Results tagged “York County Heritage Trust” from Universal York

Lewis Miller drawing of Polly Waltemyer Opening Oysters

Ah--fall, when York County thoughts turn to--Oysters. On Sunday, October 18, York County Heritage Trust will hold the 35th annual Oyster Fest at the Colonial Complex, W. Market St. and Pershing Ave. Oyster lovers can have them fried, stewed, or raw. Non-oyster eaters, like me, won't go hungry. Pulled pork sandwiches and steamed shrimp will tempt, along with the traditional apple fritters. Beverages include soft drinks, cider and beer.

The family event with free colonial activities runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Click here for the full schedule.

To get back to Polly Waltemyer, pictured above with a giant oyster--Polly was the cook, and possibly the owner of a York tavern in the early 1800s. Artist Lewis Miller's caption of the drawing reads:

Freedom Train Scrapbooks

In a recent York Sunday News column I wrote about the 1948 Freedom Train visit to York. I mentioned that there were scrapbooks about the train at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives.

There are two scrapbooks, created by junior high students. They won first and second place for the best scrapbooks on the Freedom Train. Each volume is about one and a half inches thick. According to markers still in the books, First prize was won by Nancy Rahe and second place by Donna Springer.

I was pleased to recently hear from Nancy Rahe Lipschutz. The email she sent is quoted, with her permission, below:

Fig orchard on East King Street

I came across the striking photo above while looking for something else on the database at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. Volunteers are loading images from the vast photo collection into the database so that they can be easily viewed without handling the original photographs. I was surprised to see the lush, tropical fig trees growing in York County. How Mr. Cicero accomplished the feat is explained below, transcribed from the September 6, 1946 Gazette and Daily.

Check out this link to Mr. Cicero's Sicilian home town, Cattolica Eraclea. It is still only about 5,000 inhabitants, but it sounds like a great place to visit with lots of history, including a significant archaeological site of Greek ruins. By clicking Local Family Names on the site and doing a search, I found that there are about six people in Cattolica Eraclea now with the surname Cicero. There is also a list of families there with over 100 people per surname. There are some familiar local and national names on that short list.

A little while ago, in a post on York Fair horse racing, I mentioned that there were some motion pictures of racing at the fair on films recently digitized and preserved by the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives, through a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Charles and Carrye Noss editing film. Note the movie camera at left.

Those images and many more were taken and shared with the community, by Charles H. Noss and his wife Carrye Neiman Noss. From 1923 to 1960 Mr. and Mrs. Noss filmed local parades and events, such as the York Fair and the construction of the 1930s Wrightsville-Columbia Veterans Memorial Bridge across the Susquehanna River, and shared them with the community. They also traveled around the country and recorded subjects from Pennsylvania Dutch customs to national parks.

The Nosses showed the movies free of charge to churches and civic groups. An admission or offering must have been collected for the groups to keep, because a November 12, 1946 Gazette and Daily newspaper article says that by then the Mr. and Mrs. Noss had shown the films to about 132,000 persons and raised nearly $100,000 for the organizations. Since they continued the showings until Mr. Noss died in 1962, they could have conceivable raised hundreds of thousands of dollars by then.

Lewis Miller drawing of the Confederate invasion of York, June 1863.

Cassandra Small's vivid letters to cousin Lissie Latimer, describing the Confederate invasion of York during the end of June 1863, are often quoted. Cassandra was the daughter of Philip A. Small, a leading businessman or York at the time, and his wife, Sarah Bartow Latimer.

In one letter Cassandra relates: "George Latimer was with General Gordon's Division; happily we didn't see him, as we should not have spoken to him. Some of his Copperhead friends shook hands with him, and he begged them not to tell us, but they couldn't keep it to themselves. We all respect him a great deal more than we do them."

Cassandra's first cousin, James William Latimer of York, wrote to his brother Bartow Latimer that, during the occupation, "Most ladies had sense to stay home. Men went about freely. I spoke to one of the Rebs once. Others talked and questioned them, but I did not feel like it. Heard nothing of Geo. Latimer or Tom."

Who were George and Tom?

A recent post concerned harness racing at the York Fair way back in 1867, over 150 years ago. A reader commented that he remembered non-harness horse races at the fair when he was a boy, with jockeys without helmets.

Click here for post on 1867 races. Click here for 1929 York Fair races. Click here for current York Fair harness racing.

He didn't say when that was, but booklets and clippings in the York Fair file at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives indicate that racing with jockeys was also a long tradition, alongside the harness racing. At one time or another automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles were also raced at the fair.