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Showing posts with label Americana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Americana. Show all posts
Apr 10, 2022
Mar 18, 2016
Aberdeen mayor promises continued city help with restoration of historic B&O station
(The Aegis) Aberdeen Mayor Patrick McGrady pledged this week that the city would continue to support the ongoing community project to restore the historic B&O Railroad station off West Bel Air Avenue.
"The City of Aberdeen wants to see it done as much as you do," McGrady told Bob Tarring, who is the head of an ad hoc citizen committee formed to oversee the restoration, as Tarring and his associates gave the mayor and City Council an update Monday.
Tarring, along with Rick Herbig, of the Historical Society of Harford County Board of Trustees, and Jon Livezey, treasurer for the Aberdeen Room Archives and Museum, provided the update during Monday's city council meeting. Continued
Feb 6, 2013
Rare 1865 Baseball Card to Be Auctioned in Maine
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) Six-figure bids are expected when a rare 148-year-old baseball card discovered at a rural Maine yard sale is auctioned.
Saco River Auction Co. in Biddeford is holding an auction Wednesday that includes a card depicting the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball club. Continued
Feb 1, 2013
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Baltimore house up for sale
The Bolton Hill home where Fitzgerald lived during a stint during the 1930s and wrote "Tender Is the Night," just went on the market in an estate sale.
The handsome rowhouse at 1307 Park Ave. has four bedrooms, four baths and 3,600 square feet of pure conversation starter. Continued
Jan 19, 2013
Poe Toaster Remains A Mystery
(WBAL) From the tombstone of Edgar Allan Poe, one can reach the street by taking a narrow dirt path between two tall stone mausoleums and crouching for a few steps underneath a portion of Westminster Hall.
This was a favorite getaway route for the Poe Toaster, the mysterious man in black who for decades left three roses and an unfinished bottle of Martell cognac at Poe’s grave on the birthday of the father of macabre fiction.
The tradition ended four years ago, just as mysteriously, when the visitor failed to appear.
Ahead of Poe’s 204th birthday on Saturday, the person who has overseen an annual cemetery vigil since the 1970s talked in detail about the story behind it. Continued
Dec 24, 2012
Twas the Night Before Christmas (1912 edition)
Twas the Night Before Christmas
A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement C. Moore
With Pictures by Jessie Willcox Smith
Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston
[Pg 003]INTRODUCTION
Amid the many celebrations last Christmas Eve, in various places by different persons, there was one, in New York City, not like any other anywhere. A company of men, women, and children went together just after the evening service in their church, and, standing around the tomb of the author of "A Visit from St. Nicholas," recited together the words of the poem which we all know so well and love so dearly.Dr. Clement C. Moore, who wrote the poem, never expected that he would be remembered by it. If he expected to be famous at all as a writer, he thought it would be because of the Hebrew Dictionary that he wrote.
He was born in a house near Chelsea Square, New York City, in 1781; and he lived there all his life. It was a great big house, with fireplaces in it;—just the house to be living in on Christmas Eve.
Dr. Moore had children. He liked writing poetry for them even more than he liked writing a Hebrew Dictionary. He wrote a whole book of poems for them.
One year he wrote this poem, which we usually call "'Twas the Night before Christmas," to give to his children for a Christmas present. They read it just after they had [Pg 004]hung up their stockings before one of the big fireplaces in their house. Afterward, they learned it, and sometimes recited it, just as other children learn it and recite it now.
It was printed in a newspaper. Then a magazine printed it, and after a time it was printed in the school readers. Later it was printed by itself, with pictures. Then it was translated into German, French, and many other languages. It was even made into "Braille"; which is the raised printing that blind children read with their fingers. But never has it been given to us in so attractive a form as in this book. It has happened that almost all the children in the world know this poem. How few of them know any Hebrew!
Every Christmas Eve the young men studying to be ministers at the General Theological Seminary, New York City, put a holly wreath around Dr. Moore's picture, which is on the wall of their dining-room. Why? Because he gave the ground on which the General Theological Seminary stands? Because he wrote a Hebrew Dictionary? No. They do it because he was the author of "A Visit from St. Nicholas."
Most of the children probably know the words of the poem. They are old. But the pictures that Miss Jessie Willcox Smith has painted for this edition of it are new. All the children, probably, have seen other pictures painted by Miss Smith, showing children at other seasons of the year. How much they will enjoy looking at these pictures, showing children on that night that all children like best,—Christmas Eve!
[Pg 005]
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
[Pg 009]
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
[Pg 011]
[Pg 012]
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
[Pg 013]
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
[Pg 015]
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
[Pg 016]
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
[Pg 019]
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
[Pg 020]
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
[Pg 021]
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
[Pg 023]
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
[Pg 025]
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
[Pg 027]
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
[Pg 029]
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."
[Pg 031]
Dec 3, 2012
Train show is running at Harford Historical Society
The society's popular Model Train Show is running Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 8 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. through Dec. 16.
Admission to the train show is $4 for adults, $2 for children and free for children under 4. It's one of at least three train gardens on display locally during the holiday season. Continued
Nov 23, 2012
Henry Bourne Joy
(Wikipedia) Henry Bourne Joy (November 23, 1864 – November 6, 1936) was President of the Packard Motor Car Company, and a major developer of automotive activities as well as being a social activist.
In 1913, Joy and Carl Graham Fisher were driving forces as principal organizers of the Lincoln Highway Association, a group dedicated to building a concrete road from New York to San Francisco. After the first several years, Fisher had become more involved instead with creation of the north-south Dixie Highway project and became a developer of Miami Beach, but Joy was dedicated to the Lincoln Highway for the long-haul. Naming it after former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was one of the moves Joy led, and his Lincoln Highway project was completed in his lifetime, despite lack of financial support by automotive leaders such as Henry Ford (Sr.). Continued
Nov 21, 2012
A Sauerkraut Thanksgiving
(Bon Appétit) ... I didn't know what to say that day to explain our tradition, but I've since done some research, and I now know where it comes from: Baltimore. Serving sauerkraut at Thanksgiving is an old tradition there, rooted in the homes of the city's German immigrants. In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, about a quarter of Baltimore's population was German. Sauerkraut was a given on their celebratory table, and so it became a common part of Thanksgiving meals across the city. Over time, it didn't even matter if you came from German stock: Sauerkraut became a Baltimore thing. My grandfather's family was as Irish as they come—Mack was their surname, a shortened version of Macgillycuddy—but he grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, eating sauerkraut on the fourth Thursday of every November. Continued
{Falmanac slow-cooks his Thanksgiving sauerkraut with spareribs and caraway seeds.}
Photo: Making sauerkraut c1915 (Library of Congress).
Nov 17, 2012
Stewartstown Railroad line abandoned by federal board
(YDR) A federal board ruled Friday that it has granted the abandonment of the 7.4-mile line of the 127-year-old Stewartstown Railroad.
The estate of George M. Hart had asked the Federal Surface Transportation Board to declare the railroad abandoned. It's a step the estate needed to take so that it can foreclose on the railroad to collect a $350,000 debt the railroad owed to Hart.
The federal board ruled that the record does not show a credible need to keep the line in the national rail transportation system, the ruling states. The Stewartstown Railroad Company is unlikely to restore rail service on the line. Continued
Oct 7, 2012
York Factory Whistle Concert to continue despite New York Wire closing
(YDR) It was with mixed emotions that Jeff Hines discussed the future of the York Factory Whistle Concert.
On one hand, the event's chairman wanted to assure the public that the Christmas tradition - one held at New York Wire's East Market Street plant for the last 57 years - will continue. On the other hand, he wanted to show compassion for the employees at the plant.
All 170 of them are scheduled to lose their jobs by the year's end as the facility closes its doors, said Michael Smeltzer, executive director of the Manufacturers' Association of Southcentral Pennsylvania. Continued
Sep 22, 2012
Efforts to preserve Stewartstown Railroad focus on fund raising
(YDR) Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, an independent group, is pursuing its fund raising effort that began in 2009.
More recently, the railroad company has expanded that effort to PayPal, in its efforts to use the magic of the Internet to save the 128-year-old railroad.
In addition, a group is being formed to loan money to the railroad, loans that would be secured by its assets. The idea would be to allow the company at least five years to begin showing a profit. Continued
Sep 10, 2012
Gettysburg map for sale
(YDR) If you have an extra $5 in your pocket you might be able to buy a 12-ton piece of Gettysburg history.
Only thing is, you'll probably have to drop another $100,000 or more to refurbish and display the beloved, but beleaguered, tourist display.
The Electric Map is currently up for auction through General Service Administration, an online auction site for federal property, according to an email from National Park Service spokeswoman Katie Lawhon.
As of Saturday evening, no one had placed the opening bid of $5. Continued
Sep 1, 2012
Thomas Bata
(Wikipedia) Tomáš Jan Baťa, CC (September 17, 1914 –
September 1, 2008), also known as Tomas Bata Jr. and Tomáš Baťa ml. and
"Shoemaker to the World", ran the Bata Shoe Company from the 1940s until the
'80s.
Baťa was born in the Czech city of Prague, in what is now the Czech
Republic, the son of Czech industrialist Tomáš Baťa. As a boy he apprenticed
under his father, Tomáš Sr., who began the T. & A. Bata Shoe company in 1894
in Zlín, Czechoslovakia. His father, however, was killed in a plane crash when
Tomáš was only 17, in 1932. Continued
Photos: Bata shoe factory, Belcamp,
Maryland (kilduffs). Bata
Bullets shoe label (Charlie's Sneaker Pages).
Aug 23, 2012
What's in York's attic?
(YDR) York, PA - A thick layer of dust and dirt coats nearly every surface in the attic of York's former city hall.
A canopy of exposed beams spans the expanse, sheltering thousands of yellowing folders and stacks of hardbound books. The lights are dim, and the air is heavy with the scent of aging paper.
For the last 70 years, the third floor of York's city hall has been a catch all for records of the city's history -- tax assessments, license applications and even criminal histories.
This week, those records have been unearthed for the first time in decades, as city officials prepare to renovate the building for the use of the city's police department. Continued
Jul 29, 2012
Stewartstown Railroad Station Museum plans open house for Aug. 5
(YDR) The Stewartstown Railroad Station Museum will be open to the public Aug. 5, according to a news release. It will be open from 1 to 5 p.m.
Visitors will be able to view an early 20th century small town train station waiting room and ticket agent's office.
A collection of historical artifacts from the Stewartstown Railroad is on display at the museum. The gift shop will be open. Continued
Jul 28, 2012
Group hopes to restore Peale Museum into history, architecture center
(Baltimore Sun) After being closed to the public for nearly two decades, a new day may be dawning for the Peale Museum on Holliday Street if its planned restoration as the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture comes to fruition.
"I think it has lots of significance to Baltimore. It had been the city's first City Hall, an African-American school and where gas illumination was used by a company that eventually became BGE," said Walter Schamu, a partner in the firm of Schamu, Machowski, Grego Architects, which prepared restoration plans with consulting architect James T. Wollon Jr.
... Rembrandt Peale, the son of Maryland-born artist, naturalist and inventor Charles Willson Peale, commissioned Robert Cary Long to design a home for Peale's Baltimore Museum so he could display for the public his collections of paintings; American Indian and military artifacts; and stuffed birds, animals and fish.
The opening of the museum couldn't have come at a worse time — scarcely a month before the British bombardment of Baltimore on Sept. 13 and 14, 1814. Continued
Jul 20, 2012
Historic Ellicott City Wayside Inn up for sale
(Baltimore Sun) The old-but-reliable Westinghouse oven in the historic Wayside Inn, where George Washington surely must have stayed, fills the kitchen with the aroma of freshly baking pastries most mornings, as six-cheese omelets bubble and spatter on the stove.
But the days are numbered for the fancy homemade breakfasts prepared with care by owner David Balderson. The bed-and-breakfast hotel off Route 29, which is believed to date back to 1780 and many locals know as "that stone house with the candles in the windows," is for sale.
In fact, there may no longer be guest bedrooms tidied up and shifts of breakfast served daily by anyone since maintaining the property as a B&B isn't a condition of sale. The handsome Ellicott City inn where the first president of the United States likely slept can also be purchased for use as a private residence. Continued
Jul 19, 2012
Edgewood man restores wooden crab boat to pursue a career as a waterman
(Aegis) David Peacock, an 18-year-old from Edgewood, just graduated from Harford Technical High School two months ago, but he is already preparing to begin commercial crabbing on a wooden boat he restored himself.
Peacock's grandfather purchased a 40-foot long and 10-foot wide 1969 Deltaville boat in 2010 and turned it over to his grandson.
"We knew it needed some work," Peacock said, so in his sophomore year of high school, he began saving the money he earned by working on commercial crab boats and making crab traps to purchase the supplies necessary to refurbish the boat. Continued
Jul 14, 2012
Shuttered Forest Diner in search of a home
(Baltimore Sun) They peeled the facade off the old Forest Diner on U.S. 40 in Ellicott City, revealing an American classic. Stainless steel, glass, and compact as a caboose, the restaurant's original core from about 1950 sits in a vacant dirt-and-gravel lot behind a chain-link fence.
"I wish it was gone because it looks so sad sitting there," says Barbara Carroll, who worked at the diner as a waitress, then hostess, for 43 years — from 1969 to the end of May, when the last meal was served.
Now, from her spot at the hostess stand at Jilly's Bar & Grill across Baltimore National Pike, she cannot see the place, but she can recount the details from memory: about 20 red stools at the counter, the original six booths. On one wall, two plaques show that the original diner was one of the "Silk City" diners built by the Paterson Vehicle Company in New Jersey. Continued
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