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    Carbon County
    Carbon County
    Carbon County
    Ebook186 pages1 hour

    Carbon County

    By Rebecca Rabenold-Finsel

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    About this ebook

    Nowhere in Pennsylvania is there a sychronicity between geography and history as there is in Carbon County. Intersected by the majestic Lehigh River in the picturesque Pocono Mountains, this is a county built on the discovery of anthracite coal, the fortitude of early settlers, and the boundless imaginations of men like Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, and Asa Packer. For over a century, Carbon County's breathtaking scenery, stunning Victorian architecture, and natural landmarks, such as Hitcheltooth Cliffs and Glen Onoko Falls, have attracted travelers. Whether riding on the hair-raising Switchback Railroad or staying at the American Hotel (now the Inn at Jim Thorpe), travelers loved postcards, many of which are featured in this book. Compiled from some of the finest collections of vintage postcards in the state, Carbon County is a visual treasure documenting the haunting beauty and idiosyncrasies of the area.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 6, 2004
    ISBN9781439615812
    Carbon County
    Author

    Rebecca Rabenold-Finsel

    From the quintessential charm of Jim Thorpe's magnificent historic district to the mining towns and mountain retreats of Carbon County, writer and poet Rebecca Rabenold-Finsel reveals each town's unique past through a profusion of penny postcards.

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      Book preview

      Carbon County - Rebecca Rabenold-Finsel

      inspiration.

      INTRODUCTION

      I can hardly write, we are going so fast!

      —Switchback postcard, Mauch Chunk, 1907

      In the Victorian era, postcards defined popular culture in the same way e-mail and the Internet define our lives today. Whether conveying news of a safe arrival, time of departure, or words of joy or tragedy, postcards are more than mere pieces of paper. They are treasured remnants of history and a currency unto themselves. A postcard from Rockport, dated 1918, demonstrates the valuable commentary that some postcards possess: Dear Ruth, Arrived here last night on the 9 o’clock train, there was a wreck and I missed my connection at Allentown. Bernard Heiney drowned in the Lehigh River Tuesday evening and his body was found Wednesday. I was down along the Lehigh all day yesterday. Allen.

      During the 19th century, traveling, or excursioning, became extremely popular and was no longer confined to the wealthier classes. Trips to the mountains, seaside resorts, and places of amusement were deemed therapeutic. Along with increased travel, the public became addicted to postcards, with over six million cards mailed in 1908 alone. Whether kept as treasured souvenirs or sent to friends and family back home, postcards became synonymous with travel. They were picturesque, gave a sense of locale, and had just enough space for a bit of news without demanding a long dissertation.

      Blessed with a unique geography, Carbon County dazzled the adventurous travelers of the Victorian era, just as it attracts adventurers today. Aesthetically not much has changed of this unique landscape written about in the 1877 book Highways and Byways of American Travel: Such . . . rough and tumble experience, climbing mountains, falling over rocks, exploring wild ravines, diving into coal mines, and riding on every description of conveyance which it has entered into the mind of man to run on.

      For the more cerebral traveler, Carbon County has a rich history. Some interesting people have passed through these mountains, including Count Zinzendorf, Moravian mystic; John James Audubon in his satin breeches and dancing pumps; and Benjamin Franklin. Although these men were born too early to appear in postcards, their stories are woven through the text with those of Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, Asa Packer, and Jacob Weiss, whose achievements in Carbon County changed American history, leaving legacies that still inspire us today.

      In this book you will see pictures of people who have walked before us and of places altered by time, all preserved by postcard photographers such as Martin D. Martz, Bert Luckenbach, J. F. Miller, C. H. Bretney, J. Mankos Jr., and others, unsung heroes of magic places.

      Although not all of the parts of Carbon County are visually represented here, this does not make their history less meaningful; for if not here in pictures, they are here in spirit.

      One

      ST. ANTHONY’ S WILDERNESS

      While the Indian hated the white, who had stolen ‘the ground on which he slept,’ he was kind to the Brethren.

      —The Moravians and Their Leader

      The first settlement in Carbon County was the Moravian mission Gnadenhutten, established in 1745. Deeply moved by the deplorable state of the savages in America, 12 Moravian missionaries left their home in Herrnhut, Germany, and traveled by sea to the wilderness of Pennsylvania, a place known for religious tolerance.

      Located where Lehighton now stands, Gnadenhutten exemplified communal simplicity. Home to hundreds of Lenni Lenape (Delaware) and Mahican Indians after their religious conversions, the mission was a scene of quiet, humble and unobtrusive heroism and the Indians’ shelter from adverse influences of their own race.

      By 1752, increased American Indian hostility put Gnadenhutten at risk for attack, but the missionaries’ pious good works did not go unnoticed. The frankness and earnestness of the simple Moravians had won respect with the American Indians, and they lived without incident until 1755. Not limited to their work at Gnadenhutten, the Moravians worked diligently in the field, ministering to famine-struck American Indians in the Wyoming Valley. Although the wilderness was quite treacherous, the Moravians traveled in the wilds of Carbon County undaunted. Moravian John Martin Mack describes his Lehigh River journey in 1746 as follows:

      In the morning early it began to rain.... Fearing the Lehigh . . . we tried to wade it. It was so extremely cold that at first we thought it impossible for us to endure. When we got about the middle, it was so deep that I thought every minute it would bear me down. [I took] Brother Christian by the coat and helped him through. We had gone about 12 miles and made a fire, but could not make it burn because it snowed so hard. The cold pierced us. . . . We were through and through wet. We cut wood all night to prevent being frozen to death.

      GNADENHUTTEN. Meaning mercy huts, Gnadenhutten was located along the Lehigh River on the north side of Mahoning Creek. The land, discovered by Moravian leader Count Zinzendorf, appealed to him while he was traveling by canoe on the Lehigh River. Strategically chosen for location, Gnadenhutten lay between the Moravians in Bethlehem and their American Indian interests to the north. Arriving at Gnadenhutten with nothing but a fervent desire to instruct the heathen, the Moravians sacrificed all luxury working ceaselessly, assuming every burden . . . and adopting the Indian costume. Over 500 souls lived at Gnadenhutten, and each American Indian family had land to farm. The church stood in a valley . . . upon rising ground were the Indian houses . . . and on the other [side] the mission house and the burying ground . . . the road to other Indian towns (Warrior’s Path) lay through the settlement. (Postcard courtesy of Glenn Finsel.)

      MAHONING CREEK. Gnadenhutten became an agricultural epicenter, and its log structures dotting the unbroken forest emphasized the loneliness of the situation. Devoted to the American Indians, the missionaries were ever by their side in all their wanderings, cheerfully bearing with them the heat and burden of the day. After a while, a neighboring plantation of 80 acres cultivated land, 20 acres meadow and 1,283 acres of bush [woods] was purchased and a sawmill erected for cutting timber and conveying it to Bethlehem . . . down the Lehigh. Hunting brought in 15-20 deer or bears a day, and wild honey, chestnuts and bilberries were gathered in nearby forests. Despite grueling labor, the Moravians spoke of the gospel constantly. Twice a day they gathered for worship, and the Scriptures were translated into the Mahikan language. (Postcard courtesy of Glenn Finsel.)

      LEHIGHTON LANDSCAPE. Rev. John Heckewelder, Moravian missionary, studied the Lenni Lenape Indians extensively. In

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