The "Jobs You May Have Never Knew Existed" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking some of my desktop files I have saved over the years that had material I thought I might want to write about some time.  Wasn't long ago that I wrote a story telling of the jobs that existed when I was growing up in Lancaster County which have been fazed out by technology or were no longer necessary.  I used photos from one of the files to illustrate these jobs.  Well, I also found a file I had saved which had photographs and job descriptions of occupations that existed before I was born.  Never used it and was going to trash it until I realized I saved it since the jobs depicted in the photos were so interesting and in the case of two of the jobs, really unusual.  So, rather than trash the file I decided to use the material.  And, today you will get the chance to see what I at one time thought was interesting enough to keep. In case you may not have any idea what is depicted in each photo, I have given a brief explanation of what the job is that you are viewing. The older you are, the more you may remember the job or occupation. 

The job of the ice cutter was a tough one.  Large saws, similar to saws used to cut timber, were used to cut ice blocks that would be transported to ice factories for either crushing or selling for refrigeration.

These are ice blocks that are sold for ice boxes which were similar to our refrigerators, but not electrified.

A Knocker-upper was essentially an alarm clock.  They were hired to ensure that people would wake up on time for their jobs.  They would use sticks, clubs or pebbles to strike a client's window or door.

Lamplighters used long poles to light, extinguish and refuel street lamps - until electric lamps were introduced. 

This illustrates the job of the Lector.  A lector was someone who would read to you.  They were hired to read to large rooms full of manual laborers to keep them entertained.  This lector sits high above the workers.

Before radar, troops used acoustic mirrors and listening devices like these to focus and detect the sound of engines from approaching aircraft.

Rat catchers were employed in cities to control the rat population.  They ran high risks of suffering bites and infections, but helped prevent rodents from taking over a city.

Resurrectionists or body snatchers were hired in the 19th century to remove corpses from graves for universities to use as cadavers.  Cadavers from legal means were rare and difficult to obtain, so universities had to resort to other means to procure cadavers for their students.

This is a street railway car that was electrified.  Many towns had cars such as this and may have called them trolley cars.  This really neat car is from Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, Mass.

This is a bit older method of transportation since horses were used to pull the cars rather than being electrified.  This photograph is dated 1924 and is from Toronto.

Now, I'm sure there were many other jobs that were common in past years that I didn't post, but this should give you an idea of what occupations existed years ago.  Some are very interesting while others are just plain gross.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Time You Have In Jelly Beans!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Preparing for the arrival of the Easter Bunny at our household.  Our grandkids are all as tall as my wife, but she insists that we have an egg hunt so they can hunt for plastic eggs that are hid in our back yard.  And, what's funny is the grandkids still enjoy and expect us to have the egg hunt.  Could be all the candy and treats, as well as the dollar bills, that we put in the plastic eggs.  The 50 to 60 eggs are hid under bushes, behind fences, under flower pots, and around the rear porch.  Every summer I always seem to mow over one or two that had not been found during the egg hunt.  So, what do we put in the eggs?  Why, sugar treats, naturally!  All the good things that their parents don't want them to have.  Small pre-packaged bags as well as a variety of other treats and naturally jelly beans.  

Everyone knows I will be placing jelly beans in the eggs I prepare, since they are one of my favorite sweets.  For Christmas I usually get a container or two of cashews as well as a container or two of jelly beans.  Used to be Jelly Belly brand, but when they found they can buy store brand jelly beans at Costco and BJs stores, they opted for them.  And, I can't tell the difference anyway.  And the flavors; I just love the variety of flavors that come in those big containers.  They even put photos of the different varieties so I can guess and see if I'm right.  Do you know the origin of the jelly bean?  Seems it is a bit of a mystery.  Some believe it is a combination of the soft, chewy Middle Eastern sweet called Turkish Delight that was around for thousands of years and the hard candy shell of Jordan Almonds which are a product of the 17th Century.  Candy maker William Schrafft advertised that people should send his treat called a jelly bean to Union Soldiers fighting in the Civil War.  When penny candy was popular at the candy store, containers of jelly beans were one of the treats you could get for a penny.  Then someone decided to push the jelly bean during Easter season and our culture thought it to be a great idea.  The fact that they are shaped like an egg made sense to most who already associated the egg shape with Easter.  Then on Febuary 7, 1964 the Beatles landed on US soil and someone got the idea they loved jelly beans.  Their real treat was called a jelly baby which was much softer than the hard jelly bean. Fans began to throw jelly beans at them during concerts, not realizing how much it must have hurt when they landed on them.  And in the 1960s Ronald Reagan took to eating the treat to help him wean himself from smoking.  Worked and for his 1981 presidential inauguration, the Jelly Belly company sent him 5,000 pounds of jelly beans as a gift.  They were all colored red, white and blue.  Too bad someone didn't ask him his favorite, since the black licorice jellybean was it.  Well, I will make sure that after I have filled the colored Easter eggs, I will have a couple of handfuls left for myself to snack on for a few days.   While searching for a few facts about the jelly bean, I came across an amazing YouTube video titled "The Time You Have - In Jelly Beans".  The video, created by Ze Frank, depicts the average lifespan of a human being, which is 28,835 days, in jelly beans.  You don't have to love jelly beans to enjoy it, but it helps.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Milestone: The Road Side Survivor" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got back in the car after walking back and forth along Rt. 30E searching for a stone marker, aka milestone, telling me the distance I am from Philadelphia as well as the distance I am from my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

 A few years ago I added a small note to one of my stories telling about milestones and I recently learned of the location of a few more and began a search for them.  I posted a note to a local Facebook page asking for help finding local milestones and when I got a few responses I began my search.  

A beautiful Lancaster County scene along busy US Rt. 30E in Lancaster
County. This is known as the Willows Bridge which is a combination of
two bridges.  The Miller's Farm Bridge linking Providence and Strasburg
Townships built in 1871 and the Goods Ford Bridge that crossed the
Pequea Creek and was built in 1855.  Both bridges were slated for demo
in 1962, but Mr. Adolph Neuber, who owned the Amish Farm and House
was given the Miller's bridge to preserve and he purchased the Goods
bridge to use to repair the Miller's bridge.  Both bridges were used to
restore the Willows Bridge.  Mr. Neuber's restaurant, which stood closeby,
was called The Willows and stood from 1931-1996.  I can remember eating
there on many occasions while growing up.  Today there are less than 30
covered bridges remaining in Lancaster County.

Today I was trying to find one that was said to be near the Amish Farm and House, the Target store and the Ameri- can Music Theatre along Rt. 30E.  I parked the car nearby and told my wife I'd be back in a minute or two as I walked toward the busy highway.  Walked through  the old covered bridge that at one time carried all the traffic that now flows on six lane highway near me.  I looked along both sides of Rt. 30 as well as near the covered bridge, but with no success.  

The milestone in front of the Amish Farm
House.  It reads 51 M to P - 5 to L.

After getting back in the car I told Carol of my failure and she told me to drive past the entrance to the nearby Amish Farm and House, since the poster on Facebook  suggested that to be the location.  The Lancaster County tourist attraction is close to 100 yards from the busy highway, but I gave it a try anyway.  As we approached the bus lane in front of the attraction, Carol pointed to her right and said, "There it is in front of the place."  I guess it only made sense since the current highway was moved to the south years ago when it changed from the two-lane road to the 6-lane road that it is today.  The stone appeared to show etched lines that read 51 M to P, 5 to L which would be 51 miles to Philadelphia, 5 miles to Lancaster.  

Another Lancaster Turnpike milestone
is in front of Lancaster's prison.  It says
62 M to P by the Turnpike.

After some searching online I found that there were originally 13 stones that were placed on the north side of the Philadelphia to Lancaster Highway in 1795 by Joseph Price.  These milestones marked the distance from the Market Street Bridge (30th Street) in Philadelphia to Lancaster.  I found that GoogleEarth was used to check the distances and the longer distance measured 53 miles, but the 5 miles to Lancaster was accurate.  Reading more I found that there were 10 historic turnpikes that ran from Lancaster to cities or towns such as Lititz, New Holland, Oregon, Marietta, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Manheim, Columbia, Millersville and Strasburg.  These locations were connected with a "pike" or a "turnpike", thus Oregon Pike, New Holland Pike, etc.  

This stone stands in front of the Country Patches Bed &
Breakfast at 3157 Lincoln Highway East.  It reads 53 M(iles)
to P(hiladelphia) 9 M to L(ancaster).

In Lancaster's newspaper is a column each week called "The Scribbler."  Jack Brubaker is known as such and he writes a weekly column on newsworthy or historical topics.  He recently wrote of a fellow named David LeRoy who has written a book called "Roadside Survivors: Historic Milestones on the Old Turnpikes and Post Roads of the Northeast."  

This Historical marker tells the story of the Philadelphia & Lancaster Turnpike Road.

In the book he says that Lancaster County is "A hub for markers."  Mr. LeRoy discovered his first milestone about 40 years ago and he hasn't been the same ever since.  

This book is interesting and can be found
on Amazon.com.  Author is David LeRoy.

The book is interesting and tells many stories of his discoveries as well as the size of milestones.  Most are 5 feet, 6 inches tall with approximately half buried underground.  Most are stone with a few being concrete, wood or iron.  Lancaster's turnpike from Philadelphia to Lancaster actually ran to our neighboring town to the west, Columbia which borders the Susquehanna River.  The milestones were used to determine postal charges as well as distances.  Mr. LeRoy has discovered more than 400 milestones which makes the dozen or so that I have found a very minor feat.  That's OK with me since I still had fun driving around the county with my wife discovering places we hadn't seen for years.  One very familiar place though, St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, brought a smile when, as passing by it, I reminded her that's where we were married.  "I don't remember that!" she said with a questioning look on her face.  "I must have forgotten that when I had my amnesia a few weeks ago."  Then we both had a good laugh.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This milestone is on the Lititz Pike near the town of Lititz.  You can see the distances to both places on the stone.  The Lititz Pike runs north-south.

This milestone is on the Marietta Pike to the west of Lancaster.  3 L - 22 M.

Another milestone on the Harrisburg Pike.  The cable company was using it to hold the excess cable from the above line in place.  It reads 1 L - 24 M to H.

The "You Expect Me To Eat That!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I are heading to the local Giant Supermarket to do the weekly grocery shopping.  I always look for a parking space across from or very close to the cart return so when we are finishing loading our groceries into the car it will be easy to return the cart.  Cold winter day with the high expected to reach the low 20s.  I grab a cart as we enter the store, making sure it doesn't have one of those plastic thingamajiggers on it that you use to place the unit to keep track of your purchases.  I can keep track just fine in my head and the thingamajigger always get in my way.  I usually put the shopping list and coupons in my pocket when we leave home, so I pull them out and pass them to my wife.  In case I forgot to put them in my pocket, I just tell her, "I thought you said you would get them."  Never works, but I still keep on trying.  Now for the important part of my story...how to shop without poisoning yourself or at least really making yourself sick.  

Make sure the fruit isn't bruised and nicked.

The produce section can be a killer.  If you see fruit flies as you examine the fresh fruit, pass by and forget it.  Usually means the food is leaking and breaking down, wilting or moldy.  If you need a plastic bag to place your produce in make sure that the person in front of you hasn't licked their fingers before reaching for their bag to pry open an off-the-roll plastic bag and then begin to pick through the produce.  Their germs will be all over each piece of fruit they touch and not place into their bag.  Make sure that cut fruit that is packaged is kept on ice or refrigerated to shield it from bacteria.  If you notice nicks or bruises on the skin of fruit, remember that bacteria can enter the fruit much easier through a nick or bruise.  Organic fruits and veggies aren't exempt from all these warnings because pathogens don't care how or where the fruit and vegetables are grown.  

The deli counter attendant should be wearing gloves.

Now, did I scare you enough that you'll bypass the produce section?  We head to the deli section next where you should check out the attendant to make sure they put on gloves before helping you and don't wipe those gloves on their dirty apron before reaching for your cheese or lunch meat.  The next thing I have to tell you may be tough to find out, but food slicers are supposed to be cleaned every four hours.  Also best if they cut meat on one and cheese on another to reduce cross-contamination risks.  When you buy store sliced meat it is much easier for deadly Listeria bacteria to get on your meat.  Better to buy it already pre-packaged, but I hate to buy it that way.  As we leave the counter we usually pass someone handing out free samples.  

Once again, make sure they wear gloves.

Make sure they have gloves on their hands and if you see another customer take a sample and put it back, keep on going.  We usually hit the meat section last to make sure that cold items say cold until we get home.  Make sure that all refrigerated units are 40 degrees or colder.  How can you tell?  Just take the thermometer out of you pocket to check.   What?  You didn't bring a thermometer?  Geez ... I thought everyone did that.  If you see plastic bags along the meat counter so that you can place each item in a separate bag you know the store values sanitary conditions.  In our meat department there are many open air refrigerated units which is OK as long as they don't overload the case and block airflow.  Fresh fish should always be on ice or refrigerated.  I don't know if I ever saw it any other way.  If the fish did have a mild smell of ammonia, pass on it since it has begun to decay.  My last bit of information deals with my favorite spot in the store, the salad bar.  Since we usually shop late morning, we tend to take home a salad for lunch.  

All containers should have their own utensil.

If you see an attendant bringing out fresh greens or other supplies for the salad bar, make sure they are wearing gloves and make sure they don't dump the new supplies on top of the old.  Stuff on the bottom will most certainly go bad doing it that way and if the salad greens are wilted, their refrigeration unit probably isn't working very well.  Also should be separate spoons or utensils in every bowl.  And, my final warning is not to eat the sprouts since they are grown in a warm, moist environment and may be spoiled by the time you get them on the salad bar.  Well, time to check out.  I love to bag the groceries.  Makes me feel like I am back in my teen years once again and bagging groceries at the Acme Supermarket where I worked for a few years.  And, there really is a science to it you know.  I'll have to make a video of it some time to show you. Grocery shopping is very tough and by now I'm exhausted.  How about you?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Deafness In The Vineyard" Story

Logo used on my favorite show on the Travel Channel

It was an ordinary day.  Watching one of my favorite TV shows, Mysteries at the Museum, which features Don Wildman who visits museums around the world and picks one item in the museum and tells a tale about the item.  Now who wouldn't love a tale of deceit, destruction, war, love, death or even someone who was deaf!  One of the segments on the show I watched today talked about a deaf Utopia where everyone would know how to communicate in sign language.  Well, there actually was a place such as that off the coast of Massachusetts on the small island known as Martha's Vineyard.  

The island of Martha's Vineyard.

You've heard of the island I assume.  One of the greatest scary movies of my lifetime, Jaws, the story about a great white shark who closed the beaches in Martha's Vineyard, made the island well known.  But, evidently, the island is just as well known for being an island with a high deaf population at one point in time.  It was in the 19th century that the Vineyard population began to grow with deaf people.  In 1817 two families had deaf members with a total of seven deaf.  Ten years later the number had risen to 11 deaf.  Then in 1850 the small town of Chilmark had 17 deaf in six households.  Five more years showed 21 deaf in nearby Tisbury.  

The cover of a book that has been written
dealing with the deafness on Martha's Vineyard.

In Chilmark there were 19 more deaf.  On the nearby mainland in Massachusetts the frequency of deafness was 1 in 6,000 while on the Vineyard it was 1 in 155 people with Chilmark leading the way with 1 in 25 with a section of the town called Squibnocket having 1 in 4 deaf.   For much of my adult life after the 1970s I too had a small degree of deafness, but that was due to coaching the rifle team at the high school where I taught and not knowing I should be wearing ear protection.  My loss has been corrected with hearing aides, but in the case of the people on the Vineyard, they suffered a type of deafness at birth that was of the nerve type and couldn't be corrected with medical or mechanical means as mine was.  Many of the early settlers on Martha's Vineyard carried a gene for deafness and through marriage, generation after generation, their children were born with hearing loss.  There were so many deaf people on the vineyard that the residents developed a sign language called Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) or Chilmark Sign Language which has its roots in County Kent in southern England.  MVSL seems to have had a role in the American Sign Language when residents began attending the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.  

The sign language known as MVSL.

Children with deafness received a longer education on the Vineyard due to their hearing loss.  This led to a higher literacy rate among deaf students.  As children and young adults married and moved off the island, the deaf population of the Vineyard decreased.  The last deaf Vineyard native died in the 1950s.  Today there are no fluent signers of MVSL.  There are still a few residents of Martha's Vineyard today that can still remember the use of sign language.  Seems that linguists are working to try and save the rare language, but the lack of use anymore is making it very difficult.  As for me, I seem to learn something new every time I watch Don Wildman of Mysteries at the Museum.  Shows you that you're never too old to learn.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Havin' A Good Time In Lancaster: Part II" Story

Witmer's Tavern on Old Philadelphia Pike.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of Witmer's Tavern wondering what ever happened to it!  I can remember taking a Polaroid photo of it years ago to add to my altered Polaroid collection, but back then there were rocking chairs on the front porch with the smell of fresh baked bread coming from the open front door.  

Photo of the Witmer's Tavern as it appears now.

It really looked like a tavern and inn, not as it looks today.  The building is on the list of National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania, which means it must stand for eternity...if possible.  The roof is in need of repair, a side building is ready to fall down, the driveway around the building is filled with debris and the blue tarp covering the building tells visitors that it is in dire need of repair.  

Click to enlarge photograph.

Standing in front of the building is the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission sign telling the story of the building: built about 1725 by Benjamin Witmer, passed on to his son John, enlarged by Henry Witmer in 1773, prominent in the construction of the Philadelphia-Lancaster Turnpike in 1792.  This place drips in history, but sadly it drips in desperation and sorrow.  I walked around it and headed back to my car where my wife waited for me.  "That's so sad," she said when I was back in the car.  What more can anyone say!   The tavern sits on an acre of land and is also known as the Conestoga Inn Tavern.  It most recently was renovated in 1978 and was at that time operated as a bed and breakfast.  There were two barns on the property at the time, but a prop plane crashed into one of the barns and did quite a bit of damage to the roof and rafters of that barn.  Both barns were eventually torn down.  Luckily both the pilot and passenger of the plane survived.  

I hope that repairs will be made soon to the remaining tavern.  

Witmer's stone bridge over the Conestoga River.

Shortly I headed west toward Witmer's Bridge which stands on the bottom of what we in Lancaster call East King Street.  It too bears the Witmer name which was so prominent in Lancaster County.  Immediately after the Revolutionary War there was no bridge.  

The 1932 bridge built over the Conestoga River.

In 1753 Lancaster Commis- sioners met and talked about the need for a bridge over the Conestoga River to replace the busy ferry that was in place.  The following year they asked the the General Assembly of the Province for help with the cost.   On the west side of the bridge stands what at one time was known as the Witmer Restaurant, but today is called the Conestoga Restaurant and Bar.  

An early photo of the Conestoga Inn and Restaurant.

The original building was constructed in 1742 with the present building being built by Abraham Witmer about 1789, shortly after the American Revolu- tionary War ended.  The name and its owners have changed many times since then, but the name Conestoga was used most often.  To the east of the restaurant is the Conestoga River with a grassy area that at one time was more than likely the landing where patrons would board the "Lady Gay" riverboat to travel to Rocky Springs Amusement Park.  

The east entrance into the Conestoga Restaurant.

At first they thought they could hold a lottery to pay for the bridge, but that fell through.  Then the owner of the land on the west side of the river, Abraham Witmer, decided to help pay for the bridge, assuming it would be a toll bridge so he could get his money back.  It was said that the toll for every coach, chariot, wagon or other four-wheeled carriage would be 1 shilling and 6 pence, for every chaise, riding chair, cart or two-wheeled carriage would be 9 pence, every sled would be 1 shilling, every single horse and rider would be 4 pence and every foot passenger 2 pence with every head of horned cattle or swine 1 pence.  It was also decided that all poor persons could pass for free.  The bridge would be built across the river where the current road stood.  The bridge built by Abraham Witmer under the act of 1787 was not the current bridge, since it was built of wood.  

Another view of the Conestoga Restaurant.  One of the
owners was a student of mine in high school.

So another act was passed saying Mr. Witmer should built a more permanent bridge and remove the old one.  On November 12, 1800 Abraham Witmer informed the public that his new bridge will be completed by  tomorrow.  The stone bridge was 540 feet and the width was 19 feet with a tablet in the middle of it on the north wall telling of the history of the bridge.   Evidently Mr. Witmer was paid for the bridge by the county, and the toll was removed on September 5, 1918.  In 1932 a new concrete bridge over the Conestoga River replaced Witmer's stone bridge.  I have traveled across that bridge many times in my lifetime.  My Aunt and Uncle lived about 300 yards from the bridge on the east side of it and there were many times that I went fishing in the shadow of the bridge.  I must admit that once I found out that it wasn't the original Witmer bridge, the excitement of crossing it and following in the same tracks of many famous people seemed to evaporate.  The photograph I took today is still special, since I perhaps was standing on the exact spot that Mr. Abraham Witmer may have stood years and years ago.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The Conestoga Restaurant as seen from Lincoln Highway.

Witmer's Bridge looking west toward the city of Lancaster.

One more view of Mr. Witmer's second bridge of stone.  This was replaced in 1932 with the bridge that now crosses the Conestoga.

The "MARCH FOR OUR LIVES DAY" Story

It was an ordinary day.  A "MARCH FOR OUR LIVES DAY".  Kids a quarter of my age organized the march, and boy did they do a fantastic job!  I listened to what they had to say in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C. and all over the world.  Kids who are tired of being scared to go to school. Carol and I recently visited with out daughter and her family in Urbana, Maryland, a small bedroom community outside Washington D.C.  Our oldest granddaughter, Courtney, told us how scared she is to go to school.  And, I believed her since I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice!!  She said kids talk about guns all the time.  A student in nearby Solanco High School, to the south of Lancaster, told the Lancaster Newspaper that they have "active shooter drills" as part of their school day.  Unbelievable!!  I can remember when I was a high school student and we had "active atomic bomb" drills, but with a much different meaning.  I grew up during the cold war era and we were always afraid that Russia was going to bomb us.  Our new high school which opened in 1958 had a section of the building that was totally underground with extremely thick walls to keep us away from the radioactivity that would be created from the bombs.  We practiced marching silently single file from our classrooms to the area near the locker rooms and sat on the floor with our heads between our knees until we got the all-clear signal.  We were never told if it was real or not, but I can remember being scared and wondered why my fellow classmates took so long to walk down the stairs to the bomb shelter.  My aunt and uncle built a bomb shelter in their basement and kept it filled with non-perishable food and bottles of drinking water.  They too were afraid of what might happen if we were bombed by Russia.  Time passed and nothing ever came from it, but that's not the case for our younger generation.  Seems like almost every week someone starts to shoot up a school somewhere killing people.  The common denominator today seems to be a deranged young man with an automatic weapon.  What's an easy way to calm the younger generation?  Take away the murder weapon and treat the mentally ill young man.  Not easy to do since there are so many automatic weapons in existence today which seem to find their way into the hands of those who have a grudge against society.  But, this younger generation is sick of it and are willing to do something about it.  Many students from various school districts in the Lancaster area boarded buses yesterday to participate in "MARCH FOR OR LIVES DAY" yesterday in Washington D.C.  I watched it on TV and found the most stirring speaker was a young woman from Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida where the most recent mass murder had occurred.  Young lady by the name of Emma Gonzalez, a senior at the Florida high school, who made a call to action by the youth of today.  She said, "We call BS! to leaders who thing kids don't know anything and new laws won't work."  As she stood on stage she became silent, with tears flowing down her face.  The crowd also became silent, with most people crying.  I must tell you that Carol and I also had tears flowing at the same time.  She stood at the podium, silent for 4 minutes and 25 seconds then told the crowd to "Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job."  I found out later she timed her speech to last 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the exact time the gunman spent shooting up her classmates.  The Lancaster Newspaper reported that a young girl from Lancaster shouted to her, "We love you!" while waving a sign which read, "They tried to bury us.  They didn't know we were seeds."  I'm convinced that these young people who formed this march today, who will be national leaders in our government in the near future, will get their gun reform they deserve sooner than later.  Just a simple ban on automatic weapons and mental health reform is all they want.  If it helps eliminate the death count, how can anyone disagree?  It has nothing to do with our Second Amendment and everything to do with the wealth of the NRA and those who take their donations!  You'll never convince me that isn't the case!  I'm hoping the youth who formed the rally will see their hard fought battle come to fruition in a timely manner. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Havin' A Good Time In Lancaster: Part I" Story

A view of Witmer Bridge along the Lincoln Highway.
This was one of the locations that the Lady Gay
would pick up passengers.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing next to the Witmer Bridge on Lincoln Highway East trying to imagine what it must have been like to ride the "Lady Gay" down river on a Saturday afternoon, heading to Demuth's Park to swim and have a nice picnic lunch.  Sound like something you might want to do on a piping hot summer day?  

This would have been the view years ago.  The bridge seen
here had been replaced in later years.

Well, that's what Lancasterians did for years and years during the late-1800s to the mid-to-late 1900s.  The "Lady Gay" was called "a grubby little steamboat" which was owned by John B. Peoples.  It ferried passengers on the Conestoga River between Conestoga Park and Rocky Springs Park beginning at the turn of the century.  

A post card showing the Lady Gay traveling on the Conestoga.

I knew Rocky Springs as an amusement park, roller rink and swimming pool for most of my life, but at one time it was just a place for a nice picnic.  Any swimming done there was in the Conestoga River.  In 1855 a Lancaster butcher, Michael Trissler, purchased the property and built an inn and picnic grounds for picnicking.  27 years later he sold it to Samuel J. Demuth who operated a confectionery and ice cream garden in nearby downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The Lady Gay dropping patrons off at Rocky Springs Park.
Click on images to enlarge.

 Mr. Demuth erected a few buildings and planted a few bushes and named it Demuth's Park.  It was a fabulous place and used by many for parties.  A few years later he bought an additional 14 acres to enlarge his park.  Demuth died in 1888 and the park fell into the hands of his heirs as well as the Anderson family who happened to have a small side-wheeled steamboat called "Lady Gay" which was used to take passengers to the park.  In 1890 Demuth's estate leased the park to John B. Peoples for five years.  

The swimming pool at Rocky Springs Park.  I swam in
this pool on numerous occasions.  

John added picnic tables and about 100 benches around the park to go with a big fountain filled with goldfish that stood at the entrance to the park.  There were amusements, one such being the shooting gallery, tennis courts, children's swings, a cane game and a game where you threw baseballs.  

The Merry-Go-Round at Rocky Sprigs Park.

A refreshment stand and photo- grapher's booth where you could have a tintype taken were all part of the park.  And, it was free to enter the park.  By 1894 the local newspaper reported that hundreds of people visited the park.  John eventually added bathing houses and made a sand beach along the Conestoga.  Then in 1896 the park was leased to Herman B. Griffiths and Emma J. Wiener of Philadelphia.  Mr. Peoples opened and operated another amusement park across the Conestoga River from Demuth's Park as well as operating his boat, the second "Lady Gay", which took 16 minutes to get from the wharf at Witmer's Bridge to the park.  Well, Emma Wiener got upset with Peoples, accusing him of charging only a nickel to get people from Witmer to his park while charging ten cents to her Demuth's Park.  

The "Wild Cat" at Rocky Springs.

The case was dismissed!  Then in 1899 the park's name was changed back to Rocky Springs Park and the Demuth heirs sold a third of the property to Thomas Rees, a fellow from Pittsburgh, who saw it as an investment.  Griffiths was still leasing the park and decided to add more steamboats to carry people to the park.  He named them Emma Belle and Evelyn B.  It was at this time that the merry-go-round, dance pavilion, show pavilion and boat-passenger pavilion were added.  Shortly the coal oil torches and lamps, used to illuminate the park after dark, were changed to electric lights.  In 1907 a roller-skating rink with white maple floor was placed at Rocky Springs park.  As to who owned the park by now...the 1910 Lancaster census listed Mr. Griffiths as the proprietor of the park and Emma Wiener as a boarder at the Rocky Springs Mansion.  

The Lancaster Coin Club added this coin to their
collection in 1971.  It features the "Lady Gay Steamer."

I began to head to the park as a child in the early 1950s.  I never knew it as anything other than an amusement park and never rode the "Lady Gay" to the park.  My grandpap Bill would always load us in his car and drive us the 15 minutes to the park.  Wonderful memories never to be forgotten.  Well, I snapped my photo of the Witmer Bridge and hopped back in the car to tell my wife my tale which you have just read.  After a few minutes she said, "You've told me the same tale hundreds of time!  Anything else new you can share?"  I relied, "Nah, you got it all!"  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

PS - In 1963 a man by the name of Earl Clark, a Lancaster County potato farmer who sold potatoes to area potato chip factories, opened what is today known as Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA and what is so neat is that he used the "Lady Gay" riverboat in his amusement park.  More tales of Rocky Springs Park can be found if you type Rocky Springs Park in the white box at the top left of this story.

Black and white photo of the Lady Gay Steam boat.

The "We Really Didn't Need This, You Know!" Story

The morning newspaper's headline.

It was an ordinary day.  Ordinary perhaps if it were the middle of winter, but this for heaven's sakes is the first full day of Spring.  You know...spring flowers, getting the lawn mover ready, getting the outdoor furniture in position, etc., but not an all-time record for most snow!!  This goes back before I was born...back when they first started keeping weather records.  The headline on the LNP newspaper this morning read, "RECORD BREAKER".  For some parts of the world having close to two feet of snow in the beginning of Spring is ordinary, but for those of us who live in the "Garden Spot of America"...well, that's just not right!  

Beautiful Winter scene in my back deck.  Only problem...
it was Springtime!

Heavens, I had just put the snowblower away a few days ago when the tempera- ture in Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania hit 80 degrees.  And over the past weekend I took my new electric hedge trimmer my son Tad had gotten me for Christmas and spent a few hours trimming are beach grasses that had grown close to five feet tall this past summer.  And now we have a record snowfall!  It just can't be.  I had to use the snowblower twice yesterday, since the snow had accumulated at one point close to the maximum the blower could handle, and the TV was calling for at least six to eight inches more.  

After a few more hours of snow.

The morning paper declared a record, but couldn't give an exact amount because it was still snowing at press time and the snow total, which now stood at 16 inches, would grow.  I can still remember the spring of 1989 when my son was a member of the Manheim Township High School baseball team and we had close to a foot of snow in early Spring.  All team members and their families were asked to report to the field a day or two later with shovels to remove the snow from the entire field so the team could practice since the first game was only a week away.  Well, the official record total ended up being 17.5 inches according to Eric Horst, head meteorologist at nearby Millersville University. Eric was once a student in my photography class I taught at Manheim Township and if I had known he would do this to me, well who knows what grade I would have given him.  

My total after the snow had stopped: 12.5".

This official total came from following National Weather Service protocol of using a snowboard to take hourly measurements.  Snow depth, or a measurement of snow on the ground, came in about 14 inches at Millersville University, but since the snow was so heavy, it compacted  over the hours it fell.  By taking hourly readings it ended 3.5 inches more than the total on the ground at the storm's end.  And, it seems the snowfall didn't break the record, since Millerville University recorded 18 inches on March 13, 1993.  Now I just have to hope that the weekend will bring temperatures close to the 80 degree mark so I can back to my Spring chores.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A few brave birds arrive at the bird feeder.