Columbia/Hellam/Wrightsville townlively.com
JUNE 4, 2025
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LXVI • NO 14
Art, Craft The Farm That Fought and Yard Sale Will Offer for Freedom Unique Treasures
BY CAT SHANNON
BY CAT SHANNON
Pick up a bargain or a oneof-a-kind handcrafted item and support the local community at the same time by attending the Holy Trinity Art, Craft and Yard Sale. The event is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
on Saturday, June 7, at Janson Park, located at 650 Cherry St. in Columbia. Ho s t e d b y Ho l y Tr i n i t y Catholic Church, the show will offer something for everyone, according to event coordinator Janelle Schlosser. “We have over 70 vendors and See Sale pg 2
People enjoy a previous year’s Holy Trinity Art, Craft and Yard Sale.
Pete Miele in a barn that will become an interactive visitor’s center. Photo by Cat Shannon
home. The soldiers soon encountered Union troops stationed near the Susquehanna River, who retreated to the Lancaster County side before famously burning the bridge to halt the Confederates’ advance. Determined to promote the history and heritage, Miele is enthusiastically overseeing the project that will take a decade to complete. It’s a plan that almost ended before it even began, he noted.
Locations around the farm were slowly filling up with warehouses, and what started as a grassroots effort to save the farm from development soon turned into a full-fledged project to protect the property. In 2017, SNHA, along with partners Preservation Pennsylvania and The Conservation Fund (TCF), began working together to preserve the site for future generations. In April 2022, TCF purchased the 87 acres, and in 2023,
Elks Lodge Will Host Flag Day Ceremony BY CAT SHANNON
More than 100 years ago, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks began holding an annual observance of Flag Day. The Columbia-Middletown Elks 1074 will continue the tradition when it hosts its Flag Day ceremony in the gazebo in Locust Street Park, 550 Locust St., Columbia, on Sunday, June 8, at 1 p.m. “The Elks officers and trustees, led by Exalted Ruler Sue
Luttman, will present the Elks Flag Day ceremony to celebrate the history of our country’s flag,” explained Robin Gamby, chair of the event. Members of the Frontier Girls, Boy Scout Troop 35 and Columbia Cub Pack 35 will assist with the ceremony. “Our guest speaker will be William ‘Bill’ Terry,” Gamby shared. “Bill is a 21-year retired U.S. Navy medical deep-sea diver. Bill is also involved with the Lancaster County Navy Club
See Farm pg 4
See Flag Day pg 4
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ust off Route 30 in Wrightsville, 87 acres of land hold hundreds of years of history. Now, thanks to the efforts of the Susquehanna National Heritage Area (SNHA), that history will come back to life. Work is underway to transform the Mifflin farm into the multi-million-dollar Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park, a destination designed to tell the nationally important stories of York and Lancaster counties. Recently, the site at 202 Cool Springs Road was added to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. Pete Miele, senior project leader, explained that the first white settlers on the land were Jonathan and Susanna Mifflin, who were Quakers. In the early part of the 19th century, the couple played an important role in the Underground Railroad. “Pretty quickly after they move here, they begin to shelter freedom seekers who are escaping slavery,” Miele said, noting that the Mifflins helped guide people to freedom up until the early 1840s. “This is really early Underground Railroad activity. The term ‘Underground Railroad’ didn’t really even come into being until the 1840s. If you said, ‘Underground Railroad’ to Jonathan and Susanna Mifflin, they wouldn’t have known what you were talking about.” T h e fa r m a l s o p l aye d a n important role in the Civil War. On June 28, 1863, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon ordered artillery to the front yard of the
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