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Stories - History
Roger B. Wilson played to a full house at a recent program about antique tools that was sponsored by the Stewartstown Historical Society. That he was a former teacher was evidenced by the way he kept letting his audience participate in the subject, both from asking them questions and from passing around items ranging from beaver skulls to tree nails. The impressive display of old tools that he used to demonstrate his talk will be on display at the Historical Society building for the next couple of months. The building is open to the public every Sunday from 2:00 P.M. until 4:00.
The March 27 program of the Stewartstown Historical Society will look at tools used in the building of log cabins and barns before the days of the circular saw and the quarter-inch drill. Roger Wilson of New Park, a long time collector of old tools, will show some of his collection and discuss their use. Roger is a retired teacher, having spent twenty years teaching in the South Eastern School District and seven years teaching at Millersville University.
Historical Society Hears Decoy Carver Lester Orsburn disproved the old saying, “If it looks like a duck, it IS a duck.” At the Society’s recent program at the Borough Building, Mr. Orsburn showed that, if it looks like a duck, it very well might be one of his decoys.
The Stewartstown Historical Society’s newest display of locally owned collections is that of historic eyeglasses. The display, aptly titled, A Time-Line of Vision, shows the development of spectacles from the 1500’s through modern times.
Its title page states, “Published in honor of (Stewartstown’s) sesquicentennial, 1851-2001,” and the Stewartstown Historical Society’s new pictorial history, Stewartstown, Then and Now, is a worthy tribute to that event. It contains 197 photographs of people, places, and things that were important in the borough’s growth over the years.
The Stewartstown Historical Society’s June 27 meeting was really a grand slam homer because everything came off so superbly. The ladies in the audience were resplendent in their 1851 period finery. Most of the gentlemen were Brothers of the Brush sporting their requisite facial hair. Add to that the lemonade and cookies lending just the right touch to an evening devoted to history.
Original. Innovative. Inspiring. All words that have been used to describe the new coloring book that portrays the events that shaped the history of Stewartstown and its environs. The book, Welcome to My Town, was recently published by the Stewartstown Historical Society. It was the brainchild of society president, Mary Sue Shaw, and the creation of member-artists Jane Thomas and Jenni Sipe. The first page holds a representation of Anthony Stewart, the town’s first postmaster, ready to be colored. Subsequent pages unfold in a first person narrative as the history of Stewartstown is recalled.
The following account was contributed by the Stewartstown Historical Society and is reprinted from Stewartstown Walking Tour, second edition, copyright 1993. Stewartstown, the seventh oldest borough in York County, has a long history. In 1774 James Savage was granted 100 acres of land in Hopewell Township by John Penn, son of William Penn. That grant was land upon which Stewartstown now stands.
They would be known as the Homeless of Bailey’s Woods in today’s politically correct setting, but a generation ago everyone in the Stewartstown area knew of them as “bums,” - the Bums of Bailey’s Woods. Stewartstown Lion Don Yost is preparing a book about the phenomena and wove excerpts from it into an entertaining story for his fellow Lions at their October dinner meeting.
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