This well-known image of Hellam Township tree house has greeted many postcard hunters over the years. Background postcard posts: Striking architecture lined York's South Duke Street, Can anyone locate this ballpark? and Postcards tell story of York County community.

Fellow blogger June Lloyd tells the story of Brook Leaf Tree House in her post: Hellam Tree House Makes the Movie News Reels.

The tree house has been gone for years, but is the tree still standing?... .

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The stand with the lighthouse is the new home of Smittie's Soft Pretzels. It replaces the shack that was home of the York County delicacy for decades. The location is the same: Route 74, north of Dover. (See photo of shack below.) Background posts: York area full of memory-spawning landmarks, Interstate lined out Melvin's swan song and Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York.

Smittie's Soft Pretzel's shack never offered the dramatic visual treat put forth by the Lincoln Highway's Shoe House, east of York, or the windmill restaurant, east of Lancaster.

But the old structure was an local icon, and its culinary offering delighted motorists along another old highway - Route 74 - for generations.

The shack is now gone, replaced by a small structure marked by a lighthouse.

Why a lighthouse in the landlocked Dover area?

Brent Burkey's York Daily Record/Sunday News story (8/17/08) explains:

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The 2,000-pound bell Conewago Chapel bell as contractor measures the church belfry. The steeple of the mother church for Roman Catholics in York and Adams counties is undergoing renovations. (See additional photo below). Background posts: People of varying religious groups founded York County, Abe, Gwyneth passed through Porters Sideling and In bucolic countryside, royal body sat in the sun.

York's Christ Lutheran is the mother church for worshippers in that Protestant denomination in York and Adams counties.

The Codorus Church of the Brethren near Loganville is the founding church of Brethren in York County.

But the hearth for York/Adams' United Churches of Christ, United Methodists and Roman Catholics Catholics came further west in present-day Adams County. Adams was part of York at the time these first churches were planted.

Here are some facts on those early, out-west churches, according to "Never to be Forgotten":

Posted in Books & reading Explanations/controversy For photo fans God & York County Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Small-town life York Town Square

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The Kralltown Road bridge, seen here in 2006, is of the truss construction typical of those PennDOT is systematically replacing. In fact, PennDOT is placing some of them up for sale. Background posts: When the bridge over the Codorus moved, Charles Dickens on his Susquehanna River crossing: 'I was in a painful dream', and A 7th bridge? Pedestrian walkway may span Susquehanna River some day.

I recently turned onto the one-lane Bowers Bridge crossing the Conewago Creek near Manchester and wondered how the rickety but beautiful structure had escaped the wreckers ball. After all, a trolley bridge downstream was no more. And a highway bridge even further down the Conewago was there but no longer used.

As it turns out, PennDOT has caught up with the Bowers Bridge... .

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This area view, courtesy of J. David Allen & Son Photography and from Buchart-Horn Inc./BASCO Associates' files, shows the York County Shopping Center in the late 1950s. Background posts: Before Geno's made news in Philly, Gino's headlined in York, Bury's memories far from buried and Sears, York County Shopping Center in the middle of things.

Last post, we showed off a piece of J. David Allen and Son's photographic handiwork from the air - a shot of White Oak Park.

Last time we posted an aerial shot from those photographers - and a photo of the York County Shopping Center - it drew several comments.

For example, Bill Landes wrote:

What a great photo, lots of memories. Across the street from the Shopping Center entrance(I think) was the first Gino's 15cent Hamburger Joint. I remember Gino Marchetti and Alan Ameche signing autographs there at the grand opening...1960 or 61??

Gene Schenk from Buchart-Horn Inc./BASCO Associates, who supplied the original Allen photo of the shopping center, e-mailed another photo with landmarks marked by numbers, which will aid locating landmarks.

Here's the key:.. .

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Northeastern Football Association president Joe Griffith is a prime reason why Northeastern Senior High School will field a football team this fall. 'We were the largest school in the commonwealth not to have a football program. That's not a title to be proud of,' he said. To view a four-day series on how Northeastern football came to be, see York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Sean McLernon's Finally in the game. Background posts: Big Conewago separates Northeastern School District into two, Wolf Man, Wolfchester. No the village of Mount Wolf and New Weekly Records tell about community life.

Northeastern Senior High School will become the 22nd York Area Interscholatic Athletic Association team when the football is teed up on Friday, Aug. 29.

York Daily Record/Sunday News coverage of the addition of this costly sport in tight budgetary also showed that the YAIAA has more than doubled from its nine original teams in 1960.

The following YAIAA chronology, certain to be of interest, was part of that coverage:

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Codorus Church of the Brethren in Dunkard Valley is the mother church for members of that denomination in York County. Background posts: Potosi, Pa., linked to mining, Northern York strawberry part of Neapolitan county, People of varying religious groups founded York County.

The stats say that the Church of the Brethren has grown from one congregation - Springfield Township's Codorus church - planted in the fields of a quiet valley 250 years ago to 15 churches in York County today

The figures also show that the number of churches of that Protestant denomination in the county is down by three between 1990 and 2000.

That is probably the reason Codorus and other Brethren groups are trying new things - like this past weekend's Dunkard Valley Live, a Christian music festival with rap groups and such. Surely, this was the loudest moment in this agricultural valley since the introduction of the gasoline-fired combine.

But here's the question that is often asked about the Brethren and their Amish and Mennonite cousins: Why aren't there as many of those groups west of the Susquehanna as there are in Lancaster County? ...

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A championship horshoe-pitching team poses at a location now flooded by Lake Redman. Three Lake Redman-related background posts: Mile-a-minute weed's York County origins questioned, Memorial honoring victims of alcohol-related crashes should be visited and Rainmaker's visit indicates much awry in York.

Over at sister blog The Lineup Card, Chris Otto connects the York-based national horseshoe pitching tournament just passed, local horseshoe pitching champions from old and the York County locale known as Smoketown... .

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This mile-long covered bridge replaced the bridged burned by the Union army to stop the Confederates from crossing the Susquehanna River. A cyclone blew down this bridge in 1896, and it was replaced by an iron structure. The bridge would have been akin to the covered bridge Charles Dickens used to cross the river some 25 miles upstream. But by 1896, slits to allow light into the dark interior had been added. Background posts: Susquehanna River helped mold part of York County's southern tier, Photo collection adds to York County's historic record and When the bridge over the Codorus moved.

Charles Dickens' account of his crossing the long covered bridge from the Susquehanna's west shore into Harrisburg raises a point few would consider today.

In a bridge nearing a mile long, how would you see? ...

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Tubers take a leisurely ride recently near the covered bridge spanning the Yellow Breeches on Messiah College's campus. The beauty of the countryside is similar to that witnessed by Charles Dickens in his visit to northern York County in 1842. Dickens' coach would have crossed the Yellow Breeches downstream close to the point that it spills into the Susquehanna River. Background posts: Big Conewago serves as divider, York County: 'It's shaped like a horse's... ' and Scenic Yellow Breeches snakes along York County's northern boundary.

Charles Dickens and 11 others filled a large coach that traveled along York County's eastern edge in his visit to America in 1842.

He arrived in York via railroad. He traveled to Harrisburg via coach. And traveled to Pittsburgh from Harrisburg via canal.

Dickens noted the uncomfortable coach ride and took time to observe - and later write about - the foiables of York countians. But he also Dickens noticed the beauty of the county's northern end, as he describes in his "American Notes:"

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