program regarding the "Rendezvous '02" on the Mason-Dixon Line which will be
held by
the national Surveyors Historical Society near Gettysburg on October 17 through 20.
The 3rd weekend of October is a great time to be in Fulton County, with our beautiful foliage and attractive rural setting. The Historical Society is sponsoring several activities October 18-20 for members and visitors alike. The official TPA big Festival booklet will list many other activities throughout the county.
The fall membership meeting will be held Friday evening, October 18, at 7:00 p.m. in the Fulton Theater on North Second Street, McConnellsburg. Todd Alexander has invited a group of area enthusiasts to show and talk about the muzzle-loading long rifles made and used in this area in the early 1800s. They will give a demonstration of loading and firing. Don't miss this evening program; the rifles will only be displayed during this meeting.
The Fulton House will come alive for the Festival weekend with a display of flax and spinning wheels, yarn winders, accessories, and various handmade textiles. Most items are loaned and will be on display for the first time. Be sure to visit the Fulton House for this free display. If you live nearby and would be willing to loan textiles with a local family provenance, see Anna Maye Sigel or Bill Hammond of our museum committee.
Again this year, weekend visitors to the Fall Folk Festival will have the opportunity to visit some of Fulton County's homes and historic buildings. A variety of country and town homes will be open through the courtesy of their owners between 1:00 and 5:00 Saturday and Sunday afternoons. A brochure is included with your newsletter. Discount prices of $12 are available for tickets purchased in advance. Send your check to the Fulton County Historical Society in time to receive your tickets by mail, or purchase them in person PRIOR to the weekend at Richards Variety Interiors or Morton's Attic in McConnellsburg. If you are willing to help with staffing for 4 hours either day, see Sandy Richards or Glenn Cordell.
Directors approved a booklet of Fulton Folk Tales for the Historical Society's 2003 publication. Your story can be included in this book if you will take the time NOW to send the Society a funny story or two you heard your grandfather or other person relate about some person or event in Fulton County. It might be about hobos, or getting a first automobile, household or farm chores, or anything to show how life was different. Many of the stories were repeated because they had some humorous element. Don't take time to type them; jot something down in handwriting, invest in a 37 cent stamp, and let us know if we should attribute the story to you or just include it with others. Deadline will be December 31, but do it now as you remember some old family or neighborhood story. Who knows, your story may be as interesting to us as one of the new fall TV shows!
In 1936, schoolteacher Elsie Greathead published privately "The History of Fulton County, Pennsylvania" during the sesqui-centennial of McConnellsburg. Eight years later, Miss Greathead died in the January 1944 fire in the Fulton House. The remaining unsold "like new" copies of this soft cover 55-page book were recently donated to the McConnellsburg United Presbyterian Church who is offering them for a donation of $15 to the Mabel Trout Sloan Memorial benevolence fund.
Our neighboring community Mercersburg has great plans for a Civil War weekend October 11-13 on the 140th anniversary of J.E.B. Stuart's legendary raid. Tickets are necessary for the battlefield reenactment and the Remembrance Ball, with details at www.pathsofthecivilwar.com
Glenn Cordell, Administrator
The summer meeting of the Fulton County Historical Society was held at the Fulton Theater on Thursday August 1, 2002 at 7:30 PM. Thirty-eight members were present. The vice-president, Ken Keebaugh, presided over the meeting.
Vice President Keebaugh noted that there was still a vacancy in the office of Secretary. Motion was made by Dan Swain to nominate Dwight Harvey for the position. The motion was seconded and then passed.
Society Executive Director Glenn Cordell gave his report. He updated the society regarding the Fulton House grant from the Department of Transportation. The grant will pay to fix the mortar on the stonework and other exterior repairs. The grant is 100 percent funded. The money will probably not be forthcoming until October, which may be too late to start up mortar repair work this year. Therefore, no work may be done until next spring.
Glenn also noted that the Dorothy Leach estate of Delaware has donated genealogical material regarding the Deshong family to the Society and this material will be placed in the library.
Vice President Keebaugh noted that the Society is trying to line up local Lincoln impersonator Jim Getty to provide the program for the fall meeting, which will be held sometime during Fall Folk Festival weekend, to fit Getty's schedule.
John Mentzer announced that he has finished genealogical work on the Jacob Lake Garland family and related families of Fulton County. The book will be available in October at $40. Mentzer, whose wife is a Garland, is donating a copy to the Historical Society library.
Following the business meeting, surveyor Chas Langelan presented a
program regarding the "Rendezvous '02" on the Mason-Dixon Line which will be
held by
the national Surveyors Historical Society near Gettysburg on October 17 through 20.
The Surveyors Historical Society takes on projects to find and restore or preserve historic surveying monuments such as the "Fairfax Stone" in Virginia. For 2002, the society has had a granite replica built of Mason-Dixon crownstone No. 75 which was originally located on a private farm south of Gettysburg and which disappeared one night in 1990.
The duplicate crown stone (the original was English limestone) will be installed during a historically accurate re-enactment based on the scene depicted in the Brian Tucker painting "Running the Line," which was a print published by the Fulton County Historical Society. The painting/print is also featured on the front of the brochure for "Rendezvous '02." During the rendezvous the Surveyors Historical Society will also have a panel of experts speaking about the history of the Mason-Dixon line, including a noted English author and a Pulitzer prize-winning Pennsylvania author.
Mr. Langelan's speech was amusing and informative and very detailed regarding the history of the colonial land dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland and the English lawsuit which settled that dispute and eventually led to the survey by Mason and Dixon to establish the line as called for in the decision of the English court. It was noted that if Maryland's original land grant had been upheld, Fulton County, nearly to Knobsville, would have been located in that state. It was also noted that Fulton County was the site where Mason and Dixon dumped a cache of marker stones. As they progressed west, the pair found it more and more difficult to haul the huge stones up the mountains, and they finally gave up at Sideling Hill (then known as Side Long Hill), and dumped the stones there.
The meeting adjourned at about 9:00. Light refreshments were served following the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Dwight Harvey, Secretary
| Balance April 2, 2002 | $11,378.64 | |||
| Receipts 06/30/2002 | Disbursements | |||
| Dues | $540.00 | Annual Book | $3,789.00 | |
| Books | $428.70 | Annual Dinner | $300.00 | |
| Spring Dinner | $297.00 | Mowing Big Spring | $400.00 | |
| Interest - Money Market | $295.41 | Mailings | $637.62 | |
| Donations | $40.00 | Security | $94.95 | |
| Postage | $27.00 | Sales Tax | $36.76 | |
| Interest - checking | $3.37 | Speaker - dinnerf | $100.00 | |
| Misc. | $3.00 | Box Rent | $45.00 | |
| Money Market Interest | $126.20 | Web Page | $12.00 | |
| Total Receipts | $1,760.68 | Postage | $30.59 | |
| Refund - book | $6.00 | |||
| Total Disbursements | $5,451.92 | |||
| Net Gain ( loss) | ($3,691.24) | |||
| Balance June 30, 2002 | $7,687.40 | |||
| Jane MacDonald, Treasurer | ||||
| 2002-2003 OFFICERS: | BOARD OF DIRECTORS | |
|---|---|---|
| Clem Malot, President | B. Todd Alexander 2005 | J. Scott Alexander 2005 |
| Ken Keebaugh, Vice President |
James Stewart 2004 | Anna Maye Sigel 2004 |
| Dwight Harvey, Secretary | Bill Hammond 2003 | Wayne MacDonald 2003 |
| Jane MacDonald, Treasurer | ||
| PO Box 115, McConnellsburg, PA 17233 | E-mail: fchs@fultonhistory.org |