“Restless Progress in America”: Drawing the Mason-Dixon Line

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments “When I found I had crossed that line,” recalled Harriet Tubman, “I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything . . . I felt like I was in Heaven.” Such was the power of the Mason-Dixon Line. Within 75 years of its completion to resolve an eight-decade-long dispute between two colonial proprietors, a boundary line drawn in the 1760s by two English...
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Art of the State 2016 / Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers

Posted by on Sep 9, 2016 in | Comments Off on Art of the State 2016 / Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers Art of the State 2016 More than 500 guests visited The State Museum of Pennsylvania on June 26 to attend the opening of the 49th annual Art of the State. The juried exhibition, cosponsored by The State Museum and the nonprofit Jump Street, with WITF as a media sponsor, showcases 122 pieces from artists around the state. At the opening, 20 artists received awards in five categories: craft,...
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Baking Pennsylvania Dutch Style

Posted by on Sep 9, 2016 in | Comments Off on Baking Pennsylvania Dutch Style Regional American cuisine is fast becoming the hottest trend on the food scene today, and while we still hear a great deal about Cajun or the Southwest, one of the richest areas for culinary diversity is Pennsylvania. The Keystone Center for the Study of Regional Foods and Food Tourism, a nonprofit that has taken the lead in exploring the foods of our state, has identified five distinct culinary...
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Yoe and the Ma & Pa Railroad

Posted by on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on Yoe and the Ma & Pa Railroad   The Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad (Ma & Pa) and its narrow-gauge predecessors (Peach Bottom Railway, York & Peach Bottom Railway, Baltimore & Lehigh Railroad and York Southern Railroad) played a large role in industry and transportation in southeastern York County from the 1870s until its abandonment in 1983. In its heyday, the Ma & Pa ran from York to Baltimore,...
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History Cast in Iron: Rediscovering Keystone Markers

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on History Cast in Iron: Rediscovering Keystone Markers From Airville to Blooming Valley, from Camptown to Dornsife, and all the way to Wysox, York Haven and Zion View, Pennsylvania literally claims unusual – as well as unique – place names from A to Z. Most of the Commonwealth’s cities, towns and villages were once marked with cast iron name signs, painted in the rich blue and gold colors associated with Pennsylvania. Manufactured in an elongated...
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Political Leadership: A Catalyst for Special Education

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Political Leadership: A Catalyst for Special Education President Kennedy was admired for his efforts to help retarded citizens, and most people realize that these efforts were motivated, in part, by his personal awareness of mental retardation. But few people know of the dramatic story of personal motivation moving.govern­ment bureaucracy to assist the handicapped in Pennsyl­vania. It has been nearly half a century since Henry Lanius, a blind...
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York County: A Most Treasured Land

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on York County: A Most Treasured Land Planted squarely above the Maryland border, the gigantic horse’s hoof, which is the out­ line of York County, covers an area of 914 square miles, supporting a popula­tion of 300,000. Its eastern contour is delineated by the “long, crooked” Sus­quehanna, its pastern cleanly cut off by Cumberland County on the north, its outer edge defined by Adams Coun­ty on the west. This...
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Lancaster County: Diversity of People, Ideas and Economy

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lancaster County: Diversity of People, Ideas and Economy When Lancaster County was established on May 10, 1729, it became the proto­type for the sixty-three counties to follow. The original three counties­Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester – were created as copies of typical English shires. The frontier conditions of Ches­ter County’s backwoods, from which Lancaster was formed, presented knot­ty problems to the civilized English­men....
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Rollers ‘n Strippers, Twofers ‘n Crooks: The Cigar Industry of Red Lion

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Rollers ‘n Strippers, Twofers ‘n Crooks: The Cigar Industry of Red Lion The present fades into the past quickly. Suddenly it is gone, leaving only memories and faded photographs: but this does not have to be. Dusting off decades of neglect, interested communities have uncovered their pasts and proudly displayed their heritages. One such town is Red lion. In conjunction with its centennial, Red Lion began to dust off its own nearly forgotten history: from the 1880s...
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Adams County: Tranquility Regained

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Adams County: Tranquility Regained One of Pennsylvania’s smaller counties, both in size and population, Adams County developed much the same as similar settlements along the Atlantic Seaboard. Its growth during the past two and a half centu­ries has been governed by its own particular circumstances, including location, terrain, soil, climate, vegetation, min­eral resources and the accom­plishments of the immigrants and...
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