The Theodore Burr Covered Bridge
Society of Pennsylvania, Inc.
Monthly Business Meeting and Bake Sale
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church,
Manheim, PA
Sunday, November 6, 2016
President Tom Walczak
called the meeting to order at 2:13 p.m. welcoming everyone and reminding us of
our civic duty to vote on Tuesday. He led
us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
NEW
MEMBERS AND GUESTS: None
Tom reminded members
the minutes are in the box in the back for review and approval later.
TREASURER’S
REPORT: We have 4 new members: Patricia McAtee of
Stewartsville, NJ, Craig Siefried of Emmaus, PA, and Eric & Betsy Wiening
of West Chester, PA. Joe & JoAnne
McCarthy became life members. We have
275 members renewed for 2016-2017, 3 more than 1 year ago.
MEMBERS’
REPORTS:
Michael Chorazy joined the National
Society’s Fall Tour of northern Kentucky and southern Ohio the first weekend of
October. He also saw 13 bridges in southern Ohio he had not visited before, and
the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge and the William Howard Taft National
Historic Site, both in Cincinnati. Bill
and Jenn Caswell planned and led a great tour, including a visit to the Covered
Bridge Museum in Fleming County, a talk by Kentucky covered bridge author
Melissa Jurgensen, and appearances by Arnold Graton and his wife Meg at Johnson
Creek (KY-101-01) and Cabin Creek (KY-68-03) bridges, both of which he
restored. The National Society is
considering Oregon for their 2017 tour.
Joe McCarthy reported that the plan for repair of
Blenheim (NY-48-01) bridge in NY is to build a completely new bridge on the
bank and pick it up with huge cranes to put it back in place. Bidding has started on the project. It will be one of the longest two span
bridges. It will end out in nowhere like
before and be rented out for special events.
This will be the biggest project his company has worked on to date. The Speakman #1 celebration was a big success
– Nice! Builders who worked on the
bridge sponsored the event. Since the
celebration a lot of signs have been installed at either end of the bridge.
Mike Rudnick took a trip to Vermont and saw 33
covered bridges. All were in good
condition except the upper Vermont bridges.
He said it was a beautiful and enjoyable trip.
Pat Cook went to see Dimmsville (PA-34-02) on
October 7th. It is really
leaning. The side of the bridge nearest
the road is now giving way. She also saw
a small romantic shelter near there. On
October 19th she and Ken went to the dedication luncheon for Speakman #1 (PA-15-05) – a very nice event with 18
people from our society there. She and
Ken attended Emerson Flurkey’s memorial service yesterday. She mentioned that Larry Shumaker passed
away. He was a member who went on
safaris and was in her class in school.
Tina Conn attended NY Ulster County Heritage
Week on October 23rd. The NY
Society had a display at Perrine Covered Bridge (NY-56-01).
OFFICERS’
REPORTS:
President Tom Walczak – Tom was busy this past month
visiting bridges. On October 9th
he attended the Ashtabula County OH festival where he saw 5 bridges. The highlight was the new Riverview Bridge,
designated as Bridge #19, built underneath the Smolen Gulf Bridge (OH-04-64) -
a 150 foot pedestrian bridge easy to photograph from all angles. On October 16th he visited bridges
closer to home – McConnell’s Mill (PA-37-01), Banks (PA-37-02) and Columbiana
County OH’s McClellan Bridge (OH-15-02) where work is still in progress for a
total rebuild of the bridge. Later in
October he visited 7 more bridges hoping to get fall foliage pictures but most
of the leaves were gone by then.
First Vice President Jim Smedley – Jim and
Gloria attended the Speakman #1 Bridge Celebration along with 17 other members
of our Society. Thanks to Joe McCarthy
and the work crews who rehabilitated the bridge for inviting us to the
celebration and supplying a nice lunch. He and Gloria were in Massachusetts a
couple of weeks ago and spent a few hours in Sturbridge Village to tour the
village and see Vermont Bridge (MA-14-03) in the village and also Service
Bridge, a nice non-authentic bridge (MA-14-M).
They also made a few trips to see Maryland’s bridges to try and get some
nice fall photos. This past Friday they
were surprised to see Roddy Road (MD-10-02) Bridge has already been fully
dismantled. The cost to repair the bridge
from the latest truck damage is $150,000.
The PA Crossings is
February 5, 2017, the date of our February meeting
Second
Vice President Ray Finkelstein
– No bridge report. He thanked all who
sent get well cards to his wife, Linda, who is recuperating from knee surgery.
Third Vice
President Steve Wolfhope –
This past week (October 30 – November 3) Steve and Gloria spent 5 days (2 days
traveling and 3 days bridging) in WV, KY and OH. They saw 25 bridges in the
three days. He visited the last three bridges he needed to complete WV – Sarvis
Fork (WV-18-01), Staats Mill (WV-18-04) and Milton (WV-06-01). These bridges
were in good shape. The fall foliage was good in WV. Then it was off to KY with
a stop to see one bridge in the very southeastern part of OH – Scottown
(OH-44-05) in Lawrence County, OH. He
saw the 13 remaining authentic bridges in KY. Most were in fairly good
condition with the exception of Valley Pike Bridge (KY-81-02) but many with
excessive graffiti inside and on some portals. They visited the Beech Fork
(KY-115-01) bridge which is being refurbished by Arnold Graton. Unfortunately,
he wasn't there at this time, but Steve did talk to 3 of his crew for a few
minutes. After finishing KY they went
across the Ohio River to southwestern OH where they saw 8 more OH bridges – the
5 in Brown County and one each in Adams, Clermont and Clinton counties. Most of
these bridges were in good shape but graffiti was again very noticeable.
On this trip
Steve reached the 600th authentic bridge visited if his records are
correct – Dover (KY-81-01) bridge in KY.
Fourth Vice President Tim McLaughlin – Tim saw many bridges this past
month: Harpster’s Bridge (PA-31-C),
Bitzer’s (PA-36-04) (where only the frame stands as it is a work in progress,
the roof has been raised 2 feet), Academia (PA-34-01) in the sunlight –
gorgeous, Smith (DE-02-01#2) (looks good), Leaman’s (PA-36-20#2), Saville
(PA-50-07#2), Delville (PA-50-16) (Sad!), Shoop's Farm (PA-34-E) romantic
shelter, Kutz’s (PA-06-05), Bell’s Mill (PA-65-01) (low headache bars), Mays
(PA-63-23), Erskine (PA-63-15), and Herr’s Mill (PA-36-21). He handed out lots of rack cards to people he
ran into at the bridges. He and Connie
attended the Speakman #1 celebration luncheon.
He visited Indian Caverns where
he was the last customer in the caverns before it closed to become a bat
sanctuary in the future.
Historian
Fred J. Moll – Last
week Fred drove through the Pleasantville Bridge (PA-06-01) in Berks
County. The bridge looks great with its
newly painted portals. Thanks to Bob for
volunteering to paint the portals of the bridge and all who helped. Everyone had a great time.
Recording Secretary Gloria Smedley – See Jim Smedley’s report.
Corresponding Secretary/Program Chair Pam Heisey - No report.
Treasurer Robert Kuether – Bob thanked those who helped at
Knoebel’s this year. It was another
record breaking event with $5,200 in sales.
He reminded everyone that we will be meeting at Poole Forge (PA-36-01)
on the 19th to decorate the bridge, a tree in the mansion and the
gazebo. We will also be preparing card
bags for the Christmas Dinner and dues reminder cards. He announced that we will have a booth at the
Harrisburg Christmas Show and that he is taking checks today for the Christmas
Dinner and dues.
Tom
thanked Pam, Ed, Desi, and Judy for their help with today’s bake sale and all
those who baked and bought!
REPORTS OF ILLNESSES OR DEATHS
– Larry Shoemaker
passed away on October 10th and Emerson Flurkey on October 25th. About 17 members attended a memorial service for
Emerson yesterday. Also Tony Orsini, a
formal member has died.
OLD BUSINESS – Last month’s Lasagna Dinner Fundraiser
was a big success raising $365 for the preservation fund. Several members attended the dinner that do
not usually get to our meetings. It was
a great social event.
NEW
BUSINESS - Yesterday
the Executive Board met at Bob Kuether’s house for their annual planning
meeting. Many activities were discussed
for the coming year including membership drive ideas and a quilt raffle for
2019 which will be our society’s 60th anniversary. There was much discussion about whether or
not to keep this raffle within the society or open it to the public. No decision was made since we have plenty of
time to decide.
NEW COVERED BRIDGE ITEM
- Michael Chorazy
showed the National Society’s first calendar and a new book “Georgia Under
Cover” by Sharon Shannon-Paximadis. Greg
Williams showed a painting of Humpback (VA-03-01) and a newspaper article about
fall foliage featuring a picture of Thomas Mill Bridge (PA-51-01). Steve Wolfhope said Wal-Mart has another
covered bridge model this year of nice quality. Tom Walczak showed a small
lighted cardboard covered bridge ornament he bought at JoAnn Fabrics this
morning. It also sits nicely on a table.
Judy
Kuether mentioned that our 2017 calendar has been selling great. We have sold 300 and had to re-order an
additional 100 in part due to the notice in PA Magazine again this year.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – October minutes were approved as
presented.
NEXT MEETING - Our Next Meeting will be held at Dutch-way
Farm Market Restaurant in Gap, PA at our annual Christmas Dinner on Saturday
December 10th, 11:00am-3:00pm.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
following a presentation by Pat Cook entitled “New Brunswick and Nova Scotia”.
Respectfully
Submitted by Gloria Smedley, Recording Secretary
November
15, 2016