The "So, What Is A Handboard?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Reading an interesting column written by Jack Brubaker who is known in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as "The Scribbler."  Story he had written was titled "'The Handboards' was once a place to meet and murder!"  After reading the title I knew I was going to enjoy the story.  So, what is a handboard?  Handboards were from the 19th and early 20th century and were found at street intersections.  Handboards were signs that had a finger unfurled from a hand which was pointing in the direction of the named town on the hardboard.  Much the same as our street signs today, but with a bit more flare.  At one time there were hundreds of handboards at Lancaster County intersections, but there was only ONE handboard sign that meant anything.  The area around that particular handboard became known as "the Handboards."  The sign was on a post at the corner of Route 897; Ranck and Meetinghouse roads.  The location is in what is known as Salisbury Township and is on the edge of Welsh Moutain.  This particular Handboard was so well-known that people would base their directions on that handboard and might say "Go to the handboard and turn left."  Then in the 1940s the sign disappeared.  Recently a new handboard has been placed in the same area and directs drivers to four nearby areas; Mount Airy, Meadville, Cedar Lake and Greenbank.  The new handboard was placed at the site by Jack Hilliard.  

Jack's new handboard.

Jack lives in Greenbank and designed the sign, but not after the original one, since he could not find any photos of the old one that went missing.  He made his handboard by laying his hand with pointed fingers on a piece of paper and drawing lines around it. He cut the ends of four boards to match his pointing hand.  The handboard was made by painting four boards white with his pointing hand.  Each sign had black lettering of the place names.  All four signs were attatched to an aluminum post and placed at the crossroads.  The handboard intersection is back again!  A second part of this story deals with a section of the Welsh Mountain known as "the Handboards" where in the 1890s two murders occurred.  George Boots stabbed Amos Bill to death in 1890 and Jerry Green killed his half brother Abe Green in 1896.  The Handboards gained their notoriety due to the fact that Abe and his gang of outlaws used The Handboards section of the mountain as their headquarters.  Today, the new sign placed at The Handboards spot will hopefully bring back the many, many years of memories, both good and bad, that were once part of the Welsh Mountain.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.