The "Has The Fight Just Begun?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the results of a Manheim Township Commissioners meeting that approved a controversial 76-ace Oregon Village mixed use development of 554 housing units, restaurants, stores and a 120-room hotel.  

Proposed as Oregon Village

It was this past Monday that I posted a story telling about what was proposed and the fact that the commiss- ioners were going to vote on it that evening.  The vote was 3-2 in favor of the new development.  The Hurst brothers, who currently own the Oregon Dairy supermarket and family restaurant evidently proved to the commissioners that the two-site complex  they want to build along Route 272 in Manheim Township's northeast corner complies with land-use regulations that allow for a village-style development.  

Plan for Oregon Village

Developer Victor Hurst congratulated the commiss- ioners for the tremendous job they did to hear both sides of the arguments and rule the way they did.  I wonder if the three who voted for the huge development considered the impact it will have on our school district.  A new Middle School has just been started in Manheim Township.  Will this vote make that new school obsolete before it is even finished?  And, how about all the Amish farmers who live near the properties that will be turned into housing units and create mass congestion on all the nearby roads.  Will they vacate their farms in favor of property in other counties or states.  Lancaster is known as the Garden Spot of America due to its rich soil and those that farm that soil.  Will that all change?  

This is what will be lost

A local authority on the Amish and an Elizabeth- town professor, testified in front of the commiss- ioners telling them the Amish may sell their farms and move since they will fear for their lives as they will have to drive their horse-drawn buggies on roads not meant for the amount of traffic that will come from all the housing units that are proposed.  Mr. Amos Beiler, a member of the Old Order Amish church, attended the vote and told the local newspaper he was disappointed, expressing his concern about travel on the roads around the area.  One local attorney addressed the commissioners after the vote asking two of the three who voted for approval of the complex why they did not acknowledge before the vote that their campaign committees this past September received $960 in political contributions from the Hursts.  By not acknowledging the donation, it now creates a perception problem.  The two commissioners had been asked by some to recuse themselves from the vote due to the contributions.  They refused to do so.  One commissioner who voted against the new complex said it is not smart growth "to build this at the expense of our Amish neighbors who will face negative impacts on their income and difficulties attending school and religious services."  Those who object to the vote have the right to appeal to Lancaster County Court.  That may be the next move according to many in attendance.  It looks like the battle has just begun!  Those who have grown up in the nearby area  that is affected by the decision will more than likely fight to keep the land as farmland as it has been all their lives.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "My Opinion On The Topic: Will The Amish Survive In Lancaster County" Story

Preface:  Tonight the Mannheim Township commissioners will vote on a 76-acre piece of land in Manheim Township, Lancaster County Pennsylvania.  In play are 554 housing units, a large supermarket, a 120-room hotel, restaurant, bank and retail stores.  Will the land be given over to large scale develpment or will it remain farmland that is farmed mostly by the Amish?  The following tells story of the land and those involved in the life changing decision.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading another story about the proposed development in Manheim Township called Oregon Village.  

Will scenes like this cease to be in Lancaster County?

It is a 75-acre housing and commercial project that has been proposed in the middle of a thriving, centuries-old Amish community.  Many people who live outside of Lancaster County believe that the county is primarily an Amish community.  The latest census count shows that the Amish population in Lancaster County has now exceeded the 33,000 mark.  Most of those Amish ride in horse-drawn buggies and farm equipment on the county roads.  

Will roads like these be filled with cars and trucks
instead of Amish buggies?

And, many of those 33,000 live in Manheim Township.  Recently, an authority on Amish culture, Mr. Donald Kraybill, testified in front of the Manheim Township commiss- ioners telling them that many Amish in the township oppose the new project, but chose not to speak up out of a faith-based reluctance to participate in government.  Mr. Kraybill estimated that 1,200 Amish adults and children live within a 2-mile radius of Oregon.  They consist of 246 households and belong to eight church districts in an area that stretches from the Lancaster Airport, east of Route 501, to Leola, north of Route 23.  

Scene's such as this will no longer be seen in Manheim
Township if Oregon Village is approved.

Mr. Kraybill's estimate was based on a church district directory and a map prepared by the Geographic information System division of the Lancaster County Information Technology Depart- ment.  There are 44 parcels farmed by, but not all owned by Amish and Old Order Mennonite farmers and their families.  If Oregon Village were to be built it would tremendously increase vehicle traffic on the narrow county roads which are frequented by the slower-moving, horse-drawn traffic.  

It will no longer be safe for The Amish to walk on the
side of the road or drive their buggies on the roads.

Mr. Kraybill said the road traffic issues could, over time, cause many of the Amish to leave Manheim Township and its agricult- urally rich soil.  How sad it would be to lose those who farm the land to supply the county, state and country with food.  A few years ago something similar happened and more than a dozen Lancaster County Amish families moved across the Susquehanna River to York County as well as to Farmville, Virginia.  When people talk of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, they right away associate the county with the Amish population and rich farmland.  Can we afford to lose that farmland to houses and apartments?  

Let's keep the land looking like this!

Are there no other places to build the houseing units that will not take much needed farmland?  Is it all about money?  You bet!  We have all this empty land and developers can see the dollar signs in front of their eyes.  They have no concern for the many Amish who have made the county so rich in agricultural history.  I for one hope the commissioners will turn down the building and keep it as agricultural land.  I know that some person's pockets will not be padded due to that decision, but it is the correct one to make for the good of mankind.  I fear my children and grandchildren will never get to see those iconic buggies traveling the county roads of Lancaster.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Working On The River - The Ice Man: Part II" Story

Mr. Lynn Smoker's collection of ice harvesting tools.

It was an ordinary day.  I was greeted at the front door of the Columbia Crossing River Trails Center by a very nice young girl who told me where to find the display on "Ice Harvesting on the Susquehanna River."  In no time I was standing in front of the display that was primarily the collection of Mr. Lynn Smoker.  My story today will be a visual one, but before I begin the photographs I took of the display, I should tell you a few items that may be helpful.  The state of Pennsylvania ranked third in production of ice with Maine and New York ahead of them.  Harvesting ice on the Susquehanna River was a big industry at one time.  The little town of Columbia, PA, where Columbia Crossing River Trails Center is located, is about 90 miles from Philadelphia and at one time was considered the crossroads to the west.  So, ice harvesting was big in this neck of the woods.  

The frozen Susquehanna River can be seen in the distance.

It usually began in mid-January on the Susque- hanna with the harvested ice lasting into August or September.  The workers who harvested the ice had to be strong since they would have to carry two 50-pound blocks of ice up several floors in the ice house whjich was along the river.  The ice would be packed in sawdust to keep it cold.  When it was needed it would go out into the community which included people's homes as well as local businesses.  Agriculture and meat-packing plants used ice for preservation of their products.  The home icebox was a popular item in the home and had a place for a block of ice in it to keep items cold.  Ice was not cheap and cost the buyer about 10% of their annual income.  Natural river ice harvesting eventually gave way to artificial ice where the ice was frozen in controlled areas like small ponds or in mechanized cooling units.  About a half-mile from my childhood home in Lancaster was a factory known as Consumer's Ice Company where they made ice that replaced ice harvested on the Susquehanna River.  Follow along as I show you parts of Mr. Smoker's collection of tools and items used in harvesting ice.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

These are tools used to check the depth of the ice.  The ice needed to be between 6" and 9" thick so both men and horses would not be in danger of falling through.  The hand drill on the right was used to bore a hole in the ice and the tool in the center was used to place in the hole.  It had a lip on the bottom which would be hooked to the bottom of the ice. A mark was placed on the top of it for depth and the rule would be used for measuring the thickness of the ice.  Click on photos to enlarge them.

If there was heavy snow on the ice, it would be removed with an ice scraper to shave off the snow. 

These are saws from Mr. Smoker's collection.  They would be used to saw through the ice along lines that were marked in a checkerboard style pattern. 

Eventually plows were used instead of the saws.  This photo shows the plows cutting along the marked lines, through the ice.  The horse drawn ice plow dates back to the 1890s.

This shows a hand plow.

This is known as breaking out and is done with hook chisels and breaking bars.  The tools are used to break off large pre-cut ice pieces so they can be piked to the ice house.

A selection of ice hooks from Mr. Smoker's collection.

Another way to get the ice to the ice house is on wagons.

The ramps were used to get the ice into the ice house.

The lift was another way to get the ice into the ice house.

Men would wear spikes on their boots while walking on the ice.

The horses would wear horseshoes with spikes on them.

The ice man making deliveries in neighborhoods.

Another ice wagon making deliveries.  

Ice Axes and hatchets were used primarily in the ice houses as well as on the ice wagon to split blocks of ice before weighing them.  

This reminded me of an illustration from Saturday Evening Post.

The tools of the ice man included a handheld saw, ax, and pick for breaking down ice for each household.  Ice men also carried a scale to weigh the ice, but career ice men were skilled at estimating ice weight.

Customers would display this in their window if they needed ice.  It would tell the iceman what quantity of ice was needed.  Ice was sold by the pound with the cost in Lancaster around 1900 being 35 cents per 100 pounds.  

The iceman or the customer could use tools to shave or chip the ice.

Mr. Smoker's collection of ice shavers and chippers.

Ads showing cold-storage cupboards and refrigerators.

Another ad showing upscale ice boxes.  Looks like you could even sit on them.

This photo and the next are ice boxes that belong to Mr. Smoker.

Ice boxes were manufactured for home use to be opened on the floor.  Only a small block of ice and a few perishables could fit in such a box.  The ice boxes here were only affordable to wealthy American households between the 1840s and 1870s.  By the turn of the twentieth century almost every home had an icebox that could hold a substantial amount of food.

The "Scary Headline Needs To Be Taken Seriously" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The headline in the morning Lancaster, PA newspaper read "Tradition At Stake".  Could have meant just about anything since the city of Lancaster is one of the oldest inland towns in the United States.  But, as I read the story I knew what was being suggested in the article was going to be very, very hard to pull off.  Story said that there had been a State study that had explored moving dairy and livestock farming to Western Pennsylvania.  

Beautiful Lancaster County farmland

Yeah, right!  Their reasoning was that it would relieve environ- mental stresses mounting in Lancaster County and central Pennsylvania.  Seems that the Chesapeake Bay is suffering from all the manure that is entering the bay due to runoff from all the farms that line the tributaries that empty into the Susquehanna River.  It is killing the Bay!  Seems that the western counties of Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland have ample room for livestock farms and to spread manure safely.  Only problem at present is the lack of agricultural services and poor roads.  Wonder if they realize that another problem might be the fact that Lancaster County is one of the biggest hubs of Amish farms and these are the farms that they might want to move west.  

Many Lancaster County farms are dairy farms

But, it looks as if the federal government may set tougher regulations on water quality limits for the Chesapeake Bay which may lead to a downsizing of the livestock industry in the Susquehanna watershed.  The EPA might be aiming more restrictive federal regulations at farmers and the three listed counties are in the Ohio River watershed and have not been targeted for nutrient reductions.  But, if dairy and livestock farms are moved to western Pennsylvania and pollution begins to affect the Ohio River, don't they think that will create the same problem as we have now in the Susquehanna watershed?  The state Department of Environmental Protection recently made a presentation to farmers in Lancaster County about the controls they will establish over stream-cleanup measures.  

Another beautiful Lancaster County farm

They may make Lancaster County farmers get federal discharge permits and local communities, including the city of Lancaster, may have to further rein in storm-water runoff.  More regulations will create a bigger hardship for farmers that struggle with water cleanup.  If goals aren't met, the next step would be to close down some of the livestock farms and move them to western Pennsylvania.  But, DEP believes that it is possible to have well-managed, profitable farms as well as clean local waters within the Susquehanna river watershed.  Let's hope that someone can give support to all those in need in Lancaster County.  The last thing we want is to have all our Amish neighbors have to move across the state.  Certainly, the newspaper headline had to scare some of them into realizing they need to do something to correct the pollution problem.  And, the Amish do read the paper!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "Saving History - Piece By Piece" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The morning paper ran the headline... "HOME FOR CHRISTMAS".  

The National Christmas Center along the Lincoln Highway
in Lancaster County that closed last January.

Story told of the closing of the National Christmas Center in Lancaster, Pennsyl-  vania this past January and how it will be brought back to life in the future.  It was back in 2015 that Carol and I visited the National Christmas Center that opened along the Lincoln Highway (Route 30) to the east of Lancaster.  I posted a story showing all the neat and unusual Christmas items and collections at the holiday museum.  

A display from the 1950s was a favorite of mine.

I found display after display of items from my youth as well as displays of more current Christmas items that our children would remember from their youth.  The museum opened in 1998, but the attendance since that time wasn't enough to keep it open.  Many letters to the editor in the paper followed the announcement of the closing, but that didn't help keep the museum open.  Well, the newspaper told of the reopening of the National Christmas Center in time for Christmas in 2021.  

The Belmont Barn on the Mayer-Hess property.  Both barns were
taken down piece by piece and will be reassembled in the future.
The Belmont barn will be home to the National Christmas Center.

It will reopen in the recon- structed Belmont Barn on the property of Stone Gables Estate in Lancaster County's West Donegal Township.  I wrote of the dismantling of the Belmont Barn on the Mayer-Hess homestead a couple of years ago and wondered at the time what would be done with the beautiful and historic barn.  

The Mayer-Hess farmhouse with the Belmont barn in background.

The Mayer-Hess farmhouse, which sat next to the barn, still remains along the Fruitville Pike in Manheim Township and was recently renovated to be part of the nearby Belmont Shopping Center and an accompanying motel.  Stone Gables Estate has also purchased the contents of the National Christmas Center and will place the contents of the museum in the Belmont Barn when it is reconstructed.  Reconstruction is expected to take three years.  The owner of Stone Gables Estate is David Abel who has been rescuing historic structures for the past couple of years.  

The historic Star Barn which was disassembled piece by piece
and moved to the Stone Gable Estate about a half year ago.
This photo is from a few years ago, before it was moved.

He also purchased the historic Star Barn as well as the Herr's Mill covered bridge in the recent past.  He has already recon- structed the Star Barn on his Stone Gables Estate and will reconstruct the bridge as well as the Belmont Barn in the future.  He has opened his property for all to see the Star Barn, but at a fee.  The Star Barn is a great venue for weddings as well as parties and receptions.  The Belmont Barn will reopen in 2021 for all to visit the Christmas displays once again.  The business venture will keep historical buildings from being destroyed, giving new homes to closed public places and make the owners wealthy.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

The "Stone Harbor's Wetlands Institute" Story

The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor as shown on their
Facebook page.  Click on photographs to enlarge them.

It was an ordinary day.  Visiting the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.  It was back in 1992 that my wife Carol and myself, along with my parents, made our first visit to the Institute.  Enjoyed our visit so much that we bought one the the prints offered for sale that year for their Wings and Water Festival.  

One of the many poster hanging in our Wings & Water bedroom. 

Over the years since then we have purchased about a dozen other prints to help their Institute as well as to decorate one of the bedrooms in our house which we now call our Wings & Water Room.  My trip today is to see once again the wonderful job that this non-profit organization, which was started in 1969, does to help protect the wetlands and its wildlife in Stone Harbor.  

Panorama showing some of the Wetlands.

The Wetlands Institute sits on 6,000 acres of protected wetlands which you must drive through as you cross from the mainland to the Seven Mile Island which is shared by the towns of Avalon and Stone Harbor.  The staff at the Institute is amazing!  

A few of the waterfowl visiting the Wetlands.

When I arrived I paid for my ticket and sat in on a short film telling of the Institute and the wetlands before our guide took the dozen or so guests on a walking tour of the wetlands.  We got to examine many of the plants and foliage and learn how each affects the environment of the wetlands.  

One of many metal enclosures placed over areas
where Diamondback turtle eggs were located.
This helps keep predators from eating the eggs.

As we walked we saw small bright blue metal labels at various locations along the trail.  We were told they were locations where female Diamondback turtles had laid eggs.  They were marked so when they begin to hatch the staff can gather them before they are eaten by other rodents or birds.  They are kept at the Institute until they are large enough to be released into the wetlands.  We walked the metal walkways that cover the wetlands as our guide talked about the birds we could see and the other wildlife that might me in the wetlands under and around us. A few of the birds that call the wetlands home are mute swans, American black ducks, snowy egrets, Canadian geese, red-wing blackbirds and swamp sparrows.  

A small crab that our guide picked up to show us.

We stopped at one point and our guide picked up a crab to show the size of the one claw it had.  The claw was half the weight of the crab.  As we looked out over the expansive wetlands we were told that the majority of all the wildlife, from fish to crustaceans, in this area will begin its life in these wetlands.  Interesting trip and well worth the time for anyone wanting to experience the wetlands.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The only Monarch butterfly I saw.  Migration starts in a few weeks at the Wetlands.

A small Diamondback turtle in their research center.   

An octopus in the research center.

One final photo before I departed.