The historic stone home in Hellam Township which we know as the Mifflin House was occupied from about 1800 until 1856 by the Mifflins: Revolutionary War patriot Jonathan Mifflin, his wife Susanna Wright Mifflin and their son Samuel Mifflin. All three of the Mifflins are said to have participated quite
It was good to see many of you at the York Daily Record’s Unraveling York County History event last week. For those of you who didn’t make it, the theme this year was “Weird York.” The YDR bloggers each did two stories. My first tale was “The Ghost of Margaretta
We are blessed with an abundance of gorgeous scenery in York County. It seems especially striking when you get away from the towns into some of the more remote corners. The long eastern border along the Susquehanna River affords many striking views from near Harrisburg to the Mason-Dixon Line. We
For the past few years, Albert Rose, long-time volunteer at the York County History Center Library/Archives, has been documenting war memorials throughout York County. He has visited and photographed many of them and also verified some that no longer remain. But he looking for still more, such as the ones
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
Ah, hindsight. By 1957 people were beginning to think that maybe we should preserve a covered bridge or so “for historical value.” This short article from the July 2, 1957 York Dispatch article tells of two York County covered bridges that were being considered for preservation. It reads:
My last post outlined the 1948 fate of a covered bridge over the Little Conewago Creek just east of Zion’s View on Canal Road. It linked Conewago and Manchester Townships. At the same time a Hellam Township bridge over Kreutz Creek was also demolished for a more modern span. York
While researching my recent York Sunday News column on the 1815-1818 McCall’s Ferry Bridge, I came across quite a few clippings in the Covered Bridge file at the York County History Center on the county’s covered bridges biting the dust. Many of them fell in the 1940s and 1950s, not
As I mentioned in my recent York Sunday News column on Theodore Burr’s 1815 bridge at McCall’s Ferry, the lower part of York County did not have a lasting river bridge until the Norman Wood bridge was erected in 1968. The Harrisburg Evening News article below, dated December 8, 1933,
We look at covered bridges, or memories of the now mostly extinct bridges, as picturesque remnants of the past. But they were not built to be charming. They were vital links in the transportation system. The walls and roof were added to protect the bridge from the elements, preserving its