Joann Nonnemaker-Markowicz grew up on the Nonnemaker Farm, which has been operated by her family at its current location on Nonnemaker Lane since 1867.

Through a Facebook page dedicated to the farm’s history, she shares photographs and stories passed down through generations, documenting the changing realities of family farming in the Lehigh Valley.

Her great-grandfather, William Henry Harrison Nonnemaker, was born in 1862.

After completing his education, he became a teacher at the Dorney Park School, a one-room schoolhouse serving grades one through eight. He taught there for 44 years, from 1881 until his retirement in 1925. Upon retiring, he took possession of the school bell, which has remained on the family farm for the past century. His son, Edwin Nonnemaker, later served South Whitehall Township as a school director for many years.

As part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration, the Nonnemaker Farm invited community members to decorate wooden stars for the farm’s iconic “Mr. Smiley” barn doors.

The celebration will culminate on at 7 p.m. on July 4, when the historic school bell may ring for the first time since William Nonnemaker retired from teaching in 1925.