Results tagged “Pennsylvania Dutch” from York Town Square

Dr. Philip A. Hoover's 1994 book is full of insight about 20th-century life in York County. Background: Tobacco usage, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Rooted in York County's past and High school graduation, YorkCounts indicator: Rising after a low start and York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage.

Teen pregnancy is a problem in York County, although the rate is falling, according to a recent YorkCounts report.

But it's long been a problem in York County. And the rate was fueled from the three corners of York County.

Here's the quick skinny, as found in my recent York Sunday News column (3/29/09):

Ken Stough, left, instructor for the Pennsylvania Dutch language classes, talks with Butch Reigart during a class at Providence Place near Dover. Reigart, formerly of York County, is teaching an upcoming Lancaster-based Pennsylvania German course. Background posts: Der Belsnickel of the Pennsylvania Dutch: 'He looked scary and carried a sack of presents' and Classes offer rare op to learn Pennsylvania Dutch and York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage.

People are fascinated with Pennsylvania Dutch language, a dialect of German spoken for decades - centuries - in York County and other parts of Pennsylvania.

Today, the dialect is most prevalent among the Mennonite and Amish, the latter a growing population group in southeastern York County.

According to a news release, the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society is offering 10-week classes in the Pennsylvania Dutch language and culture... .

Butch Reigart of Columbia, Lancaster County, portrays der Belsnickel. The character was prototype of Santa Claus, abeit with a paradoxical well-intentioned mean streak. Background posts: York County group preserving Pennsylvania Dutch language, heritage, PS Harrisburg grad school: 'Set my feet even more firmly on the path into the world of Fraktur' and Hex book: How powwow doctors plied their craft.

"It was always fund on Christmas to have a visit of the 'Belsnickels.' They burst into the scene all dressed up and scattered popcorn and candy on the floor for us kids to get. If any of the older folks tried to pick it up, the Belsnickels would hit them over the back with a whip... ."

That quote from a York countians found in Georg Sheets' "Facts and Folklore of York County, Pennsylvania," pretty well sums up the carrot-and-stick approach of der Belsnickel, a forerunner to a much kinder and gentler Santa Claus... .

East Prospect's Tracy Winter shows off an antique toy truck at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group. The group meets from 1 to 3 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month at Providence Place, 3377 Fox Run Road, Dover Township. For details, call 266-2910. Background posts: Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking York County residents often conversed with German POWs, Classes offer rare op to learn Pennsylvania Dutch and 'Persons should not be too modest'.

Q. What does the Pennsylvania Dutch phrase "Guder mariye" mean?

A. Good morning.

Q. And Wie bischt du heit?

A. How are you today?

Q. Ich bin zimmlich gut.

A. I am pretty good.

Q. Sitz dich anne un bleib e weil.

A. Set yourself (to there) and stay a while.

The Pennsylvania Dutch dialect and its related traditions are kept alive once at month in York County when the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group meets in Dover... .

Harvey Bradley studies the York, Pa., Bradley-made block that the hook will be hung from. These images, as well as other iconic photos in this series, will appear in the "Connections" section of the York Sunday News on May 25. (See the iconic farm image below.) Background posts: York, Pa. made big, heavy things - and was immensely proud of it, Bradley Lifting's boss Harvey Bradley: 'I'm 81' and Harley newsy in York: 3 strikes, 3 presidential visits, 300 jobs down .

Two more photos in York Town Square's series of iconic images - images that tell a story about York County and its history:

Harvey Bradley built his York company, Bradley Lifting, from scratch. He started with few resources, except perhaps the most important, an entrepreneurial spirit... .

Dorothy Kaspar listens as Butch Reigart of Columbia reads from 'Der Haahne Greht,' a book of Pennsylvania Dutch poems, during a Pennsylvania Dutch language class at Dover Township's Providence Place in 2006. Reigart will be teaching a similar class at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. Dutch vs. English? York County debate still perking in 1920s and German or English? Churches disputed language

"Recapture a piece of your Pennsylvania German family history. Learn to speak with your Amish and Mennonite neighbors."

So says a release from the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society about an upcoming class on the Pennsylvania German language.

"Learning the 'Dutch' language you will better understand and appreciate the warm and colorful Pennsylvania German culture that is a hallmark of Lancaster County, in general, and of its Plain People, in particular."

The release could have said York County, too... .

The Little Courthouse, a replica of the first York County Court House, stands on York's Centre Square during World War I. The courthouse served as a center for war bond sales and promoted the bonds in a way that today might be considered politically incorrect. An effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm II is seen in the left foreground. For a small sum, donors could drive nails into the German leader's head. Background posts: From war bonds to pets and people and Driver invades Jefferson's quiet square.

The York Daily Record/Sunday News' Christmas Day editorial (see below) touted some of York County's long overlooked accomplishments during World War I.

The editorial touched on one of those achievements: the ability of the heavily German York County to rally for American involvement even though we were fighting against Germans. It was brother against brother... .

Mary and Andrew Cassimatis are the American founders of a Greek family in York County that has gained great success. The family is profiled in the book "Heroes and Builders." Background posts on other achievers profiled: Wiest's first store: 'Segars' 5 cents a grab and The Yeagleys: 'Builders and Heroes,' and The Grumbachers: York's 'Builders and Heroes,' and The Orrs: 'Builders and Heroes'.

The Greek Cassimatis family of York County has risen high in a short time in heavily Pennsylvania Dutch York County.

It's a great American story that started with the arrival of a family to America in the early 1900s that produced one of York County's most esteemed judges in the early 2000s... .

This advertisement in The Ripplet, a weekly newspaper in Spring Grove, touts a longtime York County product. The Ripplet is the only newspaper to publish from Spring Grove, operating from 1897 to 1922. The present-day Historical Ripplet, newsletter of the Spring Grove Area Historical Preservation Society Spring Grove Area Historical Preservation Society, was founded in 1987 and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Background posts: Spring Grove Museum display horse gas mask and more and 'Persons should not be too modest'.

York countians fought culture and language wars through most of the 19th century.

That was probably not surprising to many people who know that the Pennsylvania Dutch language vs. English debate encompassed homes, schools, churches and communities.

German speakers gradually died off, although some people alive today in York County can speak the dialect.

But what might surprise some is that the debate through the first quarter of the 20th century, as I detailed in a recent York Sunday News column, Language wars nothing new
... .

Gen. Jubal Early, division commander of Confederate troops invading York in June 1863, stayed in this house in Big Mount, Paradise Township. After his night's stay in this still-standing, privately owned structure at the corner of Canal and Big Mount Road, Early headed to a surrendered York for a two-day occupation before Robert E. Lee recalled him to the vicinity a Gettysburg, where a battle was brewing. Background post: E-mailer queries about Confederate invasion.

Jubal Early's overnight stay at a York County home produced an amusing incident in the otherwise deadly serious Confederate invasion of York County.

When Early returned to the Big Mount home after visiting John B. Gordon in nearby Farmers, he found the widow Zinn had reserved supper for him.

Sitting with the woman and her teenage daughter, he enjoyed a fare of 15 to 20 Pennsylvania German dishes, particularly fresh summer vegetables.

The rest, from "East of Gettysburg":

This Lewis Miller drawing shows Christ Lutheran Church's steeple, second from left, among four dominating York's skyline in the 1800s. The steeples and construction dates, from left: German Reformed, 1799-1800, no longer standing; Christ Lutheran, 1815; first court house steeple, 1815, no longer standing; second courthouse steeple, 1849, no longer standing. (Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust.)

York's Christ Lutheran Church - the church with the renovated steeple - is one of the two oldest in present-day York County.

No disagreement there.

The first church building went up in 1744.

No disagreement there.

Its replacement - the current South George Street structure - was dedicated on May 1, 1814.

No disagreement there.

But when was the church actually founded?

Some disagreement there... .

This is the touch screen of a computer at the Agricultural and Industrial Museum that links eras of York County's history with rings on May's Oak, the giant tree that fell in Emigsville in 1997. The exhibit enthralled second-grade students during a recent visit to the museum.

I explained in a recent York Sunday News column that a group of second-graders from Lincoln Intermediate Unit's migrant summer school were energized by the hands-on exhibits at York County Heritage Trust's Agricultural and Industrial Museum.

The Guinston Presbyterian Church, victimized by vandals this week, is one of York County's oldest. It was built in 1773.

Police are still looking for information on who have vandalized the historic Guinston Presbyterian Church.

Here's how the York Daily Record/Sunday News story about the destructive acts began: