Assorted Stories, Photos, and History from New Years Eve, and New years Day, in the Susquehanna Valley
Showing posts with label New Years Eve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Years Eve. Show all posts
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
When Danville Had A Mummers Parade
The Danville Mummers Parade, in 1909, included bands from Orangeville, Catawissa, Bloomsburg, and Millville. They marched down Danville's Mill Street on New years Day. Photo by John Sticklin.
As early as the 1850's there were newspaper references to "the Fantastics", a Danville Mummers group.1856 Montour American - "The Fantastics moved out in considerable force. Two processions fixed themselves up in all sorts of absurd apparel, representing everything conceivable.
The Uncle Sam Clown Music Band, In The 1910 Danville Mummers Day Parade
It wasn't until 1902 that the word "mummer" was first used to describe the local event. "A considerable parade of mummers came down from the Second Ward, wearing odd disguises and fantastic costumes, and were accompanies by the Washington Drum Corps." By 1904, the annual parade has become a regional event.
In what was described as a "monster affair", hundreds of men and boys dressed as Indians, cowboys, devils, minstrel players, Uncle Sams and tramps, and they all marked down Mill street lead by Chief Marshall R.B. Pursel. Even the horses were in costume.
In March 1904 the bridge was destroyed in a flood, making it difficult for residents of South Danville to attend the 1905 parade. That years event was much smaller in size.
The Danville Morning news reported on Christmas eve 1908, that the Mummers Parade that year was likely to be one of the largest ever. It announced that there would be six cash prizes presented all in gold, along with six tons of coal, a barrel of flour, and one hundred other prices. "making in all probably the greatest inducements that were ever offered mummers in this section."
The Danville Morning News, 1911
The Washington Fire Company attempted to revive the parade in 1914, but it was neither as elaborate, nor as popular, as the early parades.
In November of 1916, the Danville morning news reported that "One - and probably the principal reason - why the mummers parade was wholly omitted last year was because of the extensive three days celebration incidental to the opening of the George F. Geisinger Memorial Hospital, which had proved a considerable drain upon the towns resources. "
The parade returned to Danville in 1917, but then not again for a few years.
It appears there was an effort to revive the parade in 1926, when local employers were asked to pass out papers asking their employees to donate the needed funds to hold the event. $1,000 was needed.
"Give every man and woman on your payroll and opportunity to contribute, however small", read the letter sent to local businesses. "The Mummers Parade will provide entertainment for all, and all should help pay the cost. I know your and your employees will be glad to do their share." By December 21 more than $600 had been raised, an plans to hold the parade were going forward. The parade definitely took place again in 1927, and a headline in the Danville Morning News declared it a success, with thousands in attendance.
Letters to businesses, to help raise funds for the parade, continued each year at least through 1929.
A list of the 1927 Danville Mummers Parade Winners, and prizes
As published in the Danville Morning News Jan 3 1927
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What Is A Mummer, & Why A Parade?
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-is-mummer-why-parade.html
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https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-is-mummer-why-parade.html
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For More Local History & Stories In Danville
For More Local History & Stories from other local towns:
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Why Pork & Sauerkraut on New Years Day?
When I hear that the Pennsylvania Dutch custom of eating pork and sauerkraut stems from "pig always pushes forward for better food as the symbol of man's hope for a better life in the near year, instead of the meat of a fowl which scratches the earth backwards.", I roll my 5th generation Pennsylvania Dutch eyes.
I've always assumed there had to be a more practical reason for the New Years meal. Pigs are typically slaughtered in the fall, cabbage harvested after a couple of light frosts, then it takes some time to ferment into sauerkraut. Both are foods that preserve well, and could be kept well on the farm long before the days of freezers and amazon grocery delivery. To my way of thinking, it was simply a practical, hearty, winter meal that most farm families had on hand.
But today I came across this 1830 newspaper article, that added a bit more reason for sauerkraut being lucky - it was considered "antiscorbutic". In 1801, sailing ships took about six weeks to cross the Atlantic. With adverse winds or bad weather the journey could take as long as fourteen weeks. Scurvy, a painful, exhausting disease, occurs after about 4 weeks of vitamin c deficiency. Our ancestors, traveling to the new land, had little access to fruits and vegetables on that journey.
Sauerkraut, rich in vitamin c, "has long been in use on board of the German and Dutch national vessels, as well as merchant ships, the crews of which, even during the longest voyages, remain perfectly free from scorbutic complaints." The meal became a favorite dish among the "robust inhabitants of the north of Europe during their long and rigorous winters. It is recommended by cheapness, savour, salubrity, and simplicity of preparation."
Now THAT sound like my ancestors. If sauerkraut kept their ancestors healthy on the trip to America, then sauerkraut to start the year would keep their families healthy.
So why pork? If any of the Pennsylvania Dutch men I know were to say " the pig always pushes forward for better food as the symbol of man's hope for a better life in the near year, instead of the meat of a fowl which scratches the earth backwards, " they would say it with a twinkle in their eye - they would most certainly be pulling your leg.
"A piece of fat pork - beef or a fat goose enclosed with Sauerkraut in a close tin vessel and stewed for three hours, forms and excellent dish, and is far more valuable as it can be had at seasons of the year, and under circumstances that vegetables cannot be procured."
Pork was cheap, available to most Pennsylvania farmers, and paired well with the sauerkraut. It's a good, economical, hearty, meal. And any Pennsylvania Dutch housewife would believe it necessary to start the year off with her family well fed.
Being able to do so economically, and with a meal that does not require too much work to prepare, is good luck in itself.
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Sauerkraut Recipes From A Coal Cracker In The Kitchen
Make Your Own Home Made Sauerkraut, Polish Sauerkraut Soup - Kapusniak, Pork and Sauerkraut, Sauerkraut Salad, Sauerkraut Relish., and Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake With Sour Cream Icing
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2025/12/sauerkraut-recipes-from-coal-cracker-in.html
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This article about the advertising for Sauerkraut was in a 1923 magazine.
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READ MORE
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READ MORE
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The United States Gazette
Nov 2, 1830
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Friday, December 27, 2019
What Is A Mummer & Why A Parade?
The tradition of Mummery - dressing in outrageous costume to perform silly dances, plays, & songs - can be traced back to the middle ages. In Philadelphia, the Scandinavian tradition of ringing in the new year loudly and boldly, combined with the British new years tradition of dressing in lavish costumes to perform George & The Dragon (with much "tomfoolery") combined into a raucous Mummers display each New year. Before long the families and friends had formed clubs, and with much rivalry, sought to outdo each other in costumes and performances. Although parades were organized as early as 1890, it was in 1901 that the city proclaimed the Mummers Day Parade to be an official event in one location, and it continues today, making it the oldest Folk Festival Parade in America.
“Here we stand before your door,
As we stood the year before;
Give us whisky, give us gin,
Open the door and let us in.”
The word Mummer appears to originate from Greek Mythology. Momus was the personification of satire, mockery and censure.
During the middle ages and early renaissance, groups of "commoners" (the equivalent of today's blue collar workers ) became Mummers during European festivals & holidays. They dressed in outrageous costumes, performed silly dances, plays, and songs, and ended by begging for money, food or drink.
The mummers in this 14th century illustration are shown wearing masks of stag, rabbit, and horse head.
As Scandinavian immigrants arrived in what was to become America, they brought with them their tradition of boisterous end-of-year celebrations to ring in the New Year. This combined with the British tradition of their play St. George and the Dragon, which entailed lavish costumes and a bit of tomfoolery, began to build the basic structure of the Mummers Parade that we know today.
The 1929 Kennsington String Band
"Reciting doggerel and receiving in return cakes and ale, groups of five to 20 people, their faces blackened, would march from home to home, shouting and discharging firearms into the air while burlesquing the English mummers’ play of St. George and the Dragon." - History Of the Mummers
The British during the Revolutionary War held an extravagant, Mummer like farewell party for William General Howe in 1778, and President George Washington regularly welcomed & encouraged Mummers the week after Christmas.
"From 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia served at the nation’s temporary capital, while the Federal City was under construction. Washington lived in the President’s House right on 6th and Market Street and is credited with calling upon the Mummers New Year’s Day to celebrate the holiday for all 7 years he lived in Philadelphia. Groups would go door to door to recite poems, tell jokes, and friendly impersonations of Washington. In exchange, they received cakes and alcohol. They did this, not only for Washington, but as well as the residents in the area." - Quaker City String Band
Henry Muhlenberg, writing in January 1839 , reported, "Men met on the roads in Tinicum and Kingsessing, who were disguised as clowns, shouting at the top of their voices and shooting guns."
A Mummers Ball as Illustrated in an 1894 edition of the Inquirer
In 1894, the Inquirer reports "Nowadays, Instead of the bands of New Years shooters making a practice as in olden time of starting out early on New Years Eve and going from house to house of friends until the early morning light, when it may be well imagined many of the shooters were in such a condition that they were unable to parade, each club holds a New Years Eve ball in some well known hall in their district, to which their lady friend and acquaintances are invited... It is customary at these balls for the lady friends of the mummers to present the clubs with New Years cakes. The clubs take great price in these cakes and they are always carried around in the parade on New Years Day and partaken of on New Years night after the days doings are over."
An 1808 law decreed that "masquerades" and "masquerade halls" were "common nuisance" and that anyone participating would be subject to a fine and imprisonment. The law was never successfully enforced, and was repealed in 1859.
This 1890 newspaper reports that "It is not many years since this annual masquerade was but a cloak for drunken riotous disorder and attracted only the noisy and turbulent." "The Organized parades (in 1890) seemed, if anything, too serious"
An Illustration from an 1895 newspaper article on that years Mummers Day
"The custom of New Years shooting is one peculiar at least until very recent years, to Philadelphia, and may be said to fill the same place as Mardi Gras does in New Orleans or in a small way of the great carnival season in Rome. Of late years the New Years shooters have attracted a great deal of attention among all classes of people and along our most prominent highways, on account of their gorgeous, elaborate, and expensive costumes, but in former timed they depended more for their popularity on their antics and laughable behavior, then on their make-ups." - The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 1894
The parades however, appear to have taken place all over the city. In the fall of 1900, a businessman by the name of Bart McHugh went to the city council and suggested that all of the celebrations be organized into one location. Along with John H. Baizly, they drafted a for a New Years "Shooters Parade" around city hall. The proposal was approved and the parade was planned.
McHugh and Blaizly are both credited with the creation of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade. Part of Blaizly's obituary reads:
“The evolution of the Mummers' parade dates back to the time when John Baizley was the leader of his neighborhood gang in his boyhood days. At that time the lads, attired in weird costumes, would fare forth in search of cake, nuts, apples and money, in much the same manner as young revelers do on Hallowe’en now. Later, as they grew older, the boys organized into units and to the strains of music marched through the streets of their neighborhood, with Baizley always in the forefront. Gradually the residents came to look forward to the celebration each New Year’s Day, and even persons from other sections of the city would flock to South Philadelphia to witness it. Baizley worked out a plan to have his club parade on Broad street in the future and induced other clubs to join, so that ultimately, when he became a councilman and persuaded Council to recognize and appropriate prizes to the paraders, the Mummers' classic came into being.”
More Mummers Day Poems:
Cure I can for a noble fee,
From your complaint, I'll set you free.
I can cure by day and night
I can diagnose by sight.
The plague it is no pague to me
Get it, kind sir, and I'll set you free.
God bless the master of this house
Likewise the mistress too,
May your barns be filled with wheat and corn
And your hearts be always true.
A merry Christmas is our wish
Where'er we do appear;
To you a well-filled purse, a well-filled dish
And a happy, bright New Year.
With a rink tink rink and a sup more drink
We'll make the old bell sound
A merry Christmas to you all
May happiness abound.
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Thursday, December 26, 2019
The Histories Behind The Unique Things That Drop On New Years Eve In PA
The Ball That Started A New Years Eve Tradition
According to a 2018 article in the Philadelphia Enquirer, Pennsylvania has more unique, and downright nutty, New Years Eve drops than any other state.
In our local area, look for the light bulb drop in Sunbury, the Baseball in Williamsport, Yuengling bottle in Pottsville, The Kettle Drop in McClure, the Coal in Shamokin, and in Northumberland PA, join the Countdown To Noon and see an Oxygen Isotope drop.
A Time Ball, Used To Tell Time, In Boston
What Inspired Us To Drop Things on New Years Eve?
In the 1830's and 1840's, canvas "Time Balls" were dropped near ports and harbors to help ship captains tell time. The time ball at Greenwich Station was lowered at exactly 1pm each day. They were eventually replaced with more reliable time keeping methods.
In 1905, Adolph Ochs, owner of the New York Times, began a tradition of a New Years eve party with fireworks, originally to celebrate the opening of his newspapers new headquarters at one Times Square. Traditionally New Yorkers would gather at Wall Streets Trinity Church to hear the bells ring on New Years Eve, but Adolphs fireworks display quickly became the more popular event.
Two years later, in 1907, the city, concerned that the embers would spark a fire, banned fireworks displays. Walter F. Palmer, editor of the Times, suggested Adolph create a Time Ball to replace the fireworks. Adolph hired Artkraft Strauss to build the ball, which was composed of wood and iron and 100 light bulbs. The ball weighed over 700lbs, and measured 5 feet in diameter. And thus began our new years eve tradition of watching the ball drop.
From there, local towns and cities were inspired to create their own displays, often based on the towns unique history or landmarks. Pennsylvania has one of the largest varieties of such New Years displays. Below is a list, in alphabetical order, of some of the weird things Pennsylvanians drop on New Years eve, and the histories of why they chose those items.
An Alphabetical List Of Things
Dropped in PA on New Years Eve
And the Histories Behind Those Items
Akron Pa (Lancaster County) - Purple & Gold Shoe
Broad Street Park, Akron
"Early in the 20th century, the Miller Hess Shoe Company became the dominant factor in the Borough's economy, a role it maintained until it closed its doors in 1985."
Allentown Pa - Liberty Bell
Event No Longer Held
During the Revolutionary war, the Liberty Bell was hidden in a church in Allentown PA.
Beavertown - Beaver
Event returning for 2025
Bethlehem Pa - A Peep
A child friendly event, the peep drops at 5:30pm instead of at midnight. :-)
Bethlehem is home to the Peeps factory.
Burnham Pa - Train Wheel
I'm unsure if this is happening in 2019.
Pictures from 2018 - https://burnhamborough.net/nye-wheel-drop
The Drop "honors local business Standard Steel". In 2018 it was held at the Lions Club building. Contact the Burnham Fire Company of Lions Club for more information.
Carlisle PA - A Button, or A Car
Before the chalkboard painted vw bug is dropped, the public is invited to doodle on it.
WILL NOT TAKE PLACE IN 2019
In previous years, they dropped a button.
Cleona Pa - A Giant Pretzel
Event has been Discontinued
Cleona is in Lebonan County Pa, an area known for pretzels. But I believe this event paid homage to the Cleona Pretel factory, which was torn down in 1956.
Dillsburg - Pickle
See a video here -
There is a little pickle drop at 7:30
Mr Pickle is lowered at midnight on East Hanover Street.
Duncanon - Sled
A 10-foot sled, a model of the famed Lightning Guider manufactured at the Standard Sled Factory in Duncannon from 1904 to 1990, drops at the Clarks Ferry Tavern - https://www.facebook.com/events/duncannon-borough/duncannon-sled-drop/126402151488956/
(this event may occur at 10pm?)
The Lighting Guider Sled Company was based in Duncanon Pa. The old warehouse is now home to a sled museum and large antique mall.
East Petersburg - Hayden's Jug
Hayden's jug is a whiskey. Hayden Zug was a restaurant in East Petersburg Pa (now closed).
Easton Pa - Crayon
In 2010, The Crayola Factory in Easton Pa lowered a 100lb orange crayon on New Years eve. This appears to have been a one time event.
Christ Lutheran Church holds a "Raising of Star at 7:00 PM in honor of midnight in our sister city, Letterkenny Ireland" (contact the church for details, I do not see info for 2019 - https://www.facebook.com/pg/ChristLutheranEtown/)
Falmouth - Stuffed Goat
EVENT NO LONGER HELD
This event stopped occurring years ago. The Goat races however, continue each year -
Falmouth is home to a Goat Race each September. This annual event was started as a joke, but has been going strong for more than 20 years.
In Gettysburg, they raise Abraham Lincoln's Hat at midnight
Hallam - Shoe
Inspired by the Haines Shoe House - one of my favorite museum tours in PA.
"Mahlon ‘The Shoe Wizard’ Haines built a shoe sales empire in central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland that included more than 40 stores. Haines had a flair for outlandish advertising, calling himself ‘Colonel’ Haines and offering money to smokers if they promised to quit and to those in a crowd who could identify him. The Shoe House was his ultimate gimmick. Built in 1948 (when Haines was seventy-three years old) of stucco over a wood and wire framework, there are seven rooms but really only enough space for a small family. The shoe motif is everywhere, including a stained glass window with an image of Haines in it. Haines offered the house free to elderly couples, who could live for a weekend like “kings and queens” at Haines’s expense. After 1950, it was also offered to honeymooners who had a Haines Shoe Store in their town."
Hanover PA - Pac Man
An 8 foot lighted pac man is dropped from the top of the arcade -
Harrisburg PA - Strawberry
The Strawberry is a reference to Harrisburg's Strawberry Square, and will drop from the Hilton Harrisburg, beginning one minute before midnight.
There's also a kids event, with a balloon drop, featuring 1,000 balloons, at 10pm
Hershey Pa - A Hersheys Kiss
A 7-foot, 340-pound Hershey’s Kiss is raised in ChocolateTown Square (in the town, not Hershey Park), with fireworks at midnight.http://www.hersheynewyears.org/
Highspire - Candy Drop
Highspire Memorial Park/Field, Second and Lumber street
A large box of candy is lowered, then opened for the candy to spill out.
Highspire drops candy in commemoration of the Knights Candy Store that operated there during the 1950s to 1970s
Info: www.highspire.org, or call the Highspire Borough office, 717-939-3303.
Hummelstown - Lollipop
EVENT DISCONTINUED?
Inspired by the Gladstone Candy Company in Hummelstown.
Kennet Square - Mushroom
Kennet square is known as the mushroom capital of the world.
Lancaster - Red Rose
"A symbol of the War of the Roses between Lancaster and York, the celebration takes place at Binns Park." https://visitlancastercity.com/event/nye-in-lancaster-city/
"The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both members of the age-old royal Plantagenet family. Waged between 1455 and 1485, the Wars of the Roses earned its flowery name because the white rose was the badge of the Yorks, and the red rose was the badge of the Lancastrians. After 30 years of political manipulation, horrific carnage and brief periods of peace, the wars ended and a new royal dynasty emerged."
York Pa hosts the dropping of the White Rose - https://www.yorkcity.org/visitor/annual-york-city-events/nye/
Lebanon - Bologna
The NYE Bologna Drop will be held on South Eighth Street, between Chestnut and Cumberland Streets. This year's event is being sponsored by Godshall's Quality Meats, maker of Kutztown and Weaver's Bologna; Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC; City of Lebanon, and Downtown Lebanon-A Main Street Community.
The bologna itself is distributed to a local food bank and animal shelter following the drop.
Liverpool - Canal Boat
Event Appears To Have Been Discontinued some time ago.
Read more about the Liverpool Canal History here - https://www.facebook.com/pg/Liverpool.PA.Pix/photos/?tab=album&album_id=674797719296956
McVeytown - Ice Cream Cake
Harshbargers Malt Shop is one of our favorite places to stop any time we are in the area!
Mechanicsburg - Wrench
Mechanicsburg - Yellow Breeches
Lower Allen Township drops Yellow Breeches in honor of yellow breeches creek. Baby yellow breeches are dropped at 10pm, and the large breeches are dropped at midnight.
Meyerstown - Bayer Aspirin Tablet Drop
McClure- Kettle
The Kettle is a nod to the Bean Soup dinners, started as a reunion for Civil War Soldiers. Read more about the annual Bean Soup Festival here - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2015/09/mcclure-bean-soup-festival-fair.html
Middletown - Spoctogon
No Longer Held?
"The “sphoctagon" drop in Middletown had become a New Year's Eve tradition over the last nine years, but after declining attendance and budget worries, Middletown officials decided this would be a year to take a break from the event.The “sphoctagon,” as Middletown residents call it — a cross between sphere and octagon — was an invention of a local metal fabricator who was asked to come up with an item for the borough to drop to usher in the new year." https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2010/12/sphoctagon_drop_mothballed_thi.html
New Bloomfield - Huckleberry
The Box Huckleberry plants in Pennsylvania are though to be 13,000 years old - older than California's Sequoias - https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/pennsylvanias-oldest-citizen
Newville - Big Spring
I believe this event has been discontinued. Please let me know if you see information on this still occurring.
The area is known as the Big Spring watershed.
Northumberland - Oxygen Isotope (often called an Atom drop)
Occurs at NOON
This is an event geared towards kids, with the drop, based on the discovery by Joseph Priestly, occurring at noon.
Pittsburgh Pa - Ball of Recycled Materials
Pottsville Pa - Yuengling Bottle
Reamstown Pa - Wobbly Bob on A Barrel
Red Lion - Lion Holding A Cigar
Red Lion use to drop a wooden cut out of a lion holding a huge replica of a cigar over his head. I do not see mention of the drop in this years New Years eve brochure, found here: https://www.redlionpa.org/special-events/424-new-year-s-eve-celebration
Find the history of Red Lion Cigars, and the drop, here:
Seven Valleys - Chicken
At The Valley Tavern
See a video of the drop here - https://youtu.be/nYrcrFsvN5s
Shamokin Pa - Coal
I cannot find information about this years event specifically, but here is an article about the tradition - https://fox56.com/news/local/pa-home-to-some-of-the-most-unique-nye-traditions
Shippensburg - Anchor
https://club.shippensburgrotary.org/page/drop-the-anchor
Sunbury does not actually drop a light bulb - they light it and raise it!
The light bulb is in recognition of Thomas Edison lighting the first three wire lightbulb on a building in Sunbury Pa. Read more about that here - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/10/when-edison-came-to-our-valley-shamokin.html
Tamaqua - Eagles Rise On The ABC High Rise
https://wnep.com/2019/12/04/new-years-eve-celebration-back-on-in-tamaqua/Cancelled last year for maintainance issues, this event returns for 2019
No Longer Occurs
An article from 2019
https://fox56.com/news/local/lycoming-county-new-years-eve-tradition-draws-crowds
South Williamsport is home to the Little League World Series
"In 1840, a young journeyman cigar maker named Adam Valentine strolled into Womelsdorf.
At the tender age of 16, Valentine already had seven years of cigar rolling under his belt. Having learned the trade at the hands of cigar men in Lebanon County, he crossed over to Berks with plans to strike out on his own.
By the time he died in the late 1800s, Valentine owned 17 factories and produced numerous brands of cigars with patriotic names such as the General Greene and Betsy Ross.
His presence in western Berks County spawned an industry that turned Womelsdorf and nearby communities such as Myerstown, Newmanstown and Wernervsille into a cigar-making region.
"At one point, there were 38 cigar makers in this little town," said Earl Ibach, a Womelsdorf historian who chronicled the history of cigar making in his book, "Tulpehocken Cigarama."
Ibach's family manufactured cigars in Newmanstown at the turn of the 20th century."http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=182456
York - White Rose
"A symbol of the War of the Roses between Lancaster and York"
"The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both members of the age-old royal Plantagenet family. Waged between 1455 and 1485, the Wars of the Roses earned its flowery name because the white rose was the badge of the Yorks, and the red rose was the badge of the Lancastrians. After 30 years of political manipulation, horrific carnage and brief periods of peace, the wars ended and a new royal dynasty emerged."
Lancaster drops the red rose - https://visitlancastercity.com/event/nye-in-lancaster-city/
An article from 2019
https://fox56.com/news/local/lycoming-county-new-years-eve-tradition-draws-crowds
South Williamsport is home to the Little League World Series
Wolmesldorf - Cigar
2019 event - https://www.facebook.com/events/582046582595503/"In 1840, a young journeyman cigar maker named Adam Valentine strolled into Womelsdorf.
At the tender age of 16, Valentine already had seven years of cigar rolling under his belt. Having learned the trade at the hands of cigar men in Lebanon County, he crossed over to Berks with plans to strike out on his own.
By the time he died in the late 1800s, Valentine owned 17 factories and produced numerous brands of cigars with patriotic names such as the General Greene and Betsy Ross.
His presence in western Berks County spawned an industry that turned Womelsdorf and nearby communities such as Myerstown, Newmanstown and Wernervsille into a cigar-making region.
"At one point, there were 38 cigar makers in this little town," said Earl Ibach, a Womelsdorf historian who chronicled the history of cigar making in his book, "Tulpehocken Cigarama."
Ibach's family manufactured cigars in Newmanstown at the turn of the 20th century."http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=182456
"A symbol of the War of the Roses between Lancaster and York"
"The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both members of the age-old royal Plantagenet family. Waged between 1455 and 1485, the Wars of the Roses earned its flowery name because the white rose was the badge of the Yorks, and the red rose was the badge of the Lancastrians. After 30 years of political manipulation, horrific carnage and brief periods of peace, the wars ended and a new royal dynasty emerged."
Lancaster drops the red rose - https://visitlancastercity.com/event/nye-in-lancaster-city/
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