Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society
of Pennsylvania, Inc.
Annual Meeting and Election of
Officers
September 13, 2015
President Tom Walczak called the
meeting to order at 2:09 p.m. and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. George Rothlingshofer introduced his mother Mary as a guest at
today’s meeting. Tom reminded everyone that copies of the August minutes are
available for review. These were
approved later in the meeting.
Treasurer Bob Kuether read the treasurer’s
report for the month of August. Member total
as of end of August was 135 renewed for 2015-16, 368 renewed for 2014-15. There
were no corrections or additions to the report and it was approved as read.
MEMBERS’
REPORTS
Tim McLaughlin visited Rapp’s Dam (PA-15-14) over
the last three weekends and noted that progress continued over each
weekend. He also visited Knox (PA-15-15
#2) where he was stunned by the damage and saw the wing wall in the creek. He also visited Wertz’s (PA-06-06) which
looks fabulous. He noted that nothing is
happening at Speakman #1 (PA-15-05) as work is now planned for 2016. He plans to visit Rapp’s again tomorrow for
his 4th weekend visit.
Bob Greer was on vacation last week in
Connecticut and visited 3 bridges. He
had his laptop set up with pictures of Gold Mine Bridge (CT-06-21) a new bridge
being celebrated today and being moved with oxen. He spoke with the owner of the bridge who
welcomed our Society to hold a dinner on his new bridge.
George Rothlingshofer took a took a 10 day motorcycle ride
near the end of August. He saw 73
covered bridges and 21 grist mills in Ohio and Indiana. He noted seeing different trusses such as the
Wernwag truss and an inverted bowstring truss in
Germantown Ohio. He has visited a total
of 737 covered bridges in 6 years with only 30 being non-authentic bridges and
has seen all the double barreled bridges.
Greg Williams traveled through several PA bridges
during work related runs – Rice’s (PA-50-10) in Perry County, Klinepeter
(PA-55-03), and Aline (PA-55-04) which is in fair condition. This morning he traveled through Kaufman’s
Distillery (PA-36-32 #2) and visited Shears (PA-36-31 #2) on the way to the
meeting.
OFFICERS’
REPORTS
President Tom Walczak – He attended the Covered Bridge
Summit held by The Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Resource Center at the Oxford
Memorial Library in Oxford New York August 29-30. The summit was the idea of Trish and Bob Kane
with assistance from Bill Caswell of the National Society and our 1st
Vice President Jim Smedley. It brought
together covered bridge officers from six different societies in the U.S.
(National, Indiana State, Ohio Historical, Theodore Burr, New York and
Vermont). Discussions included items from
501(c)(3), to fire protections, membership retention, newsletters and the trend
toward digital documents. The Library is
the last structure built by Theodore Burr as his home and has been transformed
into a library. Many good ideas came out
of the summit and it was nice to meet and put faces to other covered bridge
society officers. While there he visited
Hyde Hall (NY-39-01) the oldest covered bridge in the U.S. He also visited bridges in north central PA; Knapp’s
(PA-08-01) which is in great shape, they are rebuilding the house nearby that
had previously burned down, Hillsgrove (PA-57-02), Forksville (PA-57-01) and
Sonestown (PA-57-03). Hillsgrove was in
excellent shape. Workmen were there
working on the abutments so it was closed to traffic. He was told it would reopen for the fair the
following week but close again until the repairs were finished. Forksville and Sonestown both looked
beautiful! He visited Frazier (PA-41-03)
which was his first visit since it was restored 5-6 years ago and found it in
good shape. Last evening he and Joanne visited
Jericho (MD-03-02 & MD-12-01) but it was too dark to take pictures.
First Vice
President Jim Smedley
– Jim provided an update on Jericho Bridge (MD-03-02 & MD-12-01). The south side of the bridge is almost
complete. Additional rotted wood has
been discovered on the upper and lower chords.
Still, less than 30% of the wood will need replacing. I-Beams have been primed and painted. Will
Truax and Tim Andrews expect their work will be done by the end of October and
the bridge should be totally finished in late December.
Last month he
and Gloria stopped by the 3 bridges in Frederick County, MD. Utica Mills (MD-10-01) is done except for
some wing wall work at one side and the fire alarm system. It has been painted and treated with no-char
fire retardant. Roddy (MD-10-02) has been treated with no-char fire retardant,
has a new fire alarm system and the Jersey barriers along Roddy Creek Road have
been replaced with a wooden guard rail along with the wing wall being
extended. Loys Station (MD-10-03 #2) was
treated with no-char fire retardant.
Jim and Gloria
attended the Covered Bridge Summit in Oxford, NY on August 29th and
30th.
The
deadline for the fall issue of PA Crossings Newsletter is October 4th,
the date of our next meeting.
Second Vice President Ray Finkelstein – Ray tried contacting the PennDOT
Rep to find out what is happening with both Dreibelbis
Station (PA-06-07) and Manassas Guth
(PA-39-03) but has not heard back. He
visited Dreibelbis Station last Tuesday and nothing is going on. Friday drove by Manassas Guth and sure enough
they have been working on replacing all the side walls and will be replacing
the flooring. Started on August 25th
expect to be finished mid-October. He will follow up on progress when he gets
back from vacation. He is leaving
tomorrow for a trip to Missouri to see a quilt shop, covered bridges in
Missouri and will end with the National Covered Bridge Meeting and Safari in
Indiana. He noted that there was a
picture of Bogerts (PA-39-01) in the Morning Call newspaper for an article
called “Nice Day to Take Pictures”.
Third Vice President Steve Wolfhope - Steve spent 6 days (August 16-21)
in Vermont. He saw all the authentic
covered bridges in 7 counties – Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Franklin,
Lamoille, Orleans and Washington – a total of 52 bridges. Since August of last year he has seen the 99
authentic/historic bridges in the World Guide plus a few others. He attended the Covered Bridge Summit in
oxford, NY on August 29-30. Very
interesting meetings where he learned a lot and met many new friends. On the trip up to the Summit he visited the
Newfield Bridge (NY-55-01). He found the
bridge closed and the roadway and abutments were being worked on both ends of
the bridge to eliminate erosion. There
was damage due to some recent heavy rains.
He knew the bridge was closed before he went. After the Summit he spent three more days in
the Utica/Rome, NY area and saw 9 more bridges.
He and Gloria are planning on attending the National Covered Bridge Meeeting and Safari in Indiana later this month.
Fourth Vice President Ed Myers – Ed could not be at today’s meeting
but sent a statement thanking everyone for the opportunity to serve as an
officer this past year. Tom thanked Ed
for his service and commented that Ed brought enthusiasm and helped by
reminding us each meeting of important upcoming events. He also thanked him for all his behind the
scenes work helping Bob and Judy Kuether with making items for dinners and to
sell at festivals and in the country store.
Historian Fred J. Moll provided the following report on the Berk’s County
bridges.
·
Wertz’s
Bridge (PA-06-06) –Wertz’s Bridge is in good condition.
·
Pleasantville
Bridge (PA-06-01) –Pleasantville Bridge still in good shape since its
restoration several years ago.
·
Kutz’s
Bridge (PA-06-05) –Kutz’s Mill Bridge is in fairly good shape.
·
Dreibelbis
Bridge (PA-06-07) –The Dreibelbis Bridge is still out of shape and gives a
serpentine type appearance. Federal
funds have been granted in the amount of $1,440.00 for the restoration of the
bridge. Paper work has been started but
actual work on the bridge itself has not been started yet.
·
Griesemer’s
Bridge (PA-06-03) –Griesemer’s Mill Bridge is still missing the clearance sign
over both portals from last year and the unpainted area is quite
noticeable. The absence of a clearance
sign could excuse anyone from damaging the bridge from a vehicle that is too
high. Also the broken stone abutment on
the mill side had some wood place around it a year ago for repairing but that
job is not done either. Also one of the
abutments on the other side of the stream is now coming apart. Thursday he called the Facilities Department
of the Berks County Court House. Fred talked
to a lady there who said that there was no open work order on the bridge, but
that she would leave a message that there was work that should be done on the bridge.
Fred
will give tours inside of Wertz’s Covered Bridge (PA-06-06) during Berks
County’s “Heritage Festival” on
Saturday, October 3. This year the tours
will be at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00.
Fred
is giving a PowerPoint presentation on October 1 on “Covered Bridges of Berks
County”. There will be an emphasis on
the Hamburg area of Berks County and their bridges. The program is being held at the Hamburg Area
School District building at 701 Windsor Street.
He is also giving a PowerPoint presentation on “Covered Bridges of Berks
County” on Wednesday November 18, 2015 at 7:00 at the Sinking Spring Borough
Hall in Sinking Spring.
Recording Secretary Gloria Smedley thanked everyone for the many cards,
emails, calls and well wishes she received while recuperating from total hip
replacement surgery that took place on July 28th. She noted that she received an update on
Martin’s Mill (PA-28-01) from Joyce Soroka and that it is posted on the
bulletin board for those who are interested.
Corresponding Secretary/Program Chair Pam Heisey had no report.
Treasurer Robert Kuether – Yesterday he visited Herr’s Mill
(PA-36-21) which is still in sad shape but at least a piece that had fallen was
put back in place. Calendar sales have
been great (only 60 left of 250). 21
calendar sales came in from non-members which he felt was a direct result of
the write-up in Pennsylvania Magazine that President Tom Walczak made
happen. He has only 26 of Fred’s
‘history’ book left so get it while they last.
He attended the Covered Bridge Summit in Oxford, NY where he got a lot
of information on 501(c)(3) application and status.
Bob
received a check in the amount of $5,961.23 from Roseanne Zvarick, daughter of
Albert and Loretta Zvarick, former members of our Society who have both passed
away. Ms. Zvarick had to settle the
estate of her parents and sent the donation to our Society. The original intention for the funds was to
rebuild the Wilhour Mill Covered Bridge originally located in Dauphin County
and purchased for $1 by Loretta Zvarick as a gift to her husband after the
bridge was washed away by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Agnes in June
1972. It seems their dream to rebuild
the bridge would not be realized in the near future and she wanted to honor her
parents who thought well of the Society.
A thank you letter was written to Ms. Zvarick by Tom. (Katie Helm asked if anyone knew what was
going to happen to the bridge. Tom said
the sons may take on the task of building the bridge in the future but as of
now there are no plans in place to do so.)
Bob
encouraged members to submit pictures and ideas for bridges that they would
like to see us paint next year.
Bob
and Judy will be traveling later this month to New England to search out hotels
for next year’s safari. He reminded all
of the upcoming festivals at Washington-Greene (September 18-19) and Knoebel’s
(October 8-11) and welcomed any volunteers to help at our booth. He recently received an order from Shady
Maples for $1,100 of covered bridge merchandise from our store.
REPORTS OF ILLNESSES OR
DEATHS - Thankfully
there were none.
OLD BUSINESS – Barbara McCauley was pleased that they
will finally put up headache bars at Little Gap (PA-13-02) covered bridge.
ANNUAL MEETING
REQUIREMENTS
Tom
conducted the annual meeting. He noted
that our best attended meeting this past year was our Christmas Dinner (57)
whereas our least attended was our August 2nd meeting (28).
Pam
Heisey conducted the memorial service reading a passage and naming members who
had passed during the year along with their date of death and years of
membership. There were 13 deceased
members over the past year. A moment of
silence was held in memoriam.
Tom
challenged members to invite and bring guests to meetings and help recruit new
members.
He
read the annual report of the society.
Highlights of the report included:
(The President’s full
report will be available for members to review, along with reports of each
officer, during the next few business meetings.)
NEW BUSINESS – Since both members of our nominating
committee (Tina Conn and Pat Cook) could not attend today’s meeting Michael Chorazy conducted the annual
election of officers.
Michael announced
the current slate of officers and conducted the election for the Nominating
Committee:
President
- Tom Walczak
1st
VP – Jim Smedley
2nd
VP – Ray Finkelstein
3rd
VP - Steve Wolfhope
4th
VP – Tim Cohen
(Previously Ed Myers who has stepped
down. During the meeting Ray Finkelstein
nominated Tim Cohen as 4th VP and Tim accepted the nomination.)
Treasurer
– Bob Kuether
Recording
Secretary - Gloria Smedley
Corresponding
Secretary - Pam Heisey
Historian
- Fred Moll
Because
there were no other nominations the Recording Secretary cast a unanimous
ballot.
COVERED BRIDGE ITEMS - None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES -
August Minutes were approved as presented.
NEXT MEETING
Our Next Meeting will be held on Sunday,
October 4, 2015 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Manheim at 2 p.m. The Program will be “Covered Bridges of
Columbia County” by Bob Kuether
.
ADJOURNMENT The
meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Respectfully
Submitted by Recording Secretary, Gloria Smedley
September
21, 2015