The Theodore Burr Covered Bridge
Society of Pennsylvania, Inc.
Monthly Business Meeting and Bake Sale
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church,
Manheim, PA
Sunday, November 5, 2017
President Tom Walczak
called the meeting to order at 2:08 p.m. welcoming everyone and reminding us of
our civic duty to vote on Tuesday. He led
us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
NEW
MEMBERS AND GUESTS: Richard Toland has been a member for a year
but today was the first meeting he’s attended.
Bill and Jenn Caswell from New Hampshire were with us today. Bill is President of the National Society for
Preservation of Covered Bridges and is today’s speaker.
Tom reminded members
the minutes are in the box in the back for review and approval later.
TREASURER’S
REPORT: We have 4 new members – Rick Bartmas, Gregory
and Emily Harvey, and Earl Maurer. We
have 288 members renewed for 2017-2018, 14 more than 1 year ago.
MEMBERS’
REPORTS:
Barbara McCauley visited Stillwater (PA-19-21) which
is still being worked on and Little Gap (PA-13-02) where a headache bar was hit
and part of it ripped off.
Joe McCarthy took friends on a mini tour of the
four bridges his company has repaired.
He reported that the wood for the body of Blenheim (NY-48-01 #2) has
been shipped. Soon hundreds of roof
rafters will be shipped. The bridge is
being built on the banks. They plan on
late spring/early summer to move the bridge in place with a huge crane. Wood is on the way for Loux (PA-09-11). This will be a 3 week project and will start
before Thanksgiving. This is the first
town truss his company has worked on.
Others were burr arches.
Pat Cook visited Forry’s Mill (PA-36-28) and
Siegrist’s Mill (PA-36-37 #2) to take fall photos and both look good.
Pam Mailey visited Gettysburg and saw Sachs (PA-01-01),
Jacks Mountain (PA-01-08) and Heikes (PA-01-14). Jacks Mountain has loose board on the
outside.
OFFICERS’
REPORTS:
President Tom Walczak – Tom attended the Ashtabula County,
Ohio covered bridge festival and visited six bridges. There were festivals and info tables at each
bridge. They were offering helicopter
rides over the bridges.
First Vice
President Jim Smedley
– He and Gloria visited six covered
bridges in Ohio in early October. The
most impressive bridge was Newton Falls Bridge (OH-78-01) in Trumbull County. It was in excellent condition, had two signs
for information about the history of the bridge and subsequent
rehabilitations, good interior and
exterior lighting, good caution and clearance signs, a heat detector system, a
surveillance system and a separate walkway for pedestrians. Probably the best covered bridge they have
seen in Ohio. Newton Falls Town truss
was built 1831 and is the oldest bridge still in service in Ohio. The other impressive bridge they saw was the
King’s Mill Bridge (OH-51-21), a modern covered bridge built in 2016.
The PA Crossings is
February 4, 2018, the date of our February meeting.
Second
Vice President Ray Finkelstein
visited Columbia County and saw a number of bridges, helped Bob and Judy at
Knoebels, and took a bus tour of the Bucks County and Lehigh bridges. On October 13th he attended the
Knecht’s (PA-09-02) bridge celebration.
On November 2nd he gave a presentation at Country Meadows
Retirement Community.
Third Vice
President Steve Wolfhope –
No report.
Fourth Vice President Tim McLaughlin – Tim visited many Columbia County
bridges when he and Connie went to help Bob Kuether at Knoebels. He noted that the sides of Snyder (PA-19-14)
look great but portals could use some paint and that Esther Furnace (PA-19-20)
was missing a few portal boards.
Historian Fred J. Moll brought a loose-leaf notebook of
photos of the 150th Anniversary Celebration of Wertz’s Red Bridge on
October 1, 2017. He was asked to do a
covered bridge program at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Fleetwood on December 3rd. It will be between church services from 9:15
to 10:15. It is an informal coffee and
conversation time in which he is supposed to show several local bridges and answer
questions they might have on covered bridges.
He’s included several photos of our activities as an organization in his
presentation as it seems like a good time to promote our Society.
Recording Secretary Gloria Smedley thanked all who attended and
participated in last month’s Pasta Dinner Fundraiser. The event raised $375.
Corresponding Secretary/Program Chair Pam Heisey - No report.
Treasurer Robert Kuether – Bob thanked all those who helped at
Knoebel’s this year. He announced that
our 990 EZ tax form has been submitted so we are now officially on record with
the IRS as a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
REPORTS OF ILLNESSES OR DEATHS
– Michael Chorazy
thanked everyone for the many cards, emails, texts and calls he received after
his open heart surgery.
OLD BUSINESS – None
NEW
BUSINESS – Saturday
November 18th we will be decorating Poole Forge (PA-36-01) bridge
and working on Christmas card bags and reminder cards in the tenant house starting
at 9:00 a.m. All are welcomed to come
and help.
Jim Smedley reported on the recent
audit he conducted. All records match. He commented that it is very impressive work
Bob and Judy do maintaining the accounting books. Our money is in good hands! An audit will be conducted each year.
Tom reported that yesterday the
Executive Board met for our annual planning meeting from 10:30 a.m. – 4:00
p..m. He thanked all the officers who
attended. The board discussed money
issues. To help raise money we will be
conducting a 50/50 cash raffle with winner drawn at our picnic in July and
possibly a bridge bus tour in the spring.
Profits at the Lancaster Visitor Center so far this year are $653.15. Our calendar ad has appeared in PA Magazine.
Tom thanked all who participated in
today’s Bake Sale.
NEW COVERED BRIDGE ITEM
- Steve Wolfhope brought in this year’s Wal-Mart covered bridge
ceramic model. Pam Mailey shared a 1966
picture of Bentzel’s Mill Bridge she bought for just $3.00.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – October minutes were approved as
presented.
NEXT MEETING - Our Next Meeting will be held at Dutch-way
Farm Market Restaurant in Gap, PA at our annual Christmas Dinner on Saturday December
9th, 11:00am-3:00pm.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
following a presentation by Bill Caswell, President of the National Society for
Preservation of Covered Bridges entitled “Reconstruction of the Moose Brook
Bridge”.
Respectfully
Submitted by Gloria Smedley, Recording Secretary
November
12, 2017