Traveling Tuesday: Hershey, Pennsylvania

Traveling Tuesday: Hershey, Pennsylvania

Pixabay/Bruce Emmerling

Nestled in the Pennsylvania hills about fourteen miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg lies the small community of Hershey. But long before Milton Hershey purchased the land in Derry Township to create his “company town,” the land was populated by Scotch-Irish and German Palatinates (future Pennsylvania Dutch) fleeing political and religious persecution and economic hardship. The two groups would keep to themselves but live peaceably side by side. Before the American Revolution, German was the prominently spoken language which encouraged more German immigrant to choose Pennsylvania as their new home.

The area has a humid continental climate which is to say there are four distinct seasons with temperatures that can reach as high as ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and as low as twenty below zero in the winter. However, the averages are mid-eighties and mid-thirties respectively.

The Susquehanna River runs past Hershey on its 444-mile journey from Cooperstown, New York to dump

into the Chesapeake Bay. Threading its way through Hershey Park is the Intercoastal Waterway. This 3,000-mile inland waterway begins in Massachusetts and follows the Atlantic Seaboard to the southern tip of Florida before following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. U.S. Route 422 that gets its start in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania ends in Hershey where the road is also known as Chocolate Avenue.

Before deciding to settle back in his hometown area, Milton Hershey considered Lancaster, PA, Baltimore, MD, and locations in New York and New Jersey. Most of his friends were against the idea, assuming the area was too rural to be a success. However, Milton saw the read supply of fresh milk on the dairy farms, and he saw a “steady labor force made up of hardworking Pennsylvania Germans.

Rather than expecting his workforce to make their way to his town, he constructed the infrastructure to support his employees, then built houses. Employees could rent or purchase the homes, small but well-made and affordable. According to the Hershey archives, the factory, which was a complex of buildings rather than one facility, “dominated the streetscape of Chocolate Avenue since ground was broken in 1903.” Brilliantly laid out, raw materials were delivered at one end of the factory and processed, coming out at the other end as finished products.

The town flourished, and the supports systems grew to fill the need. The McKinley School replaced four one-room schoolhouses, additional banks were created, trail and trolley lines laid to transport employees, larger stores, and more restaurants. In 1914, the original 1905 water system was replaced with a new water source and reservoirs. Social clubs, literary societies, a local band, and sports teams formed. Milton provided meetings halls, uniforms, and equipment as necessary.

Hershey Park began as a summer picnic park for residents with sand boxes, play equipment, a swimming pool, and dance hall. Milton then added amusement rides such as a carousel and ferris wheel. Then came bowling alleys, a tennis court, amphitheatre, and scenic railroad. As “outsiders” heard about the park, they arrived in droves, and in 1915, a visitors bureau opened.

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Love and Chocolate (cover reveal coming soon!)

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jG2wl