The "Picker's Market" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just bought my second book!  Carol and I, along with friends Jerry and Just Sue are roaming the grounds of Shupp's Grove in Adamstown, PA.  Shupp's Grove, known as the "Picker's Market", is an outdoor venue that was started over 50 years ago on a wooded property in the heart of what is known as the Antiques Capital USA.  It is open from April to October on weekends with some Extravaganza 3-day weekends.  There are also several theme weeks such as Postcard, Dolls, Paintings, China and the theme day we are attending today, Tools, Railroad and Transportation.  

You walk over a meandering stream
to reach the antiques and collectibles.

They offer free parking and no charge to enter the wooded grove where the sales booths and tables are located.  Today we walked throughout the grove examining everything from Christmas decorations to fossils and rocks to old army uniforms.  Carol and Sue made live plant purchases to take home for the garden while Jerry was only a "looker" today.  As for me ....... yeah, I bought two books that struck me as interesting.  One was titled "The Story of the Other Wise Man" which is about 5" x 8" in size and was written by Henry Van Duke.  Inside is inscribed, in what I call my mother's cursive writing, "To Dorothy from Aunt Mary - Christmas 1944".  It carries a copyright date of 1895 by Harper & Brothers and is 75 pages long.  The price was $1!  

Jerry examines some of the railroad collectibles.

I just began reading it and it is exactly what you would expect from the title.  My other selection I found as I was about ready to leave Shupp's.  It drew my attention as soon as I read the title of the large book.  

More stands throughout the groove.  Notice the tree roots
that are painted with bright colored spray paint so the
customers don't trip over them.

Titled "Old Lancaster - Historic Pennsylvania Com- munity", it gives much of the same information and stories that I have tried to give in my stories that I write about my home town.  The artwork in the book is done by local artist Charles X. Carlson and the author is also a local in Frederick Shriver Klein.  I will make good use of this book in the future.  Well, I have added a few more photos to give you an idea of the size of Shupp's Grove as well as the variety of antiques and collectibles you will find at the wooded area where the hunt is as much fun as the find.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

My two books that I purchased.

Doll pieces.

Newspaper front pages from the 1940s.

Looked like my old Scout uniform.

Never saw this before!

Ammo!

Christmas houses.

Need a lock?

Old magazines featuring the Beatles.

I recently wrote about the Mason jar.

Buttons galore.

Marbles everywhere.

Had to me Amish stuff somewhere.

Autographed photos - this one by Roberto Clemente.

Tempting!

Lots of guns.

And naturally post cards!