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
Thanks to June Evans for sharing the history of the Horn Farm Center for Educational Agriculture with me, as well as these old photographs of the site. See the captions for more identification and attribution. A portion of the eastern part of the present farm goes back to Christian Crowl
I started out writing about a little tidbit tacked to an article about the York Imperial apple in the August 13, 1920 York Gazette and Daily. The subject was timothy grass–you know–the plant that is mown, along with clover, for hay, and how timothy came to York County, along with
I was intrigued by the strong advertising and testimonials lauding H. M. Crider’s 1881 fruit-picker (see previous post), so I stopped by York County Heritage Trust’s Agricultural and Industrial Museum to see one of these wonderful inventions in person. It does look like a good idea—strong metal tines or fingers
Spring view of Smith tree Lucy Neville Mitchell was born in 1872 at Charleston, S.C. In 1902 she married Stephen Fahs Smith, an executive in the S. Morgan Smith Company founded by his father. Mrs. Smith was very interested in genealogy, tracing descent from British royalty. The Smith estate in
Windmills–we might think of the sleek white blades of giant windmills generating electricity or those with huge canvas sails that we associate with Holland. Some of you might remember the iron frame windmills once used on many farms to pump water. Those seem to have come into use about 1850.
Pennsylvania German poet Henry L. Fisher at his attic writing desk Some of my posts earlier this year on York County agriculture drew on the books written around 1880 by Henry Lee Fisher, York attorney and Pennsylvania German (Pennsylvania Dutch) dialect poet. Fisher fondly remembered the harvest times of his
Biesecker’s Mill on the Little Conewago York County Heritage Trust will launch its latest publication, Millers’ Tales: The Mills of York County, this Saturday, November 27 with a public program. The event will be held a 1 p.m. at the Trust’s Agricultural and Industrial Museum, 217 W. Princess St., York.
Lewis Miller drawing of Einstein and his cabbages Yesterday’s post told how early York County Democrat Simon Einstein [Anstine] was successfully elected on his own ticket to the Pennsylvania General Assembly when fellow Democrats left him off the official slate. How did he celebrate? With a wagon load of cabbages!
Chicken judging at York Fair, 1947 Time again for the York Fair. This year I hope to get there to sample in person two things I have included in posts the past year–harness racing and Bury’s hamburgers. It’s been a while since I’ve had one of those great baked potatoes