There has recently been some discussion on Retro York on Facebook about the Historic York Inn (also known as the Smyser-Bair House Bed and Breakfast) on South Beaver Street, just off of West Market. Their website condenses the history of the wonderful house and includes some beautiful interior photos. Dr.
Hanover Lutheran pastor Frederick Valentine Melsheimer has been called the father of American entomology (insects). He was also a “Hessian,” who came to America with troops fighting on the British side during the Revolutionary War. If you have Melsheimers in your ancestry, there is a good chance that you descend
The campaign to save the historic Mifflin House, the extremely significant site in Hellam Township at the edge of Wrightsville, is moving on, but help is needed from the public. To bring you up to date, in August 2017 Hellam Township denied a demolition permit requested by the developer of
My last post related the tale of Spoonie Gohn’s encounters with Slaymaker’s ghost at Margaretta Furnace. It was one of the two “Weird York County” stories I shared at the York Daily Record’s recent Unraveling York County History event. My second account that night was “The Headless Horseman of the Codorus Valley.”
In 1826 Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833) created the first real photograph known to exist today. The view from a window at Gras, France is also known as the “First Photograph,” and it is in the photography collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
My York Sunday News column last month illustrated how you often to take several sources and put them together to round out the story on a person, an event or a place that you are researching. Speaking of research, a couple occurrences this past week reminded me that you should
York County historian of a century ago, George R. Prowell, was a prolific (and sometimes wordy) recorder of York County history. Some of the stories he wrote were passed on from others, perhaps with occasional errors creeping in. Still, Prowell’s writings are the only source for quite a few interesting
I could go on about the dozens of picturesque covered bridges that used to dot the York County countryside, but this will be my last post on them for now. I realize that they were rendered obsolete by mid-twentieth century transportation needs and were not really sustainable. It is a
Fellow blogger Scott Mingus has done extensive research on the Mifflin family of Hellam Township. He has written, both in his Cannonball blog and in his recently published book, The Ground Swallowed Them Up: Slavery and the Underground Railroad in York County, Pa., about the significant role Jonathan Mifflin, his wife Susannah
We lament, and rightly so, the loss of impressive York buildings, such as City Market and York Collegiate Institute. Still, it could have been worse. Here is an example of one urban renewal project that thankfully didn’t happen. While looking through the York Square file at the York County History