor got the black-and-white glossies, ......
