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.

Nature Nurtures ...

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

                   ~ Anatole France

                         ~ 1844-1924

For the first time I captured a sweet baby bison nursing from its mother on a beautiful mid-July afternoon at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. This is one of two American Bison calves born this spring at the preserve, where bison live as a herd on the hillsides of the 1,100-acre preserve’s Central Range.

When the late General Harry C. Trexler established the preserve in the early 1900s, he did it to save the American bison, elk and white-tailed deer from extinction and assure the species’ survival.

A conservationist along the lines of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, General Trexler understood the importance of nature and preserving wildlife in its natural habitat.

A successful businessman who amassed a fortune in the timber and cement industries and founded the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, General Trexler began purchasing small farms in the low hills of Lehigh County in 1906. By 1913, he had transported eight bison and 20 Virginia white-tailed deer to the preserve. The elk followed soon after.

When General Trexler died in 1933, he bequeathed the property to the residents of Lehigh County. Today, the Trexler Nature Preserve is open to the public for passive recreation and nature watching.

The American Bison was designated the first national mammal of the United States on May 9, 2016. The majestic bison joins the bald eagle as a national symbol.

Don't Fence Me In ...

“Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above

Don’t fence me in

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love

Don’t fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze

And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees

Send me off forever but I ask you please

Don’t fence me in …”

   ~ “Don’t Fence Me In”

     ~ popular American song written in 1934, with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The song was recorded by artists including Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Kate Smith and Ella Fitzgerald.

 A beautiful white-tailed deer doe slides under a fence on a property along the Saucon Rail Trail, Hellertown, Pennsylvania on a summer afternoon.