GTHS: Events & Programs

Greene-Dreher Historical Society

Events and Programs - 2008

All programs are open to the public and without charge. Unless otherwise noted, programs followed by a short business meeting, will be held in the WSCS Hall, 465 South Sterling Road, South Sterling, beginning at 1pm on the 1st Monday of the month. Check for changes to program topics, speakers, times or locations in the local papers or by contacting Bernadine Lennon at 570-857-0882.

January, February, March: No membership meetings

April 7 - membership meeting - “WSCS Hall History and Update on National Register Application”, Speaker: Bernadine Lennon. Bernadine Lennon will present the history of the WSCS Hall from the year it was built(1904) for the Patriotic Sons of America Washington Camp 422 (South Sterling) through the ownership by the Womens Society for Christian Service (WSCS) and up to the present ownership by the historical society. The society recently submitted an application to place the Hall on the National Register.

April 22 - Route 507 road clean up. Meet @ 10am at Dutch’s. Volunteers should contact John Barna, coordinator, at 676- 4384 for details.

May 5 - membership meeting - “History of the Minisink Path”, Speaker: Don Coutts, Vice President, Wallenpaupack Historical Society. Don Coutts, Palmyra Township (Pike County) Historian will present the history of the Minisink Path which was used by the early Delaware Indians for hunting. The path crossed in a northwest direction through Lords Valley continuing to the Wallenpaupack River (present day Lake Wallenpaupack), Hamlin, Mt Cobb and onto the Lackawanna and Susquehanna Rivers.

May 16 – cleanup of Albright-Bennett Cemetery; Jeanne Brown coordinator

May 17, Saturday 10am-1pm: GDHS presence at Newfoundland Area Public Library with colonial re-enactor John Goble. Contact the Newfoundland Area Public Library at 676-4518, for details.

June - No membership Meeting

June 16, 11:30: “Welcome Back Luncheon” honoring Greene-Dreher-Sterling High School alumni from 1958

June 21, 28 10am - 2pm – WSCS Hall open to public

July 7 - membership meeting - “A Salute to Our Troops”. The Greene Dreher Historical Society will honor military veterans in “A Salute to Our Troops”. Area veterans will discuss their experiences while serving in the military. Justin Newcomer, Army veteran of the Iraq War, will be one of the featured guests.

July 12, Saturday – Open house, Noon – 4pm. Greene-Dreher Historical Society will open its door for the 2^nd Annual Open House. The Society will host wool spinners Freda Hahn and Cyndy Donohue who will demonstrate spinning wool on a variety of spinning wheels from 1pm-3pm. The public is invited to this free demonstration. Refreshments will be served.

July 19, 26, 10am - 2pm - WSCS Hall open to public (not open on July 5)

August 4: membership meeting - “History of Greentown”, Speaker: Tom Peifer, Greentown native and life-long resident Tom Peifer will present the “History of Greentown”. Tom grew up in Greentown and has a vast collection of post cards and fond memories of Greentown and the surrounding communities. After graduating from Greene-Dreher High School, he pursued a degree in education and retired as Superintendent of Wallenpaupack Area School District in 2001.

August 2, 9, 16, 23, 10am – 2pm- WSCS Hall open to public

August 23, Saturday – in addition to WSCS Hall open to public from 10am-2pm, there will be a program at 1 pm featuring life long resident and Master Falconer Pete Porter who will give a presentation on the history, art and sport of falconry which is the use of birds of prey to catch game Falconry was known as the “sport of kings”, dates back almost 4000 years and is the oldest field sport known to man. Pete has spent many years to earn his Master Falconer permit which is the highest class of falconry permit. Refreshment will be served.

August 26 - September 1 - GDHS Fair Week

September 8: membership meeting & Potluck Luncheon

September 6, 13, 20, 27 10am – 2pm - WSCS Hall open to public

October 6: membership meeting. Gloria McCullough and Ann O'Hara, Wayne County Historical Society, will present "Murder, Mayhem and Sundry Misadventures". Gloria and Ann have been collecting newspaper accounts of crimes, accidents, suicides, etc that were reported in graphic detail in the 19th and early 20th century local papers. This collection came to be known as "The Bad Old Days", demonstrating that things were as bad, if not worse, than they are today!

October 18 (1-3pm) - The Young Geezers Concert. Returning to the WSCS Hall on October 18 will be the singing trio “The Young Geezer’s”. The event, hosted by the Greene-Dreher Historical Society, is open to the public and is free of charge. Refreshments will be served.

The Young Geezers are three good friends who enjoy the musical synergy of blending acoustic instruments with three-part harmonies, offering a repertoire that covers a fair spectrum of folk and bluegrass traditions. Old enough to qualify as ‘geezers’ but too young to be willing to admit it, the trio hails from Northeast Pennsylvania where they are fortunate enough to be gainfully employed (doing things other than playing music) and so can make music entirely for the pleasure of it. They are especially dedicated to performing benefit concerts for non-profit groups and causes. The Young Geezers repertoire includes a mix of folk, bluegrass, old-timey gospel, blues, Texas swing and even the occasional sea-chantey and cover tunes by songwriters and artists including Woody Guthrie, Stephen Foster, the Carter Family, and others, as well as many traditional old-timey and gospel songs.

For additional information about the Greene-Dreher Historical Society and upcoming events, visit www.greenehs.org. For further information about The Young Geezers and upcoming concerts, visit www.young-geezers.com. refreshments

October 4, 11; 10am-2pm - WSCS Hall open to public

October (date to be determined by John Barna) - Route 507 clean-up

November 3: membership meeting - Back by popular demand, Tom Kennedy will give a presentation on local history. Tom, who is Principal of Wallenpaupack North Intermediate School, has an extensive collection of railroad memorabilia and a thorough understanding of the role of canals and railroads in the coal industry. For many years he has presented a series of lectures on the history of Northeastern Pennsylvania as part of the Wallenpaupack Area School District continuing education program. .

December 2: Holiday Luncheon at area restaurant. Reservations due not later than November 15. Contact Bernadine Lennon, 857-0882, for further information.

2007 - 2008 Year in Review in Pictures

Don Coutts, Palmyra Township Historian presented

the history of the Wyoming Minisink Path at the

May 2008 Membership Meeting

Colonial Reenactor John Goble presented a program on Colonial life at the Newfoundland Area Public Library on May 17, 2008. The program was sponsored by GDHS and the library.

Greene-Dreher-Sterling High School Class of 1958 members

who attended our annual Welcome Home Luncheon in June 2008:

Front row, L to R: Mike Dugan, Phyllis Cron Jones, Helen Phillips Estus;

Middle row, L to R: Ron Olsommer, Gerre Brodowsky Haussler,

Shirley Simons Thomas

Rear row, L to R: Esther Altemier Howell, Mae Hass Dix, Nancy Zeigler Lee

For the second year, members of the Greene-Dreher Historical Society spent
the afternoon of June 6 cleaning up debris, pruning, cutting overgrown
shrubs and mowing the Albright-Bennett Cemetery located on Routes 191 & 507 in Newfoundland. Members of the cleanup crew included : Diana and Jim
Holmes, Pat and Jack Taft, John Barna (absent from picture), Bob Lederer,
Bill Brennen, Clint Roach, Roy Richmond and Jeanne Brown. Society member
Ruth Altemier coordinated with Dreher Township for removal of debris.