1770s: November 2008 Archives

Congratulations to the students who participated in the recent essay contest sponsored by the York Daily Record/Sunday News and the York County Heritage Trust.

It was my pleasure to help judge the entries. All the students who entered, as well as their teachers and parents who encouraged them, are to be commended for taking time to dig into national history with a local twist.

The students in grades 6-8 and 9-12 were to write a letter home as if they were one of the delegates to Continental Congress meeting in York in 1777-78. They could tell about the problems of living in York Town as well as the heavy challenges they faced in molding one nation out of 13 diverse colonies.

Those in grades 3-5 could choose to write a biography of one of the delegates who served here.

See below for links to the winning essays as well as a link to the Library of Congress online transcriptions to the original Letters of Congress.

First National Thanksgiving Marker, East Market Street, York

Have you passed by the marker above, tucked into a mini-park in downtown York, PA, and wondered about the story behind it?

The marker reads: "THE FIRST NATIONAL THANKSGIVING WAS PROCLAIMED FROM YORK BY THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ON NOVEMBER 1, 1777 TO BE CELEBRATED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18. IT WAS WRITTEN BY SAM ADAMS OF MASSACHUSETTES, 'THE FATHER OF THE REVOLUTION,' WHO ADVOCATED FOR THE FIRST TIME 'ONE PUBLIC DAY OF THANKSGIVING' FOR ALL OF THE STATES AFTER THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA 'THAT WITH ONE HEART AND ONE VOICE THE GOOD PEOPLE MAY EXPRESS THE GRATEFUL FEELINGS OF THEIR HEARTS.' BY VARIOUS HISTORICAL AND PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES AND THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING FOUNDATION."