Historic Faith ...

“I believe in an America where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.”

            ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

                    ~ 1917-1963

~ 35^th President of the United States of America

                ~ 1960-1963

         & U.S. Navy veteran

   ~Address to the greater

       Houston Ministerial Association

           ~  Sept 12, 1960  

The historic First United Church of Christ of Easton stands as a beacon of faith in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania along the Karl Stirner Arts Trail on a beautiful late October afternoon.

The German Reformed Church was originally constructed at Third and Church Streets in 1775-1776 and was the largest building in Easton at the time. The church congregation’s office building, on Church and Sitgreaves Streets, dates from 1778, and was originally Easton’s second school building. The church served as a Revolutionary War hospital, treating wounded soldiers from the Battles at Brooklyn and Brandywine. It was during this time that George Washington came to the church to visit the wounded. The church was also the site of the Indian Treaty Conference in 1777.

The brick portions were designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, who was the architect of the dome of the United States Capitol and later served as President of the American Institute of Architects from 1876-1887. Known today as the First United Church of Christ of Easton, it stands as the oldest existing church building in the city.

The church has a Star of David in honor of Meyer Hart, Easton’s first Jewish citizen and a contributor to the original church building fund.

The Karl Stirner Arts Trail follows the historic and bucolic Bushkill Creek for 1.75 miles. Though the placement of artwork in a transcendent natural setting, the Arts Trail seeks to stir the public imagination and sense of possibility.

The trail is named for Easton sculptor Karl Stirner, who spent 25 years as a mentor and unofficial real estate agent, ushering aspiring artists to Easton.

The Red House Along The Autumn Canal ...

“The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.”

                             ~ Henry Beston

                                   ~ 1888-1968

The historic Harry Rickert House reflects in the Lehigh Canal on a beautiful autumn afternoon in early November along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail), Weissport, Pennsylvania, where the trail is positioned between the Lehigh River and Lehigh Canal.

Weissport flourished as a Lehigh Canal town until 1942. Diverse goods, coal and people moved along the waterway. Boatyards and a mercantile center in the Harry Rickert House anchored business activity here.

The house itself was built just after the canal was dug and built in 1828. Jacob K. Rickert came to Weissport in the 1850s, and through his son Hiram and grandson Harry, the Rickert’s business continued to operate until the 1950s. Today the stately building is owned by Rod and Jennifer Mann. The house is their home plus a guest house known as “The Canal Side Guest House.”

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

Down By The Old Mill Bridge ...

“My darling I am dreaming of the days gone by,

When you and I were sweethearts beneath the summer sky …

But still I will remember, where I first met you …

Down by the old mill stream where I first met you …

It was there I knew that you loved me true ..”

          ~ “Down by the Old Mill Stream”

           ~ written by Tell Taylor and one of the most popular songs of the early 20^th century. The publisher, Forster Music Publisher, Inc. sold four million copies.

The song was written in 1908 while Taylor was sitting on the banks of the Blanchard River in northwest Ohio in the city of Findlay. Reportedly, Taylor’s friends persuaded him not to publish the song, believing it did not have commercial value. Two years later in 1910, however, the song was published and introduced to the public with the performances by the vaudeville quartet The Orpheus Comedy Four. After the group performed the song at a Woolworth store in Kansas City, it became so popular that the store sold out all one thousand copies of its sheet music Taylor had brought with him. Since then, over four million copies of its sheet music have been sold and it has become a staple for barbershop quartets.

            ~ recorded by artists including Arthur Clough, Harry Macdonough, Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers and Harry James

The Old Mill Bridge is the star of this high contrast monochrome shot I captured on perfect, sun-dappled late August afternoon just off the Saucon Rail Trail, Hellertown, Pennsylvania.

The Saucon Creek streams under the bridge, constructed in 1867 and considered to be one of the earliest dated iron Pratt pony truss structures known in Pennsylvania. The bridge was rebuilt in 1948 and rededicated April 17, 2013.

The Old Mill Bridge is part of the Ehrharts Mill Historic District that appears on the National Register of Historic Places.

First developed as a mill site in the mid-18^th century, the Grist Mill ground wheat from local farmers that was shipped out via the North Penn Railroad, which now serves as the Saucon Rail Trail. The mill was operated by the Ehrhart family from 1820 to 1959 and was destroyed by a fire in 1995.