York County is part of what is known as a “cultural hearth,” an area from which ideas and culture spread throughout much of the country as settlers moved on. In a recent post, I showed how the Great Wagon road, shown on the 1751 Fry-Jefferson map, carried pioneers to the
Click here for the Library of Congress zoomable 1751 Fry-Jefferson map. I recently wrote about York County residents being recruited to move to Virginia in the 1870s. Click here to read that post. There were several paths, following very early roads, from South Central Pennsylvania to less populated lands.
I guess it is human nature to want to have the biggest and the best. We are always impressed by the tallest buildings and the most gigantic pumpkins. Our forebears were no different, as we can see by the Lewis Miller drawing above of a huge pumpkin. Miller captioned it: