Results tagged “Conewago Township” from York Town Square

Conewago Township (Pa.) chainsaw artist Brad Heilman carved a sculpture of a Harley-Davidson bike out of a 15-foot-tall pin oak trunk near J & J Cycle Barn, visible from Interstate 83 north of York. Here, Joe Sciarrabba, owner of the cycle shop, tidies up after the carving. (See another chainsaw sculpture below.) Other posts of interest: York, Pa. made big, heavy things - and was immensely proud of it and AMF-Harley in York, by the numbers and AMP's and AMF's alphabet soup spilled in same York County town .

Chainsaw art pieces carved from trees are growing in popularity around York County.

The newest comes from Brad Heilman, perhaps the most prolific artist. He carved a Harley-Davidson bike emerging from an oak stump visible from Interstate 83.

His work is drawing a lot of honks from passing motorists.

Whether history will bless this form of art as the years pass remains to be seen... .

Conewago Township's Rudy's School, then a private residence, sustained damage in this 2006 fire. Education in these one-room schools ended before high school, contributing to low high school graduation rates years later. Background posts: One-room school days fascinate history fans and Little school house in Hanover: A story of the circus and coal room and 18th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name.

A YorkCounts report indicates that most York County public school districts have shown gradual improvement in graduation rates.

Still, the 2000 Census shows that one out of five York countians do not have high school degrees.

Don't blame that entirely on the York City School District, where graduation rates fall in low 60-percent range (and improving.) ...

Propaganda posters, as they were then called, helped sell patriotic ideas during World War II. This poster promotes Victory Gardens, but the posters ranged from loose lips sink ships to recycling themes. (See additional poster below.) Background posts: 20 questions and answers to prove your York County WWII smarts and Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking York County residents often conversed with German POWs and Jamaican fruit pickers worked York County orchards in World War II .

Victory Gardens, 21st-century style, may make a comeback as Americans cope with the recession this summer.

The gardens represented an important part of military strategy in World War II. The idea was that if homefront Americans could grow enough to feed themselves, the government could concentrate on feeding the troops.

This excerpt from my "In the Thick of the Fight" describes the World War II-era gardening boom:

This post card view shows the "The Little Courthouse" sitting in its longtime home in Farquhar Park. It's sometimes called the "Statehouse," but that name is misplaced. The original Statehouse sat next to the Colonial Courthouse in York's Centre Square for about 50 years. Background posts: Display marks how York County courthouses evolved, Going to market a longtime York County pastime and Charles Dickens' coach from York to Harrisburg: 'A kind of barge on wheels'.

The trolley kiosk, affectionately called Teapot Dome, that sat in York's Continental Square for years has drawn plenty of attention recently as it is undergoing renovations.

It's involved in a similar journey taken about a decade ago by its longtime Continental Square partner, the Little Courthouse... .

A former Zion View resident, now living out west, remembered well the flyway beacon light operating in that town until 1970.

The beacon's presence in that Conewago Township community was described in the recent post Beacon helped spot whereabouts of York County town, drawn from information from a book by Norma Bear Gates.

" ... I thought my mom was speaking when Mrs Gates said 'where the beacon light
is located.' Mom would say to folks trying to find us 'turn left off the old
trail at the beacon light, we are the first house on the left.' ...

Quickel Church in Conewago Township, built in 1857 and scene of human stampede during a 1907 funeral. (Courtesy, Norma Bear Gates)

The shooting deaths of the Hoover teens causes an overflow turn out for their funeral at Zion View's Quickel Church. (For more on those deaths, click here.)

And more misfortune.

According to "Never to be Forgotten:" ...

This 1927-vintage band hall housed the Zion View Band and myriad of other Conewago Township community activities until the 1980s. Most recently, it was home to the York County Racing Club. (See additional image below.) (Courtesy, Norma Bear Gates)

Ask anyone around before 1940 about the Zion View Band Hall, and you'll get a story about the night that hall's furnace exploded - or, as they say in Conewago Township, "blew."

In "More about ...the way it was," Norma Bear Gates tells about the memorable event during the Zion View Business Show in 1940... .