"Pigment" Reception & Exhibit Extension
Andrew Smith’s (Visual Realia) “Pigment” exhibit is extended through August.
The “Pigment” exhibit of clay monoprints by Andrew Smith of Visual Realia has been extended through August and refreshed. The exhibit for the month has twenty-six works, with seven prints new to the Gallery display.
The exhibit can be seen during the Adams County Arts Council’s regular hours, or by contacting Andy for after-hours access. In addition, the exhibit will be part of the Arts Council’s First Friday reception, running from 5-7:30 PM on Friday, August 6th. Andy will be present and will have the clay matrix used for the prints in the gallery. Questions are welcome!
The Adams County Arts Council is located at 125 South Washington Street, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
"Under the Ridge" Up for Auction
“Under the Ridge” by Andrew Smith of Visual Realia
In 2018, Hanover Against Hunger packed close to 120,000 meals to be distributed worldwide where needed. This amazing local group raises funds for the project locally, including a silent auction of fourteen artworks.
My entry is "Under the Ridge," a 24" x 20" look down toward the town of Gettysburg from Seminary Ridge. (The building shown is part of the United Lutheran Seminary.)
To bid on the work or see the others available via auction, visit:
https://hanoverareaarts.com/auction-gallery/
You may also view the works in person at the Hanover Area Arts Guild, located at 32 Carlisle Street, Hanover.
To learn more about Hanover Against Hunger, visit their website at:
https://hanoveragainsthunger.org
It's a wonderful organization with an impressive reach. Volunteer or place a bid!
Vanishing Village
Nestled between Hanover and McSherrystown is a small village with a vanishing name.
Entering Adams County from the York County Line, Pennsylvania
There was a time when drivers traveling between Hanover and McSherrytown on Route 116 would pass small signs noting the village name of Midway. Businesses noted the name. Today, visual remnants of the name are seldom found.
Midway, located in Conewago Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, borders Hanover (in York County) and McSherrystown. It is considered an unincorporated census-designated place, or a CDP. The United States Census Bureau considers CDPs to be a concentration of population for statistical purposes only. This areas have boundaries that tend to be softly defined and have no legal status. The 2010 census determined that Midway has a population of 2,125, which includes members of my family.
The signs noting your entrance to the area have been removed, and very few signs noting the name can still be spotted. As time goes on, explaining the location of your house as being "in Midway" has become less helpful. Midway, it seems, is a bit of a vanishing village.
Image by Ruhrfisch, used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Midway Tavern, Hanover/Midway, Pennsylvania
Century in the Making: Devil's Den Photographs
Family photographs are important keepsakes. Here's a hundred year effort.
Curvin and Cora Smith (back row) and friends at Devil's Den, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
This is an updated version of posts first shared in 2012 and 2013. I hope you enjoy this family history quest.
July of 1863 saw heavy fighting and death in Pennsylvania's small town of Gettysburg, and the Devil's Den and Little Round Top areas of the Gettysburg National Military Park were attracting visitors 50 years later when my grandparents, Cora and Curvin, had their photograph taken (seated in the back row) along with friends by a professional photographer from York. The photo was taken in July, four months before their wedding.
The photograph was always a favorite family treasure for me, and I always intended to get a similar photograph from the same vantage point. Living less than 30 minutes away, I visited often but always failed to remember to bring along the family photo for reference. Early on a February 2012 morning, I headed out to get the shot, and I was quite pleased to spend 40 minutes alone in the Devil's Den and Little Round Top area.
Lining up the 1913 photograph with the current site...
Little had changed, except for the loss of some trees in the background.
Devil's Den , 2012
The following year, having reached the century mark for the original photograph, I journeyed out again with my daughters and granddaughter, once again recreating the original, but this time with new family members.
At the 100 year anniversary of the original, current family members visit the original location.
It's quite unusual to find oneself in these spots without tourists and history buffs, and the calmness of the morning made it a peaceful one and perfect for photographing a few extra shots.
My photography interests usually do not lend themselves to making major alterations to the content of images, although the serenity of the day made me think of what the location might have been like for the local residents and the first soldiers to arrive. I removed the tourist path, road signs and the street from the area as I imagined the original view, shown below.
"Before War" - battlefield site as imagined before the historic battle
Before the war, at the fiftieth anniversary, and yet again a century later, Devil's Den is an imposing site. Perhaps relatives will visit yet again one hundred years from now to see similar imagery.
John's Burnt Bridge
John's Burnt Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Camelback Bridge) was built sometime around 1820, and is a beautiful structure that is often driven over without appreciating its excellent stonework. Read the article for more historical information.
John's Burnt Bridge, built between 1800-1824. Rehabilitation occurred in 2005-2006.
Located roughly six miles from Hanover, not far off of Centennial Road, is a small bridge easily driven over without noticing its beautiful structure and historical significance. John’s Burnt Mill Bridge, sometimes referred to locally as Camelback Bridge, was accepted into the list of National Register of Historic Places in 1974. (Its official designation for the county is Bridge No. 56.) It spans the south branch of the Conewago Creek in Mount Pleasant and Oxford Townships, Pennsylvania.
While there are some discrepancies regarding the construction date of the bridge, ranging from 1800 through 1824, the nomination form lists the range of 1800-1823. A plaque on the bridge marking its rehabilitation in 2005-2006 noted the original construction date as 1820.
Reconstruction Plaque
The roughly 75 foot long bridge has a main section approximately 50 feet in length with approaches (at the time of the nomination) twelve feet each in length, with walls four and a half feet higher than the road surface.
The style of the three arch structure, constructed from local fieldstone, predates the use of most covered bridges. Its seven and nine foot high arches were constructed using wooden frames, with seven visible metal tie rods (housed in metal shells) giving additional support. Once the arch keystones were placed, the wooden forms were removed. Two stone “icebreakers” jut from the area between the arches on each side.
Nine similar bridges were built in Adams County prior to 1825, but at the time of application, only two were surviving. The style is noted for its durability, but a newspaper article in 1972 noted consideration for replacing the structure with a modern structure. This was obviously not carried out, but major rehabilitation efforts in 2005-2006 were taken by Mechanicsburg’s Pennoni Associates, Inc., at a cost of $840,000.
From both a cost and historic perspective, rehabilitation was deemed preferable over replacement. The bridge’s location along a floodway provided challenges to the structure throughout its life, as well as to the rehabilitation process. Flooding probably led to much of the structural problems, and in particular, a weather event in January of 1996 led to a flooding and freezing cycle that led to numerous cracking issues. One of the primary improvements was the installation of precast concrete “backing blocks” that strengthened the arch structures and allowed the removal of a previous 15 ton weight limit on the bridge.
The project was deemed a success to the degree that the Association for Bridge Construction awarded it an Outstanding Rehabilitated Bridge designation. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program includes it as a case study in its guidelines for historic bridge work.
The bridge is noted in the NRHP nomination form for its representation of local stone architecture, as well as its part in a rural community centered around a mill and stream. It originally was located with twelve stone homes dating before 1850.
John’s Burnt Mill Bridge is one of 33 Adams County locations noted in the National Register of Historic Places, and one of five Adams County bridges on the list.
Informational Resources:
National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form - #74001731
U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Bridgehunter.com
http://bridgehunter.com/pa/adams/17216042830560/
Historic Bridge Foundation
http://historicbridgefoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/burntmill...
Center for Environmental Excellence
http://environment.transportation.org/pdf/communities_of_practice/finalr...
Adams County
http://www.adamscounty.us/Munic/Documents/CompPlans/EasternAdamsCountyJo...
Yogurt and Blackberry Paleta
Summer means fresh, current produce to food lovers. For me, summer means fruit paletas.
Yogurt and Blackberries make a wonderful summer snack!
Summer is the season for fresh fruit, so it’s also the obvious time of year to make and enjoy frozen fruit desserts like ice cream and paletas.
I’ve been exploring frozen popsicles a bit lately after picking up a great new book on the subject, Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice & Aguas Frescas by Fany Gerson. The book lists for $16.99, but it’s usually available for less. It’s a bargain at full price.
Gerson, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, can certainly be considered an expert on the subject after running La Newyorkina, New York’s premiere experience for frozen Mexican treats.
So far my paletas expedition has focused on sour cream based popsicles and those using yogurt. Since I’m a fan of homemade yogurt using local milk (Apple Valley Dairy in East Berlin, Pennsylvania) I’ve spent more time making new varieties of this style with the current fresh fruit in season at the local markets. Fresh ingredients make great food, and nothing beats buying the produce from those that grow it, or at least as early in the retail chain as possible. And any recipe that uses only six ingredients gets bonus points in my mind.
Gerson’s paletas de yogurt con moras (yogurt ice pops with berries) have been great with all of the fruits I’ve tried so far. For my latest treats, I used some large, fresh blackberries I picked up locally. Because of their size, I cut each berry in halves or thirds.
Ingredients
1 lemon
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups plain greek yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups fresh berries
The recipe may be found online (printed with permission) at the Cooking Channel web site, but the process begins with creating a lemon-infused simple syrup, easily created with the sugar, water, and lemon peels. As a side benefit, the peels, discarded after creating the syrup, are great placed in a summer drink.
A very basic syrup with lemon for flavor.
Greek yogurt can be purchased or traditional yogurt can be strained.
Greek yogurt may be purchased, but as a homemade yogurt enthusiast, I simply placed my own yogurt in a sieve until most of the whey was drained. This excellent, thick yogurt was added to the honey and lemon syrup and blended until smooth.
Molds are a great investment for popsicle/paleta treats.
A small amount of this popsicle base is poured into either a commercial mold or any small containers of your choice. After placing the molds in a freezer for a bit, pieces of the blackberries or other fruit are added to the mold. The remainder of the sweetened yogurt base is then added to each popsicle until it reaches just below the top of each mold or container. Sticks may be added at this point, and a lid if applicable. After a few hours in the freezer, these frigid treats are ready to enjoy.
By placing the molds partially into a pot of warm water for a few seconds, the popsicles will release from the container. The yogurt base does melt fairly quickly at this point, so have small plastic bags ready and return to the freezer. (As a cheapskate, I place two popsicles into each bag.)
Be patient while they freeze! :)
Take another look at the recipe ingredients above… difficult to buy commercial frozen treats when making your own yields a better tasting popsicle and one where you can control the ingredients inside. Even after trying only two recipes in Ms. Gerson’s book, I feel that I’ve already gotten my money’s worth in value. I’d highly recommend a purchase. I’ve included links to the other items that would be handy, but not necessary. Give paletas a try.
Resources
Popsicle Mold: Norpro Ice Pop Maker
Popsicle Sticks: Progressive International 50-Count Wood Freezer Pop Sticks
Book: Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice & Aguas Frescas
Milk: Apple Valley Creamery
Fruit: K & J Farm Market and the Adams County Farm Fresh Markets
Recipe Online: Cooking Channel