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Steep Grades and Dangerous Curves of the Lehigh Gorge around Penn Haven -...
Events of consequence, deadly ones on the rails, often turn on the smallest details.Post #1 covered the accidental deaths of those struck and run over on the rails around Penn Haven (including two...
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Mud Run Train Disaster - "A name of terror for all time" - Wrecks of Penn...
Ocotber 10, 1888 – Wednesday evening -Temperance Excursion Train Disaster at Mud Run: “A name of terror for all time.”The most costly wreck in early Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley Railroad history took...
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Think, Love, and Remember - Memorial Day 2014 St. John's Lutheran, Mahoning...
Today is a glorious day. We are alive: we have sunlight on our face, we have wind in our hair, and we have dew upon our feet (and sometimes rain that dampens our skin.) We have our minds that allow...
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“Work, Work, Work:” Lehighton’s Baking Past -Post #3 of 3
It is believed that many bakeries began baking a pastry similar to Lehighton’s “Persian” after World War I. It is widely accepted that it was originally created to honor the tough and well-loved Gen....
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The Mystery of the Recluse of Gnadenhutten: Frederica Misca
Frederica Misca, a shadowy figure of early Lehighton lore, came to live among the ruins of the fateful Moravian settlement. In her own time there were many who praised her saintliness as well as many...
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The Lehighton Gravers: Alvenia and Adaline (Post 1 of 4)
A colored advertisement for Alvenia Graver's MillineryShop in Lehighton. She first opened with her twin sisterAdaline as "Mrs. L. Wehr & Sister." Unlike her sister,Alvenia kept her maiden name for...
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Lehighton Gravers: Lewis and son Henry: Farm to Canal to Bricks to Pools...
At the time of his death, no one had lived in Lehighton longer than Lewis Graver.He came here as a boy, with his brother Andrew and his father Heinrich, to timber the Moravian lands at the south end of...
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The Graver's Bathing Casino - Lehighton Gravers Post 3 of 4
Chester Mertz of Mertztown, Mahoning Valley still remembers Henry Graver’s deer pen. “Deer were rare in those days, nearly all gone from around here.”He remembers being a boy in the 1920s, driving up...
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Graver's Ice Factory - Post 4 of 4
Change, not the positive kind, was on the move in Graverville. The swim contests were becoming a thing of the past. The rooflines of the sheds that once sheltered and allowed the bricks to dry,...
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A Slender Demolition - By Ronald Rabenold
It began as a slender demolition amongA series of radical hesitations,Almost subliminal,Ending, as these things often do,In an unknown submission,That sprung forth unseen from unknowing...
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The Lost Stills of the Pine Swamps of Meckesville -(My 150th Post!)
The “Swampers” or “Ridge Runners” and their contribution to the world (yes, I said world) is largely lost beneath the dust of memories of Carbon County’s mighty role in the Industrial Revolution.One of...
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“Work, Work, Work:” Lehighton’s Baking Past -Post #3 of 3
It is believed that many bakeries began baking a pastry similar to Lehighton’s “Persian” after World War I. It is widely accepted that it was originally created to honor the tough and well-loved Gen....
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Mud Run: The Fire and the Fury (Part 1: "The Fire")
"The sky turned as black as midnight," said survivor Charles Gambler.Things were beginning to feel normal again.Johanna Kibler survived the "GreatFire of 1875" when she was just nine.Her father Reuben...
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"Operation Never Forget" Successfully Launched
Recently a new club was formed at the Lehighton Area Middle School known as “Operation Never Forget.”A group of students began exploring the lives of some area men who served in World War II. Their...
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Ezra Kreiss KIA the English Channel 28 April 1944
Recently, the life of Ezra Kreiss was presented to the Lehighton Area Middle School through the efforts of the “Operation Never Forget Club.” He was killed on April 28th1944 by a German S-boat in the...
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Walter Haydt KIA on Hinchinbrook Island Australia 18 December 1942
The naming of the Shoemaker-Haydt Legion Post #314 in Walter Haydt's memory is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Recently, Haydt's story was retold at a special Memorial Day Program at the...
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Blakslee's Trolleys
There were maimings, be-headings, and even a murder cover-up along the trolley line between Mauch Chunk and Lehighton...For a brief time, the Lehighton and Carbon County area was served by an...
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From Buffalo to Lehighton: Snyder's Colonial Court Mansion
The Colonial Court Mansion has intrigued many, mainly due to its high-colonial style and partly due to its mysteriously short life here in Lehighton. It once stood near the site of the assassination...
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Connecting the Dots of Lehighton Business Post 1: The Maria Culton Empire
When discussing turn of the century business, most of the talk usually focuses on the accomplishments of men. Seldom and few opportunities existed for most women in those days. Most often than not,...
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Post Two: Lehighton's Vibrant Business Moves Forward
Lehighton’s growing and prosperous industrial age population fed a vibrant downtown business atmosphere. The Packerton Car repair shops employed 762 men in 1901. This number was augmented by the...
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