Bethlehem's The Sun Inn: The Favorite Haunt of our Founding Fathers

On Main Street in Bethlehem, Pa stands a handsome stone structure dating to the very founding of our country.  The Sun Inn was constructed in 1758, and began welcoming guests in 1760... and what an impressive list of guests they had!  Two Governors of Pennsylvania, 10 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 19 Revolutionary Army generals, and two Presidents of the United States.


That the inn was so popular among the men who built our nation would be interesting enough, even if the structure didn't exude the sort of timeless charm only a building of its age possesses.  The inn is constructed of native stone, with thick walls punctuated with numerous windows, and simple colonial-style trim and furnishings. 

What is most interesting, for the purpose of this article, are the guests who never left the inn.  Yes, its haunted.  The SyFy Channel's hit show, Ghost Hunters, has investigated the inn and their findings will air on their Christmas special and season finale, episode 725 entitled "Christmas Spirit."  The show airs on Wednesday, December 7th at 9pm EST.


The Sun Inn is currently available for group tours and catered dinners.  Individual tours are available in the summer, and a restaurant service may become available in the future.


Visit the website of The Sun Inn for more information, and check Ghost Hunters for the latest episode.

Party Like its 1599: Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire - Manheim, PA

2011 season ends October 30!

Sit in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, and enjoy a tankard o' ale while her knights joust for your entertainment.  The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire runs from mid summer through autumn every year on the 35 acre estate of Mount Hope Winery in Manheim, Pa. 

A Castle Full of Treasure: The Mercer Museum - Doylestown, Pa

   If you drive through Doylestown in Bucks County, you'll doubtless observe its many downtown shops and restaurants lining its well-kept streets.  As you leave the downtown area, the street widens as the shops give way to suburban homes with gardens, shrubbery, and front porches.  The skyline as you approach Pine Street, however, is abruptly disturbed by something dark and foreboding - a 6 story tall concrete castle.

Sleeping on Wooden Pillows - The Ephrata Cloister

a nice, comfortable plank to sleep on

  At 9pm any given night nearly 280 years ago, eternal virgins dressed in white hooded robes entered dormitories in Lancaster County, where they would lay themselves to sleep on hard wooden planks only 18 inches wide, their heads resting on pine blocks where pillows should have been.  The hooded slumberers in question were members of the monastic settlement known as Ephrata, and their story is a colorful one.

Eddie's Toy Museum and Store - Sciota, Pa

Eddie's Toy Museum & Store

   Edwin Stanat is a man who likes to collect stuff... a lot of stuff... make that an unbelievable amount of stuff.  When Eddie, as he prefers to be called, finally collected over 10,000 toys, memorabilia, and commemorative items he set out to build a museum to house his personal collection.  In 1999 he purchased a building with over 5,000 square feet of open space, and began to design and construct a winding pathway of display cases which take visitors through his collections, which are arranged by theme and type.  Since construction of the museum was completed, an additional 11,000 items were added, bringing the collection to a staggering 21,000+ items!

The Coca Cola Stairway

The Coca-Cola stairway is the first stop on the tour.  As you wind through the passageways you'll see the world's largest collection of Dale Earnhardt memorabilia, as well as an enormous collection of all things motor-sports.  There are collections of cereal boxes and other classic consumer packaging, as well as advertisements, taxidermy animals, and of course, toys, toys, and more toys.

The Ghost Town of the Apocalypse - Celestia, Pa

Deep in the woods of Sullivan County, in that region of Pennsylvania known as the Endless Mountains, lay the ruins of one religious group's belief in an apocalypse that never came to pass.  The town was the brainchild of Peter Edward Armstrong of Philadelphia, who in 1850, began purchasing the land that was to become the town of Celestia, eventually amassing over 600 acres.  Armstrong divided the land into lots measuring 20 by 100 feet, and by 1853 sold over 300 such lots for $10 each to people who thought the end of the world was near, and that it was vitally necessary to live in that specific community.

Pennsylvania's Tsunami - The Johnstown, Pa Horror

"One day that dam is gonna break!" 

That was probably a popular phrase in late 1800s Johnstown, and the dam in question was the South Fork Dam.  Built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania between 1838 and 1853 to provide water to the Western Division Canal, the earthen dam contained a body of water 2 miles long, one mile wide, and 60 feet deep.  The reservoir, known as Lake Conemaugh, was precariously perched in the mountains above the populated valley below.

As canals gave way to more efficient methods of transportation, they were frequently bought by the railroads.  Railroad lines were then laid right alongside the canals, so that factories and warehouses that once depended on barges could then be supplied by locomotives.  The Western Division Canal was no exception to this custom, and was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., along with South Fork Dam and Lake Conemaugh.

The lake was of no use to a railroad company, however, and was soon sold to private parties, then sold again.  Eventually the lake and dam were converted into a private retreat for members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, many of whom were officers of the Pittsburgh Steel, and among the wealthiest individuals in the country at the time.

Cabins, eateries, and gathering halls were built for the members, but little attention was paid to the aging dam, except to lower it by several feet so that a road could be built atop it to provide convenient access to the lake's opposite shore.

A Roaring '20s Speakeasy - Bethlehem, PA

As modern Americans we take many freedoms for granted.  Among those freedoms is the simple right to bring a glass of alcoholic beverage to one's lips without the threat of being jailed for it.  America wasn't always so free, and tonight we'll relive an age when such a basic freedom was infringed upon by the Prohibitionists.

It was on January 16, 1919 that the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, or exportation of intoxicating liquors into the United States.  The Amendment was followed in October of the same year by National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, which provided a further definition of the "intoxicating liquors" mentioned the the amendment, specified penalties for violating Prohibition, and authorized federal officers to enforce the ban. Thus, alcohol became illegal until the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933.

Camping Au Naturel in Palmerton, Pa

There are plenty of places in Pennsylvania to take a hike through the woods, ride a bicycle, or get a drink and a bite to eat... but if you like to do these things in the nicky-noo-nar, your choices are limited.  Indeed, Title 18 Part II Chapter 31 § 3127 of the Pennsylvania penal code provides stiff penalties for anyone going leafless from the waist down in front of any other person, if the birthday suit "is likely to offend, affront, or alarm."   For those who prefer to do their daily activities either partially or fully divested, there is only one option: a naturist club on privately owned land.

The Sunny Rest Resort is probably the best-known of the few sans-threads establishments in Pennsylvania.  Founded in 1945 for enthusiasts of the emperor's clothes, Sunny Rest is a nudist camp located on 190 rolling acres of partially wooded land in the Pocono mountains of Palmerton, PA.

Benjamin Franklin's Treatise on Flatulence

  Benjamin Franklin, that noted statesman from Philadelphia and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a man of many talents and interests.  Among his many accomplishments outside of his role in the Continental Congress was the publishing of Poor Richard's Almanac, the establishment of the Postal Service, as well as the invention of bi-focal eyeglasses, and of the odometer to tell how far wagons (and later, automobiles) had traveled, the invention of the lightening rod, the invention of the household iron furnace (now known as the Franklin Stove), swimming fins, and the invention of an unusual musical instrument called the glass armonica (by which Amadeus Mozart was particularly impressed), and the production of numerous aids for the disabled, including an extension arm to grab things out of reach and the first flexible urinary catheter.

While Franklin was undoubetdly in possession of great mental faculties, and even though he had long-standing friendships with many scientists, statesmen, and philosophers, he held a quarrelsome attitude toward established academia.  He was particularly unimpressed with the academic socities of Europe, which he considered to be pretentious, and to produce little to benefit the common man by their works. 

It was in 1781, while serving abroad as United States Ambassador to France, that Benjamin Franklin expressed his displeasure with The Royal Academy of Brussels in a very colorful way.  The Academy had endorsed a "Prize Question" among its membership to produce a mathematical equation of staggering complexity, emphasizing that the winning contributor had to illustrate the UTILITY of his equation.  Franklin, seeing no practical use for a hypothetical equation produced by a top scholar over the course of an entire year, playfully suggested that the intellectuals' mental abilities might be better applied to flatulence.

3 Spirits That Should Haunt Your Liquor Cabinet

Penn 1681, Bluecoat, and Vieux Carré Absinthe...
Yes, real ABSINTHE is legal again!

Its no secret that the southeast corner of Pennsylvania has a lot to offer those who enjoy fine beverages in moderation.  Great beer from America's oldest brewery, Yuengling in Pottsville, as well as micro-brews from numerous sources, such as Weyerbacher in Easton, Victory in Downingtown, and Tröegs in Harrisburg, vie to satisfy the thirst of a region that already boasts over 50 local wineries.  Now the connoisseur may satisfy his or her jaded palette with a choice of three distilled beverages produced in this same area by Philadelphia Distilling.  

Roadside America, Shartlesville, Pa

What lies within this building, located just off exit 23 of Route I-78 in Shartlesville, is the product of the lifelong obsessions of one man.

Scale model of the Highland Hotel

At the turn of the last century, a young Laurence Gieringer, age 5,  gazed out his bedroom window at what appeared to him as a miniature building atop Neversink Mountain, near Reading, Pa.









One fateful night the youngster crept out of his home into the darkness, convinced that the Highland Hotel was actually a doll house with twinkling lights inside.  Quickly he became lost in the woods, and was not found until the next day by frantic searchers.

A Ghost Town in the Making - Centralia, Pa

The neighboring town of Ashland
is what Centralia used to look like.

Main Street, Centralia, Pa was once
the heart of a bustling small town.

Downtown Centralia was once home to over 2,000 residents, several churches, 2 theaters, several stores, a bank, and a post office, but little remains today.  Centralia Borough was created in 1866 as a coal mining town, and the local coal mines were the largest employer for most of the town's history.  However, what gave life to the town would also be its undoing.  In 1962 the town council had made the decision to reduce the waste in one of its landfills by burning it when the weather and wind conditions would be favorable.  So it was in May of that year that members of the volunteer fire department set the trash alight, as they had done in previous years.  Unfortunately, this particular landfill was located in an abandoned strip mining pit, and the fire spread to an exposed vein of coal.

Centralia, Pa, as seen from the air

An attempt was made to contain the fire by digging a large trench around it and filling it with water.  Residents think this idea would have worked, if only the town had authorized weekend and holiday pay.  It was on Memorial Day weekend that the fire escaped from  the nearly completed trench while the workers were home with their families.  Had they worked through the holiday the town may have been saved.

One of the last homes left standing
was once part of a large row of houses.

The town reached national attention in 1981 when 12 year old Todd Domboski was nearly swallowed by the Earth in his back yard.  He had been playing with an older cousin when the ground collapsed beneath his feet, leaving him clinging to the lawn while his lower body hung precariously over a sink hole over 100 feet deep.  Quick aid by his cousin saved his life, for had the fall not killed him, the lethal levels of carbon monoxide at the bottom of the pit surely would have.

The Smoking Highway, Centralia, Pa

The old Pa Route 61, just south of Centralia, has suffered from the coal fire that has burned beneath the town since 1962.  Having been repaired several times, and still deteriorating at an alarming rate, nearly one mile of it was finally closed in 1993, the state installed earthen berms at either end, and traffic was rerouted to a new road to the west of the original highway.   The old road was left intact, however, and is now a popular place to explore.

Disclaimer: It is not the intent of StrangePA, its creators or contributers to encourage or recommend the exploration of any grounds under which an active mine fire is burning, or to which gasses, smoke, steam, or any combination thereof may at any time be vented. We do not assert that such activities are in any way safe, and cannot be held responsible for damages resulting from dangerous gasses, heat, fire, or sudden collapse of ground, or any other incident which may occur in such areas.
 

The original Route 61 is behind an earthen berm
while the detour created in 1993 is to the left.





Abandoned Building, Route 61, Centralia, Pa

Along Route 61, just south of Centralia, Pa is an abandoned building easily accessible from the roadway.  Its original purpose remains a mystery to most explorers, but speculation includes a machine shop, a wash house, or convenience store, or perhaps it was the gas station that played a pivotal role in bringing seriousness the Centralia mine fire to the attention of the townspeople.  In 1979 Mayor John Coddington, who was also as a gas station owner, inserted a rod into one of his underground tanks of gasoline to measure the level remaining.  To his suprise the measuring rod became quite warm, so he then inserted a thermometer and discovered that his gasoline had been heated to 172 °F (77.8 °C) by the coal vein fires burning deep below the town.  Whatever it once was, its now an interesting example of nature slowly taking back what man has left behind.

London calling...

*Actual bears may not be pink or bipedal.
*² Bears tend to eat their shopping companions.

 



A friend of mine sent me this image of an advertisement poster in a London subway car some time ago.  It refers to the process by which out-of-state visitors can recoup the sales tax on their purchases by submitting various paperwork after their trip, and features Pennsylvania's famous pink, bipedal* bears... whom, it must be noted, simply adore a weekend at the outlet malls*² in Reading or the Poconos.

Alternative Living Expo, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center

   The Alternative Living Expo will occur on March 5th and 6th, 2011, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa.  The Expo is three shows in one, ModVic's Back Home to the Future Show, the Distinctive Pleasures Gala, and the Alternative Bridal Expo. 

Back Home to the Future Show
   The "Steampunk Home Show" will be of interest to anyone who admires victorian, neo-victorian, or retro-futuristic/industrial decor and art.  Exhibitors will include achitectural salvage companies, artists who reuse industial items to create household goods, designers who infuse modern objects with victorian flair, as well as antique and reproduction hardware and lighting suppliers. 

Distinctive Pleasures Gala
   The Gala showcases all manner of fun and pleasure including music, liquor, candy, games, fashion, beauty poducts, toys, and gadgets.  There will be an art gallery, food and drink samples, seminars and demonstrations, and live performances by Hubris, The Imperial American Air Corps, Penn Jersey Roller Derby, This Way to the Egress, Psyche Corp, Cryomancer, and others.

Alternative Bridal Show
   The expo for anyone who dreams of a very different wedding or commitment ceremony.  The creators of Wicked Faire, The Steampunk World's Fair, and Dracula's Ball have harnessed their expertise in hosting unusual events to lend a hand to brides and grooms looking to express themselves through unique bridal fashions, wedding cakes, florists, cake-toppers, invitations, honeymoon ideas, caterers, and more.

Tickets are $15 for all three shows, both days, if bought in advance at the Alternative Living Expo website.

America on Wheels - Allentown, Pa

America on Wheels is a 43,000 square foot museum of wheeled transportation in downtown Allentown, Pa.  Vehicles featured are from the 1880's up to the present day, and a major focus is on Mack Trucks, which is headquartered in the same city. 

One section of the museum is devoted to electric vehicles, such as the 1922 Detroit Electric pictured at the right, and including modern vehicles, such as the GM EV1 and Toyota Prius. 

Other vehicles, such as motorcycles, race cars, mopeds, etc. are also featured.

General admission is $7.00, with discounts for kids, students and seniors.

 




See their WEBSITE for hours and directions, as well as special event announcements.