Vol. 25, No. 1/2, Spring-Summer 1987 - "Historical/Recreation Geography"

MANAGING AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES IN GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK

(pp. 1 – 7)

Jane H. Ehemann

Shippensburg University

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Major battlefields of the Civil War became objects of organized preservation efforts near the end of the 19th century. Some of the major battlefields including Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Shiloh and Gettysburg became National Military Parks under the management of the U.S. Army which used the park areas for military strategy instruction. Today the major military parks are administered by the National Park Service under the U.S. Department of the Interior.

THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF YORK CITY FROM 1741 TO 1890

(pp. 8 – 11)

Joe Bart Smith

York College of Pennsylvania

Grantley, Pennsylvania

Abstract

The principle factor involving the growth of York City between 1741- 1890 was the annexing of large scale land holdings. The lands were used for private farming. These farms were between 50-437 acres. An adequate size for non-mechanized farming. The absence of mass transportation was as apparent cause for the annexing of small territories. After 1890, the railroad era caused a decline in center city territorial growth. Much larger land holdings could be annexed to the outer fringes of the pedestrian city. The growth around the fringes choked the center city.

THE RAILROADS OF YORK COUNTY, PA.: RAIL CENTER TO RECREATION

(pp. 12 – 17)

Charles W. Boas

York College of Pennsylvania

Grantley, Pennsylvania

Abstract

York County is situated in south central Pennsylvania, straddling the Piedmont hill country from the Susquehanna River on the east to the Blue Ridge Mountains on the north and west. The region is notable for a variety of terrain features which in turn have encouraged a diversified pattern of land use. An early colonial center for agricultural production, the region soon required the manufacture of tools and machinery which gave rise to industrial activities centering in the York Valley along the banks of the Codorus Creek. The city of York, founded in 1741, is sited in the midst of an elongated valley that extends from the Susquehanna River to Hanover in the Gettysburg-Fairfield Lowland. To the north of the Valley Triassic age formations of shale and sandstone underlie a rolling hill region that is interspersed with ridges and sugarloaf mountains of moderate to sharp relief. The Blue Ridge Province of the Appalachians occupies the northwestern boundary of the county, separating the hill country from the Great Limestone Valley, known locally as the Cumberland Valley. To the south of the York-Hanover Valley is a dissected remnant of the Piedmont Plateau characterized by schists and other metamorphic series of Paleozoic or Pre-Cambrian age. It is notable that there are no easy water level rail routes through the county: the York Hanover valley offered the easiest access for roads and the rails that followed. Figure 1 shows the location of urban places served by rails, past and present. The influence of the more varied terrain of the northern portion of the county on rail routes is notable as is the influence of the more productive agricultural lands or the southern portion of the county, lands that generated carloads of grain, produce and feed crops.

THE NEAR COUNTRY: THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE POCONO RESORTS

(pp. 18 – 23)

Ian H. Ackroyd-Kelly

East Stroudsburg University

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Located (the travel guides prefer "nestled") in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania is the Pocono region - one of the Mid-Atlantic's and, certainly, one of Pennsylvania's most important recreational areas. Within the ill-defined bounds of this region lie no fewer than thirty-five major resorts, innumerable smaller resorts, motels, restaurants, campgrounds and attending recreational facilities which gross in excess of 900 million dollars in tourist-related business annually and provide a major share of the employment opportunities for the residents. It is the purpose of this study to examine the evolution of this industry from a geographic viewpoint, and more specifically to investigate the change in land use patterns that came with the introduction of new phases of the resort industry development.