Thursday, May 23, 2013

Features

Friday, October 7, 2011

@$:It was suggested that the Birds of a Feather quilt would complement the wall hanging which also has a bird.

Brenda McCandless of Moore Township presented a quilt program at a September meeting of the Palmerton Area Historical Society - a timely topic as colder weather looms just around the corner.

McCandless said she has been quilting since 1987 - a hobby she began when she was looking for an outside interest. She took classes at The Quiltery in Nazareth and is now a teacher at Northampton Area Community College and several other sites.

Friday, September 30, 2011

A journey and a search within

Susan Stine, Tamaqua, displays a Flight 93 memorial flag inside her Dutch Hill house. Stine, a certified nurse's aide, has traveled to the Shanksville crash site on 9-11 for the past ten years.

Every year around September 11, Susan Stine leaves her warm, cozy house on Dutch Hill and makes a 200-mile pilgrimage to a grassy field in western Pennsylvania.

There, she spends a few days sorting through thoughts and feelings deep inside.

She's been doing it for a decade, and never misses the trip, regardless of what might be happening in her busy life.

Stine is drawn to the serene setting where she ponders a sequence of events that challenge the imagination.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Eight weeks in Indonesia

ELSA KERSCHNER/TIMES NEWS @$:A crown of thorns feeds on coral. The white areas have been cleaned and are dead.

Colin Cope of Towamensing Township returned from eight weeks in Indonesia doing wildlife research just in time to return to Penn State Aug. 21. He studies wildlife and fishery science and hopes to find a job as a wildlife biologist.

Operation Wallacea offered a presentation about opportunities to do terrestrial and/or marine research in Indonesia.

The program is based in the United Kingdom and, as a result, Cope made a lot of friends from Ireland, Scotland and England whom he is keeping in touch with.

Friday, September 16, 2011

About sacred writings

Stained glass window inside the former Methodist Church in Cressona, the new home of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Unitarian Universalists keep an open mind regarding all of the the world's religious writings, and have great respect for all. According to a UU statement of principles:

Friday, September 16, 2011

'Worth and dignity'

DONALD R. SERFASS/TIMES NEWS "We all feel it, but everybody calls it something different," says Barbara Poncelet, Schuylkill Haven, a proponent of establishing a Unitarian Universalist Church in Schuylkill County.

Imagine a church that embraces the principle of a world community of peace, liberty and justice people who recognize that wholesome, good-hearted human beings reside in every corner of the globe and share a common sense of spirituality.

Imagine a church that recognizes the goodness in all, and opens its arms to everybody, including all faiths and all individuals, even those who might happen to be atheist or agnostic.

Friday, September 16, 2011

How did it start?

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious tradition formed from the consolidation of two religions: Unitarianism and Universalism. Both began in Europe hundreds of years ago. The Universalist Church of America was founded in 1793, and the American Unitarian Association, 1825.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Pulling for farms

Steven Staples shovels corn into a box on a corn sheller. Wyatt Staples feeds it into a chute. A hit-and-miss engine provides the power. Steven said his equipment is in pieces but "We're all friends here" so he was demonstrating someone else's equipment.

The Olde Tyme Farm Equipment Association antique farm equipment, gas engine and tractor show was held recently at the West End Fairgrounds.

Vice President Dennis Borger, one of the founding members, said people in the West End of Monroe County had been talking about hosting a local show when they attended a tractor pull at the fairgrounds.

Bill Gethen said if anybody was interested in starting a show they could meet in his garage. From that lowly start in 1995 the club now has over 400 members.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Hit-and-miss engines - early source of power

ELSA KERSCHNER/TIMES NEWS Roger Heckman makes adjustments to a 1917 New Holland engine, one of many he was exhibiting.

Roger Heckman said that before rural America was electrified in the mid-1930s every farm had the hit-and-miss engines that were on exhibit.

They powered pumps, corn grinders and shellers and in the house they made clothes washing easier. If there was a job, an engine could be adapted to the use.

They were scrapped during World War II when the military told farmers the equipment could be used to make shells. It was a guilt trip that found many of the engines turned into scrap.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Temple Israel Synagogue

ELSA KERSCHNER/TIMES NEWS Rabbi Melody Davis put on a prayer shawl.

As members of the Palmerton Area Historical Society were welcomed to the basement of the Temple Israel Synagogue in Lehighton, Secretary Betsy Burnhauser said the group wanted to visit for a long time and this year it worked out.

Board director Marvin Schwartz said his family members were founders. He thinks there may have been an earlier synagogue in Lansford but was not sure. Today, the one in Lehighton is the only one in the county.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Lehigh Township Historical Society rejuvenates a landmark

ELSA KERSCHNER/TIMES NEWS Chris Satow's daughter knew the person who designed the POW-MIA flag. The museum received a signed copy because of that.

One of the people depicted in a mural across the back of a display about industrial sewing is still alive, said Ken Marsh, a Lehigh Township Historical Society member. Unfortunately her face is hidden by a thermostat. The mural was made on four panels of silk copied from a photograph of women working in a sewing mill in 1951.

Malcolm Gieske made the mural copying a picture donated by the Seilers. The museum has the names of some of them. It forms the background for a textiles exhibit.

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