From Kisses to Geese
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Day 10: August 18, 2024 From Kisses to Geese Comment via blog |
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I spent the night near Hershey, PA, and in the morning drove through town
and under the kiss shaped lights.
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Breakfast was at the
Soda Jerk
Diner on the west side of town.
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I got a glimpse of the capitol dome from a railroad overpass as I entered
Harrisburg, PA, but never quite reached it. These flattish roundabouts
with raised crosswalks seem to do a pretty good job of slowing traffic
without being overly intrusive.
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Approaching and passing the "longest stone masonry arch railroad
viaduct ever built". Constructed between 1900 and 1902, its 48
70-foot spans connect Rockville and Marysville.
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Early in this trip, I noted that Ohio has some fine courthouses.
Pennsylvania's got 'em too. This one is in Mifflin in
Juniata County. The tall marker honors those
lost in the American Civil War or, as properly identified
here, "THE WAR OF THE GREAT
REBELLION".
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The next county seat is in a town called Lewistown and it is the county
that's called Mifflin. This courthouse was
built in 1843, enlarged in 1878, and retired around 1976. It now serves a
few local organizations including the Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau. Knowing that,
and knowing that I was there on a Sunday, you might wonder how I got
inside to take the picture of the court room. Therein lies the best story
of the day.
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While taking pictures of the courthouse and monument to the War of the
Great Rebellion, (Yeah, I really like that.) I was also photographing the
cool old theater and some of the decorated geese scattered about town. As
I focused on a statue near the courthouse, someone behind me asked if I
celebrated Gooseday. It was Jenny Landis, Executive Director of the
aforementioned JRVVB. She noticed that I was wearing a Society for
Commercial Archeology T-shirt and told me she was also a member. We
immediately exchanged secret greetings and handshakes and she proceeded to
tell me about Gooseday.
September 29 has been a Catholic holiday called St. Michaelmas Day since the year 487. The goose part came along in 1588 when Queen Elizabeth learned of the defeat of the Spanish Armada while celebrating the holiday by eating roast goose. Naturally, goose was to be eaten on Michaelmas ever after and so it has been in this part of Pennsylvania since 1786. Jennie treated me to other local stories, such as the one about a former county resident who sent home a stone from Lincoln's tomb as it was being repaired, and showed me around the courthouse interior. Thus the photo. celebrating |
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These roadside decorations are several miles west of Lewistown. I spotted
the airplane while turning around to photograph the cow.
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There were a couple of unusual vehicles among those I shared the
Pennsylvania road with. Yellow is not a common buggy color and neither are
brake lights on a buggy. That right hand turn was signaled by a flashing
blinker.
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This is my second time stopping at the former location of Allegheny
Portage Railroad Incline Plane Number 6. Picture of all four plaques on
the stone column along with other pictures and links to more information
are included in the
post for the previous
visit. The previous post did not include pictures of the
plaque on the bridge or the
plaque on a post near the road.
The short story is that steam powered inclined planes portaged canal boats through here between 1834 and 1854 and the skew arch bridge was built to cross the railroad. The complexity of the stone work probably explains why there are a lot more stone S-bridges than stone skew arch bridges. |
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