Greater
May 15, 2008
The
regular meeting of the Greater Dover Historical Society was called to order by Vice
President Kay Stitley at 7:13 p.m. at the
Vice
President Stitley stated she was opening the meeting because President Shermeyer and Gayle
Heagy were at the Schultz House in
Vice
President Stitley presented the April 2008 minutes and asked for any additions or
corrections to the minutes. A motion to accept
the minutes as presented was made by Ron Botterbusch and seconded by Joyce Law. All voted in favor and motion passed.
TREASURER’S
REPORT
The
treasurer’s report for April 2008 was presented by Joyce Law:
Balance as
of April 1, 2008
$10,053.84
Deposits
for April
.41
Expenses
for April
84.59
Balance as
of April 30, 2008
$ 9,969.66
There was
a motion by Larry Law to approve the treasurer’s report as presented and seconded by
Norma Botterbusch. All voted in favor and
motion passed.
Archivist
Report -- Dr. Drawbaugh was absent. Assistant
Archivist Gayle Heagy reported she did not receive any new items. Gayle stated she was in contact with Don Snelbecker
regarding storage for the timbers from the shed in his large barn and he would not permit
the Society to use his barn to store the timbers. Gayle
reported she met Carol Jones tonight at the Historic York ceremony. Carol has a wonderful large barn across from the
Race Horse Tavern on
Webpage
Report – Brett Pfleiger was not present at the meeting. No report.
Historian
Report – Cindy Snyder was not present at the meeting.
No report.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Blood Root
-- President Shermeyer did not have any updates to report.
Adopt-a-Highway
– Melanie Green reported the next pickup date will be June 7 at 8:00am. She encouraged members to sign up to help.
Board of Directors’ report
Gayle
Heagy reported that she and President Shermeyer attended the Historic York Preservation
Awards ceremony to accept the award for the Society. It
is a glass block with a small plaque on it reading “Historic York Inc., 2007
Preservation Award, Dover Area Historical Society”.
The ceremony was held at the Schultz House on
OLD
BUSINESS
Dover
Firemen’s Fair -- Vice President Stitley stated she and the Kochs graciously agreed to
co-chair this year. We will need items to put
into the display boxes. Ron Botterbusch
brought in 3 new display boxes and unfortunately 1 box had the glass broken. Mr. Botterbusch will get the glass replaced. A sign-up sheet for volunteers to work at the stand
will be available at the June meeting.
Jailhouse
marker – President Shermeyer reported she spoke to Don Baughman who informed her it was
installed a week ago. President Shermeyer
placed the rough brick around the marker along with some red landscaping stones inside the
fence.
July 17
picnic – President Shermeyer stated she verified the Society’s reservation of the
pavilion at
Other
Old Business: Vice President Stitley
reminded the members about the West Manchester Township Historical Society meeting on
Monday at 7pm where Mr. Billet will do a presentation on covered bridges.
Ron
Botterbusch asked if the 3 new display cases can be stored in the archive storage shed. Gayle said yes.
Vice
President Stitley reported the wrought iron security door at the shed was installed at the
end of April by Bob Stitley. Vice
President Stitley said Gayle Heagy has the key and the shed is very secure now with the
new door locks on the side door and large garage door, as well as the security motion
light on the blacksmith shop. Gayle Heagy
mentioned there are a lot of new flowers blooming at the shed and President Shermeyer
agreed the flowers look lovely. Vice President
Stitley stated Jo Ott has a friend who owns a day lily farm in New Cumberland. Jo and Lucia will be setting up a date to visit the
farm and pick out several plants which will be donated to the Society by Jo’s friend.
Joyce Law
reported on a final report she prepared on the Historical Walk of Dover Borough. Joyce took a CD to Maureen App to post to the
website, but she could not access the website because of the updates to be done by Brett
Pfleiger. Joyce has a hard copy of the report
if any member would like to review it and she gave a CD copy to Gayle Heagy for the
archives.
Jo Ott and
Vice President Stitley reported on the blacksmith shop open hours on Saturday. There were 19 signatures in the guestbook,
including members. There were 11 visitors. Vice President Stitley reported that 2 women and a
young boy visited toward the end of the open hours. The
boy was very interested in Ted’s work and learning about blacksmithing. Vice President Stitley said they expressed an
interest in coming back to the blacksmith shop and Norma invited them to attend the
historic walk.
President
Shermeyer reported there are a couple changes to be made to the pen and ink drawing of the
blacksmith shop – remove the flower pots and some shading.
The light and “beware of dog” sign have already been removed. Gayle Heagy stated in order to prevent blurring of
the drawing when it is reprinted, it will have to be drawn on a larger scale. President Shermeyer asked about adding some trees
and Gayle said he removed the trees because they looked very small and stubby. A sample of the drawing was passed around for the
members to review and make comments.
Vice
President Stitley reminded members of the annual Historical Walk on June 17 at 6pm
starting at the blacksmith shop. Ted will be
working at the forge. Vice President Stitley
asked for volunteers to bring snacks and drinks. The
secretary will send an email to all members to remind them of the walk and will try to get
an article to Joan Concilio to put in the newspaper.
Larry Law
stated that Ted is requesting a narrator to be present for the blacksmith shop open hours
so he does not have to stop and talk to visitors. Vice
President Stitley stated that is the purpose of the photos and pamphlets so Ted can
concentrate on his work. Joyce Law said those
items do not explain everything. President
Shermeyer stated the photos and pamphlets do explain everything from the start to when Ted
starts forging. President Shermeyer said Ted
told Jo Ott the same steps he told Lisa Byerts so he should not have to stop working. Jo Ott is there to answer any questions, but Jo
stated Ted does talk to visitors while he is working.
Ted stated he feels he needs to talk and greet the visitors and explain why
the blacksmith shop is here. Jo Ott stated she
and other volunteers are at the table inside the door when visitors arrive so they can
greet them, ask visitors to sign the guestbook and point out items available for sale. Jo stated people tend to gravitate to watch Ted
more closely and he talks to the visitors. Ted
wants a narrator there to explain each step he does when forging an item. After several minutes of discussion, Ron
Botterbusch suggested a sign be placed near the forge asking visitors not to disturb the
blacksmith and direct questions to the narrator; we could provide an ID badge for Jo Ott;
Jo could describe what Ted is in the process of forging when visitors enter the blacksmith
shop. The informational pamphlets should be
handed out to visitors upon entering the blacksmith shop.
It was suggested by President Shermeyer that we continue the current plan
for another month to see how it goes. We can
revisit this issue after the June open hours. Jo
Ott stated she will continue to work with Joan Concilio at the Weekly Record to get
coverage in the newspapers for the open hours and Vice President Stitley stated the sign
boards posted to direct guests to the blacksmith shop in
There
being no further questions or any suggestions from the membership, the meeting was
adjourned at 8:25 pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Lori Koch
GDHS
secretary