Recently in Central/Eastern Category

I was really excited to see some people who I don't even know starting to submit to our new user-submitted photo galleries!

One woman, Dianne Bowders of York Township, posted a really interesting set of photos of buildings around York County, complete with detailed captions, so I thought I'd share them with you.

Ye Olde York Valley Inn

Dianne writes: "Ye Olde York Valley Inn was originally built between 1738-1747 in Springettsbury Township. The early stone inn was located 2.5 miles east of York near the site of WalMart along the Lincoln Highway/Route 30. George Washington and the Marquis de LaFayette were among its early visitors. Proprietor rules for the inn included that no more than five could sleep in a bed, and that boots were not to be worn while in bed. In 1962, a large portion of the stone inn was moved from its original location to Susquehanna Memorial Gardens in York Township where it serves as the cemetery office." Read more on Jim McClure's York Town Square blog post, 1730s York Valley Inn may outlast its namesake.

Billmeyer House

Dianne writes: "A front view of the beautiful Victorian Italianate York House or Billmeyer House, built by Charles Billmeyer in 1863. The house is part of the First Presbyterian Church complex. Thirty-five years ago the Church petitioned to tear down this blighted landmark. The restoration began after a prolonged battle between the Church and York's Historic Architectural Review Board who refused to grant permission to destroy the home. The home now stands as a beautiful testament to preservation." I've seen this spelled both Billmeyer and Billmyer - not sure which is now accepted! For more on it under any name, read Jim McClure's York Town Square blog post, Colonial York, Pa.? No, try Victorian York, Pa.

John Wright House

Dianne writes: "John Wright, Jr., built this ferry house and tavern about 1736 on the western shore of the Susquehanna River to meet the needs of westward moving travelers. Up to 150 to 200 wagons would line up in Columbia to await Wright's Ferry, often waiting several days before crossing to the west bank, now Wrightsville. The early Wright's Ferry consisted of two dugout canoes fastened together with carriage wheels. Cattle were were led across the River with the canoeist holding the rope for the lead animal, guiding others to follow. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is privately owned." Read more about Wrightsville's past in Jim McClure's York Town Square blog post, There's more right with Wrightsville than wrong.

Dritt Mansion

Dianne writes: "Historic Pleasant Garden, or the Dritt Mansion/Zimmerman Center for Heritage, was built about 1738, the year when settlers streamed across the Susquehanna River. The land was first owned by Thomas Cressap and a log fort was constructed near this site (1729) to prevent settlement on the west side of the River. The Georgian style mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located about 3.5 miles south of Wrightsville at Long Level and is now owned by the York-Lancaster Heritage Region. On the first Friday of each month, the Susquehanna River Art exhibit is open for viewing." Read more about the Dritt family on Jim McClure's York Town Square blog post, Native Americans help clean up Dritt family cemetery in new York County park.

Wallace-Cross Mill

Dianne writes: "Built in 1826 in East Hopewell Township, the mill once operated 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places it is now part of York County Parks and Recreation and is open for tours during part of the summer and on special miller days. The miller's house sits on the hill above the mill." Read more about the mill on Jim McClure's York Town Square blog post, Pioneering sisters operated York County grist mill.

Thank you, Dianne, for sharing these photos! Have any of my readers been to these places? Cross Mill in particular is on my "Top 10" list to visit next summer, and I'd love to hear about your experiences there or elsewhere, so leave me a comment!

Commenter Amy tipped me off that the Hellam Carnival is going on through Saturday at Lee and Beaver streets.

I've had a hard time finding any information about it, but I did read on the Kreutz Creek Valley Library Friends Group's web site that the group is going to be at the carnival from 4 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, selling their fundraising items as well as books, videos, DVDs and audiobooks at reasonable cost. They'll also be having a "grab bag" game for children and a "number match" game for adults, plus a raffle for a small quilt and another for a Little Jack Horner doll.

Backing up a day, on Friday, there will be a "Cruise Nite" from 6 to 10 p.m. at the carnival. You can showcase your car and also enjoy the carnival rides, food, games, raffles and free music by The Roadsters, an oldies group. For the cruise, there is a $5 registration fee that benefits the Hellam Area Recreation Commission; for details, call 252-0101.

If you go, let me know how it is! I'll be working those nights, so it's not likely I'll head out, but you never know!

Sorry for the sparse posting this week - if you're a reader of our print edition, you've probably noticed it looks a little different, and I'm spending a little more time than usual working on it to make sure it looks as nice as can be.

But I wanted to take a minute and invite you all to some fun stuff going on this weekend, including some places my family expects to be out and about.

First up is Codorus Summer Blast at Codorus State Park outside Hanover. It started today and continues tomorrow and Sunday. We're planning to head out and spend the day at the park tomorrow (weather permitting), not only to check out the event but also to find the two letterboxes hidden at that park. Multi-tasking, yay!

(Interesting side note: You know where I found out about this event? On a placemat in McDonald's. Yep!)

Second event, courtesy of my friend Nina and delivered via text message this week, is a note about a quarter auction at the Springetts Fire Hall next to Home
Depot on Saturday, to benefit York's Habitat for Humanity. Doors open at 6 p.m., cost is $3 at the door.

Habitat, which is also holding a 5K run/walk tomorrow starting at 8:30 a.m. on Allen Lane in Dover, is a great organization, and quarter auctions are a ton of fun, so I'd really encourage you to head out if you're free!

... and insert various other goose puns here!

Remember these guys from last Wednesday?

Well, Amy might have been the only person to take a guess, but she was right! I took this in the Meadowbrook Village shopping center near Border's and the old Circuit City. We had gone to that Isaac's for lunch and were on our way down to Border's when we saw this goose family plus another one.

Also, a special shout-out to my father-in-law, John, for his goose puns. This punny nature, by the way, he passed along to Hubby, who I'm surprised didn't pipe in with his own tributes to wordplay.

While "Pappy John," as my daughter calls him, is from Rhode Island and would have no idea where in York County this was, he did make several suggestions. You know, like Quacker Lane? Honkers Alley? Gooseberry Plaza?

Let the groaning begin!

Don't forget, you can still vote for your favorite local fresh fruit!

As of my writing this entry, there were 18 votes, and strawberries were way in the lead with 72 percent. Peaches were doing OK, at 22 percent, and cherries took 5 percent. Nobody voted for any of the other choices yet!

There's still time to vote; I'm not going to "close" the poll for a while, though I'll probably declare a winner early next week and share some of the feedback I've gotten from readers on what to buy where.

Meanwhile, you might as well know what got my vote - STRAWBERRIES! They are the other thing I bought during my lunchtime trip to Brown's North yesterday.

My mom was kind enough to slice them up and sprinkle Equal/Stevia over them (that's what the picture with this post is of). We ate about half the bowl! It's a great snack.

For those of you who already voted - how do you like to eat your strawberries (or peaches, or cherries)? Since I'm sure I'll be getting more fresh berries soon, I'm interested in any suggestions.

Today for lunch, I went with my mom to the new Brown's North, at Shiloh Nurseries in Emigsville, Manchester Township.

All I can say is, WOW. We love Brown's, as I've mentioned before, but it really is a bit of drive to go from West Manchester to Springfield Township.

Brown's North, though, was less than a 10-minute drive from the office. YAY!

In addition to some fresh fruit, which I'll write about later this week, once I've tasted it, we got good sandwiches for lunch, plus a sweet treat for each family member.

(From left, it's chocolate-chip sugar cakes for my daughter; a raspberry pie for my mom and I to share; and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing for Hubby.)

The lunchtime sandwiches definitely met the high standards the original Brown's location has set. We sat at some really great patio tables and enjoyed the wonderful weather. My mom's tuna salad was SO full of tuna, she had to take some off. I added bacon to my ham-and-cheese-on-Kaiser delight, and it was super-crispy and they put a lot on.

Neither Mom nor I finished our whole sandwich, because we had to save room...

We each at a quarter of the small pie. HOLY COW, it was good. Definitely worth the trip!

You probably know by now that I love yard sales, and of course I recognize that it's almost a must-do on spring and summer weekends in York County.

So this morning, we loaded the whole family into the car and headed over to some neighborhoods in Manchester Township for a couple of community yard sales.

Best find went to my mom, who got a brand-new summer purse for $2. Daughter Sarah got a 50-cent T-shirt with a panda on it from the Washington Zoo. Hubby got a book from a "free" box. Lunch, for my mom and me, was a yummy, freshly grilled hot dog (75 cents!) from one yard-saler.

And guess what I got? Something for the blog!

It's "A Taste of Pennsylvnia Recipe Book" published by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture and it only cost a quarter!

Be on the lookout for recipes from it in the coming days, including some more great ways to use local fresh fruit. (Don't forget to vote for your favorite local fruit in the post before this one!)

Anyone else have good yard-sale finds or news of coming sales to report? Comment and let me know!