Gone but not forgotten: my hometown personal historic sites.
Even though I am back in Chicago, my trip is still on my mind (and all-home-days theme week continues anyway) so when I read that Salem Lutheran Church was granted its historical status upon its 250th anniversary, I realized that no one was fighting to protect the local landmarks from my youth.
For instance, where are the family of sandstone turtles and other concrete items we crawled all over at the Plaza now that the Plaza isn't the Plaza? It was a Lebanon County birthright to have your picture taken with you sitting in the mouth of the whale. Why couldn't they get landmark status so that our great-great-great-grandchildren could experience shopping the way our town's founders wanted it to be?
And I tend not to live my life with regrets, but I was there when the Key Drive-in was bulldozed over for the WalMart and I did nothing. [Of course, I also rarely went to see a movie there, but I do remember catching a few scenes and trying to not to drive off the road determining which movie was playing when I was going past over the train tracks.] Most importantly, I trudged up and down the rows of flea market tables on more than one Sunday.
Is this what happens when you grow old? You drive around one of your hometowns and lament the loss of locations that played a key part in your past? What happened to my Eli's? Why are those flowers in the middle of that intersection on Cumberland? How many brand new RiteAids do we need? And can't we revive Hills somehow? Or move the St. Gertie's festival back to the Avon playground?
Please someone tell me that White Rock, Dinosaur Rock and the Rockpile at Cornwall are all still in play for today's youths!
Lebanon landmarks that meant so much to me and my personal history, you are missed.
SUBMIT YOUR LISTINGS TO THIS SITE (LEB CO IS WOEFULLY UNDERREPRESENTED):
http://www.pavendors.com/events/lebanon-county/
WiKi LISTINGS OF LEB CO's HISTORIC PLACES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania
HILLS DEPT STORE FACEBOOK PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=92491012242&share_id=121847814264&comments=1
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