The "A Sunday Morning Visiting History In Lancaster County: Part I" Story

The Gap Clock Tower in Gap, Pennsylvania.

It was an ordinary day.  Stepped out my car and looked around the small town known as Gap in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I realize it was mid-morning on a Sunday, but I saw absolutely no one.  Gap is a community in Salisbury Township with a ZIP code of 17527 that was named after the gap in the Appalachian Mountains.  The last census showed they have 1,931 people who call Gap their hometown.  And, evidently they are either in church, on vacation or still in bed this morning.  Route 30 passes through the town with ending points for Rts. 772, 741, 897 and 41.  So, at times the place gets busy with heavy truck traffic.  

On the front wall of the tower are
these two plaques.  Click to enlarge.

When Carol and I travel to the Jersey Shore every summer we pass through Gap in order to begin our trip on Rt. 41 which takes us toward Wilmington, Delaware.  There seems to be one big attraction in Gap which is known a the Gap Town Clock.  The clock tower was built in 1892  by the Gap Clock Tower Association and is a Lancaster County Historic Preservation Trust Site.  In 1953 the clock tower was restored to the condition it is in today.  The clock's face showed the correct time and has for ages showed the time to passing multitudes along Newport Road.  William Penn passed the area where the clock now stands on his way to Lancaster County in 1701.  I walked around the structure which appears to be covered in painted clapboard from top to bottom with a door on one side, windows on two sides and a bell tower rising above the four-sided clock face.  

Nearby is this monument dedicated to those who
 served and died for our country during WWI and WWII.

Next to the front door is a plaque dedicated to Violet E. Baker who was responsible for the preservation and maintenance of the Gap Town Clock for more than half-a-century.  Above the plaque is the circular Historical Preservation Trust Site plaque #66.  Standing next to the front door is a granite stone with more information telling the history of the Gap Clock Tower.  For years Carol and I have passed the clock many times each year and have never stopped to take a closer look at it.  It definitely is a unique piece of history in the United States, but one that doesn't draw the crowds like other historical sites.  

A plaque on a piece of granite near the clock tower.

There isn't much to tell about the clock and town except that Issac Taylor erected the first house in Gap and the area around Gap had a copper mine and what at the time was the only nickel mine in the United States.  A stretch of railroad line passes through the town which is otherwise non-descript.   There was, during the mid-19th century, a gang of men known as The Gap Gang who raided and robbed citizens who traveled what at the time was called the Lancaster Philadelphia Turnpike.  They would kidnap free blacks and escaped slaves, selling them back to slave traders.   I can tell you that I did stop a short distance from the tower to take a photograph of an historical marker which will be part of my story tomorrow.  I'm glad I made my stop today so I can say I walked in the footsteps of William Penn, but then again I see no reason why he might have left his carriage when he passed through in 1701.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The view of the Gap Clock Tower.

The time is always correct when I pass!

The final two photographs were taken years ago.  Not sure if they were pre-1953 when renovations were done on the tower.  The old car on the bottom black and white photograph may be pre-1953.