Neat Photos of a Drive-In Easter Sunrise Service at Stony Brook
During Thursday’s meeting of the Springettsbury Township Historic Preservation Committee, Terry Downs shared some neat photos of a Drive-In Easter Sunrise Service that St. John’s Lutheran Church held at Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre in 1957. My favorite photo is this classic view of drive-in speakers hanging on the car windows, with the Rev. Enno A. Schmoock delivering the sermon, backed by St. John’s Senior Choir and the cross. This is a westward view. The barn, to the extreme right of the drive-in screen, is now the location of the new Springettsbury Township Fire Station on Commons Drive.
The notice for this Easter Sunrise Service appeared in The Gazette and Daily on Saturday April 20, 1957. The Sunrise Service began at 6:00 A.M.
The Stony Brook Drive-In entrance marquee contained the message “Sunrise Services, Six A.M., All Invited,” in this neat photo looking eastward along the Lincoln Highway (East Market Street) during the misty morning. I’ve followed up with a close-up of the sign giving the specifics of the service.
The following southwesterly view shows the drive-in was nearly full; with only the last two rows containing few cars. Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre had spaces for 926 cars; therefore a sizeable crowd attended this Easter Sunrise Service in 1957.
I’ve zoomed-in on the right side of the above southwesterly view. The house in the distance, on the hillside, to the left of the drive-in screen is the large estate that sat high uphill and far back from the southwest corner of Edgewood Road and Kingston Road. In the distance, to the right of the drive-in screen, one sees the barn and water tower that sit along the western end of Stone Ridge Road.
The following westwardly view shows the stage for the Easter Sunrise Service consisted of a flat-bed trailer. Notice that the director of the choir is standing on the tailgate of a station wagon backed up to the stage.
In my post New Springettsbury Fire Station in the “Ghost Shadow” of the former Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre I was able to superimpose a 1956 Aerial Photo onto a 2013 Aerial Photo, i.e. the 1956 Drive-In and structures appear as ghost images on the 2013 aerial photo.
I marked the location of the New Fire Station (in 2013) via the white rectangular; and since that post, the Springettsbury Township Fire Station was formally dedicated on September 20, 2014. The ghost images over the present roads gives one an idea where the Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre once sat at this location in Stony Brook; when the Drive-In Theatre hosted an Easter Sunrise Service.
Related posts include:
- Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre; and the answer is Spaceballs
- Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre explorations
- New Springettsbury Fire Station in the “Ghost Shadow” of the former Stony Brook Drive-In Theatre
