In 2010 a Greenbrier County, West Virginia resident was plowing his garden and unearthed a round metal object, probably brass. It was somewhat weathered, with some stains that a collector indicated that it might have been through a fire. It was a seal of the type used to emboss official
My recent post was on the specifications advertised in 1828 by the York County Commissioners for . According to the Lewis Miller drawing, it was completed in 1835. Where was/is the Gut? The Gut is in East Manchester Township. You can easily see the site on these four maps. (Keep
Many covered bridges dotted the landscape in the 19th century. No original York County bridges survive, although fellow blogger Jim McClure says there were still 25 in the county as late as 1937. The specifications for these sturdy structures could easily be outlined in a newspaper ad, such as the
The advertisement transcribed below, from the September 29, 1829 York Recorder, gives us an idea of some of the things young ladies in York County had the opportunity to study, if they were so inclined,and their parents were willing to pay the instructor. It also sent me to Google to
News from the York Recorder, June 9, 1829: This didn’t happen very often: “The jail of this county is at present empty—not an individual being confined therein for crime or debt. The like has not occurred before for nearly two years.” At that time many positions were political appointments, leaving
The pension act of June 7, 1832 extended benefits to some Revolutionary War veterans that had not qualified under the 1828 act. The war had been over for 49 years, so most applicants were at least seventy years old, with many in their eighties. From the introduction to Revolutionary War
I have read that one reason for tearing down the two later market sheds in York’s Center Square in the 1880s was that they were unsanitary. Evidently, there were some problems with the single market shed that stood east to the courthouse in the square much earlier. It looks so
An item in the August 25, 1829 York Recorder newspaper microfilm at York County Heritage Trust recounts how some Yorkers managed to up productivity in their work crew—don’t let them drink. The article reads:
York County was quite a hotbed of viticulture and viniculture in the first half of the nineteenth century. A long article in the August 18, 1829 York Recorder reads, in part: “WINE CONVENTION A stated meeting of the Wine Association of York County was held on Saturday… at the Vineyard
I have written before about York’s multitalented William Wagner. One of his lasting legacies as an engraver is the Map of York and Adams Counties that he published with Daniel Small in 1821. This map is still very useful today to locate sites important to our local history. The map