York Town Square

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The American hobo comes to York Springs

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Adams County’s York Springs drew its name from this spa, which attracted a crowd from Baltimore and elsewhere before the Civil War. Check out the local history society’s Web site: http://www.yosshs.org.
This is a little different.
Historian, musician and entertainer Matthew Dodd will present his program “Songs and Stories of the American Hobo” at a special York Springs historical society event in March.
A release from sponsor Ye Olde Sulphur Spa Historical Society said Dodd will be dressed in accurate period clothing and perform around a hobo-jungle campfire. He will sing and tell stories of the “Knights of the Road,” who rode the rails in, on and under boxcars from job to job and town to town in the early 1900s.
Dodd has researched hobo autobiographies to tell how the true hobo (not a tramp or a bum) lived and why he chose that unique style of life… .


The event is set at 7:30 p.m., March 19, at the York Springs Fire Hall, 304 Main Street.
The program will follow a family style ham and turkey dinner.
There is no charge to attend the speaker part of the evening. For details, contact E. Gilbert at 528-4869.
The York Springs area, which is not in York County but in eastern Adams County, is an interesting part of the world, and its position on a well-traveled route has brought it lots of company. For information on how it got its name, see spa.