Thanksgiving Valley

1. ANCESTORS AND ORIGINS: Susquehannocks, Petroglyphs, the Susquehanna and Codorus (run with the rapids) waterways named and worshipped by Native Americans. John Smith’s voyage to the Chesapeake and mouth of the Susquehanna. Monocacy Road — the old Native American road bisecting, from Hanover to Wrightsville, York County that later served as an Underground Railroad route. Extermination of Susquehannocks through disease and war.

2. A FRONTIER OF NO MAN’S LANDS AND NO BORDERS. Cresap’s War. Thomas Cresap’s claim that Wrightsville was Lord Calvert’s territory and part of Maryland. Protestants versus Catholics. Rogues Roost in Hanover— a no man’s land beyond the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania and Maryland constables and haven for those fleeing taxes. Temporary line between the two colonies drawn in 1739. Creation of the Mason-Dixon Line: 1763-1767. Replica of Mason-Dixon Marker.

3. CREATION OF A NATION. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: Thomas Jefferson trekking through and staying in York County — Hanover, York, Wrightsville on old Monocacy Road — on his way to write the Declaration of Independence. York’s James Smith — signer of Declaration of Independence and Pennsylvania Constitution. 9 Months in York Town. Lafayette and the Toast. First treaty with France. First Thanksgiving Proclamation.

4. THE PARADOX OF LIBERTY AND WHAT IS A CITIZEN? Brief history of slavery and indentured servitude. Declaration of Independence uses words “inherent and unalienable” to describe the rights of men. The final text of the Declaration takes out the word “inherent.” The Declaration uses the phrases “one people”, “mankind”, “all men”, “People”, and “the good People of these Colonies.” York’s Articles of Confederation uses the phrase “free inhabitants.” Pennsylvania becomes first state of the union to pass a law gradually outlawing slavery (1780). The U.S. Constitution of 1787 uses the phrase “We the people.” The original Constitution defines blacks as 3/5ths of a citizen for determining representation, and only white, land-owning men can vote. Definition of “citizen” and post-Civil War Amendments to the Constitution (13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments).

5. THE GREAT LAW OF PEACE AND FOUR AMERICAN GOSPELS. High quality haloed replicas of Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. Explore Smithsonian-approved regulations so the Center can borrow and display an original copy of the Articles of Confederation from the National Archives from time to time. Explore the connections to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Nation) Confederacy and its Great Law of Peace, Benjamin Franklin’s Plan of Union of 1754, and Franklin’s Articles of Confederation of 1775. John Dickinson’s ‪1776‬ Articles of Confederation, which included federal civil rights protections, borrowed heavily from Franklin’s work. The Declaration of Independence derailed Dickinson’s document because the Declaration called for freeing us from Great Britain, without addressing the more difficult issues of defining federal power or organizing a government. The York drafted and adopted Articles of Confederation of 1777 was the nation’s first Constitution and a necessary forerunner to the Constitution. Jefferson trekked through and stayed in York County on his way to Philadelphia, where he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln stopped at Hanover Junction and stopped and spoke in Hanover on his way to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

6. QUEST FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. York County’s early diverse Protestant and deistic roots — Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Methodists, Brethren, Baptists, Quakers, Amish, Jewish, influx of Catholicism, later offshoots, and today’s burgeoning diversity. Amanda Berry Smith, who gained her freedom and became a baptized Methodist in Shrewsbury, where her church stands today. Later a member of the African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) Church, she is one of the most accomplished female Evangelists in America.

7. SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION. “The Great Commoner” Thaddeus Stevens begins his professional career in York at the York Academy. Thaddeus Stevens as champion of public schools and the oppressed. Underground Railroad county-wide: William Goodridge, Osborne Perry and John Brown’s raid. Samuel Berry bought his and his family’s freedom in northern Maryland before moving to Shrewsbury, where he became an important conductor of the Underground Railroad and was beaten for his activism. William C. Goodridge House, store and trains. Wright’s Mansion, Wrightsville. Mifflin House. Samuel Willis House. Kirk-Griest house, 322 West Market (Griest was a Quaker and helpful friend of URR traffic northward up Newberry Street onto Sprenkle Farm and onto Lewisberry). Site of former Jacob Wirt House in Hanover. Fugitive Slave Act and Prigg vs Pennsylvania (facts of this landmark case of 1842 originated in York County). Young industrialist phenom A.B. Farquhar and Surrender of York during Civil War. First battle on free soil —Battle of Hanover. Burning of Wrightsville Bridge.

8. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION & INNOVATION. Focus on innovation, inventions, and hard labor.

9. THE SECOND MIGRATION: Blacks in York County. Black churches, schools, culture, and leaders.

10. GERMAN SUPERSTITIONS AND RITUALS: John George Hohman’s “Long Lost Friend.” Pow wow doctors and the Hex Murder. Belsnickel. Krampus.

11. A LIVING LEGACY OF PATRIOTISM: Revolution: Nearly 20 percent of a County population of about 25,000 answered the call to arms. World War 1, World War II, The York Plan, Gen Devers: four-star general, Four Chaplains. Korea. Vietnam. Current wars.

12. LITTLE FIEFDOMS AND POST WAR BORDERS. 72 municipalities in York County and 16 school districts. York City’s elementary schools were segregated until Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Green zones (federally preferred mortgage zones that exclude black inner-city neighborhoods). Red-lining (the systematic practice of rejecting mortgages or loans to black individuals or neighborhoods). Racist deed restrictions. White flight to the suburbs and creation of new school districts: Central School District created in 1952 and York Suburban School District created in 1958. No forced bussing enforced in York County in the 1970s.

13. OPPRESSION AND THE UPRISINGS. Mayor Snyder’s decision to not annex parts of Route 30, thus making York City one of the smaller cities by land mass in the nation to this day and one with a large proportion of tax exempt properties. Extreme segregation, concentrated poverty, and slums in 1950s and 60s. Complaints by citizens for bi-racial police force. Police German shepherds on K-9 patrols. Raids on black neighborhoods. National Guard Tank. The murders of Officer Henry Schaad and Lillie Belle Allen in 1969. Murders solved after 30 years. Exhibits: images of Allen’s bullet-riddled car and Schaad’s armored truck. 60-plus injured. 100-plus arrested. Whole blocks burned. The most violent riot per capita in the nation after the MLK assassination. Source: “Murder on Newberry Street,” People Magazine Investigates (2018). Hanover Riots of 1991: 60-plus arrested; state troopers called in; state of emergency. York’s steps toward healing: settlement of civil lawsuit and placement of memorial benches during administration of John S. Brenner.