The "Adventures on the Lincoln Highway: Part V" Story

It was an ordinary day.  On my way home with my wife from our daughter's house in Urbana, Maryland.  We travel north on Rt. 15 until we reach York Road or what is commonly known as The Lincoln Highway.  Today is another story of my travels on this historic roadway that is celebrating it's 100 anniversary in 2013.  It was the first coat-to-coast highway built with public funds.  

New Oxford Train Station and Museum

 We traveled a short distance heading east towards Lancaster and came to a small town known as the "Antiques Capital of south-central Pennsylvania."  New Oxford has many historic structures and features which were part of the town when the Lincoln Highway was first laid and traveled.  In the mid-1800s track was laid for a railroad through the town and in 1860 the Dutch Line of the Western Maryland Railroad passed through New Oxford.  

1862 Oxford Hall

 In November of 1863 President Abraham Lincoln traveled through the town on the railroad on his way to Gettysburg to deliver his now famous Gettysburg Address.

It wasn't until 1892 that a railroad station was built in New Oxford and the Pennsylvania Railroad took control of the line after World War I.  Today the neat red brick station serves as a museum along the still used track that crosses over the Lincoln Highway. Across the street from the railroad station stands a vintage gasoline pump in front of a gas station that has withstood time since the 1940s. New Oxford was the half-way point on the highway from Philadelphia to Baltimore. 

The 1880 Atland House as it appears today.

 In the town was a tavern named the Oxford Hotel which was re-built in 1858 and the Oxford Hall which was re-built in 1862.  As Carol and I continued east on the Lincoln Highway, 7 miles later we arrived in the square at Abbottstown.  On the south-western corner of the square stands the Atland House which was established in 1880.  It occupied the oldest tavern in Adams County which was built in 1801.  The Atland House continues to serve Lincoln highway travelers with fine food and lodging.  

The 1884 Hafer House

 The late President Dwight Eisenhower was a frequent visitor at the Atland House and loved their chicken and waffles which is still on the menu and was the special the evening we passed through the town.  Directly across from the Atland House stands the majestic Hafer House which was built in 1884 for the unheard of at the time amount of $1 million dollars.  William Hafer was a livestock farmer and his family lived in the home for four generations.  In the 1920s it served as an ice cream parlor and then a gas station until the 1970s. It was recently purchased by the Galantino family and restored to it's original grandeur. On the same side of the street, but a half-block to the east stands the Captain Peter Ickes House.   It is of Swiss German architecture and is one of the oldest standing homes in town as well as Adams County.  

The 1794 Captain Peter Ickes House.

 One-half the home is of log construction while the other half is stone.  It has been covered with aluminum siding and divided into apartment units until Lancastrian Mr. James Fritz purchased it in 2001 and restored it to it's American Revolutionary War condition.  It originally was  hotel and Washington stopped at the hotel as he was heading west in 1794 to quell the Whiskey Rebeillion.  With him were Alexander Hamilton and "Light Horse" Harry Lee, the father of Civil War General Robert E. Lee.  

How neat is that!  Next door to this home stands the Abbottstown Fire Company whic carries a mural which features the square as it appeared years ago.  

The side of the fire house in New Oxford

 The Atland House and the Hafer House are featured in the mural.  All along the Lincoln Highway stand grand homes that you can just tell stood there when the road was first built.  Our trip on the highway today ended when we reached the west side of York, PA where the road branched off into a four-lane highway and bypassed the city of York and the original Lincoln Highway.  It was another extraordiinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Sign on the side of the door on the Oxford Hall building.

Historical marker on the front of the Cpt. Peter Ickes House.

Very old photo of the Atland House in Abbottstown, PA