Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
NOVEMBER 29, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXI • NO 43
Miss Pennsylvania visits Birdsboro library BY FRANCINE FULTON
Youngsters who attended the story time program at the Boone Area Library in Birdsboro on Nov. 15 were treated to a special guest visitor - Miranda Moore, Miss Pennsylvania 2023. Moore read the children a story, answered questions about her reign as Miss Pennsylvania and took time
to pose for photos. Moore was crowned Miss Pennsylvania 2023 in June at the Appell Center for the Performing Arts in York. She will represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at the Miss America competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. At the pageant, which will be nationally televised on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, Moore will compete See Miss Pennsylvania pg 3
Loretta Gable Englerth (second from left) painted a mural in the train room at Tel Hai Retirement Community. The display is maintained by Train Club members, including (from left) Lew Charnock, Lew Weaver and Bruce McCleary.
Tel Hai Train Club sets seasonal open houses BY FRANCINE FULTON
embers of the Train Club at Tel Hai Retirement Community in Honey Brook invite people of all ages to view their train layout during upcoming holiday open houses. The display, which features trains running through realistic miniature communities, will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, Dec. 9 and 16, and Thursday, Dec. 28. The train display, which is located in the StoneCroft Commons on the Tel Hai campus, features HO-, S- and O-gauge railroad cars, as well as a large G-gauge train that runs along the perimeter of the room on a platform built by members of the Tel Hai woodshop club, led by Bruce McCleary, who is also a Train Club member. “The
complete with a snow-covered mountain and skiers. “The G-gauge engine and caboose have lights that flash,” said Charnock, noting that some of the railcars make realistic train sounds. The display is also interactive, which allows visitors to push buttons to light up cars. The train layout features many different scenes, including a fire scene complete with a burning building and firefighters, a Tel Hai car show, where vintage model cars are featured, an oil refinery and Amish farm. “You can spend a lot of time looking at the details,” noted Weaver. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to help with the layout’s upkeep and maintenance. Club members are currently converting the layout to Digital Command
Christmas at Joanna: A holiday tradition BY FRANCINE FULTON
“Families have made our Christmas event their family tradition,” said Mark Zerr, executive director of the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association (HCVHA), when describing Christmas at Joanna, held at Historic Joanna Furnace. “It has become a very popular community event.” This year, HCVHA will present Christmas at Joanna on Friday, Dec. 1, from 5 to 9 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2 and 3, from 4 to 9 p.m. The event will
See Train Club pg 4
feature a live Nativity, children’s activities, a sale of food and beverages and a craft market. Those who visit Christmas at Joanna will be able to see the historic site well in advance as they drive along Route 10, since more than 1,000 glowing luminarias will light the furnace walkways. The luminarias will be lit each evening by Boy Scout Troop 543, Plowville. This year’s Christmas at Joanna event will depict Christmas 1873, when the furnace was operated by the Smith family. During the event, the mule stable will be transformed See Christmas at Joanna pg 6
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gauges are the measure of the track size,” explained train club member Lew Charnock. One wall of the train room features a 20-foot mural depicting a scenic view of the surrounding Chester County countryside that was painted by professional artist Loretta Gable Englerth, a Tel Hai resident. Features of the mural include a pond and farm near the Tel Hai campus, grazing horses and cattle, an Amish farmer and his horse plowing a field, an Amish buggy and geese flying overhead. The club has changed out some of the features of the layout to depict winter scenes just in time for the open houses. “We added a lot of Christmas lights, plus we have an ice skating scene in the middle that is all new,” said McCleary. Also new is a Christmas train and ski area
Library director Mirielle Vasselli (right) and library youth services coordinator Sarah Terry (left) welcome Miranda Moore, Miss Pennsylvania.