Frankenstorm at Accomac 1945; and 1875
With Frankenstorm on the way up the East Coast, I thought it an appropriate time to post these pictures of the IVA-LU Bungalow upriver from Accomac, Hellam Township, York County, PA. In 1945, “immense cakes of ice of great thickness” covered the river road. The IVA-LU Bungalow along the Susquehanna River was named after my grandparents Iva & Luther Smith.
I’ve been searching for a fitting phrase to describe the ice and found it by accident within an article in the York Daily issue of May 17, 1875. That must have been a Frankenstorm winter; because in 1875, ice still blocked a portion of the river road in the middle of May!
From the May 17, 1875 issue of the York Daily, a daily morning newspaper in York, Pennsylvania.
WILD CAT.—Immense cakes of ice of great thickness are still to be seen along the river banks in the vicinity of Wild Cat falls. The wagon road from Vinegar ferry to Wild Cat is still impassable. Parties visiting this famous resort are compelled to leave their teams at the ferry and walk.
The middle of May and there were still cakes of ice blocking that 3/4-mile section of river road from the Vinegar Ferry anchorage on the York County side of the river to the Wild Cat Falls Resort. I imagine this was printed in the York newspaper for the benefit of the people traveling what is now River Drive from Codorus Furnace Road to get to the Wild Cat Resort. Check out June Lloyd’s recent posts about Vinegar Ferry.
As soon as I read that article, I knew “immense cakes of ice of great thickness” was the apt phrase for the 1945 pictures at the IVA-LU Bungalow. Here is another photo with the group standing in the middle of the river road. That is an overexposed John Raffensperger, son-in-law of Luther S. Smith standing on top of the immense cake of ice blocking the road.
In my post Billmeyer & Small as Central Theme in RAILCAR GOLD, I note two connections to my grandfather, Luther S. Smith. One connection had to do with the Billmeyer & Small origins of the material used to build the bungalow. That post also has a photo of the IVA-LU, without the ice.
Links to related posts include:
- End of May, over Ten-Feet of Ice at Lockport along Susquehanna in York County; Connection to Apollo Moon Mission
- Waddy George’s Curioseum in the Accomac Hills
