Winters Heritage House Museum

M e m b e r N e w s l e t t e r
Published by the Elizabethtown Preservation Associates, Inc. December 2014

In this Newsletter Also inside—

 Yoga moves in next door!
 Fun Findings in the Seibert Library
 Our 2015 Calendar!
 Dear Elizabeth — Our Historic Advice Column
 ExtraOrdinary Thanks!
 Museum Happenings
 More cemetery dirt!
 ….and more!

(717) 367-4672
Permit No. 1
Elizabethtown, PA 17022
Elizabethtown, PA
47 East High St.,
Non-profit Org.
P.O. Box 14
US Postage Paid Return Service Requested
Winters Heritage House Museum
Yoga Classes Beginning this Month! An Easy Way to Support the
Museum friend, Elizabeth Museum:
Mosher, is offering Yoga Classes Sign up for the Darrenkamps “Community Rewards”
several times a week in the program.
museum’s Community Building
located at 33 East High Street. Simply visit the “My Community Rewards”
Classes are currently forming for website, (www.mycommunityrewards.com) and
Monday and Wednesday follow the easy step-by-step instructions to
afternoons, running one hour, register your Gold Card. It takes just a few
starting at 12:30. Evening minutes.
classes are also being
considered for Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at 6:30.
THANK
Classes are structured for beginners and veterans alike,
and the cost per class is just $10.00. For more information, YOU!
or to help us establish suitable times, please contact
Elizabeth at 571-481-8095.

Dear Elizabeth
Our Historic Advice Column
The spirit of our town founder, Elizabeth
Hughes (residing here from 1750 to 1760),
offers her advice to our generation.
If you have any advice needs from or a history
question for Elizabeth, please send them to Dear
Elizabeth, c/o Winters Heritage House Museum’s
email;
winters-hh@embarqmail.com
Dear Elizabeth,
My current boyfriend of four months refuses
to agree to date me exclusively. He even
goes into detailed descriptions with me
about his other dates!! I do really like him
and he has been honest. However, I am not
sure how to bring our relationship further
without any commitment from him. How do
I get him to take the next step?
Not Alone in Love
Dear Love,
In matters of the heart, I do not know that I
am the best to whom to turn. However, I
shall try my best. One must consider that you
are speaking of a team ship. My Barnabas
drives a wagon that requires sure how to make it clearer to them. Along
six horses to draw it. This with this comes all the added laundry and
team must pull as one, or cooking. One regular visitor expects that I
the trip is fraught with wash her sheets every other day, and will
hardship. Imagine a 20 mile bring them down and dump them in my arms
freight journey where one as if that is actually helping me! Please tell
must battle for each step! I me how you handle such people at your Inn.
fear that this, my dear, is the Exhausted Holiday Host
future you are looking to. When one animal
is contrary of nature, or of a mind unlike the Dear Exhausted
others, my Barnabas quickly replaces that Being the main caretaker here at the Bear
beast with one that is willing to work. Tavern I, too, have been in such a position
Thankfully, you are not yet wedded or with insensitive guests. I would advise simply
betrothed. I would recommend you quickly tossing their bedroll and belongings out into
trade him in, as one does a stubborn and the street. Often times this is a clear enough
unworthy mule, for one of stronger character
signal that they should consider soon
and more willing nature. departing. If they are family, I suppose one
must be careful not to land the items in a pile
Sincerely,
of road apples. Nor should you feel obligated
to extend extreme efforts, such as washing
Elizabeth
bed linens so often. I rarely bother with that
Dear Elizabeth, chore more than once a year. I simply beat
the bedding with a stout stick and then hang
As we are central to a lovely community and
it all to air. You will find this often removes
own a larger home, every year our family
most of the bed bugs and fleas. Perhaps
entertains multiple sets of out-of-town
showing such a stick to your guest would
guests. Over the years, many of these people
encourage her to beat it herself. Best of luck,
have come to act as if they are here for
my dear, and do enjoy your Christmas.
vacation, and overstay their welcome by
many days. I try to drop gentle hints that the Yours truly,
time has come for them to go, and am not
Elizabeth
What Does Winters Heritage
House Museum Provide our
Community? By Nancy Landis
You don’t need to be a museum director
to know that economic times are tough
but, if you want to know how tough,
running a museum is a great place to
start. Traditionally, public interest in
museums swings like a pendulum from
very “in” and well-supported, to very
“out” where grant money vanishes.
When I worked at Landis Valley Museum
in the early 2000s, the position and
direction of this pendulum swing was
often debated. Since the financial crisis of 2008 that
pendulum seems to have taken an extended vacation waaay
out of view. Homeless shelters, low cost health facilities, soup
kitchens and affordable housing programs are not what you
can (or should) compete against for funding. And yet, here
we are, still head above water, and hoping for the best from
these very trim times. Where does our little museum fit in in
this climate? What function of an historic site/museum
makes it something our community cannot survive without? Is
Winters Heritage House Museum worth the struggle, or
should we call it a day, take up our ball and bat, and just go
home?
Well, here lies the problem; As they say, when the
going gets tough the tough get going...however the tough are,
at such times, distracted by events at hand. It is during such
times that peripheral projects, such as museums and history,
are most easily lost. And yet, when the battle is over and the
dust has cleared, these peripheral items are what make those
struggles so worthwhile.
These American chestnut log structures have
weathered Elizabethtown’s storms since colonial days. They
are not replicas, but the true McCoy…two frontier houses
from an era when Elizabethtown was the cutting edge of
western migration. We house the very identity of our town.
Not just in our poorly insulated nogging walls, nor in our
peeling shaker shingled roof or our squirrel tail oven, but in
our genealogy library, in our educational programs, in our
community-minded volunteer committees, and in our
volunteers’ ongoing commitment to preserve a valid
definition of Elizabethtown.
Many of us take history for granted. We imagine it
will be there when we need it. Surely ‘someone’ is collecting
it for us. That ‘someone,’ my friend, is you and I. And if it
isn’t, well, that’s when things tend to disappear. The
Elizabethtown Historic Society members who first stepped up
to save these buildings knew how fragile history can be.
People get busy, time runs astray and, much too easily, things
get lost. There is no one to care for the pages preserved,
except us. No heroic History Cowboy, who will ride hard to
the rescue, settle a lasso around the neck of our times and
corral them into a book or an article for us.
So here’s the solution: Become involved with your
town, even if just a little bit. Take a moment, just a moment,
to learn a little about those who established this place for
their use and ours. Use this museum, your museum, to
research something you want to know, teach something you
want to share, or to establish a direction you want to see
taken. This is where our little museum shines. This is where
Elizabethtown remembers who we were, defines who we are,
and prepares us for who we will be. If that isn’t worth a bit of
time tears and sweat, I’m not sure what is.

Winters Heritage House Museum Wish

List of Volunteers
 Child-friendly Volunteers to help us plan and run four days of Summer
History Day Camp this summer.

 Volunteers with retail savvy to help us build our Museum Store business.

 People interested in learning Hearth cooking skills so that we can re-start

our Hearth Cooking Committee.

 People interested in planning our German raised-bed herb garden, and

Wanda and Pat make homemade noodles during a working with MSIB towards starting an Elizabethtown Farmer’s Market.
hearth cooking class.
Fun Findings in the Seibert Library
Elizabethtown's Pioneer Burials at
Conoy Crossing researched by Dale Good
This article completes our three-part story on the cemetery
encountered by the developer of Conoy Crossing's Phase 2 Housing
Development off of West Bainbridge Street, south of the Northwest
EMS building.

Above: “H.N. G May 30 A 1789”

As a recap; on
June 4th, the G for Gestorben (died) A for Anno (year)
Conoy Crossing
Phase 2
Right:
developer
decided to “M N”
explore the area stone
around and
under the Michael Kobel (d.1823) gravestone, the only stone visible,
still standing, when the site was discovered in the spring of 2013, a
year earlier (Michael Kobel stone pictured above).

Below:
In excavating the site, an “M. Ober”
additional eight stones were stone
uncovered (right) as well as
several graves. Kobel’s stone
was pulled out to reveal
another line of writing.

One of the stones bore the

initials H. N. and the following phrase: "G May 30 A 1789" 1. A second
bore the initials M. N. and a third bore undecipherable etchings
followed by "M. Ober".
None of the other five stones appear to have been inscribed, at least
any inscriptions they may have had have disappeared with time.

To Contact the Museum and Seibert Library

This article will focus on the H. N. & M. N. stones, as research on the
Phone: 717 367-4672
Ober stone has been inconclusive.
Email: winters-hh@embarqmail.com
Website: www.elizabethtownhistory.org
Seibert Library research has determined the initials on the first stone Museum and Library hours are by appointment
stand for Hans (John) Nissley who died May 30, 1789 2 and the second through March 11, 2015
stone may be that of his wife Mary, who died in 1801 3.
 The land the graves occupy was warranted by Hans on property and provides the basis for legal settlement, but does not
Feb 18, 1743/44, surveyed for him on Nov 30, 1744 and convey all rights to the property.
patented by him on May 23, 1754 4&5 . Consequently, we
Survey - a sketch of boundaries of a tract of land with exact
believe this was originally a Nissley Family Cemetery. It is on
determination of total acreage.
this 173+ acre tract of land that Hans and his wife Mary built a
small, two-storied, stone house that still stands today at 561 Patent - a final, official deed from the Penn Family, which
West Bainbridge Road. Oral Nissley Family tradition suggests conveyed clear title and all rights.
the house was built in 1750.6 It is currently a rental property
owned by the Masonic Village. 5/ The warrant double date 1743/44 was used by the colonial
authorities, as the warrant was issued before 1752, the year our
From 1764 thru 1771 Hans acquired three additional,
current Gregorian calendar was adopted and between January 1 and
contiguous tracts of land bringing his total holdings to about
March 25. A date such as February 18, 1743/44 indicates the end of
537 acres, plus 6 % allowance for roads and highways. His
four tracts were roughly bounded by the railroad to the east, 1743 in the "old Julian calendar style" and the early part of 1744 in
Rutts Road to the west and spanned Conoy Creek from West the "new Gregorian calendar style".
Ridge road on the south, to the Turnpike Road on the north. 6/ A History of the Nussli, Nissley, Nessly Family 1717-1985; Karl
The property to the immediate east of Rutts Road was Nissley Haines; Mount Joy, Pa.; 1986; page 473.
purchased from Philip Kloniger Mar 20, 1764. The property
sale included "Mills, Mill Dams Millstones, Mill Gears, 7. Lancaster County (PA) Deed Book K, Page 144b.
Floodgates, Sluices".7 The mill, built by Kloniger, was 8/ History of Lancaster County,
reportedly the first built in West Donegal Twp.8
Pennsylvania, Ellis & Evans, 1883; page
In 1765, Hans acquired an additional 275 acres plus 788.
the usual 6 percent allowance in Conoy Township, abt 3 miles
to the west along the western side of present day Yoder Road. 9/ Elizabethtown: The first three
This purchase increased his holdings to well over 800 acres. centuries; Richard K. MacMaster;
Elizabethtown Historical Society; 1999;
McMaster in his book "Elizabethtown, The First Three
pages 9, 26 & 28.
Centuries" reports that Hans was one of the original settlers
on the upper reaches of Conoy Creek. He was one four men
reporting to the Court in August 1762 that they had laid out a Current Seibert wish to have their own copy.
road 'beginning at the sign of the Bear (Tavern at present day The library staff
44 N Market St) ... to Lancaster (City)". This probably Library Projects continues to scan photos and
predates Barnabas Hughes laying out the Town of Elizabeth as documents into our computer
the town is not mentioned in their report.9 One of the Heritage database. In addition to the
House Museum’s initial photos and documents
Hans and Mary had six sons and a daughter. His lands volunteer groups was the Oral pertaining to Elizabethtown,
were primarily divided up among his sons. His son John History Committee. A well- and Lancaster County, we now
inherited the part of the tract on which the cemetery was organized effort was made by have available to you the oral
located, which he sold to Benjamin Whisler in 1783. Hans, these individuals to record the histories that were recorded in
then, was buried in the cemetery five years later, when it and early memories of the mid 1990’s of our town’s
the land around it were owned by Benjamin Whisler. This Elizabethtown’s citizens. This social, recreational, and
would suggest that the cemetery predates Hans death, that he effort, led by Louise Black, Jean industrial aspects of life in the
was not the first to be buried there. Leicht, Dale Denlinger, and early part of the 20th century.
supported by other numerous
As a professional evaluation of the site has not been volunteers produced over 55
carried out and the excavations on and around the site not recorded interviews with The next project, just
been fully documented, the full historical significance of the transcripts. Lately, library initiated, is scanning in our
cemetery remains unknown, as it was before the advent of the volunteers, Jeff Myers and current family histories. We’ll
Conoy Crossing's excavations. Dave Good, have upgraded this let you know how we’re
collection to digital files. coming along. You’re invited
References
to come in to have a look, or a
1/ Gestorben (died) May 30 Anno (year) 1789. listen. It’s fun to just browse
2/ Lancaster Co, PA Will Book Y, Volume 2. page 487. Oral histories and transcripts our database or peruse our
can now be more easily books. We have to warn you in
3/ Lancaster Co, PA Will Book Y, Volume 2, page 489.
enjoyed by library visitors, and advance that it’s addicting-you
4/ Warrant - a certificate authorizing a survey of a tract of land; can be purchased and saved never know what you may
initiates title of a onto a flashdrive for those who find.
 How Old is the
Elizabethtown High
School’s
Bear Mascot?
Our earliest record of the
Elizabethtown High School
bear mascot dates back to a February 7, 1930 basketball
article in the High School’s newspaper “The Cub”. The
article is entitled “Mt. Joy Noses out Blue and White”
and has a subtitle: “Extra Period Enables Cherry and
White to Score 27-26 Victory.”
"The Elizabethtown High School lads staged a battle
royal on January 24, at Mt. Joy with their High School
team. The bears growled and clawed in the first half to
retire at the end of twenty minutes of play with a 14 – 7
count.
Returning to the woodenway, the Blue and White
seemed too far sighted; for they scored but four field
goals, while Mt. Joy rolled up fourteen points.
At the end of the game the score stood 23 – 23. An extra
five-minute period found “Johnny” Charles scoring two
twin-pointers, while Schloser scored one double-decker
and Shiffer a free throw. The final score was 27 – 26 in
favor of the Cherry and White."

The short article is repeated here to provide a snap-shot The Seibert Library has several file drawers containing
of the 1930 basketball scene as we head into the High Elizabethtown High School history and yearbooks dating
School’s 2015 campaign, 85 years later: back to 1936. You are welcome to come in and browse!

Fun Facts About Chocolate by Delany Gunther

 A cacao pod’s scientific name is “Theobroma Cacao,” meaning “food of the gods.” These are the pods that hold the
beans which chocolate originates from.
 Chocolate was used as a healing or preventive medicine for a wide range of diseases during the 18th century.
 Milton Hershey started with a caramel company in Lancaster in the late 1800s.
 The Klein brothers worked for Hershey prior to starting their own company in the early 1900s.
 William Klein was sent by Hershey to the Walter Baker Chocolate Company (a Swiss chocolatier based in the U.S.) to
discover the methods of how to make milk chocolate.
 In 1913 William and Frederick Klein started their own chocolate factory in
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Klein Chocolate.
 In 1922 Klein’s Chocolate was the largest milk chocolate factory in the country.
 M&M Mars purchased the Klein
Chocolate Company in 1970.
 The 3 Musketeers bar made by
Mars used to have chocolate, vanilla
and strawberry nougats in them up
until WWII.
 When M&Ms were first introduced
in 1941 they did not have an m on
them.
 The first ‘m’ on an M&M was
printed in black.
 Mars used to purchase their
chocolate from Hershey prior to
making their own during the 1900s.
Holiday Gift Ideas from Winters Heritage
r
House Museum Keep you ip
embersh
M
Active!
There are many unique things are in our museum store! Stop in for stocking stuffers
and gifts produced by our volunteer committees. Heirloom garden seeds, hand made
quilts, woven shawls, handspun yarn, worked iron, hand dipped tapers, local books,
hand knits, and more! Open during museum hours, or call to see if we’re in.

American
Heritage
Chocolate
is here!
American Heritage Chocolates are made in Elizabethtown
by Mars Chocolate. The spiced dark cocoa is made using
an historically accurate recipe from the 1700s. Stop in the
museum store for a sample! Available in individually
wrapped bars, as a baking chunk, and for an authentic
chocolate drink. A great local gift for out of town friends!
Give a Membership for Christmas!
Memberships are our primary
resource for maintaining the
museum. Please take the time to renew your
annual membership, or consider becoming a Nogging
Brick member and auto-contributing monthly. Don’t
worry! If you renew early, we will add the membership
year to your existing due date.
Membership Form
Name: _________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________

Winters Heritage House Museum Mugs Phone: ________________________________________

Email: _________________________________________
This Christmas, support the museum by giving Winters Heritage
House Museum mugs. These hand- Membership level (circle one)
thrown pottery mugs are made in
Individual—$20 Patron — $100
Wisconsin, and are decorated with the
museum’s new thistle and pipes logo. Family — $40 Sponsor — $250
Two sizes offer a generous 14 or 16 Sustaining — $60 Benefactor — $500
ounces, and are safe for microwave,
Set me up as a Nogging Brick Membership at $_______/ Month
dishwasher and oven. We have several
different shapes and glazes to choose Thank you for your support!
from!
Check enclosed # ______ Amount : ____________

Thank you to the many donors who used the Lancaster Or Credit Card: __________________________________

County Community Foundation’s ExtraOrdinary Give Expiration: _____

event to support Winters Heritage House Museum.

We think you’re...well….extraordinary! Winters Heritage House
Museum
P.O. Box 14
Elizabethtown, PA 17022

Museum Happenings
2015 Events and Activities
This is the tentative schedule for 2015. Events and classes
may yet be added, and dates may be subject to change.
Second Friday Events
Each second Friday, from February through November, the
museum is open from 6pm to 8pm offering a variety of fun
things to see, taste and do.
February through April—Explore Elizabethtown’s Chocolate
History and taste a different historic chocolate recipe each
month.
May — Colorful quilts steal the show this month!
June and July — Drop in for a garden party with teas and foods
from our raised-bed herb garden.
August — We’re a stop on the Elizabethtown Art Walk
September — We’re a stop on the MSIB Wine Walk
October — Stop in for a Haunted Museum Tour!!
November — It’s Holiday Craft Show time!
Museum Events and Exhibits
May 1-31—Month-long quilt exhibit. See over 30 colorful
local quilts.
September — Elizabethtown’s Architectural History.
Explore the prize structures of Elizabethtown and the
people who created them.
October — Haunted Museum Tour
November — Holiday Craft Show
Don’t Forget Your Benefits:
Library research is always free for members!
Come play with our Hearth Cooking crew, and learn to cook in our
squirrel tail oven and hearth! (group now forming)
Ask us about home school lessons in spinning and weaving!
Interested in sustainable community efforts? Give us a call!
Volunteer Committees (adults)
The Quilt Committee meets the second and third Monday of each month
The Textile Group (spinning through yarn needle skills) meets the third
Wednesday of each month
The Herb Garden Committee will meet beginning in March. Dates yet to
be determined.
The Heritage Artisan Guild meets the last Wednesday of the month.
The Library and Research Committee meets monthly, dates for 2015 yet
to be determined.
All committees are fun and friendly to beginners through experts. If you
are interested in joining a committee or learning more about them,
please call the museum!
Children’s Activities
Story Hour (3-5 year olds) meets several times on the second Friday of
each month during the school year. For themes and information, please
call the museum
Summer History Day Camps (ages 7-12) are being planned for 2 days in
June and 2 days in July. Dates to be determined.
Elizabethtown Fair Craft Day (ages 7-16) will be held in August.
EASD Third Grade Walking Tour Week October 20-24
To register for classes or events, please contact the museum
by calling (717) 367-4672. www.elizabethtownhistory.org
Museum and Seibert Library Winter Hours
Between December 12 and March 11 the museum will be open by
appointment only. That said, we are often around, and if you want to stop
in we’ll be happy to see you!
Please call ahead if you want to do research in our
library, so we can be sure a librarian is on hand.
Phone: 717 367-4672 email: Winters-
HH@embarqmail.com
Website: www.elizabethtownhistory.org