June 29 2017
Highway of History, Part 2
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Gettysburg National Battlefield |
This morning, we left the Lincoln Court Motel in in Manns Choice Pennsylvania and proceeded east. We quickly found ourselves in some very mountainous country with twisting roads. Though the driving was tough, the scenery was spectacular. As we went through Bedford and Everett I remembered that I had some postcards of this country produced during the early days of motoring.
In some ways the scenery had changed very much, but in other essential ways not so much. The terrain was recognizable even if the roadway and businesses were not.
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Along the Juniata River today |
We kept driving east through Chambersburg and made a stop in Gettysburg. The country we are passing through is rich in history. I am mindful of the fact that we are not doing it justice. We passed many towns rich in colonial history, Revolutionary War history, Whiskey Rebellion history and, in the case of Gettysburg, Civil War history. At least I know that I will be back here again in the next couple of years and will visit many of the sites in more detail.
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Pictures with Abe |
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I wonder if Lincoln ever tires of this? |
In Gettysburg we drove through the battlefield. Last fall my brothers and I did a more extensive tour the battlefield with an audio tour CD to guide us. I would highly recommend buying that audio tour CD to anyone planning to drive through Gettysburg.
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A young soldier |
From Gettysburg we drove the Lincoln Highway to York and then on to Hallam to see the Haines Shoe House.
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Haines Shoe House |
The Haines shoe house was the creation of Mahalon Haines who had a chain of shoe stores on the East Coast and was the self-proclaimed shoe wizard. Haines himself never lived in the house, he reserved it for his guests. Many times he would allow young honeymooning couples to stay in the house and would provide them with a driver and a maid, all at no cost.
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Darrel and Carissa who toured the Haines House with us. |
Haines, it seems, was a very generous and good man and in his estate provided for the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and his church. When he left this world he had done much good.
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Mahalon Haines, "The
Shoe Wizard."
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We are spending the night in a campground in Gordonville Pennsylvania. Tomorrow, we plan to tour the surrounding area and then make our way to New Jersey. We have reservations at a County campground approximately forty-five minutes from New York City. We have the reservation for two nights and if we don't make it by tomorrow night, we will surely make it by Saturday night. We are considering going into the city early Saturday morning or early Sunday morning when there will not be much traffic. If we can't get into the city when the traffic is light, we will abandon that part of our journey.
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Amish wife working with her husband. |
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Amish Farm in Pennsylvania |