
The Society has a number of important and exciting projects in progress. Here are some of them:
At the
same time the Society incorporated in 1996, the trustees of the Andrew
Zeigler estate donated a log house on River Street in Dalmatia. When restored,
the house will be headquarters for our library, museum and office. The
house has been vacant for many years and used for storage. Under the able
direction of project leader Bob Maurer we have been working to clean out
accumulated refuse, install new plumbing and lavatory, remove damaged logs
and plaster, install a new electrical service and repaint the tin roof.
We are
also trying to establish the date that this house was built. There were
neighboring houses on River Street from soon after the time Georgetown
(now Dalmatia) was first surveyed in 1798. River Street was originally
the main route through Georgetown between Harrisburg and Sunbury. Cummings
1858 map of Northumberland County shows two houses on Lot Number 20. Tax
records from 1802 mention one house on either Lot 20 (ours) or Lot 21.
Unfortunately, our ancestors did not always record their deeds at the county
courthouse, making it difficult to establish early ownership as well as
date of construction.
So, we
look to the house to tell us about itself. It is of post-and-frame contsruction,
and judging from the variety of logs used, was assembled from parts of
other structures. Our best guess is that the present building was assembled
between 1840 and 1850, . . . but research continues.
Following the success of the Dalmatia Bicentennial Book, we are now collecting data for another history book to cover the entire area of our "jurisdiction." The Society would greatly appreciate the LOAN of any historical photographs (they will be returned unharmed) and any stories or anecdotes pertaining to the following locations:
The village of Georgetown was surveyed by Deputy County Surveyor William Gray in 1798 on land owned by John George Brosius. In 1818 a Post Office was established there, but since there were several other Georgetowns in Pennsylvania, the name "Dalmatia" was chosen by the Postmaster. For many years the village was known by both names. 1998 marks the two-hundredth birthday of the founding of the village, and Linda Erdman and her Bicentennial Committee busy planning the parade and celebration events.
The Dalmatia
Bicentennial Celebration was an overwhclming success!
Bob Fenstermacher and his team of dedicated helpers are busy canvassing the territory from Mahanoy Creek to Mahantongo Creek identify all of the buildings that are at least one hundred years old. Bob is compiling lists of old houses and current residents from Herndon to Pillow to Malta to Paxton to Urban to Red Cross to Leck Hill to Hickory Corners to Klingerstown and everywhere in between. The Society will do its best to encourage preservation and restoration of the historic properties in this region. Too many of the original structures have already been lost.