Lou’s View – June 2, 2016
Walking Through Lock Haven
by Lou Bernard
Every summer, I can be seen on Friday evenings, walking through town, pointing at buildings and talking very loudly. If you guessed that I am an insane homeless person, that would be reasonable, except I have people following me and listening. The more accurate theory would be that I am giving local walking tours, teaching people about our local history.
I do this every year, on Friday evenings at seven PM. Each tour begins at the Ross Library and takes about an hour, so if you’re a local resident who wants to learn about history, meet me there and come along. Also if you’re a visitor who happened to pick up the Record in a hotel or something. Everyone’s invited. It’s free.
I’ve been doing this every summer since 2011 (I think.) It’s gotten to be quite a fun, popular summer staple in Lock Haven, but let’s be real—The specific buildings don’t change much from year to year. So it may not exactly shock you to find out that I’ve tended to repeat myself. However, if you’re planning on staying home because you took the tour back in 2012, you may want to rethink that. I do a little more research every year, and find out some new things. So there’s always new, fascinating stuff to learn.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a small sample of what I have coming up this year.
The secrets of the post office. The Lock Haven Post Office has a lot of cool secrets for a boring federal building. One of them you can see very easily—A secret code above the door. The carving of leaves and plants actually has a coded meaning, which you can learn about on my tour. A recently discovered article from 1921 mentions “secret stairways” in the post office that were used to spy on potential thieves, and I’ll be talking about that, too.
The moving, talking monument. About a million people drive by the Civil War monument on Bellefonte Avenue every day without ever thinking about its history, which did not begin in the current location. It was built in 1908 at the end of present-day Triangle Park, and moved in 1969 as part of an urban renewal program. In the early 1900s, the Clinton County Times, which never met a bizarre stunt it didn’t love, had a reporter interview the stone soldiers and write articles on their views and experiences. You wouldn’t think a stone Civil War veteran would have so much to say, but believe me, these guys got chatty. You can hear all about it on the tour.
Ice cream in the street. Go on over to the corner at Main Street and Fallon Alley. Stand on the sidewalk and look down. You’ll see it—There is a block of marble, colored like Neapolitan ice cream, embedded in the sidewalk beneath your feet. There’s a story behind it….Want to hear it? Great! I’ll see you on the tour.
The movie in Lock Haven. In 1928, Hollywood director Salvador Cudia came to Lock Haven with the intent of making a movie based on local history. In the end, it was filled with bad guys and car crashes, which have nothing to do with local history, but it was pretty awesome anyway. The movie was called “For The Love Of Helen,” and I’ve got a tour based on it. I’ll be pointing out the scenes used in the film, and the locations where the stars lived, just like in Hollywood.
All new murders! You wouldn’t think murder would be all that much of a selling point, but there are some fascinating stories out there. This year’s tour will include at least one of them—I’ve recently discovered the story of a local murder where odd things happened at the funeral, which pointed the finger at the killer.
Doctors without boarders. Every year, the state library association inflicts a theme upon us, and I try to hold a tour that’s tailored to match. With this year’s theme of “Health and Wellness,” I thought a tour of the local medical industry would be good. You’ll learn about the doctor who broke racial barriers in World War I, the private detective who became an insurance agent, the dentist who had a second career as an archaeologist, and the hospital with a connection to movie cowboys.
There are a lot of cool stories within these city limits.
If you’re interested in them, come along on my tours. I’ll see you there.
