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......

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....

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......

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'......

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......

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......

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......

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' ......

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....

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:...

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....

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......

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......

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.......

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......

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.......

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......

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......

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......

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 ......

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......

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.......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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,......

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......

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.......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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. &......

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......

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......

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......

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....

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......

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....

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 ......

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......

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......

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. ......

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......

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?...

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......

(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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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"......

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......

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......

(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 ......

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......

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......

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......

(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......

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......

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......

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, ......

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......

"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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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 ......

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......

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......

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......

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, ......

The Preserve America program funnels millions of dollars to places that preserve their heritage and encourage history-based tourism. Backers say it would give preservationists a tool to compete with developers here.
Lancaster County takes pride in its history. Individuals and orga......

After six months of renovations, two historic town clocks are back and looking better than ever.The clocks, one in Landisville and the other at Hempfield Fire Department Community Park in Salunga, were re-erected in their original locations last week.Installed in 1946, the clocks ar......

Long before the Vietnam War turned ugly for many Americans, young sailors off the Vietnam coast conducted one of the largest humanitarian efforts in U.S. history. Just after the Korean War ended and the French were pulling out of Indochina, more than 810,000 people were relocated from the north......

If you know who Buffy, Jody, Sissy, Uncle Bill and Mr. French are, the new lunch box exhibit at the Lancaster Museum of Art is right up your alley. So when you take your annual trek to Trees Galore! and shop in the expanded Holiday store on the first floor of the museum, make sure to go up......

The history of warfare is linked indelibly to transportation.From aircraft and naval vessels to jeeps and motorbikes, the military always has had to find better ways to get where it needs to go. That's where the histories of trains and troops overlap."Railroads really were ......

A Penn Manor High School teacher recently used music as a catalyst for critical thinking in her American history class. But her use of music is nowhere near the likes of "Schoolhouse Rock!" or "The Alphabet Song." "This is more profound thinking," Lara Paparo ......

Kids on a slope near Rock Ford Plantation picked grass and passed the time uninterested in anything around them.Then came a marching drum beat.The high-pitch, catchy cadence of a fife followed.Men in American Revolutionary War uniforms carrying muskets and rifles marched out ......

Ann LeTort was something of a firecracker. After fleeing from persecution in France for being a Huguenot, the name given to French Protestants, she and her husband, James, settled upon the banks of the Conestoga in Lancaster County around 1690. Letort Elementary School in the Penn Manor ......

Libraries are seen as places where minds expand and history comes alive.To emphasize the important role libraries play on college campuses and in the community, Millersville University's Ganser Library is exhibiting historic books and papers and photographs of the school, some that dat......

Rabbit meat cooked over a campfire is social studies teacher Robert Slamp's specialty.Every year since 2001, he has donned a Union soldier's uniform and set up camp on one of the most unlikely spots in Lancaster County — the grounds of Carter & MacRae Elementary School on......

Chris and Pascale Herzog love old homes. That's an understatement. "Every time we move, it has to be an old house," says Pascale Herzog, who relocated with her family to Maytown from New York in 2004. "There's a sense of continuity in an old house that you do......

(Editor's note: Books presents the third in a series of profiles of local authors. This feature runs occasionally and focuses on writers who have succeeded in the world of commercial publishing.)

Today's writer: Two years ago Hatfield native E......

The mystery of a cast-iron coffin found by utility workers in Washington, D.C., has followed a meandering path to Lancaster County.Forensic researchers at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History announced Thursday that the remains of a 15-year-old boy unearthed in 20......

When the school bell rang, they practiced their penmanship, learned geography, went to recess and drank from the water crock. They ate peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and apples from their lunch pails. One student even had to spend time on the dunce stool. It was back-to-school Mon......

Lancaster County commissioners Wednesday awarded $2.6 million to 27 projects under the county's 2007 urban enhancement fund program.The goal of the projects is to improve facilities in the county's more densely populated areas.Funding comes from a $25 million bond issue approved by ......

It's a good time for the history of President James Buchanan. Four personal letters bought at auction in 1991 were given to the James Buchanan Foundation in Lancaster this month, and a television documentary about his presidency will be filmed here this week. Many scholars consider Buc......

Donnie Brooks has a quote he likes to use about his favorite sport: "The family that plays together, stays together." Brooks, of Strasburg, is a self-described "discaholic" — an advocate of disc golf, a sport that combines disc-throwing (think Frisbees, the trademarked......

For a fun-filled day with your family, try something a little corny. Head to Cherry Crest Farm, a 15-acre spread of "agri-tainment" that features a five-acre corn maze, among other attractions. This is the 12th year the farm, located in Ronks, has welcomed visitors, general manag......

It was a casual business luncheon, so there were bound to be plenty of handshakes and niceties.But when Jim Nagle stepped to the podium during a July 19 press conference at Lancaster Country Club, there was no mistaking the seriousness in his voice."In my opinion, there's n......

An few years ago, an odd fact in the memoirs of a Civil War general caught the eye of Elizabethtown College English professor David Downing.Among the topics Maj. Gen. Grenville Mellen Dodge wrote about was his time as commander of the XVI Corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman during the......

Want to keep current on genealogy news and/or share your genealogy research with others? Consider blogging. The popularity of blogging has recently expanded into the world of genealogy. To understand how blogs can work for you, having a working definition is helpful. Blogs are online journals o......

Heading to the beach this summer can be as easy as hopping in your car and driving to Mount Gretna. Just over the Lancaster County line in Lebanon, families can experience a sandy beach, coupled with a 10-acre lake that's perfect for swimming, diving and floating your cares away. "......

In the middle of a hazy, hot and humid day, you can escape to air-conditioned bliss while your little ones burn off energy at the same time. Just head to Kidz Escape, an indoor playground in New Holland. "We're a great place to come in, play for an hour or all day and have fun,&qu......

Susan Traverso, a former dean at the University of Redlands in southern California, has joined Elizabethtown College as the school's provost and senior vice president.Traverso said she is proud to be an academic leader at the college."I am very impressed with Elizabethtown ......

The North and the South will meet in Elizabethtown this weekend, clad in itchy wool uniforms in blue and gray, performing unit drills and cooking camp food in the late-July heat. And while only peaceful activities are on the schedule, one can't rule out a skirmish or two. "You can't put......

German Panzer spearheads will be attacking the French countryside once again this weekend. The Battle for France in 1940 will be one of the many battles re-enacted through toy models and battlefields at the Historicon Convention from today until Sunday at the Lancaster Host Resort.  ...

The Cocalico school board at its July 16 meeting approved a revamped job-description manual which reflects the recently adopted Act 114.Act 114, which went into effect in Pennsylvania on April 1, requires that all prospective school district employees including administrators, teachers, su......

Lurking among the trees and bushes along Lancaster's Marietta Avenue are some of the most exotic creatures around. Look closely and you can find a dragon, a life-size rabbit, a flamingo and a giant dragonfly. These are just some of the topiaries that bring gardening to life during......

If you want to be entertained this summer, take it outside. Catch a flick alfresco in Lancaster's Buchanan Park, as part of the Lancaster Recreation Commission's Summer Family Film Series. The series is in its 19th year, says Jill Diller, Rec Commission director of special events....

While the rest of Lancaster County celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and picnics, Strasburg Railroad engineer Steve Weaver was getting ready for a moment he had been anticipating for nearly a year: flipping the main electrical switch in the newly refurbished Reading Car No. 10.&......

Residents of Lancaster County, come and meet your old neighbors. Six actors from the Pennsylvania Past Players will walk around downtown Columbia Friday from noon to 4 p.m. The actors will be in costume as social activists, Civil War doctors, and other figures from the region's Civil War-er......

If you want to feel like a kid again, take your children to the National Toy Train Museum. Featuring five interactive, operating train layouts and housed in a building modeled after a Victorian-era train station, the museum brings the hobby of toy-train collecting to life. The museum, loca......

The Ressler Mill Foundation recently announced the recipients of its 10th annual grants program. This year, 27 local organizations will share $48,380.Topping the list is a $6,306 gift to Factory Youth Center in Paradise."They want to establish a computer center for teens,&......

Going over the river and through the woods used to lead to Grandmother's house — at least in the song — but at Tucquan Glen in Martic Township, it leads to an opportunity to experience some of the most beautiful land in Lancaster County. With hiking trails that run alongside &md......

Patrick Clarke has talked with enough historians to know that when it comes to discussing American presidents, there is bound to be debate."If you want an argument, put two historians in a room. If you want a brawl, you just put a few more in there," said Clarke, executive direct......

Want your children to eat more fruit? Let them pick their own. Bring the family to Cherry Hill Orchards, where your kids can pluck buckets full of sweet cherries — and sample a few along the way. Cherry Hill, located in New Danville, has offered pick-your-own cherries for clo......

The best way to learn about history is firsthand, and that's what visitors to Ephrata Cloister got to do Saturday and Sunday through a special program entitled "Building History: Making and Saving Historic Architecture."The idea behind the program, said Michael Showalter, the......

BY DRIVING TO Kissel Hill Road in Lancaster, you can step back in time to 19th-century Lancaster County. At Landis Valley Museum, history comes alive, with demonstrations, tours and hands-on activities that highlight life for the Pennsylvania Dutch in the late 1800s. The museum began as......

For years, the historians and guides at the Ephrata Cloister have been telling visitors exactly who lived in those austere, Gothic buildings — and why. But this weekend, they will tell visitors how those buildings came to be, as the Cloister presents "Building History: Making and Savin......

Howard Peterman's hobby is a historian's dream.Peterman — who is celebrating his 100th birthday today in Elizabethtown, where he lives — has written columns for several small-town, northcentral Pennsylvania newspapers throughout his life.As late as age 95, Peterm......

The Memorial Day holiday is over, and while it was certainly a nice three-day weekend, I still didn't have time to do all the things I had hoped to do. For example, I never had the chance to fire up my grill.Barbecuing is a male rite of passage older even than Mike Wallace. It began eons a......

Donegal High School students received a history lesson Tuesday without ever opening a textbook. Instead, they learned about the Great Depression, the New Deal and early 20th century family life from residents of Hearthstone Manor of Mount Joy, an independent and assisted living community. ......

Lancaster Catholic High School sophomore Maggie Larkin took top honors at the state level of the National History Day competition. She will advance to the national competition in June. Larkin, 16, of Lancaster, earned Best Local History Entry in the senior division for her project titled &......

Lancaster Catholic High School sophomore Maggie Larkin has competed in National History Day competitions on the state level for the past four years.Last week, however, she scored her first win, which means she will advance to the national competition in June.Maggie, 16, of Lancaster......

First, it was the Wax Museum of Lancaster County History, built by the late Earl Clark as part of his 65-acre Route 30 East amusement park, Dutch Wonderland. Then, it was the Discover Lancaster County History Museum, part of the Dutch Wonderland Family Entertainment Complex, a subsidiary of Her......

Any chance you need a reproduction-quality cannon, a full-size stagecoach or wax figures?You're in luck.These are among the items being put up for auction starting at 11 a.m. this morning at Continental Inn. Jennings Auction Group LLC will auction the contents of the former Disc......

They're not the Greatest Generation, but they are an incredible simulation.The Lancaster County Historical Society will host its annual World War II encampment this weekend.More than 75 re-enactors representing both Allied and Axis soldiers and civilians will set up canvas tents and......

Consider city streets are like stars: Only imagination limits your sense of their farthest destination and the stops at several points along the way.A small booklet issued by the City of Lancaster provides a walking tour and description of little towns of the 18th century when the city'......

My daughter is a college student majoring in history, and she's taking a course on the Renaissance. The class has proven difficult.I had warned Sarah about this. As a college-trained historian myself, I knew the Renaissance was about as exciting as watching mud harden.Such courses h......

Kids can travel along the Pennsylvania Trail of History for free today.To raise awareness of the newly expanded Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, all historic sites administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission will admit two children free with the purchase ......

A retired United Methodist Church official who served at two county churches has been chosen as speaker for the 54th annual Good Friday Breakfast on Friday, April 6. Charles Yrigoyen Jr., retired general secretary of the United Methodist Church's General Commission on Archives and History, ......

Crispus Attucks Community Center sought to drum up interest among young people in African-American culture during Black History Month.And, on Friday, it was mainly children keeping the beat as the center hosted a program of African dance and drumming.The children, all participants i......

Leroy Hopkins "got tired of not seeing any brown or black faces" in historical photos printed in a Lancaster newspaper. So the Millersville University German professor and freelance historical researcher decided to describe some of those faces himself Tuesday at Thaddeus Stevens Colle......

If they kept pressuring, kept knocking on the door, they figured they would eventually break through. That’s what happened. Nikki Auker’s goal 1:24 into the first overtime lifted Warwick to a 2-1 win over Hempfield in the Lancaster-Lebanon League semifinals in Manheim Wednesday night. The d......

“We want to give the glory right back to God — that’s why we’re here today,” he told a crowd of thousands in Quarryville before launching into the song “Falling.”The applause for Unsearchable Riches was nice, but lead singer Jeremy Sorensen wasn’t hanging on to it.The applause for
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