York Town Square

Allen J. Smith, seen here inside his restoration, shows the caboose he worked on for years so that, ‘It’s better than new.’ The rail car wil be moved from New Freedom to Wellsboro and Corning Railroad in Tioga County. (See York Daily Record/Sunday News’ photographer Paul Kuehnel’s video of the caboose below.) Also of interest: What it was like aboard the Stewartstown Railroad and Mason-Dixon Line hugging New Freedom playing host to a new museum and Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?

Neat stuff from all over … .
Yorkblogger Scott Mingus fielded a query from a reader about the origin of the name Pickett Road in Washington Township.
Scott explained that it likely didn’t come from the presence of Gen. George Pickett’s men in the Gettsburg Campaign in the Civil War summer of 1863… .

“Picketts’ Division never came farther east than a few hundred yards east of Emmitsburg Road in Gettysburg. The legend perpetuated on Washington Township’s website that the general and his men paused to water their horses and have them reshod in the township is a myth with zero basis in fact. Three other CSA units were indeed in Washington Township during the Gettysburg Campaign (Jenkins, Early, and Stuart), but most definitely not Major General George Pickett.”
I received a similar query some months back, and my conclusion was similar to Scott’s: Does Washington Township’s ‘The Pickets’ link with Civil War? .
– The piece of beam from the World Trade Center, trucked here from New York, is now part of a court of valor at Prospect Hill Cemetery. Visit: New Court of Valor honors veterans.
– Some months ago, I blogged on the contribution that York Catholic grad and former Wall Street Journal editor Steve McKee’s “My Father’s Heart” made in exploring York County of the late 1960s and 1970s. See Steve’s video at: www.steve-mckee.com/sm/.
– Forum of the day: Remember Bury’s Hamburgers? Visit a forum on that local delicacy and other York County food at The Exchange.

For details on the caboose, see Caboose in New Freedom ready for next stop.