The "Inspirtions For A New Year!" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Looking at a publication that I had never read before which I found as I was leaving one of the few grocery stores that Carol and I visit each week.  Healthy Living Healthy Planet 'natural awakenings' was sitting next to "The Fishwrapper" as we exited the Stauffers of Kissel Hill store near Lititz, Pennsylvania.

 "The Fishwrapper" is a bi-monthly 16 page publication printed in black and white on medium weight white paper that has short religious stories in it as well as puzzles, jokes and plenty of advertisements.  The new publication that I discovered today is a 56 page publication printed on newsprint, but in full color.  Very interesting publication whose stories all deal with health and well-being.  There naturally are advertisements, but not as many as most other publications.  I enjoyed one story that talked about transforming the planet with love.  The article talked about a variety of lessons written by Matt Kahn who is a spiritual teacher and empathic healer with a global audience.

 But, the half-page article titled "Fresh Rituals for a New Year" was most interesting as well as useful to me.  Story was about the ending of one year and beginning of another which marks a transition that many celebrate with fireworks and parties.  But, there can be more to that celebration which can enrich our lives and help us deal with our loved ones better than just a glitzy celebration.  He writes about five topics such as reevaluating the past year, decluttering, formally inviting prosperity, spending the new year in meditation and placing a special emphasis on the first 12 days of the year.  His thoughts tell about taking a look back at the past year to determine what our accomplishments may have been and what challenges we may face in the coming year.  He also tells about Italians who celebrate by throwing unwanted items out their windows to help declutter.  He says it is a good time to gather different books, clothing and other items and get rid of the old at the same time.  

He suggests gathering the family together and bless a few coins and bills and donate the money to charity as a way to spiritually pay it forward.  Quiet meditation or prayer can help usher in the new year and can be done alone or with friends as the old year ends and the new year begins.  And finally, the first 12 days of the new year represent each the 12 months to come.  Spend each of these 12 days exhibiting aspirations for the coming year such as volunteering at a homeless shelter or reading a book about immigrants to help you become more culturally sensitive.  For some of you reading my story today, you perhaps are interested in the ideas expressed by the authors of the two stories I just wrote, but then again, there may be some that will read this and might find something that would make them feel better about themselves if they followed what I have written.  As for me, the fact that I have shared the article with you and knowing that some of you may take advantage of the suggestions...well, perhaps I have helped forward some of the aspirations of the writers of the articles.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  P.S.  A little bit of fun to start your New Year follows:

The "The Wrath Of The Arawaks Will Forever Haunt La Belle Créole" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking out a few sites on my MacBook Air when I came across a story about a resort known as La Belle Créole on the French side of the island of St. Martin.  La Belle Créole comprises the 25-acre tip of a secluded peninsula.  The views from the peninsula are out to sea toward the island of Anguilla as well as the island known as St. Barths.  You supposedly can also see across Marigot Bay toward the French Capital of Marigot and the island's backbone of mountains.  

La Belle Créole was built of stone to resemble a French fishing village.  The resort was a long time dream of Cladius Charles Philippe, manager of the famous Waldorf- Astoria, who ran into financial problems part way through construction and was eventually finished by someone else.  La Belle Créole was a 25-acre complex with dozens of buildings.  Today the resort is nothing but a remnant of its original glory, having been destroyed during the 1995 Hurricane Luis.  

Centuries ago the location housed a battery of cannons to defend the island from intruders.  Legend has it that the site was at one time home to an ancient Arawak Indian burial ground, thus the reason for the many problems that has plagued the resort.  Today the resort has been left to the elements for over a quarter of a century.  When my wife and I began to visit the island at the beginning of the 2000's, we often passed the entrance to the resort and wondered what it may have looked like when it was first opened.  

At times I almost turned the car down the road, into the resort, but something told me not to do it.  First of all, it would be trespassing.  The multi-story reception hall is empty, the grounds are overgrown and crumbling, the hot tub is full of tadpoles and the trees have covered most buildings with vines, so why bother to make a visit.  As of today, it still remains the same as it has since we began to travel to the island.   I recently read a rather unique set of verses written in prose that were titled "The Haunting Of LaBelle Créole."  Rather interesting and I thought you may enjoy it.  For me....it is the story of La Belle Créole as perceived by the Arawaks who once inhabited the land.  The author of the following was Breana Johnson and her website is: www.3rdculturewife.com.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

They have forgotten us.  We have faded from memory, like our flesh faded from our bones centuries ago.  Yet we are here, invisible yet seeing, inaudible yet hearing, intangible yet sensing.  Our spirits laugh with the lapping waves.  We cry with the soaring birds.  We moan with the wind.  And we rage with the storms.

There was a time when warm blood flowed through our bodies and warm flesh wrapped our bones.  We walked on the shore then cooling our feet in the ancient and everlasting waters.  We ran under the tropical sun from shore to shore.  Our children dove from the cliffs - how different they looked then! - into the clear waters of the reef.  We tasted the sweet meat of the crab and danced in the firelight to the rhythm of the tide.

Then they came - the strange men with strange words and strange clothing.  They were harsh and resolute, and we hated them.  They brought with them their vicious dogs, their explosives, and their lust.  We grew weak, and our children died with raging heart in their bodies.  Our women and men died with boils and scars.  We wailed as our lived ones died, and we buried them with broken hearts near the sacred islet.  I died, and I lay in the chill earth, away from the warm sunlight.

They left, and came again, this time with their cannons and ships and slaves.  They had already forgotten us, and they walked on our graves.  I heard their footsteps on the ground above.  They dragged their cannons over our graves and shattered our silence with their wars.   They annihilated our peace with the crack of whips on human flesh.

They left, and others took their place.  Generations lived and died.  We slept in peace for a hundred years, with only the occasional wanderer to stir up.

They came.  Their machines roared, rattling our bones.  They dug over our resting places, and built great structures over our graves.  I felt the pressure of a great tower over my body.  We groaned under the weight.  Many people came from the whole world over, and trod on our sacred tombs.  We moaned, but our cries were lost in the wind.  Our bloodless beings saw the blush of the new bride.  Our bleached bones saw the sun-kissed skin of the happy travelers.  We remembered what we had been, and what we had lost.  And we remembered that we were forgotten.  

Our moans whirled as wind around the whitewashed wall that had become a monument to our destruction.  Our screams filled the air, and our souls ripped from our broken bones.  We broke through the sandy earth, through the cracking concrete to the surface.  We felt again the humidity of the air.  We knew again the roar of the sea.  Our tears of rage and loss poured from the heavens, and the rush of our agony ripped through the trees.  We stirred the elements and raged from the sea to sea, screaming our anger through the darkening sky.  We saw them pour from buildings and take flight from our island home.  We saw them take cover in every nook and cranny.  We saw that they were afraid, and we took our vengeance. 

We tore through the quaint buildings, tearing with invisible claws at the rich furnishings of each room.  The sound of shattering glass was lost in the volume of our screams.  We threw the books, the paintings, the decorations out of the windows and doors.  We destroyed their world, just as they had destroyed ours.

We satiated our lust for vengeance, and we regarded the havoc we had wreaked.  Shredded curtains floating in the gentle breeze.  Glass and splinters carpeted the earth.  Not a living soul was to be seen.

Only dead ones.

The "History Of Lancaster Is Part Of My Life" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just found an etching of what at one time was known as Meiskey's Wholesale Jewelry Store on the corner of West King Street and North Mulberry Streets in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Back in the late 1940s my father, Paul Woods, worked for Meiskey's Wholesale Jewelry Store which at the time was located in the first block of West Chestnut Street, across from the Lancaster Post Office.  As a child my father would take me with him on weekends when he would have to go to work to get caught up with all the wholesale orders.  Eventually, Mr. Meiskey moved his business to West King and North Mulberry, which at one time was a cigar box manufacturer.  

Henry Krasukopf Cigar Box Store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The company supplied cigar boxes to all the businesses in Lancaster that made cigars during the time when tobacco was one of the best businesses in the city of Lancaster.  The building on the corner of West King and North Mulberry was built in 1874 and was illustrated in the 1875 atlas of Lancaster City.  The original owner was Henry Krauskopf.  Sometime after Mr. Meiskey moved his business to King and Mulberry, he sold the business and building to Mr. George Opp.  By now my dad was the head watchmaker as well as manager of the store.

An advertisement for the cigar box manufacturer.

I can still remember some of the people that worked there.  Paul Yeager, known to all as Red, worked at the store filling orders from retail jewelry stores.  I later found out that Red's step son was a fellow by the name of G. Terry Madonna who today is the Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs as well as the Director of the Franklin and Marshall College Poll.  Jim Sheely, my dad's 2nd cousin, also worked there doing the same thing that Red did.  I can remember going with my dad to the store as a teenager to help him box and label orders for customers.  One week I entered and another employee was there waiting on customers.  Her name was Grace Baker.  While in my junior year at Millersville State Teacher's College, my dad came home one day and asked if I might be interested in a blind date with Mrs. Baker's daughter.  She was a few years younger than me, but I agreed to a date.  

What the location looks like today.

At the time they lived only a block away from us in the Grandview Heights area of Manheim Township.  The young girl's name was Carol and I arrived on my Honda motorcycle for our first date.  We hit it off right away and decided to take a ride on my cycle.  Ten minutes later it began to pour and we headed back to her place.  Talked and watched TV for some time and I headed home.  A little over a year later we were married.  During that year when I dated her, we took quite a few rides on her dad's Harley motorcycle.  Often wonder what might have happened in my life had my dad not worked at Meiskey's Jewelry store and they had not moved to the corner of West King and North Mulberry and the lady I got to know as Mrs. Baker had not begun working there and convinced my dad that her daughter and I would be a good match for each other.  Every time I drive past that store on King Street, I think of the time back in the mid-1970s when we first met.  So glad that the location that was at one time home to a place that made cigar boxes turned out to be the location that I got to know my dear wife of over 50 years.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Looking For History In All The Wrong Places" Story

Preface: Just spent an hour searching for a small building that at one time was a Presbyterian Church.  Place was located in Caernarvon, Pennsylvania which is to the east of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  After an hour I gave up and decided to head home.  Before long I was lost and ended up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike headed toward Philadelphia. Pulled over and placed my destination in my iphone as well as in my car directional program.  Each gave me a different route to follow, but both agreed I was headed in the wrong direction. After the second hour of driving, I pulled into my driveway at home and decided I would Google a story about my original destination and use one of the photographs I had hoped to take myself today.

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at photographs of what at one time was a Presbyterian Church.  The building was built in 1843 and in 1846 was incorporated as part of the Donegal Presbytery.  The building was only used as a church for a short time. It was then used for other purposes by other groups and eventually fell into disrepair.  Then in 1976 the building was restored by the Caernarvon Historical Society to be used as an historical site and museum.  The structure, as it stands today, contains most of the original materials and features as it did when it was originally built.  It was built with limestone, ironstone and sandstone fieldstone of a variety of colors and textures.  Cut stone was used to form the arches above the front windows as well as the transom window.  Large stones, hewn in an ashlar or squared style are used as quoins, or masonry blocks on the four corners of the building.  The lower blocks on the northwest corner of the front are more sharply cut and are sandstone, which is a darker, red-brown color.  They look out-of-place, but were intended to be placed in that way.   The cornerstones were planed to be a special feature of the building; providing a sense of solidity and stability to the structure.  The church was built in a rectangular shape with the north elevation having two bays and the east and west facades being three bays wide.  The rear is broken into there bays also and there are no windows on this side of the building.  There is a projection on the rear that was more than likely the altar or pulpit.  On the front is a date stone that is above the window near the peak of the gable that reads: Caernarvon Church Built 1843.  There are two doors on the front that are made of wood in a barrel vault style and painted white.  Above each door is a window of seven panes with a keystone above the center of the arch.  Above these windows is a smaller fanlight window.  There are three windows of nine panels each on the east and west sides of the church while the north side has no windows at all.  The roof features wood shingles and has a deep overhang and soffit at the front and rear of the church.  A bit more about the church is: The land for the church and nearby cemetery was donated by Robert and Chatarine Carmichael Jenkins, the owners of Wi Windsor Forge.  The carpenter of the interior of the church was William Buchanan of Honeybrook.  Church services were conducted every third Sunday afternoon.  The Caernarvon Historical Society was established in 1975 to promote interest in the history-rich Township of Caernarvon.  The church was restored in time for the 1976 Bicentennial.  Some of the pews were removed and showcases were added for historical artifacts.  In 1979 the building was dedicated as the Society's headquarters.  In 2004, the Donegal Presbytery donated the property to the Historical Society and presented them the keys at a dedication ceremony.  The Caernarvon Historical Society has preserved the historical character of this Churchtown landmark and is sharing it with residents and visitors to the area.  And, some day I will actually have the honor of walking through the door of this historical relic and seeing what it might've looked like in the mid-1800s.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "I've Been Searching!?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my swivel desk chair, watching my cute little gray and white cat, "The Gray Lady," as I prepare to type a story for today.  Many times I sit in my recliner in front of the TV, but today I chose to be with The Gray Lady in my office with the big screen iMac.  

The Gray Lady

She loves to visit with me on my desk to see what she might be able to push on the floor and then carry away for a future play thing. I have been reading several websites which tell the history of the state in which I live, Pennsylvania.  So many interesting facts that I never knew during my lifetime.  Things such as a lost silver cave in the Allegheny National Forest, an 1863 Union soldier hiding gold bars from the Confederates and a band of outlaws who were spies for the British in the Revolutionary War.  How could I have lived more than three-quarters of a century and not have known all these neat facts?  Well, after discovering them I thought I should share them with you so that you will also know about them and won't have to wait until you are as old as me to find out about them.  Follow along as I tell you about the 7 Lost Treasures that are hiding in Pennsylvania.  Now all I have to do is find where The Gray Lady pushed my computer's mouse!

#1 - Captain Blackbeard was a real honest-to-goodness person by the name of Edward Teach.  But, you probably already knew that, so I will tell you about the second Captain Blackbeard who was a British sea captain who salvaged the treasure of a sunken ship in the Bahamas in the early 1800s.  He brought the $1.5 million of silver bars to Baltimore, Maryland to be shipped back to London, however he was confronted by a French privateer and evaded capture by loading his loot onto wagons and moving the loot along the Susquehanna River towards Lancaster County.  He had plans to move the loot to Lake Erie by land, but wasn't such as good on land as he was by sea.  He buried his loot outside Keating Summit which is in Northern Pennsylvania's Potter County.  He then told a Colonel Noah Parker where he had buried the loot and paid him to guard his loot.  Parker kept a close eye on it.  So close that it disappeared from sight and Captain Blackbeard never got it back.  Parker never told anyone where he had moved the loot and took the secret to his grave.  So, to this day there is still a big pile of loot somewhere in the wilderness of Potter County.  Want to join me next summer and explore Potter County?  

#2 - The Doan's Gang was a Loyalist bunch during the Revolutionary War.  They acted as spies for the British and were responsible for several murders and robberies in Bucks County.  In 1783 the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed an act declaring them "robbers, felons, burglers and traitors as the gang stole horses and robbed tax collectors.  One Moses Dorn was said to have committed suicide by riding a horse off a cliff to avoid capture.  But, it just might have been possible for him to have found his way to one of several caves along the Delaware River near Point Pleasant.  The Doans Gang was said to have buried their treasures near the outskirts of Philadelphia at Point Pleasant.  Their loot has never been found so the alleged $2 million in loot might still be there.  Interested in looking for it?

#3 - In 1893 an unknown outlaw in the town of Palmerville, Pennsylvania robbed a stage coach that had a company's payroll of $40,000 of gold on it.  He headed into the nearby woods, but not before he was seen by a few local farmers.  Citizens searched the woods for a week and finally came across a violently ill man.  He died, but not before he muttered "see the bridge."  Doctors told that he also told of a "three-cornered rock" and glass bottles.  Many believe he was telling of the gold loot.  Where he had described was a location know as the Kinzua Bridge.  Well, many searched, but so far nothing has been found.  But...wait!  Hundreds of individual coins as well as silver and gold pieces have turned up.  Has someone found the secret stash and not told anyone.  Has the Kinzua Bridge Cache been found?  You wanna see if we can find it?

#4. - In the 1690s, French Canadian explorers carrying kegs filled with gold coins set out from New Orleans to carry their $350,000 treasure to Montreal.  They were going to go up the Mississippi to the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers and then cross Lake Erie.  But, they ran into a group of Seneca Indians and buried many of the kegs.  Two of the explorers were Jesuit priests who claimed to have carved a cross into the stone to act as a marker for when they returned for the gold.  But, they never made it back.  Over the years the marking has disappeared and the exact location has been lost.  But, a crude map revealed it may be in Potter County.  The fortune is known as Frontenac's Fortune.  Anyone ready to help me find it?

#5. - A Union Lieutenant escorted a wagon with a false bottom from Washington D.C. through Pennsylvania.  Several dozen gold bars were said to have been in the bottom of the wagon.  To avoid the Confederate troops, a roundabout path was taken through Pennsylvania.  But, a delirious Lieutenant, ill from travel, is said to have revealed the secret loot to civilians who were traveling with the wagon.  When they reached the Susquehanna River, the group vanished.  Then one of the civilians showed up in Lock Haven, PA and was interrogated by Army Generals.  He claimed to have been ambushed by bandits.  There was no trace of the gold.  Then in 1870 several skeletons turned up in the area.  It was also reported that the civilian who was interrogated had a habit of telling drunken stories at the local pub and he said he knew where the stolen treasure was.  But, the Army spent decades searching the area around Dent's Run without finding anything.  Do you live near there...and do you have a few extra shovels?

#6. -  Mr. David "Robber" Lewis, also known as "America's Robin Hood," was a counterfeiter-turned-thief in the early 1800's.  He robbed the rich to give to the poor.  Sound familiar?  The successful highwayman and escape artist was arrested at least four times, but escaped each time.  He had hideaways in caves where he stored his stolen goods; most notably in Indian Caverns.  He eventually was captured after being shot in a holdup.  He managed to write his memoir before dying of gangrene in the Bellefonte Jail.  His writings told of several hiding spots that were full of riches: $10,000 in a small cave near the Juniata River, another buried along the Conodoguinet Creek and one final one containing $20,000 in gold coins that he told his jailers could be seen from his jail cell.  None of the treasures were ever found, but maybe someday...just maybe.  Want to help my friend Jere and I find it?

#7. -  And the final treasure is known as "The Lost Silver Cave" and is one of the most famous treasure tales which just might be out there waiting for someone to discover it.  In the late 1700s a settler was lost in the Allegheny National Forest and sought shelter in a cave.  It just so happened to be filled with silver veins running through the walls.  He made it home safely, but lost track of exactly where the cave might have been.  It is said that many merchants traded goods with American Indians in exchange for furs and silver pieces, which suggests that such a spot would exist near where the Indians lived.  Treasure hunters for years have scoured the area around Tionesta, but a silver cave was never found.  Some believe the treasure was barricaded long ago near burial ground in Warren Country.  You ready to hunt for it?

All these stories could or could not be true.  Are you ready to try and find one or more of them?  Give me a call if you want some extra help.  I might be up for a good treasure hunt.  But, then again, I already have too much treasure hidden in them their hills around my house in Manheim Township and I have lost all my shovels!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Warming Up On A Cold Winter Night" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Evening after Christmas and I'm relaxing in my lounge chair.  Day to recuperate from the hectic Christmas Day when we had our immediate family of ten to our home to open gifts and eat a meal.  We were careful to spread everyone around the living room as well as serving our Christmas meal via buffet style with people eating throughout the first floor rooms.  Worked out well I thought and we still were able to enjoy ourselves...even with our masks in place for most of the day.  After everyone had left our home last evening, I sat down and opened my MacBook Air and did a bit of web surfing.  Opened one of my favorite sites...WE ARE ST.MAARTEN ST.MARTIN and started to look at postings from the past several weeks.  Came across some of the most beautiful photographs and thought I would share them with you on this cold evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  A few I do not know whom might have taken them, but I have added the photographer's name of those that I did know.  For me, looking at photographs taken on a Caribbean island are not only relaxing, but brings back memories from past trips to the island.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Click on images to enlarge them.

Leisure Car Rental Photograph

Photographer - Jadira Veen

Philipsburg Court House

Both photographs by Christophe La Villa

The following three photographs are the artwork of Ryan Tackling

The "Memories From A Young Boy Living In Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Searching online for the location of a business where my Grandma Woods worked when I was young.  My Grandma Woods, the mother of my father, whose husband Joseph, my grandfather, died when my father was six years old, while working for the Lancaster Post Office.  Story I was told many times was that he was loading and unloading mail when a large container of mail fell from the upper racks in the post office loading area and struck him in the head, killing him.  I never had the chance to know him.  My father lost his father when he was a child, yet he did a great job of being a father to two children himself.  My Grandma, whom I called my Nannan, had to go to work shortly after her husband died to support her three children; my dad and my two aunts.  She got a job working for a cousin, a Mr. Raymond Bushong, who ran a company that sold coal to customers for heating their homes.  This was in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  I can remember many a day when my dad would drop me off to "visit" with my Nannan at Bushong's Office on Grant Street, behind the Lancaster County Courthouse.

Map of the alleyways of Lancaster, PA.
Bushong's Coal Company was on Grant Street
as was the Police Station.  Look hard and you can
see "Police Station in the upper left of map.

I loved my "visits" with my Nannan.  She would "put me to work" sweeping the floors or emptying the waste baskets or cleaning the windows or walking to the nearby Woolworth's Department Store to buy us both a soda.  To get to the department store I had to pass the Lancaster Police Station at 27 East Grant Street.  I naturally had to stop to talk to whatever Officer might be standing in front of the station, holding the reins of a huge police horse.  The Police Station was located at the corner of Christian and Grant Streets in what appeared to me to be an alleyway.  

Lancaster Police Station was up the steps at 27 East Grant Street.

The station was described in the Lancaster Newspaper as a "not too big, but had old, dark creaky, wooden plank floors.  Inside the station, to the left, was the office of the traffic bureau, and halfway in was a wooden railing with two desks and a large table behind it."  I tell you all of this today, since I recently found a map of the area where the former police station was located as well as a few other streets closeby the Police Station and Bushong's Coal Company.  

An old photograph of downtown Lancaster's West King Street
looking East from Duke Street.  The Police Station and Bushong's
Coal Company were a half-block to the right in this photograph.

Eventually, in 1955, a new Public Safety Building was constructed with space for parking and the old Police Station on Grant Street was closed and eventually demolished.  On days when my mind wanders, I can visualize my trips to Bushong's Coal Company and visits to the old Police Station in downtown Lancaster.  As has been said many times over...those were the good 'ole days!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Toys From The Past...How Many Do You Remember?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Talking with a few friends on the phone about the gifts that we got when we were children back in the 1940s and 1950s.  Very few had batteries to them and not a single one had any type of computer chip that had to be programmed to make it work.  What a difference a generation, or even two or three generations, makes even in something as simple as a toy.  See if you can remember some of the toys that follow.  Perhaps you may still have a few of them in a closet or old chest somewhere in your home.  Or, perhaps you may have never heard of some of them and are viewing them for the first time.  Your age will be difference in the types of toys you are viewing.  Enjoy...and Merry Christmas from our house to your house!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The Teddy Bear first was developed in the early 1900s. It was named 
after President Teddy Roosevelt.  Who didn't have a Teddy Bear?

Wooden trains have been around for 120 years, but Lionel gave the 
world the first electric train.  At first it was made for store-
front displays, but was so popular that shoppers demanded them.
Lionel still sells trains today.

Lincoln Logs were developed in 1916 by John Lloyd Wright, second
son of the well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  I loved playing with
them and still have a set in my closet that my grandkids played with years
ago.  They were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.

The Radio Flyer wagon came along in 1927.  The wagon wasn't new, but had
been made from wood for years before Antonio Pasin built one in his shop in
1917.  Took about 10 years before it became popular as the little red wagon.

Plastic Army Men began fighting battles in backyards all over
the world in 1938.  The molded plastic men were sold in buckets
and bags in a variety of colors, but mostly green.  My father always
managed to run over them with his lawn mower.  Eventually cowboys,
dinosaurs, knights and more were made in plastic.  Believe it or not,
last year they began making Army Women and selling them in bags.

The first stereoscopes were made in 1832.  They showed two images
unified into a single 3D image.  Then in 1939 View Master came along
and incorporated a technique with Kodachrome color film
to present full-color images on round reels that you could put
in the View Master.  

The Slinky was invented by Richard T. James in 1945.
One of the most fun and interesting toys I can remember playing with
when I was a child.  Spent many a day on the wooden steps of our
home on Queen Street in Lancaster, PA.

Mound Metalcraft was created in 1946 and created garden implements.
They eventually began to make toys and changed their name in 1955 to Tonka Toys.
Eventually that company was purchased by Hasbro and began a licensing
deal with Funrise Toys to manufacture and distribute Tonka trucks.  I can remember
having a Tonka metal truck and bought them for my two sons when they were young.

Silly Putty came about in 1949.  It is an elastic solid that's adhesive, but can also
bounce.  The material has ingredients that help it maintain its cohesion, rather
than melting in fluid.  It was first invented during WWII as the Allies looked
for alternatives to rubber.  It wasn't used as a toy until Ruth Fallgatter found
out about the material and began selling it in her toy store in 1949.  

Legos were created by carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen.  He began making
them in 1949.  It was easily one of the most popular toys in history with more
than 600 billion Lego pieces produced by 2015.  Lego is the world's most
powerful brand.  In 2012 it was determined that you could stack 375,000 Lego
bricks atop one another before the bottom one succumbed to pressure and broke.

But, the top is one of the oldest known toys, having existed for thousands
of years.  Variations of the top have been found in archaeological excavations.
Different versions, like the dreidel, have significance to different cultures.