They'll be Coming around the Mountain

Note: The news release for this blog is at the beginning of the archives!

Yesterday was not my favourite day on the road. As we were travelling to Manheim Ron had investigated alternative routes in three places. The choices were to go over a mountain or around it. Just above Harrisburg there is such a choice. We agreed that going around the mountain was the better option but it certainly was not ideal.

The first part of the walk involved me dropping Ron off at the entrance to an expressway where the speed limit is 55 mph. It is also a bike route so it is acceptable, if not desirable, to walk on the road allowances. Ron wore his visibility vest for the first

time. I drove ahead the agreed distance and started to walk back to meet Ron. I got about half a kilometre to the underpass of a bridge. The road allowance where I would have to walk was two feet wide and the road was very busy with transports and cars. I chickened out. What really bothered me was that I could not reach Ron on the walkie talkie because of the road noise. He made it and didn’t even see me at the other end of that tunnel until he reached the end.

The next stretch was fine. It involved walking on a service road beside the expressway. Then we were back on the expressway. When I first started walking back someone stopped to see if I had car trouble and drove off rather quickly when I said that Ron and I were walking to Canada. As I got onto the expressway road allowance I was yelled at by someone from a transport. It could have been the same transport that tried briefly to run Ron off the road. The most interesting part of the walk was when a freight train started to come down the tracks by the highway. It went very slowly. The engineer waved at Ron. One of the pictures here shows the train going along beside the expressway. We were walking between the two.

Another picture shows the mountain we avoided in the background. What I’m delighted by is that Ron assures me that we won’t have a similar day again.

The good thing about yesterday was that the weather was perfect walking weather - enough to bring the bugs out, big flying ants.

Today we were back on more rural routes but there was lots of rain and hills. The countryside is beautiful with a particularly lovely area outside Halifax that is lined with gorgeous trees. A local said he thought they were a form of ash tree. This man had come up to Ron as Ron was resting at the end of a driveway. ‘You OK?’ he asked. Ron explained what he was doing and the man said, ‘Me too!’ The man had also had bypass surgery and he makes a point of walking regularly the four miles to Halifax filling a shopping bag with roadside litter. He dumps the garbage at the grocery store and then buys his groceries placing them in the same bag to return home. Two other folks stopped to see if we were alright today, too. It was a good but tiring day with too many hills and too many starts and stops because of rain. We’re glad to be resting tonight!

Pictures:

'The Statue of Liberty' in the middle of the Susquehanna

The road before the expressway/service road divide

The expressway and service road side by side

The mountain to the right is the one we avoided

We walked between the traffic and the train on the road allowance

Reaching the Susquehanna

As Ron was planning the trip he tried to make the route as authentic as possible. The information available was really not that detailed but we do know that the family travelled along the Susquehanna River. We reached that point of our walk by a soggy but fairly level route yesterday.

The Linglestown Road or Route 39 took us west from Hershey through what would have been Indian country when the Brownsbergers arrived from Germany. We walked past a series of signs that located frontier forts built to protect the settlers. We are staying in Rockville for three nights. Here there is a park on the site of one of these forts. There are models of Iroquois wigwams and drying racks as well. We enjoyed our first evening here by cooking dinner in the park.

The area is interesting because it shows the stages of the development of this country. By the time the Brownsbergers took route for Upper Canada, the canal age had begun here. We’ve walked past a number of examples of now abandoned canals that would have allowed for easier trade between the 1820s and 1880s when railroads took prominence. Our motel is close to a double railway bridge that appears to have plenty of traffic. Beside it is the ruin of an earlier bridge.

The next development would have been roads and these have gradually become more sophisticated. The winding two lane roads that I remember from the 50s have given way to busy expressways. In the American style much of this development is documented by roadside plaques. When one is walking one can read every one!! We have included some for your enjoyment.

This is April and so there will be showers/rainfalls. We gave up walking for two hours yesterday because it was so wet. Then Ron said, ‘Let’s go!’ The rain had stopped and he was determined to finish the eight miles. Our muscles are getting used to the exercise but, as SouthLake Rehab suggested, we take frequent breaks. It helps!

Pictures:

An example of an Iroquois wigwam

Plaque for a frontier fort

Site of Fort Hunter - now a park where we ate

The raiway bridge over the Susquehanna

Spring has arrived!

The Day to Day Itinerary

Today we are staying right by the Susquehanna River on the north side of Harrisburg.

The plan below is only a plan. On nice days we might cover ten or twelve miles. On rainy or stormy days we might explore a local museum or art gallery or rest in the motel or B & B. We did start from the farm on March 30th but had walked four miles each day for the previous three days. This puts us temporarily ahead of schedule but the forecast for tomorrow is rain.

March 23 – 25 Stouffville to Manheim area – scout the route in reverse
March 26 – 29 Manheim & Lancaster area – tourist stops, relatives, etc.
March 30 Start walk 10 a.m. from homestead - - 1605 Shumaker Road
March 30 Past Mastertonville, PA
March 31 past Lawn, 341 to almost Deodate
April 1 743 north past Hershey
April 2 39 north past Rte 81
April 3 39, past Linglestown, to Susque. River near Rockville
April 4 Fort Hunter, Dauphin, 225 up the hill to before Matarmoras
April 5S 225, 147 past Halifax, PA
April 6 along 147, Millersburg, Paxton, to about Dalmatia
April 7 147 (find shortcut), 147 past Hernden
April 8 147 to between Fishers Ferry and Sunbury
April 9 Stay on 147 just past Northumberland
April 10 147, 405, to between Chillisquaque and E Milton
April 11 405 to Watsontown
April 12S 405 Dewart, to Montgomery
April 13 54, 15, up the hill (?) to before S Williamsport
April 14 15 (?) to before Williamsport
April 15 220 to beyond Williamsport
April 16 220 to Rte 287 north, Larryville, north a bit
April 17 287, between Sellinsburg and Brookside
April 18 287, near Brookside
April 19S 287, about English Center
April 20 287, between English Center and Morris
April 21 287, beyond Morris
April 22 287, beyond Knapp
April 23 287, about Wellsborough
April 24 west along 660 to 6, beyond Ansonia
April 25 6, to beyond Gaines
April 26S on 6, skirt Galeton, 6 to almost West Pike
April 27 6, then 449 to almost Brookland
April 28 448 to beyond Gold
April 29 448 to about Genesee
April 30 448, cross into New York State, Rte 19
April 30 – May 4 short break Corning, NY area
May 5 start the New York State portion
May 5 along 19 to Stannards or Wellsville
May 6 19, to Scio
May 7 19, thru Belmont to about I-86
May 8 19 to almost Belfast
May 9 19, Oramel, Caneadea, then 243 to Balcom Beach
May 10S 243, pass Rushford, near Farmersville Station (98)
May 11 98 , skirt Freedom, 98 to Sandusky
May 12 98, then 39W, Arcade, Yorkshire, n. on 16, to before Chaffee
May 13 16 just past Holland
May 14 16 then, then (?) to before East Aurora
May 15 16 then 20A west cont. to before Orchard Park
May 16 cont. west and north-west into city (city streets)
May 17S cont. north-west, city streets, downtown to before Peace Bridge
May 18 cross Peace Bridge to Canada, then . . .
May 18 – 23 short break in Stouffville
May 23 Niagara Pkwy trail, north to College Road - - May 23 – 27 Ferland’s ?
May 24S to Black Creek
May 25 to beyond Chippawa, near the Falls
May 26 thru Niagara toward Queenston
May 27 west to Virgil - - May 27 to 30 Linda Mooney’s
May 28 north west to about Port Weller
May 29 west to about Port Dalhousie
May 30 to near Beamsville - - May 30 – June 2 Bob and Donna Parker’s
May 31S waterfront trail, west to before Winona
June 1 west to before Burlington Skyway
June 2 north and into Burlington, Ontario - - June 3 & 4 ?
June 3 along Hwy 2 trail to near Oakville
June 4 continue to near Lorne Park
June 5 along 2 near Harbourfront - - June 5 to end, at home
June 6 break, at Doors Open Springvale Church
June 7S waterfront trail thru Harbourfront to Kew Beach or beyond
June 8 Warden, Danforth Rd., up McGowan in Scarborough
June 9 McGowan to Markville
June10 McGowan and 19th toward Dixon’s Hill
June 11 afternoon, up 48 to the Brownsberger farm, n of Ringwood
June 11 4:00 p.m. arr. at the bridge on Millard near Brownsberger farmhouse

Leaving the Family Farm

We left the original Brownsberger farm, 1605 Schumaker Road outside Manheim, at 10 am this morning. We were sent on our way by Jay, the associate pastor of Hernley Mennonite Church, and by Darryl Sensenig, the 11 year-old son of the current residents on the farm.

The walk is off to a good start. So far the project has raised over $1,000 in donations and pledges.

Ron continues to hand out business cards to interested people here such as the two Mennonite ladies who stopped their car today to see if we had car problems. When Ron responds, ‘No, thanks. We’re walking to Canada.’, we get some interesting replies. ‘Oh my!’ is common. Anyway just to remind people, Ron’s goal is to raise $22,000 for an artificial heart. The site to donate is www.sunnybrookfoundation.ca. Then click Trail of the Susquehanna.

The weather today was challenging. A weather disturbance went through this area very quickly yesterday causing temperatures to drop, bringing hail and two tornadoes. The result today was that we started walking at a -5 degree temperature. As the day went by that temperature moved up but the winds were so high that the wind chill was high. We stopped a little early to warm up.

The countryside is beautiful - lots of rolling hills, lots of rolling hills, up and down, up and down. But, even though it was cool today, daffodils and crocuses are out, along with forsythia. Magnolia trees are starting to bloom and some tree leaves are starting to unfurl. Brrrr!.

Tonight we are in Hershey, yes, the chocolate place. Hershey is a real company town. Wikipedia reports that ‘Hersheypark is an amusement park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, close to the Hershey Chocolate Factory.

Hersheypark was opened in 1907 as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company, an American confectionery company. Later, the company decided to open the park to the public. Today the park has over 110 acres (450,000 m²) and over sixty rides and attractions.’ There is a Brownsberger connection to Hershey. Ron’s maternal grandfather, Isaac Wambold, was an itinerant translator for the Mennonite Publishing House. When he travelled to Hershey he met Elizabeth who became his first wife. Unfortunately she died in childbirth. Harriet Brownsberger whom we met at Lancaster County Bible Church was also a Hershey. And, nope, we didn’t go to the Hershey outlet store!

Pictures:

Ron and I at the farm lane at 10 am

Schumaker Road sign

The farm house on the site of the original farm

A Mennonite lady hanging laundry next door

Lancaster and Surrounding Area

‘Lancaster was named after Lancashire, England, and its symbol is the red rose, from the house of Lancashire. In the period from the 1760's through the early 1800's, this was the largest inland town in America, and it was larger than most inland English cities as well.

Lancaster was our nation's capital for one day when the Continental Congress met here in September 1777. The colonial government had withdrawn from the capital in Philadelphia to escape the approaching British troops, and stopped here for a day before moving on to York, Pennsylvania.’
http://www.800padutch.com/lancastercity.shtml

Both the towns and surrounding area are attractive. Because the area was established before the American Revolution there are some interesting British connections - King and Queen Streets rather than Lincoln and Washington Roads. Much of the older architecture is Georgian and a delightful practice of putting (electric) candles in the windows of homes (a practice dating back to an 18th century Quaker story entitled ‘A Candle in the Window’) is charming.

Our focus in the area was to bring Brownsberger information to the Mennonite Information Centre, meet members of the Brownsberger family, and publicize the trip. We attended the Sound and Light show, Behold the Lamb, at the Millenium Theatre in Strasburg where over 2,500 people were in attendance. There is similar attendance at two or three performances a day. The incredible energy and amazing 300 foot wrap-around stage made for a very impressive presentation of the Easter story. The journey into Amish country brought the delightful images of horse and buggy, fields being fertilized by a farmer with six mules. Ron keeps me entertained with tales of the Mennonites doing service in modern vehicles for their Amish neighbours. And it takes an insider to understand the nuances of different colours of cars and forms of dress.

On Friday night we dropped by a downtown jazz club for about an hour. We were seated right by the piano. Wow! There was a piano player who had tremendous energy. He beat the time with his foot on the floor and it shook!. There was also a flugelhorn player who occasionally played a gourd accompanied by a base player. Good sounds.

We attended a service at Lancaster County Bible Church and observed some of the 61 candidates for baptism this weekend give their witness. We met Earl and Harriet Brownsberger there. Unfortunately Earl had a stroke two years ago and cannot talk but Harriet did a great job of telling us about family. Their family descends from Jacob Braunsberger who emigrated in 1850 with either three sons or grandsons. We saw a family crest and heard tales of a family castle near Konigsberg in Germany. (I can see another trip on the horizon!) Harriet arranged a family reunion for family in the area in 2006 and about 50 attended. She and Earl attended reunions in Missouri where about 200 Brownsbergers were in attendance. Ron didn’t know about this branch at all but now has more addresses to pursue. On Sunday we attended Hernley Mennonite Church outside of Mannheim and had a message from another Brownsberger family who have spent the winter in Florida.

We are now ready to start the walk in earnest. The walkie talkies work. The weather was terrible late today - hail and a possible tornado close by, but promises to be sunny and cool tomorrow. More from the Brownsberger farm tomorrow…

From the top pictures are:

Penn Square, Lancaster

The Mennonite Infromation Centre

A clock at the Centre like the one taken to Upper Canada in 1826 and like the one Ron made for our front hall

Amish farmer harrowing his field

Amish buggy

Manheim

As part of Ron’s publicity campaign he set up a meeting with Stouffville’s mayor, Wayne Emerson. Ron asked for support from the town for his fundraising campaign and also for a letter of introduction to the mayor of Manheim. He hoped for some local newspaper coverage and support from the local historical associations (there are three). Sometimes amusing things happen.

Mayor Emerson had given us a Stouffville town flag and buttons to present in Manheim. We arrived at the town offices to receive a bewildered look from the receptionist. When we asked for the mayor she replied, “Well, he has a job!” It turns out that we had to go to the police station around back to find the mayor. However, as a police constable, the mayor had asked us to excuse him from our visit. Turns out he was busy assisting with the transport of two prisoners who were being released from custody that morning. We’re flexible. We gave the greetings to the mayor’s secretary and went on our way. Similarly we left copies of Ron’s press release with the different historical associations. Here’s some background.

See http://www.manheimpa.com/history.html
‘Founded in 1762, the town of Manheim rightfully belongs in that select list of Pennsylvania towns which antedate the Revolutionary War. Of additional interest historically is the fact that the land on which the town was laid out has a close connection with the family of the colony's founder, William Penn. Explicitly, it was in 1734 that this tract of acres in Donegal Township (1741 in Rapho Township) was given as a gift to Penn's faithful secretary, James Logan, by Penn's widow, Hannah, and her sons. In 1762 this same tract was purchased from Logan's granddaughter, Mary Morris, by Henry William Stiegel and his two business associates, Charles and Alexander Stedman.’ The town was a prosperous place that built it’s reputation on the making of glass.

Specifically Ron’s family came from an area now around the Holland/German border around 1750 and were part of the group seeking to escape religious persecution in their homeland. We understand that the original family of Braunsberger immigrants was likely not Mennonite but did convert sometime in the 1800’s. The Brownsberger farm (sold in 1826) is only three miles from Manheim on the Shumaker Road. The farm is not large and is on hilly land.

The area around Manheim is an interesting mix of the modern ‘country houses‘, ‘English farms’ and Amish or Mennonite farms. It is a pretty area that looks very civilized without many fences and with fields coming right up to the road allowances. It made me think of a favourite poet, Robert Frost, writing ‘Something there is that does not like a wall.‘ It is not uncommon to see horse drawn buggies or mules pulling machinery for the Amish farmers. And where else would you find the town named Intercourse right next to places called Paradise, Blue Ball, Virginville and Fertility? It’s also easy to see why there was an exodus from here for Upper Canada. Even now small farms typically house grandparents, parents and children and are often without electricity. On the positive side one can feel a real sense of peace while driving along these peaceful country lanes.

Days One and Two

Williamsport at Dusk

We are amazed at the kindness of people again and again. We don’t need three vehicles and a friend of Ann’s agreed to take the Toyota off our hands, at least short term.
Day One was as smooth as could be. Perhaps because Monday was the first work day after March Break the traffic was very light through the greater Toronto area. The customs officer going to Buffalo could not have been nicer. He was a little sceptical about walking back from Pennsylvania but when he saw the newspaper article he softened totally. He never did ask about the food we were bringing over, just about whether we had
more than $1,000 with us. (We didn’t!) Then he wished us well and sent us on our way.
We had been concerned about a safe trip through Buffalo - too many family trips as kids for both of us when car windows had to be wound up tight. We have been through Buffalo as grown-ups but we were pleased by the selection of road we made to follow later. Sidewalks are wide and smooth and the route will be quite direct.

Now the weather is another issue. We chose the end of March to start because as a heart recoveree it is better not to walk in the frigid temperatures of winter or the heat of summer. We have sufficient layers of clothing with us to keep us warm but really! It is sooo cold that I had to wear socks to bed last night. There has not been a lot of snow even on the hillsides as we have driven south but we have been happy to have the heater on in the car.

This morning, Day Two, I was delighted to see a Tim’s and collect my favourite extra large French Vanilla coffee. We learn things every day. First, my Tim’s enthusiasm caused us to miss a turn and, second, French Vanilla here is coffee sort of with a hint of vanilla. Next time my choice will be a cappuccino. The coffee was warm anyway. We are trying to be more observant as we move along the route. We have this habit of focussing more on our conversation than on our route and have frequently gone out of our way. Something we have been doing ever since we began dating. Now I am driving and Ron is navigating so we should be fine.

We made good time and reached Pennsylvania by noon. The object here was to check a route to see whether to go over a mountain or around it. We chose to go around. The grades are much easier and the shoulders are wide. Most of the route is less desolate than we thought. Much is farmland. There are two long hills to be considered on the way back. Ron will try them and if they are too much he will walk down the hills rather than up them. The distance is the same. (Thanks for the idea to Charles Wilkins in ‘Walk to New York’.)

Tonight we are in Williamsport in an old once grand hotel.