News from our Lancaster County Chapter
The Lancaster County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society sponsored the Lancaster County leg of “Lafayette 200”, a reenactment of the Marquis de Lafayette’s 1825 farewell tour of the nation. Like the original visit, this 13-month celebration aimed to remind Americans of the role that the Marquis
and France played in the American Revolutionary War. Lancaster County hosted Lafayette reenactor, Ben Goldman, at events that included a Period Ball in Lancaster City, a visit to General Edward Hand’s Rock Ford Estate, and a farewell luncheon at Drumore Estate in southern Lancaster County.
Seven society members attended the ball where Color Guard Captain, Ed Lefevre, wore an 1820s Marine Uniform complete with a Mameluke sword from the “Shores of Tripoli.” The Chapter Color Guard accompanied Lafayette to and from the events at Rock Ford and Drumore.
The Lancaster County Chapter (LCC) celebrated Lancaster’s Capital Day on September 27th with a noontime ceremony at Penn Square in Lancaster, PA. State representative Nikki Rivera participated and offered remarks noting that, for one day in 1777, Lancaster “was the backbone of Pennsylvania when most needed.” Eight local chapter members participated including a five-man color guard. This Included Color Guard Captain Ed LeFevre, Joseph Coleman, Dr. John Peterson , David Byrne , Dave Balmer, Pete Byrne, Jim Mack, Wayne Strasbaugh, and PA Rep. Nikki. After the ceremony, Representative Rivera and her husband joined all the chapter participants and attendees for a social gathering at Bert and the Elephant, a local Belgian-themed pub in the heart of Lancaster.
The LCC held its fall meeting on November 5th at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Lancaster. In addition to normal proceedings, our guest, Dr. Tanya Kevorkian, presented her work on botanist and minister Henry Mühlenberg. At that meeting, Chapter members in attendance voted unanimously to raise the amount of our contribution to the Jack Loose scholarship award from $1,000 to $2,000 annually. This award supports Millersville University students who conduct historical research.
Finally, on November 7th, we helped welcome 25 new U.S. citizens at the Lancaster County Courthouse for the Federal New Citizen Naturalization Ceremony.
