Mountain Home, July 2017 by Mountain Home

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A Love Letter to Wellsboroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Enduring Downtown by Gayle Morrow JULY 20171

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Volume 12 Issue 7

20 Saddle Up!

By Teresa Banik Capuzzo

The Endless Mountain Music Festival returns with Klezmer, keyboards, and cowboys.

Main Street, U.S.A. By Gayle Morrow

22 Fun Home

A love letter to Wellsboro’s enduring downtown.

By Linda Roller

Alison Bechdel’s memoir returns home to Clinton County and the stage at Millbrook Playhouse.

26 Endless Mountain Music

Festival Event Schedule 30 Bulls and Broncs and Cowboys to Tame Them

A Lot of Hot Air

By A.J. Sors Fly away at the 42nd annual Great Wellsville Balloon Rally.

By Linda Roller

The Benton Rodeo rides again.

35 Gustin’s Goldsmith By Maggie Barnes

40 Gone, But Not Forgotten

By Gary W. Parks

Victorian era death and mourning at the Thomas T. Taber Museum.

Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog

46 Our Courthouse Bell By Gayle Morrow

50 Back of the Mountain

By Bernadette Chiaramonte O long may it wave.

By Mike Cutillo And you can join them on Seneca Lake for the Grapehound Wine Tour.

I Love The I Hate to Cook Book Cover photo by Linda Stager, cover design by Tucker Worthington; second from top, A.J. Sors.

By Cornelius O’Donnell And, after fifty years, it still serves up tasty food and a lot of laughs.

Six New Home Designs Visit our newly designed website for details!

w w w. m o u n ta i n h o m e m ag . co m Editors & Publishers Teresa Banik Capuzzo Michael Capuzzo Associate Publisher George Bochetto, Esq. Managing Editor Gayle Morrow

The Black Forest

The West Rim

D i r e c t o r o f O pe r a t i o n s Gwen Plank-Button Gallery Manager/Circulation Director Michael Banik Advertising Director Maia Stam Advertising Assistant/Accounting Amy Packard

The Old Logger

The Golden Eagle

D e s i g n & P h o t o g r ap h y Tucker Worthington, Cover Design Andi Lynn, Intern Contributing Writers Maggie Barnes, Mike Cutillo, Dave DeGolyer, Ann E. Duckett, Melissa Farenish, Alison Fromme, Carrie Hagen, Holly Howell, Roger Kingsley, Don Knaus, Cornelius O’Donnell, Brendan O’Meara, Linda Roller, A.J. Sors, Ruth Tonachel, Dave Wonderlich

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C o n t r i b u t i n g P h o t o g r ap h e r s Bernadette Chiaramonte-Brown, Nigel P. Kent, Roger Kingsley, Johnthan Mack, Ken Meyer, Tim McBride, Tracy Parker, Linda Stager, Sarah Wagaman, Curt Weinhold Sales Representatives Linda Roller, Alyssa Strausser, Richard Trotta D i s t r i b u t i o n T eam Michael Banik, Layne Conrad, Grapevine Distribution, Gary Hill, Duane Meixel, Linda Roller T h e B ea g l e Cosmo (1996-2014) • Yogi (Assistant) ABOUT US: Mountain Home is the award-winning regional magazine of PA and NY with more than 100,000 readers. The magazine has been published monthly, since 2005, by Beagle Media, LLC, 87-1/2 Main Street, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, 16901, and online at www.mountainhomemag.com. Copyright © 2017 Beagle Media, LLC. All rights reserved. E-mail story ideas to editorial@mountainhomemag.com, or call (570) 724-3838. TO ADVERTISE: E-mail info@mountainhomemag.com, or call us at (570) 7243838. AWARDS: Mountain Home has won over 85 international and statewide journalism awards from the International Regional Magazine Association and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association for excellence in writing, photography, and design. DISTRIBUTION: Mountain Home is available “Free as the Wind” at hundreds of locations in Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Union, and Clinton counties in PA and Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates, Seneca, Tioga, and Ontario counties in NY. SUBSCRIPTIONS: For a one-year subscription (12 issues), send $24.95, payable to Beagle Media LLC, 87-1/2 Main Street, Wellsboro, PA 16901 or visit www.mountainhomemag.com.

Our home features include these FREE upgrades: Granite • Hardwood • NuWool® dense pack insulation Superior Walls® insulated basement walls

Selinsgrove 570.374.7900 | Mansfield 570.662.7900 Lycoming Mall 570.546.5707 | BrooksideHomes.com 4

Our reputation is

Mia Lisa Anderson

Bernadette Chiaramonte

Jan Keck

Meet Our Iconic Photographers

Suzar Richar

Ken Meyer

Linda Stager

hen my wife and I moved from Philadelphia to Wellsboro, PA (pop. 3,326) to write books and publish Mountain Home magazine, I learned the beautiful town had long been an artists’ haven, from artist Tucker Worthington, who designs the magazine’s covers, to Warren Goodrich, the iconic San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist who designed jewelry for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. But there’s no talent like photography talent in our town and environs, and this month the Mountain Home Art Gallery at 87-1/2 Main Street will exhibit photographs from the extraordinary Grand Canyon Photography Club, (www.gcphotoclub.org), whose forty-plus members spoil us, sure as the sun on a July morning, with breathtaking new views every day. Come and meet some of them at the show’s opening during Wellsboro’s First Friday event on July 7 from 5 to 8 p.m. ~ Michael Capuzzo

Courtesy Linda Stager

Main Street, U.S.A. A Love Letter to Wellsboro’s Enduring Downtown By Gayle Morrow

r. Gale Largey, a retired sociology professor from Mansfield University and a long-time Wellsboro resident, compiled two books about this borough: Life in Wellsboro 1880-1920, and Life in Wellsboro 1920-1960 (I was one of Gale’s students way back when while he was working on the second book and I helped with it, so I’m a little biased). There are hardcover copies of each in the Green Free Library’s Pennsylvania Room, and they are well worth a perusal. Each time I look through them I am amazed at how much Wellsboro has changed, and how much it hasn’t. To wit: Around the turn of the last century (and how weird is it to say that?), Wellsboro had two banks, five hotels, twelve grocery stores “of the first class” and three lesser ones, four meat markets, four clothing stores, two drug stores, two shoe stores, two jewelry stores, two notion stores, two restaurants, two sporting goods stores, two music stores, two harness shops, one art store, one haberdashery, two farmers’ supply stores, four tailor establishments, two Chinese laundries, six barber shops, one bakery, one candy store, three newspapers, at least three insurance and real estate firms, six churches, plumbing/steam-fitting shops, a wool-carding mill, a glass factory, two breweries, two cigar factories (we grew quite a bit of tobacco around here at one point), a tannery, the jail and county buildings, and two public watering troughs (the kind for horses, not humans). Of course not all of these enterprises were right on Main Street, which wasn’t paved, by the way, until 1909, fourteen years after the spelling changed from Wellsborough to Wellsboro. And the boulevards, also by the way, weren’t built because someone thought they would be a pretty place to put gaslights and Christmas trees and add ambiance to the downtown. They were installed to save money on the bricks used for paving. Borough residents are typically a thrifty lot.

A Lunchtime Grammar Grappler Technically, Brad Goodwin’s Red Skillet gourmetish food trailer is not on Main Street. The sandwich board sign is—well, it’s on the sidewalk between 89 and 99 Main—but the truck itself is tucked in about seventy-five feet from Main Street proper. Considering that some buildings here have housed the same businesses for generations, the Red Skillet, at age four, is a real newbie to Wellsboro’s downtown, though there are a couple of other food trucks in the borough, up on East Avenue. It raised some eyebrows initially. It was different, you know? But people and their eating habits adjusted, and now it seems to be a very welcome addition to Wellsboro’s summertime dining options. On a recent day when I went over to get some food, the lovely woman taking orders called me by name and then came right out and asked me—not what I wanted for lunch, but what did I think about the Harvard comma. Now if you don’t happen to be a grammar geek, you may not know that the Harvard comma, also called an Oxford or serial comma, is a comma placed before a coordinating conjunction, usually and or or, in a series of three or more terms. Opinions vary on its usefulness. Well! It seemed that a press release she had written had included a Harvard comma, one that someone had removed prior to publication. Anyway, she was quite aggrieved to say that removal had changed the meaning of what she had written in a most aggravating way. While I was waiting for my lunch, she and I had a brief, and extremely enjoyable, discussion about the virtues of said punctuation, a conversation which then morphed into one about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The White Album, and, if I recall correctly, Prince and his untimely demise. A couple of guys waiting to order chimed in, and, I have to say, I was a little sad when my food was ready and I was obliged to head back to work. Only in Wellsboro, right? See Main Street on page 8

Main Street continued from page 7

89 Main Street—Garrisons Men’s Shop

Detroit

ELM

Atlanta St. Petersburg/ Clearwater

Orlando/ Sanford

It was shaping up to be a busy afternoon at Garrisons Men’s Shop (there is a nice selection of women’s clothes there these days, too). It was Al Garrison’s first day back on the job after a buying trip out west. The store is always in good hands when he’s not around— his assistant, Rob Hilfiger, has been a staple here for twenty-five years—but there’s some catch-up involved when you’re the owner and you’ve been away. So there was that. Then a young, slightly anxious-looking man showed up for a final fit on his wedding tux. The big day was close and he admitted he just wanted it to be over and he didn’t really care what he was wearing. Another young man came in to pick up an overcoat he had dropped off to be cleaned and repaired. Rob noticed a spot on the epaulette that needed additional mending, so out came the needle and thread before the garment was returned to its owner. Some other locals wandered in and out, and then Al had time for a few moments of reflection. The store has been here since 1955, he says. The building was once the borough building—“There were fire trucks parked in here at one time,” he says, gesturing toward some racks of shirts. His grandfather was in the business, as was his father and his uncle; the Garrisons had a clothing store in Mansfield for years as well. Al took over here in 1989 after his dad died and, yes, in the nearly thirty years since that he’s been watching Wellsboro from the store windows, things are different out there. “Downtown traffic has changed,” he muses. “It used to be more of a local downtown, and it has evolved. I’ve become more of a destination because between here and Hornell, New York, and Jamestown, New York, there are no men’s shops, no one who sells tailored clothing. They come here because we fit clothes—that’s our specialty.” So there’s a niche—what else has kept Garrisons Men’s Shop going strong? The town, Al says, is “totally unique.” “It’s one in a million and I might not be far off. The windows are clean, the streets are clean, there is some kind of pride here. The chains are not capable of putting out the service and quality. “Part of the reason I’m here is I’m in a good town,” he continues. “I don’t know how it’s happened this way; I hope I’m part of that. Obviously Dunham’s are (more on Dunham’s in a minute). We have a family-owned shoe store here (In My Shoes at 85 Main). They’re

harder to come by than men’s shops!” And of course there is the tourism. “We started promoting tourism in this town in the 1930s, even though it was just a ditch ten miles west (Larry Woodin’s Ditch, specifically),” Al says. What happened over the years after that was that families began coming to Wellsboro every summer. Businesses in other little towns got quiet during the summer months, but, as Al recalls, “John Dunham and I started realizing we weren’t. We’ve become more of a destination shop and the downtown has become a destination.” It’s the people who come to vacation here, certainly, but it’s also the visitors Al calls the “day-trippers.” “They come to shop and they love it,” he says. “It’s a refreshing change.” What may account for that? “I like the word community,” says Al Garrison. 83 Main? Yes and No When I asked Sean Adams if he was going to be chief cook and bottle washer at The Roost, he kind of laughed. He might help the cook, he says, and the bottles, well, they’ll just be recycled. Recycling is a big deal at The Roost, which, while it is still at 83 Main it is no longer called 83 Main, as it was for the years George Parulas owned it. The storefront has a long and somewhat checkered past, having been for a decades an establishment in the business of serving adult libations. Prior to its incarnation as 83 Main, it was, in most recent history, The North Star, Brought’s, and the T&J. Before that? Sean’s nephew, Cameron Clemens, who will be manager/barista/ cocktail master when The Roost opens, and who has been working alongside his uncle for over a year on the remodel, says they revealed an elevator-like shaft in the new kitchen area when they were tearing that section apart. They also discovered grain in various places in the building, so, perhaps, this was one of the two farm-supply stores that used to be part of downtown Wellsboro. These days, however, the community is awaiting the newest planned use of the space. It will be a pub, a coffee house, an eatery, and a just plain cool place—a takeoff from The Wired Rooster, the Internet café Sean and Cameron had for about two and a half years at 76 Main, just across the street from this location. It made more sense, says Sean, to put the money and sweat equity into a See Main Street on page 10 9

Courtesy The Roost

to make it work,” says Cameron. That’s true, as on any given day he and Sean, along with various helpers, can be found wearing safety glasses, perhaps wielding a hammer or a pry bar, grinding or sawing or sanding, trying to make the best and most interesting use of an eclectic something or other that, in its former life, may have been part of another local structure or business. Ultimately they will pay tribute to the building’s longevity as a business by making The Roost not just a pub, but a familyfriendly place with food and drink offerings as unique and conversation-inspiring as the construction. And they’re after a feeling, a “warmth-feeling” as Sean puts it, a feeling “like it’s always been here.” In a way it has. A Sporting Chance at 81 Main Street

RERUN: A piece of a family home becomes a chair at The Roost. Main Street continued from page 9

building they would own rather than one they were renting, so that’s what they did. It worked out well, actually, because Johnny’z Hot Rod Café, a new Mexican-themed restaurant, is now where The Wired Rooster used to be (the John of Johnny’z is the brother of the man who owns that building). “We took a leap of faith,” says Sean. The project is just taking a little longer than they had originally planned, so their faith is being tested just a little. “We thought we’d be open for Laurel Festival last year,” Cameron says, with a hint of a heavy sigh. But you know how renovations go. You start work on the floor and discover your joists in the cellar all need to be replaced. You open up a wall and find something completely different than what you had expected—sometimes, however, you do find a couple of interesting doors that you can use in your kitchen. And when your focus is recycle and reuse, well, that presents a whole unique and interesting set of opportunities. 10

About eighty percent of The Roost’s renovations/remodeling is recycled material, Sean and Cameron explain. A great deal of it came from Shane Nickerson, the Blossburg builder and mayor, who, with his wife, Jill, created 242 Coffee on that town’s Main Street using repurposed materials. They tore down an old house—it had belonged to Sean’s wife’s family—and salvaged a quantity of wonderfully aged and beautiful wood which now graces the long side wall and is adorned with an amazing array of one-of-a-kind lighting. The restrooms are a must-see—who would have thought of such a clever use for old beer kegs? They also bought a kind of largescale box lot of things from Osram as the plant was closing—actually a room full of metal chunks and fittings, gauges and valves, multitudes of odd and mysterious containers overflowing with odd and mysterious devices. “Some of it we don’t even know what it is,” Sean laughs. “All the repurposed stuff takes forever

It’s possible nobody is as surprised and pleased as the new owner. “It just keeps getting better every month,” says that new owner, Curt Schramm. “We’ve had a lot of positive comments.” Curt started at Country Ski and Sports in 1995. Who knew that twenty-five years later (he sure didn’t!) he would be the guy in charge. CS Sports, formerly Country Ski and Sports, has been the setting for a variety of retail establishments, including a sporting goods store (more hunting-related than the recreational sports items for sale there now), an arcade, and a discount store. Curt, who bought the business last fall, wasn’t sure what kind of discounts or what kind of merchandise—it could be information just lost somewhere in Wellsboro’s history. A couple of business practices have helped Country Ski and Sports stay successful, and are helping CS Sports thrive. One is offering a diversity of products (hey, it works in agriculture, too)—there are bikes and skis (depending on the season, of course) and all the things a person needs to go biking and skiing. There are people to fix your bikes and skis. There are people to tell you the best places to go biking and skiing, and that happens because the folks who work here and hang out here are folks who love to bike and ski. And there is a certain amount of flexibility that comes with the mixed blessing of being a small business on a small town Main Street. “We have the ability to adapt and to change in a changing economy because we See Main Street on page 13

Gloom, Doom, a Little Irony, and a Lot of Vavoom

courtesy Corning’s Gaffer District

was looking for some stats on the life and status of Main Streets and Amazon pops up with an advertisement for a book totally related to my search (how serendipitous, right?), as well as telling me it has available over one million other books for Amazon kindle—no mention, obviously, of a hometown-type bookstore. The book? The Death and Life of Main Steet: Small Towns in American Memory, Space, and Community by Miles Orvell. Imagine a real, paper map of the Twin Tiers. Take a compass and put the point on Wellsboro, then draw a circle in a hundred-mile radius. Coudersport to Canton, Watkins Glen to Williamsport, Mansfield to Montoursville, and points beyond. Think of all the Main Streets (like Corning’s main thoroughfare, at right) in that circle and all the businesses on them. In the face of floods, fires, and other economic disasters, the owners regroup and rebuild, entrepreneurs take the plunge, and the Main Streets endure. Pessimism abounds in the world of brick and mortar retail these days, whether the store in question is in Manhattan, Los Angeles, or somewhere in the Twin Tiers. Macy’s is closing stores nationwide, as is Sears, The Limited, JC Penney, and Abercrombie & Fitch. J. Crew and Gander Mountain are in trouble. These kinds of retailers were for years the staples in downtowns and malls everywhere. Not so much anymore. And while there may be a certain Pyrrhic satisfaction in knowing the big chains that drove the Mom-and-Pops out of business are now facing a similar fate, it leaves downtown merchants wondering. What are small, locally-owned Main Street stores supposed to do when even the big guys can’t make it, when the specter of Amazon looms large, when customers come in not to shop but to “showroom”—that is, check out prices and then buy the same merchandise for less online? What you do as a Main Street business is find a niche, provide an experience, play the local card, make yourself a destination people can’t resist, and remember that your friends and neighbors are your bread and butter. If you’re lucky, you will have opportunities to frequent that kind of Main Street. If you’re really lucky, you can count that kind of Main Street as a place you can call home. ~Gayle Morrow

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Main Street continued from page 10

are Mom and Pop stores and we’re not getting directives from corporate,” says Curt. “We just always have to find that mix of what the town needs. “I’m seeing Wellsboro merchants starting to come together and work together as businesses,” he continues. “We’re all trying to eke out a living here so we can live here. We have a lot of assets. We have everything here—it’s just on a different scale from the rest of the world. “It’s more personal.” Up and Down Main Street, It’s All Personal Dunham’s, of course, is the grande dame of Wellsboro’s Main Street, the anchor, the family-owned marvel of a department store that has defied the odds by staying in business for over one hundred years selling groceries, farm supplies, clothing, furniture, hardware, lattes—in short, a little bit of everything, just like a department store is supposed to. Started in 1905 with half-interest in a grocery store, Roy and Fannie Dunham grew their family, grew their business, and, over the years, merged the two. Today Dunham’s famous Half of Half sale brings hordes of people into town, shoppers eagerly collect Bonus Bucks to spend in the store, and at Christmas time gift wrapping is free. Main Street at its west end, AKA West Avenue, headed out of town toward the Tyoga Country Club and the Leonard Harrison side of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, is home to the West End Market Café. The storefront was a grocery store for a couple of generations, an ice cream parlor, a fabric store, a music store, and is now happily under the direction of Jenny Connelly, who opened this “globally inspired, locally sourced” café in 2010 and has been serving great coffee and delicious food there ever since. The back of the building houses First Position Dance Studio, under the tutelage of Taylor Nickerson (cousin to Shane, purveyor of quality reused and repurposed stuff for his own Blossburg coffee shop and The Roost at 83 Main) and Dawn McClelland (whose husband, Pete, and father-in-law, Pete, did a lot of the remodel work for Mountain Home’s new office and gallery here at 87-½ Main). At the other end of Main Street, AKA Tioga Street, which is Route 6 west (and go figure how two opposite ends of the same street can both be “west”—just a nice Wellsboro feature) and right at the Delmar Township line, is Mountain Valley Realty. Chris Vandergrift, who has been a realtor in the borough for twelve years, just celebrated her first anniversary as owner, having bought the business a year ago from her mother. In between are a variety of locally owned and operated Main Street success stories. At John’s Service Center, where Main, Tioga, and Charleston streets converge, John Mosso is proprietor of the only full-service gas station left in town. He’s been pumping fuel and working his magic on sick and injured vehicles for thirty-five years, “mostly with a smile,” he laughs, and “it looks like we’ll continue to.” The Steak House, 29 Main, has been familyowned and operated since 1957. Peggy’s Candies, under new ownership, thankfully continues the long Main Street tradition of providing a chocolate fix, with or without ice cream, to those in need. The Mountain Home office, in between Stained Glass Reflections at 87 Main (another unique, locallyowned shop) and Garrisons, was optometrist Dr. Scott Lee’s office until he retired last year. Some fun building trivia: According to Brian O’Shea (he owns the building CS Sports is in), Jim Clark owned three buildings in the immediate neighborhood, including this one and CS Sports, each housing a different business. When he had to—such as during lunch or other times employees might be away from their posts—he’d keep all three stores open by himself, running out the door of one into the door of the next to wait on customers.

Brad Goodwin of the Red Skillet

Curt Schramm of CS Sports

Rob Hilfiger of Garrisons Men’s Shop 13

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SIXWESTSETTLEMENTS.COM 15

Ann Kamzelski

Johnathan Mack

Ann Kamzelski

Bernadette Chiaramonte

Ken Meyer

Sarah Wagaman

Jan Keck

Curt Weinhold 16

Bernadette Chiaramonte

Sarah Wagaman

What says summer best?

t feels as though we’ve been waiting for July for a long time, but summer is finally, officially, here. The season’s arrival is heralded in all kinds of ways—by flowers, frogs, fireworks, and, of course, flags—and with a nearly endless variety of activities to tempt us into the great outdoors. There may be no better place than our mountain home to enjoy this special time of year.

Ann Kamzelski

Johnathan Mack

Roger Kingsley

Nigel P. Kent

Curt Weinhold 17

A Lot of Hot Air

Fly Away at the 42nd Annual Great Wellsville Balloon Rally By A.J. Sors

t age forty-two, the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally is one of the oldest hot air balloon rallies in New York State and one of the oldest continuing balloon rallies east of the Mississippi. And while visitors often pay a pretty penny to see balloons lift off in more famous towns, the GWBR is free. Visitors have only to bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on the knolls surrounding the launch site, which is next to the Genesee River in Wellsville, to have a great view of the event. The mesmerizing effect of the GWBR (www.wellsvilleballoonrally.com), scheduled for July 21, 22, and 23, is not unlike looking up through the branches of a Christmas tree at the brightly colored orbs suspended overhead. There are four launches scheduled: Friday night at 6 p.m., again at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, and 6 a.m. Sunday morning.

If you’re new to balloon rallies, you may not know that... • Between thirty-five and forty hot air balloons all lift-off at once, often vying to be the first into the air. • More often than not, the colorful orbs will drift over the picturesque village and countryside, landing in yards and bringing a bottle of wine for the property owner’s trouble. • When not floating over the village, the balloons head for the hills, where waiting photographers can catch startled horses and cows eyeing a balloon landing. • The audience can get up close and personal with the balloons, often times lending a hand as ground crew and even riding along with chase crews. • Many pilots will tether, lifting visitors into the air for a short ride for a small fee.

welcome to The GWBR got its start in the early 1970s when some local airplane enthusiasts thought it would be fun to hold an air show. While the air show attracted airplanes, it also attracted a hot air balloon. That caught the attention of local businessman Ray Stevens. A very few years later, the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally was launched, taking the place of the air show, and complete with Ray’s homemade balloon, named Beach Ball, for its colorful vertical panels. It was only a few years after the airport launches that the economy changed. The airport turned into a retail area and the GWBR moved to the Island Park Lagoon Fields in the village where it still lifts off every third weekend in July. Right from the very beginning the rally attracted balloonists from across the New England states, the southern states, and from Canada. In fact, so many balloonists come down from north of the border that the rally organizers fly not only Old Glory at each launch, but also raise the Canadian flag. Both our national anthem and Oh, Canada are sung during the opening ceremonies. Most people who have never attended a balloon rally do not realize that hot air balloons are rudderless and, as such, are at the mercy of the wind direction and do not return to the launch site as a matter of course. However, the balloonists who do make their way back to the Wellsville site provide a real treat for the audience. It’s called After Glow, and it works like this: after laying out their balloon as if for flight, they inflate them until the balloons stand upright, glowing brightly against the dark sky like colorful lanterns. “It is really something to see when ten or more balloons all light up in the dark. The hard thing is to get them all to do it at the same time,” a former GWBR chairman says. Along with the After Glow, the GWBR also hosts live music by local easy rock bands and on Saturday night there is a fireworks display. If the evening winds are too brisk to launch at 6 p.m., legend has it that the Wellsville Miracle takes over and promptly at 7 p.m. the wind dies. Within minutes the balloons lift off. During the down time, the balloonists and GWBR committee come up with other ways of entertaining the crowd. Local balloonists have been known to inflate a small balloon inside a larger balloon, or inflate an old balloon and let folks walk around inside it. “You never quite know what is going to happen!” a former committee person exclaimed. While Friday night of the rally is devoted to ballooning, on Saturday, after the morning launch has flown, the Main Street Festival starts with over one hundred vendors stretching for three blocks and featuring everything from hand-thrown pottery to balloon animals, dunk tanks to climbing walls, handcrafted furniture to baskets. The Main Street Festival ends just in time for shoppers to grab a shuttle or walk to the park for the 6 p.m. launch. Parking for the GWBR is on the outskirts of Wellsville along State Route 417, at the Northern Lights Plaza on the east side, and at the Riverwalk and Wellsville plazas on the west side. Parking is free and there are free shuttle buses to downtown and to the site.

POTTER COUNTY

Attracting Visitors And Enhancing The Quality of Life in Our Community

The Coudersport Area Chamber of Commerce is a group of over 120 businesses, organizations, and individuals, that strives to make Coudersport an even better place to live, work, play, and visit.

Popular Chamber events include: Potter-Tioga Maple Festival • Cash Mobs Community Development Raffles • Town-Wide Yard Sales • Festival of Lights Craft Shows • Ribbon Cuttings Successful projects include: The Coudersport Arboretum • Chamber Gift Certificates Program • Potter County Artisans Center

Coudersport Area Chamber of Commerce 227 N. Main Street • P.O. Box 261 • Coudersport, PA 16915 814-274-8165 • chamber@coudersport.org • www.coudersport.org

Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CoudersportAreaChamberOfCommerce

Lo oking foward to serving you in 2017! 814-655-6110 • Visit our Facebook page for more info. www.visitgaleton.com • visitgaleton@yahoo.com Gateway to the Dark Skies

A.J. Sors, an Alfred University graduate, makes Western New York her home. An experienced journalist, she enjoys traveling, kayaking, music and relaxing in the backyard. 19

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Saddle Up!

The Endless Mountain Music Festival Returns with Klezmer, Keyboards, and Cowboys By Teresa Banik Capuzzo

hat do klezmer, bandoneon, and the Wild West have in common? They are all part of the Endless Mountain Music Festival’s 2017 summer concert series, opening on Friday, July 21 at 7:30 at Mansfield University’s Steadman Theatre. Mansfield University Director of Choral Activities Peggy Dettwiler leads off with choral selections before EMMF Maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser takes the stage for the first night of more than two weeks of wonderful. Stephen, the full-time conductor and artistic director of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, brings renowned soloists and the EMMF orchestra—his handpicked band of world-class entertainers, cleverly disguised as classical musicians—back to our community to live, occasionally teach, and generally delight the ear in the peak of the summer. Based in Wellsboro, this year EMMF will also stage multiple performances in Mansfield, Corning, and Elmira, and individual concerts in Tioga, Knoxville, and Cherry Springs State Park. “I get to realize my dream of bringing 20

a diverse group of wonderful artists to celebrate life in the Twin Tiers,” says Stephen with excitement. “What a great series of concerts for 2017.” So what is klezmer, you might ask? “It is celebratory music composed by gypsies of Eastern Europe,” explains Stephen, and he is bringing Max Buckholtz and his ensemble specifically to present Melodies of Eastern Europe at the Rockwell Museum on July 24. The bandoneon? It is to the tango as accordion is to the polka, and Argentinian bandoneon master Emmanuel Trifilio will be back with EMMF for two performances, Viva el Tango! at Wellsboro’s Deane Center for the Performing Arts on July 27 and again with the full orchestra onstage at the Corning Museum of Glass on July 29, performing Astor Piazzolla’s Bandoneón Concerto. The Wild West makes its appearance in Cowboy Legends! This full-orchestra concert at Mansfield University’s Steadman Auditorium on July 28, envisioned specifically for young people, will feature video and music from The Magnificent Seven, How the West Was

Won, High Noon, and Dances with Wolves. This concert—as well as every one of the festival’s sixteen shows—is free for anyone under twenty-one. Two concerts are free for everyone—the August 2 Four Hands! performance at Knoxville Yoked Church featuring EMMF favorites Asiya Korepanova and Xixi Zhou on piano, and the Oh, My Stars EMMF Brass Ensemble concert on July 30 at Cherry Springs State Park. (You do have to register with the park to come in at night, though. Call (814) 435-1037 or go to www.events.dcnr.pa.gov/ cherry_springs_state_park to sign up.) The musical range is broad, from pure classical to Celtic (by Across the Pond playing at the Williamson High School in Tioga, Pennsylvania, on August 3) to jazz (July 26 sees Terry and Paul Klinefelter at the Arnot Art Museum for Songs of Jazz! On August 1, at the Penn Wells Hotel, Bram Wijnands and Friends get All Jazzed Up! ). Go to www.endlessmountain.net for more information or tickets or call the box office at (570) 787-7800.

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Courtesy Millbrook Playhouse

Courtney Laine Self (in the foreground) is the director of the play Fun Home. Samantha Carroll (in the background) plays Adult Alison.

Fun Home

Alison Bechdel’s Memoir Returns Home to Clinton County and the Stage at Millbrook Playhouse By Linda Roller

ometimes, the most improbable things happen. Maybe it’s magic— or the electromagnetic pull of stars in a perfect alignment. But the story of Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, and its surprisingly swift journey back to an audience right where the story takes place was unlikely at best.

Alison’s graphic novel was released eleven years ago—a book of growing up in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania, a story of family, of life in the funeral home business, and of the secrets a family keeps. It’s a story of personal exploration, and of coming out, as Alison discovers her sexual orientation. It might well have been a book that found

a small, dedicated following, a niche market. Instead, it was discovered by a wide audience, found both bestseller status and critical acclaim, and by the 2008 academic season was a text for colleges in literature courses. Then, in 2013, it was turned into a See Fun Home on page 24

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musical. And again, the power of this story reached to a wide audience. Off-Broadway runs were extended, awards won, and by 2015, the musical Fun Home opened on Broadway for hundreds of performances. Even though the Broadway show is still touring nationally, the musical has just been released this summer for regional theaters. “There’s no way [Millbrook Playhouse] will get the rights to Fun Home—not while it’s still a national Broadway tour show.” At least that’s what David Leidholt, creative director at Millbrook Playhouse in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania, thought. But he saw that Samuel French, the drama leasing company, was offering rights for the show for the 2017 production year. David applied, even though when he talked to the representative about the local connection (Beech Creek is seven miles away), the agent was not encouraging. Millbrook is an established small regional theater, mostly with summer productions. They are known for performing light “family-friendly” shows, and the musicals like Grease and Annie, along with farces, are the shows that sell well. But David Leidholt has been asking the question, “Where is the next generation going in theater?” Last year, Millbrook performed Rock of Ages, which features heavy rock bands from the 1980s. Though dramatically different from their traditional fare, it did very well and helped expand the diverse theater clientele the Millbrook attracts. And Millbrook only needed to wait one week before their representative called with the stunning news. They would be among the first regional theaters to produce Fun Home. It’s a long leap from traditional, but the board of directors fully supported the decision to add the local story as one of the eight shows for this year. Courtney Laine Self will be directing Fun Home. Her work in The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins brought these musicals to life on Ryan Main Stage in Mill Hall, and she brings a different vision to every project. Though a very different type of musical, people are excited about the local production. It is, in a sense, a story that includes Millbrook Playhouse, as Alison’s mother was a performer at Millbrook, and her father, Bruce, was on the board of directors. Since this is a community with a long memory, as people purchase tickets, they reminisce about the family. David Gritzner, the general manager of Millbrook Playhouse, worked at the theater in 1985, one of the years that Helen Bechdel performed on stage. Since Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher, he was a part of the childhood memories of an entire generation of kids from this part of Clinton County. Even Alison herself commented on the Millbrook production of her story. In a recent interview she notes, “In an even weirder twist, the summer stock theater where my mother performed for many, many years when I was a kid, they’re doing Fun Home this summer.” The play runs from July 28 to August 6 at the Ryan Main Stage. Tickets for Fun Home, along with all the other shows this season, are available now either from the box office (570) 7488083 or at www.millbrookplayhouse.net. Mountain Home contributor Linda Roller is a bookseller, appraiser, and writer in Avis, Pennsylvania.

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Courtesy Melvin Parks, Benton Rodeo Association

Bulls and Broncs and Cowboys to Tame Them The Benton Rodeo Rides Again By Linda Roller

t’s an American icon, like apple pie and the Fourth of July. It’s all tied up with the large empty spaces of the American West, the cattle and the cowboys. It’s rodeo, with all the pageantry, the bull riding, the bronc busting, the steer roping, and the barrel racing. It’s excitement with a large dose of danger. And one of the best regional rodeos in the country thrills crowds for six days, July 11 to 16, in the little town of Benton, Pennsylvania. “It’s a lot of work!” according to Melvin Parks, chairman of the Benton Rodeo Association. Now in its thirty-third year, the Benton Rodeo began as the brainchild of one man: Charlie Lamont. Charlie has been on the rodeo circuit, and it was simply in his blood. And he thought it would be a great idea for Benton—bring in tourism to a little area of Columbia County. He managed to convince some bankers and some local businessmen, and they set up the first rodeo in a field north of the little borough. For the first two years it was simply a field, with bleachers made of hay bales. “And from there, it just growed!” says Melvin. Soon after that, the arena moved into Benton proper, on land leased from the borough, and with permanent stands and structures to support numerous events. From there, the Rodeo benefitted from both great luck and great planning. Benton had the space for a large rodeo, as well as plenty of space for primitive camping. And those accommodations drew more participants from all over the country.

They also attracted a good rodeo promoter, Sam Swearingen from Rawhide Rodeo out west (Western New York, that is). Good promotion and organization brought good acts for the fans, and good contestants to vie for good prize money. The Benton Rodeo is sanctioned by both the American and the International Professional Rodeo Association, which means that contestants can earn both prize money and an invitation to the APRA finals in Atlantic City or the IPRA finals in Oklahoma City. While many of the contestants do come from the wide-open spaces of the western states, there are riders and ropers from here in northern Pennsylvania. Tyler Waltz of Avis has been a bronc rider on the professional circuit for seven years. Based on the ranch skill of breaking a horse (making it willing to safely carry a rider and saddle), riding these unbroken horses is one of the most dangerous events in the rodeo, and results in more injuries than any other event. Tyler has ridden for well over a decade, starting in Junior Rodeo at twelve, progressing through High School Rodeo, and then to the professional circuit—first part-time while he was in college, and full-time for the past three years. He’s planning on being at the Benton Rodeo, which he characterizes as a very good rodeo, for a few different reasons. “They pack it out at Benton,” he says. “The fans and the stock are See Benton on page 32

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Benton continued from page 30

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good. The money’s good. And it’s close to home.” The Waltz family should know a thing or two about the stock, since some of that stock comes from his family’s farm. Tyler’s dad, Dave, rode the circuit from 1975-1988, riding the bulls, the broncs, and later taking on steer wrestling. He was the northeast champion for bull riding for four years, and in 1986 won the All-Round Championship. After leaving the circuit, Dave judged events for a couple of years, and then didn’t do anything rodeo-related for a while. But then Tyler started showing interest, and Dave got involved again—this time on the youth level. First it was a couple of practice bulls for the kids to learn bull riding on, and then it was a trailer of practice bulls for the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo. Dave was a founder of the Keystone Junior Rodeo Association. And from there, it was only logical to begin to raise bulls for the rodeo. That morphed into buying and training bulls. And Dave’s methods get results. He currently has a bull named Jalapeno who has been the bucking bull of the year twice for the APRA, and three times for the IPRA, which has never been done before. You can count on Dave and Jalapeno being at Benton, too. “I love Benton—one of my favorites!” Dave enthuses. And it’s not only full-time professionals who compete at Benton. Nate Woodring of Knoxville, Tioga County, holds down a job with PennDOT that’s full time, and competes in both local and regional rodeos. “Ten years ago, friends got me involved,” he says. At the Reese Ranch in Pine City, just over the border in New York, he works as a rodeo clown, and sometimes is involved with the bulls. But for Benton he competes as a team roper. In team roping there are two people, two horses, one steer. Like so many other rodeo events, this relates to a job on a ranch—in this case when a large steer or bull needs to be caught and roped, and it’s a job too big for one cowboy. So, one rider ropes the horns or head, and turns the steer so that the other rider can rope the rear legs and immobilize the animal. It takes precision timing between the riders and their horses; success means (seemingly) endless practice for them as well. Nate takes good care of his horses, and they ride and practice five days a week. But the dedication pays off, as Nate has been in the top twelve at the APRA finals in Atlantic City. For him, the rodeo led to other things in his life, like becoming a farrier, and working with horses in a stable setting. And although he’s a man with an assortment of jobs and responsibilities vying for his attention, he finds great reward in being a part of the rodeo. “It’s a good atmosphere, like a family,” Nate says. For him, it’s part of his life. Like camping for other families, rodeo is relaxation. It’s competitive, but not cutthroat. “We want each other to improve,” he continues. “It’s very rewarding when you do well, and immense satisfaction when you win and beat your personal best.” Hard work, dedication, love of riding, working with animals—all in a family environment. Add the adrenaline rush, and you have the rodeo code. And we all get to watch the fun and the action. Mountain Home contributor Linda Roller is a bookseller, appraiser, and writer in Avis, Pennsylvania.

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2017 CA M PG ROU ND ACT I V IT I ES

Friday Evenings: Candy Bar Bingo, Movie & Popcorn Night Saturday Mornings: Arts & Crafts, 11:00 p.m. in the pavilion ($ cost) Weekends: Wagone Rides, Card Games, and Horseshoe Tournaments (depending on participation) JULY 7—9TH Saw Mill Festival & Crossroads Band: There will be lots of activ-

ities and trophies for winners from different age groups and activities. We had a phenominal time last year. Join us in the evening for a popular, local country western band. Cover charge $5.00pp for non-campers. Kids free under 10.

JULY 15TH Pot Luck Dinner:

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JULY 21—22ND Micro Brewery Tasting & Oldies Night: Saturday: 4—6 p.m. Lo-

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August 2, 3 & 4, 2017

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at the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum 5660 US ROUTE 6 • MM 188 • POTTER CO • Open Year-Round, Wed-Sun 9am—5pm

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Join us at 7:00 p.m. for a pot luck of Chocolate! Everyone can bring their favorite chocolate item. We will all share and die by chocolate.

AUGUST 5TH NASCAR Weekend Peddle Cart Races: Join us for our 1st Annual

pedal cart races. Heats by age group. Prizes awarded.

AUGUST 12TH Christmas in August:

Celebrate with Santa. 12:00 Noon — Lunch and photo with Santa ($3.00) followed by a wagon ride to the ice cream shop with Santa (parents must attend to purchase ice cream). In the evening, join us for an adult wine & cheese party with Santa.

AUGUST 19TH Open Weekend: Watch

our Square Dance Club dance all weekend—they love visitors! You may be the next square dancer. Open weekend to plan an event for everybody who wants to have fun.

AUGUST 26TH Local Winery Tasting & Coyote Blues Band: 4—6 p.m. Join

us for a wine tasting from local wineries; with cheese and crackers. Commemorative glasses for sale—all money & donations go to charity. 7:00 p.m. listen to a popular local rock & roll band — Cover charge for band and tasting is $5.00 pp for non-campers, kids free.

SEPTEMBER 1—3RD Labor Day Weekend Celebration: Sunday, 7:00 p.m. in the pavilion.

Ice cream social $1.00 for 2 scoops of ice cream and lots of toppings, followed by Camp Bell BINGO. Also, join us for music by D.J. Biggie Entertainment from 7—11 p.m. in the rec. hall.

SEPTEMBER 17TH Horseshoe Tournament:

10:00 a.m. Find out who is the “Best” and who gest the “Horse’s Ass” trophy. Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be sold. All money raised will be donation to our charity, “Camp Good Days.”

OCTOBER 7TH Halloween Costume Parade & Contest: Decorate your RV and win a prize for the Most Unique! At Noon, in the pavilion, Halloween Activity—free to all kids. 2:00 p.m. Trick or Treet Kid’s Parade and Costume Contest. Don’t forget to bring treats for the kids. Wagon ride at dark, weather permitting.

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each for the handmade iron door handle at the front of Gustin’s Goldsmiths at 71 East Market Street and you are reaching for an entrance upon the unique. The jewelry store, which doubles as an art gallery, is an explosion of organically-wrought creativity. The display cases, even without considering the gems they house, are treasures. Built by owner Gordon Gustin, the round pedestal cases of wood and glass are bound by wrought iron grapevines, a nod to the region’s flora. The gallery walls are laden with the works of local artists, like David Blakeslee’s fanciful—and massive—wrought iron sculptures and the visions of local painter John Kotlinski. Russian-style trinket boxes are everywhere, sporting richly painted tops. Sculptures dot the floor. Depictions of Seneca Lake and the wine of the region glimmer in precious metals. The cash register is a wooden classic from the 1800s. But unique is the norm at Gustin’s, where artists create custom jewelry by hand, using tools in the century-old tradition of American craftsmen. Gordon grew up with a family jewelry store in Troy, Pennsylvania, and considered a career in art. Twenty-five years worth of his creativity has poured out of Market Street. “The national jewelry chains mass produce their goods,” says Gordon. “But, when a woman gets a ring made here, she has the only one of its kind in the world.” Fellow craftsmen, like David Ackerman, a former corrections officer, will meet with a customer and make a wax model of a jewelry piece to be sure it is right before it becomes silver or gold. “Many of us owe this man for the level of gratification this work brings us. It’s indescribable,” David says. That gratitude comes from the customers, as well. Often, someone returns to the store after a purchase just to say thanks. Gordon says it happens so often they have come to think of themselves as a true hometown jeweler. Out-of-town visitors also become regulars, as Gustin’s ships its creations across the country. So even if you think you aren’t in the market for a beautiful unique piece of jewelry, an hour of just browsing in Gustin’s is an experience in itself. It might also be enough time for you to change your mind. ~Maggie Barnes

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Courtesy Grapehound Wine Tour

Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog...

And You Can Join Them on Seneca Lake for the Grapehound Wine Tour By Mike Cutillo

f you love greyhounds—and we’re talking the sleek, willowy racing dogs not the coast-to-coast bus line—and crisp, fruity Finger Lakes wines, the Grapehound Wine Tour is definitely for you. The Tour is a self-proclaimed “fourday wine-tasting celebration of greyhound adoption.” It features nearly thirty wineries, several breweries and distilleries, music, the Finger Lakes, and Taughannock Falls. This year’s eleventh annual event is July 20 to 23, and for the second year in a row, and fourth overall, home base will be Atwater Estate Vineyards on Seneca Lake’s east side.

A large tent will be set up there where some of the main events—including an ice cream social (vanilla yogurt for all the dogs) and a blessing of the hounds—will be held. And of course, the stars of the show are those classic hounds, the only dog— according to Grapehound organizer Larry Bowersox—mentioned by breed in the Bible, allowed in Arabian tents, and beloved by rulers from the Egyptians to the British royals. “It’s a unique event because greyhounds are the center of it. They make it dignified,” says Larry. “They are very gentle, not hyperactive. If you walk them once a day,

they’re very happy. They sleep for hours on big soft pillows on the floor.” Known for approaching speeds of forty-five miles per hour while breathlessly chasing mechanical rabbits around dog racing tracks, Larry says that off the track, greyhounds are docile and gentle and affectionately called “forty-four-mile-anhour couch potatoes.” The breed’s use in racing, in fact, is a large reason Larry and his wife, Susie, started the Grapehound Wine Tour, all the profits of which are donated to greyhound adoption groups. The Grapehound is See Grapehounds on page 38

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Grapehounds continued from page 36

registered in Delaware as an IRS-approved 501c3 charity that has raised and donated about $100,000 over the years to those groups. “The whole thought here was that many people start greyhound adopting groups to help these dogs,” explains Larry. “They’re coming off the racetrack and they’re basically orphans. They don’t have anything going for them. The adoption group has to find them a foster home or pay off a kennel, vet the dog, transport the dog, usually from Florida, and it gets expensive. “So many people with really good hearts start adoption groups and find out they don’t have enough money. So, we stepped in.” The Grapehound draws 300 to 400 folks with their stately four-legged companions. Because of their sweet dispositions, many area B&Bs and even hotels allow greyhounds, often not allowing 38

any other pets the rest of the year. Their gentleness also helps keep the event low key. “It’s a place where people can relax with their beautiful dogs and share time with other greyhound adopters,” Larry says. A ticket to the Grapehound is thirty dollars, which includes ten tasting passes at participating wineries, a commemorative wine glass, and other souvenir items in a tote bag. Participants come from all over the East Coast and as far west as Chicago. “The dogs are so well mannered, it is beyond comprehension,” says Atwater owner Ted Marks. “We can have 300 dogs there and we don’t hear a sound. It’s unbelievable. They sit right next to each other and they all get along.” That’s no surprise to Larry and Susie Bowersox, whose family includes four greyhounds. “It’s all about the dogs,” Larry concurs. “The other aspect that I’m real big

CAPTAIN BILL’S SENECA LAKE CRUISES Put some fun back in your life! MONDAYS Craft Beer Cruise

A scenic 1.5 hour cruise pairing local craft beer with artisan cheese selections—hosted by a local brewer.

TUESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Courtesy Grapehound Wine Tour

Our 3-hour traditional full-service seated dinner cruise. Join us for the best prime rib on land or sea. This is a cruise for relaxing and embracing summer. Dinner Menu: Chicken gumbo, fresh garden salad, and dinner rolls. Entrée Choices: Prime rib of Beef au jus, Surf & Turf, Stuffed Cornish Game Hen, Scallops in a Wine & Mushroom Sauce, or Eggplant Parmesan Dessert. New York Style Cheesecake topped with Strawberries.

on is that we promote the region. We bring people to the Finger Lakes with their greyhounds who would never come but for this event. They all need hotel rooms. They all buy wine. It’s a small event, but it’s a nice economic boost for the Watkins Glen, Geneva, Waterloo areas, you know?” “I would be less than honest if I said that I don’t sell a lot of wine during the whole thing,” smiles Ted Marks. “It’s an extremely good winery group of people.” He agrees, though, that the dogs are what make it. Partial to Italian greyhounds, as his last name might indicate, Mike Cutillo is bullish on the Finger Lakes region, where he has been a full-time journalist for thirtyfive years. When he’s not writing about the wine, food or craft beers in the area, he usually can be found sampling them.

WEDNESDAYS Burgers & Blues Cruise

2 hours of Live Blues and Classic Rock-n-roll on the top deck. Enjoy a casual American picnic buffet with build-your-own Burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and summer salads.

THURSDAYS Country Music Dinner Cruise

This two-hour cruise features live country music on the top deck with our picnic buffet.

SATURDAYS Endless Summer Dinner Cocktail Cruise

A fun and entertaining 3-hour cruise fitting for a Saturday night out. Live entertainment on the top deck featuring the best of classic summer beach music. All of this and our great full service seated dinner menu.

SUNDAYS Afternoon Brunch Buffet Cruise

Spend a lazy summer afternoon with us, and treat your family to this 2-hour fun and relaxing cruise.

WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY Lunch Cruise

Sailing from 12 Noon to 2:00 p.m. Lunch Menu: Fresh Garden Salad and Dinner Rolls. Entrée choices: Hot Roast Beef with Gravy, Sage Stuffed Chicken Breast, Stuffed Sole, or Eggplank Parmeson. Book online at www.senecaharborstation.com

Reserve your table aboard the 270 passenger Seneca Legacy—Sailing from Watkins Glen

For reservations call 607-535-4541 39

Courtesy Thomas T. Taber Museum The watch chain which held entrepreneur Peter Herdic’s gold watch was actually the hair of Mr. Herdic’s first wife, Amanda Taylor Herdic, who died at the age of twenty-seven.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

Victorian Era Death and Mourning at the Thomas T. Taber Museum By Gary W. Parks

he nineteenth century practices surrounding the death of a loved one include some customs that seem macabre, if not downright bizarre. Gone, But Not Forgotten: Death and Mourning in Victorian America, which opened late last month as the summer exhibit at the Thomas T. Taber Museum of the Lycoming County Historical Society, explores exactly that curious territory. Galen Betzer, a wellrespected mortician by trade, curated the exhibit, which continues through Sunday, August 27. Included in the exhibit are several wreaths and jewelry made from human hair. Locks of hair were often incorporated into

earrings, lockets, and brooches, and longer lengths of hair were fashioned into necklaces and watch chains. The watch chain which held entrepreneur Peter Herdic’s gold watch was actually the hair of Mr. Herdic’s first wife, Amanda Taylor Herdic, who died at the age of twenty-seven. Hair wreathes were larger productions, often created from the hair of numerous family members and made into flowers, leaves, and other items depicting natural objects. Alternatively, mourners wore jewelry composed of jet or ebony. Stationery and accompanying envelopes were bordered in black. Even the home appeared to mourn the loss of a family member. Chandeliers and mirrors were

draped in black gauze, thus diminishing the sparkling light of the girandoles, the crystal pendants on the chandelier, and the reflective qualities of the mirror. Photographing the dead was a common practice. Child mortality rates were still comparatively high during the nineteenth century, and the parents’ last opportunity to have a visual remembrance of their child before burial was the photographic record. The child was often photographed within the coffin. On display from the Betzer Collection are a child’s hearse, painted white, and thus declaring the purity of the child. Tombstones for children often See Forgotten on page 42

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There’s always something happening in Hammondsport! July 8-9: Keuka Lake Art Show July 15-16: Wine Country Classic Boats’ Boat Show & Regatta

July & August: The Palettes of Keuka area art display Music in the Park: 6p-8p every Thursday in the Village Square

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Finger Lakes Boating Museum 607-569-2222 www.ﬂbm.org

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Hours: April 1 – October 31 10 AM – 5 PM November 1 – March 31 10 AM – 4 PM 41

Forgotten continued from page 40

depicted the figure of a lamb, innocent like the child, on top of the stone. Social mores and etiquette dictated very strict behavioral protocols for individuals following the death of a family member. Perhaps these were inspired by the personal mourning of England’s Queen Victoria. The young queen, only eighteen when she ascended the throne in 1837, married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-CoburgGotha, in February 1840. He succumbed to typhoid fever in December 1861 after the royal couple produced nine children and shared twenty-one years of marriage. As was the custom, Victoria immediately donned widow’s weeds—black clothing with no embellishment. However, instead of gradually emerging from mourning after a respectful two years, she wore black for the remainder of her forty years on earth. Prince Albert’s chambers were left exactly as they appeared on the day of his death. Fresh hot water was supplied every morning for his daily shave. Queen Victoria remained in seclusion, rarely seen in public, for ten years. Most women would likely have been grief-stricken, but were not in royal

circumstances and would need to move on with the business of their lives. With new responsibilities of household management, the duties of child-rearing, and possibly entering the work force, practicality took over and the women simply had to adjust to their altered lifestyle. Mourning in the United States achieved national status with the outpouring of grief over the death of George Washington in December 1799. Silk handkerchiefs, needlework memorials, ceramics, and medallions were produced and displayed within households. Abraham Lincoln’s death, of course sparked a similar period of national mourning, with Lincoln’s funeral train making two stops in Pennsylvania— Harrisburg at the state Capitol building and in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. The exhibit at the Thomas T. Taber Museum will include a number of items associated with the undertaking trade, including an embalming table and an ice coffin. During the winter months, the ground was frozen and it was virtually impossible to dig a grave. Thus, a corpse might be placed “on ice” and stored in

an appropriate repository until the grave could be dug. As towns became populated and decaying bodies could not only potentially contaminate water supplies but also create other unpleasant situations, the rural cemetery movement took hold and cemeteries were established outside of town. Begun in 1863, Wildwood Cemetery in Williamsport is an excellent example of that trend. The burials were made among trees and other flora; garden benches were placed in order that mourners might reflect on the brevity of life. People often took picnic lunches to dine among their ancestors. The museum is open for touring Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., and on Sundays from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Group tours are available by prior arrangement. Ample parking may be found behind the museum or on the street. For further information, contact the museum at (570) 326-3326 or visit www.tabermuseum.org. Gary Parks is the Executive Director of the Thomas T. Taber Museum.

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DRINK Courtesy: Hachette Book Group

FOOD

I Love The I Hate to Cook Book

And, After Fifty Years, It Still Serves Up Tasty Food and a Lot of Laughs By Cornelius O’Donnell

t’s hard to believe Peg Bracken’s bestseller The I Hate to Cook Book turns fifty this year. Though it certainly was a sensation in its day, I honestly don’t remember my mother owning a copy. That’s because I think in my heart of hearts that Mom really loved to cook. Most of her recipes came out of her head, not from a page. Still, I have a vague memory of women talking about The I Hate to Cook Book—and cooking from it. What I never knew until the past few weeks was just how enjoyable

a read it was. I mean I want to use that overused LOL term here. And along the merry way you’ll find some good ideas and perhaps a perfect dish for that next family or company meal. Peg’s even mad for leftovers—one chapter is subtitled “The Leftovers; or why every family needs a dog.” High Above the Pacific’s Waters I remember a trip from my friend’s cooking school in San Francisco across the Golden Gate and north along the shore

route to Point Reyes to pick up some fresh oysters for a menu we were teaching (well, she taught, and I opened oysters). As we passed the little village of Stinson Beach, my friend pointed to a house on the hill and informed me that Peg Bracken lived there and had a kitchen with the most incredible view. I regret I’ve never met her. Anyone who could come up with this preface for Stayabed Stew is someone I’d like to sit next to at dinner: “This is for those days when:

en negligee, en bed, with a murder story and a box of bonbons, or possibly a good case of flu.” You toss all the ingredients together (they include tomato soup and beef stew meat), place in a casserole dish with a tight-fitting cover and into a 275-degree oven, then “go back to bed. It will cook happily all by itself and be done in five hours.” Remember, these were the pre-slow cooker days. Another priceless line is her introduction to the Hootenhollar Whisky Cake. “First take the whisky out of the cupboard, and have a small snort for medicinal purposes.” Then, to keep it (the cake, that is) revved up, she recommends stabbing it with an ice pick occasionally and “injecting it with a little more whisky with an eyedropper.” She characterizes bringing Whisky Cake to a potluck as a “shrewd move…because you can make it six months ago.” More Fun with Food While I chuckled my way through the prose in the book, and thoroughly enjoyed the super-charming illustrations by Hillary Knight, I did come upon some good tips for better cooking. What a mash-up! For instance, I never thought to put a dab of jarred bouillon or a bouillon cube in pasta or vegetable cooking water. And a judicious pinch of sugar can bring out flavor in a just-cooked vegetable. I found a real howler on page twelve—the description of a little girl who went for sandwiches of saltine crackers on bread. “I think she grew up to be a hospital dietician,” quips the author. Garnishing is simple, too, according to Peg. Just put light things on dark things, like Parmesan on spinach, and dark on light, like parsley on sole. Most of the desserts in the book are fresh fruit jazzed up with some sort of spirit, such as sherry. I loved her tip under Afterthought Cookies. When you’re not up to baking for children, she says, “spread confectioners’ sugar moistened with cream and vanilla between graham crackers.”

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Try Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Cook’s Wild Rice 1 c. wild rice (not the mixed with white rice version) 3 c. boiling water Salt (I like Malden salt) 1 middle-size chopped onion (or 6 chopped green onions) 1 stick of butter (4 oz.) ½ c. grated Parmesan (try to use the imported stuff) 6 strips of low-sodium bacon, fried and crumbled Wash the rice, being careful not to let one little platinumplated grain go down the drain. Add it with the chopped onion to the boiling water. Simmer until the water is absorbed—about thirty-five minutes. Now mix in the melted butter and Parmesan. This will sit contentedly for hours in the top of a double boiler if it has to. Just before serving, mix in most of the chopped bacon and sprinkle the rest on top. This recipe is a great accompaniment for a rare steak fresh from the outdoor grill. And, with a first name like Cornelius, I feel a kinship with the family involved (if only it was financially rewarding). Chef, teacher, author, and award-winning columnist Cornelius O’Donnell lives in Elmira, New York.

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Our Courthouse Bell

istory lives in Tioga County’s communities, and the locals—whether they are first generation or can claim some higher number—are justifiably proud of that. In Wellsboro, the county seat, the Tioga County Courthouse is one of the buildings epitomizing the past incarnate. The old section has been well maintained since its construction in 1835; the upstairs courtroom must surely be one of the most stately and elegant in the Commonwealth. These days, visitors must access the building via the recently completed security entrance, which then opens into the lobby of the newer section. There, an 800-pound bit of history awaits. It’s not the Liberty Bell, but it could be construed, perhaps, to be the Liberty Bell’s cousin, maybe once or twice removed. This bell was cast by Germantown resident John Wilbank, who had been contracted in 1828 by the city of Philadelphia to cast a replacement for the famously cracked Liberty Bell, which he did. The story goes that he was given the cracked bell as part of his payment and was to remove it from the clock tower; he balked at what that would have cost him, however. So, in return for the city dropping its breach of contract suit against him, he cast the 4,000-pound Liberty Bell replacement, gave it to the city, and the cracked bell was spared the fate of being melted. There doesn’t seem to be any information about how Mr. Wilbank came to be commissioned for casting the Courthouse bell, but there is some about the bell itself. It had a very distinctive, melodious tone, and could be heard from great distances. It was, of course, rung to convene court sessions, but also tolled for special occasions such as the Fourth of July and Washington’s birthday. According to one account, it was “rung at intervals” to announce political and other civic meetings at the Courthouse, including an 1838 Whig Party meeting. Tioga County Commissioner Erick Coolidge and Chief Clerk Derek Williams explain that during building renovations the Courthouse bell tower was found to be in poor condition, which put the bell itself in danger. After some discussion, the decision was made to remove the bell and have it professionally refurbished. It was, as Erick says, a commitment to maintain “the grandeur of what the Courthouse means and an investment in our history.” ~Gayle Morrowmm

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www.hearthstonehomes.com

1127 Corporate Drive East Farmington, NY 14425

585-421-0203

WWW.HOMEPOWERSYSTEMS.NET

Classic 1884 Italianate Victorian

FOR SALE BY OWNER

Farmer & Farmer Contracting 240 Fairview Road, Erin, NY 14838 • farmerfarmercontracting@gmail.com

(607) 483-5159

LEAD CERTIFIED • REMODELING • REPAIRS • DEMOLITION RESIDENTIAL & LIGHT COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION Mon-Fri: 7am-7pm; Sat: 9am-Noon

Reasonably Priced Quality Work!

10% Senior Discount on Labor! FULLY INSURED — FREE ESTIMATES

www.FarmerFarmerContracting.com 48

Soaring ceilings, original wood floors and woodwork! 4,000+ sq. ft. home in downtown Tioga, PA (26 minutes from Corning, NY). 13 rooms include parlor, living room, kitchen, dining room, 6 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a pantry; ample closet space; .86 acres (115’ x 325’ lot). New heating system and siding. Ready to be transformed into your dream house.

119,500 • CALL (570) 724-6478

The Mountain Home team is expanding and is searching for dynamic individuals to add to our full or part-time New York outside sales team.

Calling For

OUTSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVES The successful candidate must demonstrate the following: • An outgoing, customer-centric attitude towards sales • An ability to work in a fast-paced, detail oriented environment • A drive to succeed and achieve through a strong work ethic

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Mountain Home

SERVICE DIRECTORY

CPHARMACY ooke’s

COINS BOUGHT Old Time Collections & Estates

Prescriptions In-Town Delivery 570-297-2848 14 Elmira Street Troy, PA 16947

Safe Deposit Box Visits Made References at: www.coinsbought.com E-mail at: gene@coinsbought.com

Buying Coins

Gene Lane PO Box 221 Burdett, NY 14818 607-342-3606 I have collected coins for 57 years

Experience Glassmaking!

We Offer: • Competitive Commission Plan • Paid Vacation • Mileage Reimbursement A reliable means of transportation and a clean driving record is required.

All ages welcome! Call: 607-962-3044 124 Crystal Lane Corning, NY

Please submit your resume and compensation requirements to:

advertising@mountainhomemag.com

www.handsonglass.com

Liberty book Shop 1 East Park St., Avis, PA 17721 • 570-753-5201 www.TheLibertyBookShop.com Used, Rare and Out-of-Print Books. Your source for unusual books on any subject. Browse our in-stock selection of over 40,000 hardcover books and paperbacks.

Free National Search Service for books not in print. Worldwide shipping! HOURS: Thurs & Fri 10-6; Sat 10-3

(or by appointment, feel free to just call)

SHOPPING

87-1/2 Main Street Wellsboro, PA 16901

HANDCRAFTED RECLAIMED FURNITURE DESIGN

Morris Chair Shop

Hillside Haven Rustics

54 Windsor Ln., Morris, PA 16938 (570) 353-2735 www.MorrisChairShop.com

Trout Run, PA (570) 998-9525 Email: scskneff@aol.com Ne

Shop in our New Webstore too!

w& Im pro ved hi Ve cle Lis tin

Matthews Motor Company is a family owned and operated full service car dealership. We have an on-site NAPA Service Center and a AAA Approved Body Shop. We also have the largest Car Rental Fleet in Tioga County. County.

gs!

Visit our Website at

www.matthewsmotorcompany.com

25 Main St. Wellsboro, PA 570-723-4263 www.popscultureshoppe.com 49

B A C K O F T H E M O U N TA I N

O Long May It Wave By Bernadette Chiaramonte

While on a ride in the country, I spotted the amazing sky first, and then the flag! It brought to mind this poem: I love Old Glory, the way that she flies, Her gentle swaying against the skies, Her color so vivid, the red, the white, and the blue, To a flag so majestic, respect is due. 50

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9 E. Pulteney Street, Corning’s Gaffer District, 9 E. Pulteney Street, Corning’s Gaffer (607) 377-5559

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District, (607) 377 5559

MEDICAL & REHABILITATION SPORTS & CONDITIONING PREGNANCY & HEALING ROCK TAPING & SHIATSU DEEP TISSUE & TRIGGER POINT THERAPY CHIROPRACTIC AND NUTRITION Now offering Yoga - Download our app for class schedules,

massage appointments and more!

Together means a new level of innovation and advanced care. At Susquehanna Health, we have a proud history of caring for the community and putting the needs of our patients first. That tradition of service and excellence continues as we merge with UPMC. Our affiliation with UPMC, ranked as one of the best hospitals in the nation, is based on shared values and a mission to provide compassionate, personalized care to the people we serve. Now as UPMC Susquehanna, we are able to bring a new level of innovation and advanced care to you and your family. For more information, visit UPMCSusquehanna.org