Norman Gasbarro | September 7, 2012
Each year since 1873, a fair has been held in Gratz Borough. The Gratz Fair at the Gratz Fairgrounds will be held this year from Sunday, 16 September 2012 through Saturday 22 September 2012. The Gratz Fairgrounds are shown on a post-Civil War map (1875) as the “Gratz Driving Park and Mile Course.” A complete […]
Norman Gasbarro | December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas to all from Gratz, Pennsylvania! Many Christmas traditions celebrated today originated during the Civil War era, including that of Santa Claus. The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia held a special program 2010 on how those traditions started and evolved over time. Catherine Wright, Collections Manager of the Museum of the Confederacy, […]
Norman Gasbarro | December 24, 2011
SILENT NIGHT (Stille Nacht) The facts of how and why Fr. Joseph Mohr wrote the poem in 1818 in Austria which was set to music by church organist Franz Gruber have been lost in time. What has not been lost is the tradition that evolved from the hymn, a tradition which exists down to the […]
Norman Gasbarro | December 16, 2011
The Garden State Central Model Railroad Club (New Jersey) held a meeting at member Thom Radice’s Civil War era HO model railroad layout on October 13th 2009. This layout was the cover feature of the October 2009 edition of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine. The layout depicts the Western and Atlantic Railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga […]
Norman Gasbarro | November 1, 2011
During Gratz Fair Week, 18-24 September 2011, there were a number of Abraham Lincoln sightings in and around the Gratz area. At the Fair’s Agricultural Hall, across from displays of prize-winning apples, was a gold-framed portrait of Lincoln. In the art exhibit in one of the exhibition buildings, a portrait of Lincoln was hanging amid […]
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