Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

I have a new game. Well, it’s a used game, but I personally never owned it before. Chris Miller gave it to me. I think he was just trying to clear out his closet, but I’m pretty happy with the game anyway. It’s a local trivia game, with cards that ask all these Clinton County facts. The only problem is that I can’t find anyone willing to play Clinton County Trivia with me, because they’re afraid that they’ll lose.

So I’m going to do my usual thing, and get a random column out of this. I have a stack of cards here, with over a hundred trivia questions on them. Let me shuffle them—Now let me pick them up off the floor—-And I’ll flip through, and see if maybe I can’t answer a couple of questions and elaborate a bit.

First question: “Who was the subject of a commemorative stamp in 1971 by the Lock Haven Post Office?” That would be the famous artist John Sloan, born in 1851 in a house on Grove Street in Lock Haven.

“What township was once annexed to Lock Haven?” That would be Allison Township. Once one of the biggest townships in the county, the annexation and reversal cut back on its size and made it the smallest. Flemington was annexed and then set free about the same time.

“What instrument did town founder Jerry Church play?” The violin. His parents wouldn’t let him practice in the house, so he would play outside in the barn. Boy, I hope the questions get harder than this.

“For which governor was Clinton County named?” Dewitt Clinton, New York governor. He was a big driving force in the canals, which were one of the big industries in Clinton County in those early days. While we’re on governors, let’s try this one: “What Pennsylvania governor was born in Clinton County?” That would be Daniel Hastings, born in the Salona area.

“What Clinton County borough’s name means to ‘restore’ or ‘renew’?” That’d be Renovo. It’s from the Latin, to the best of my knowledge the only Clinton County community named in Latin. Though Salona was named after a town in Greece, and Castanea is named after the Italian word for “chestnut.” (Both of those are also trivia questions in the game.)

“What Clinton County village was named after a Revolutionary officer who lost his life at the battle of Paoli?” Lamar. Also the township. Major Marion Lamar’s last words were shouting encouragement to his troops before he was shot down. Marion Lamar had nothing to do with Clinton County, but a local judge was a big fan of his and pushed for the name.

“For whom was Lock Haven’s Fallon Hotel built?” That’s Maria Christina, Queen of Spain. There’s a lot of misconceptions about this one, but in 1854, Queen Maria Christina invested money to build the hotel, and a mansion in Farrandsville. And on that note,”How many trips did Spanish Queen Maria Christina make to her Farrandsville mansion?” None. Zero. Though she poured a lot of money into the county, she wound up never visiting.

“How many cemeteries are there in Clinton County?” The answer on the card is seventy-two, but this seems to be a matter of a little debate. There are seventy listed on the county’s official cemetery map, and the Clinton County Genealogical Society has a series of books that also list removed cemeteries and ancient burial grounds, too. So let’s say the official answer is “seventy-ish.”

The game is pretty cool, and I thank Chris for letting me have it. Neat game. Anyone want to play with me? No, I didn’t think so.