Wilbur Chocolate

 Our last day in the Hershey area we spent in this town.  We went looking for a nice family cafe for lunch but were unable to find one.  This historic village has grown into a city with a trendy historic downtown designed for tourists.  We ate at Burger King.  I really wanted something nicer for Duane's birthday, but he was happy to postpone his birthday dinner in favor of a burger and fries.

We stopped in the visitors' center to see if there was anything else of interest in Lititz besides our main objective--

this chocolate factory.  I liked the clock too.

We had never heard of Wilbur chocolates and I decided that in all fairness we needed to give them a taste test.  Here I could smell the chocolate outside the factory.  Yum!!!

The bottom floor of the building housed the Wilbur Chocolate Candy Americana Antique Collectibles showroom and Candy Store.  The tiny museum held hundreds of old cocoa tins, antique candy molds, original artwork and 19th century advertising slogans.  There was a large collection of rare chocolate pots (pitchers) from around the world.  The museum was tiny and none of the displays were marked.  I didn't take a pic of the chocolate pots because I didn't understand their significance.  I thought they were just china pitchers.  The information given above I got from their informative brochure I picked up at the visitor's center.  

We watched a short video of the chocolate making process from the growing of beans through the final steps of production.  In the candy kitchen we watched one woman hand wrapping chocolates and one making chocolate covered animal crackers.  

Some chocolate creations

Themed chocolate sets train and school teacher--scissors, ruler, stapler, bus, apple.

Now that's what I call a candy bar.

Lititz main street in the historic downtown.  The steepled building is not a church but a town hall.  We thought it interesting.

Further side of town

Every town we visited had a lot of the old Federalist houses.  They look like two saltine boxes on top of each other with a chimney at either end.  Very versatile, I think.  If you need more room, you add an ell to either side.  I like the look of them.

Just at the edge of town I finally found my elusive close line!!  We managed to get turned around, found a wide berm to stop, and a clear shot of the whole thing.  The pulley lets you stand in one spot, then raise the line to catch the breeze higher up.  Genius!  Sorry, I guess you have to had to hang clothes to appreciate it. 

Long curving hills, even on the main roads

A beautiful day for a beautiful ride.

Another Federalist house.

Home again--the gate house and drive going into the park.

Back at the house we had our taste test--Wilbur dark chocolate 'buds' against Hersey Special Dark Kisses (formally known as buds).  Duane liked the buds best, but I reminded him that the kisses had less sugar.  We decided they were both very good.

Next up, Alexandria, VA.

Louise and Duane

Hershey Story

We have been asked if the streets of Hershey, PA are paved with chocolate and if we could smell the chocolate when we went through town.  The answer to the second question is no.  We never got a whiff, although I will say that we didn't go by the factory.  To answer the first question we went to the Hershey museum.  This is a view of the Hershey Park from the Museum parking lot.  This is one of 12 roller coasters.

What we learned from The Hershey Story is that the streets are paved with chocolate and the buildings and houses are built with chocolate.  Hershey actually started as what is called a "company town".  Hershey wanted his employees to be healthy and happy.  He built houses then charged his employees low rents and encouraged them to own their own homes with low interest home loans through his loan company.  He built the city park, zoo, school, swimming pool, lake so that his employees could enjoy themselves on their days off.  He thought that happy employees were loyal and innovative.  He was right.  His employees created many new machines and methods to make the company better.  The city today sports an amusement park, Hershey Gardens (originally Hershey's front yard), an entire interactive experience called Hershey's Chocolate World Attraction, Milton Hershey School & Founders Hall Visitors Center.  The Children's Home for orphaned boys is still in operation but is for all children now.

This clock was purchased by Hershey for his house then moved to the museum.  It features the twelve apostles at the trial of Jesus in a tableau at the top.  It shows the phases of the moon, the second, hour, day, month and other interesting stuff.

Hershey started and failed at many enterprises before he hit upon candy.  His first really successful venture was manufacturing caramels.

He was convinced, however, that the real money was in chocolate, so he sold the caramel business and created a unique way to make chocolate.

On of the most important pieces of machinery in the making of cocoa.  The museum cost $9 for seniors.  It was worth it.  The museum is chock full of great displays of information and artifacts and lots if interactive displays.  After our tour I needed a chocolate fix so we hit the gift shop.  We found some Kiss ornaments for our little Christmas tree (always looking for mini ornaments) and some Special Dark Kisses.  Yum!

The Kisses were just to get our taste buds ready for ice cream.  We tried the Jigger Shop again. (Remember, it was closed the first time we tried).

They serve ice cream from their soda fountain style work area and sandwiches and fries in a little area at tie right.  This line is actually twice this long.  The wait was no longer than 15 minutes, though.

Typical sundae.  The whipped cream is dispensed through a hose connected to a vat of the stuff and it just keeps coming!

Our sweet tooth sated, we headed home ahead of the storm clouds.  This is the sum total of the sunset.  Not a bad ending to a good day.

Next up... more chocolate 

Louise and Duane

Roadside America

Saturday was a much better day.  The weather man was predicting rain so we took the truck down some country roads to a little town called Stouchsburg.  Duane was looking for a cemetery where one of his ancestors is buried.  We didn't think to take a pic of the town until later when I noticed an anomaly.  The town was very small, basically one main road with a few cross streets.  It consists entirely of houses--no businesses of any kind.  We noticed an old cemetery where we entered the town so we looked there.  The graves dated from the early 1800's but most of the stones were worn and unreadable.  Duane said it was not the right one anyway.  We asked in town and were pointed in the opposite directions and there it was.  By then we had time for only a cursory look, so we decided to do more research and try later if we had time.  From there we drove to:

This is the result of a boyhood dream that turned into a big hobby.  Two brothers, Paul and Laurence (10 years old, Paul was older) Gieringer conceived the idea of building a miniature town, and worked in their basement carving, painting and assembling each piece over 7 years before Paul left home.  Laurence continued his hobby for over 60 years.  Each year at Christmas he would assemble part of his village for his children.  In 1935 the local newspaper wrote a feature story about it and interest grew.  A local company donated the use of its building for the display with all earnings going to local charities.  The Gieringer exhibit officially became a public display.  Laurence was still adding to it and it traded homes twice more before it found its present home in Shartlesville.  All of the pieces are hand carved by Laurence and Paul.  Laurence made the stained glass.  His wife Dora made the shrubbery and trees and their children did detail work and figure painting.

The display consists of a town shown in different time periods from pioneer log cabins to modern homes and businesses and cars.  Several trains also represent the different time periods.  A lot of the pieces have historical significance.  The large building on the right is a mountain resort called Paul Revere Tavern which stood near Moston Mass and was destroyed by fire in 1849.  The observation tower represents the first one built by Union troops on the Tennessee Mountains in 1862.

Many displays have moving parts.  There are buttons to push to make these things move.  Of course there are buttons for each of the trains and the trolley.  In this zoo the little elephant in the doorway rears on its hind legs.

The first part of the display is the modern one.

This cathedral has 44 hand painted windows.  It required 400 hours to make.

Modern downtown shopping district.  The white building on the left is a department store.

The Barnum & Bailey Circus's last rehearsal before loading to tour the nation.  A button puts the parade in motion.

Early oil bell and pumping station,

American farm at the turn of the 19th century.

Shrine Church is a replica of a memorial chapel with beautiful stained glass windows in the Alps.   American churches are copied from it.  Note the cemetery plots on the left.

Sleepy Hollow, an American village of the 1800's.

The trolley line makes regular trips from the village to the summer resort on the Hill.  Automobiles and Fishing not permitted on Sundays.

Blacksmith shop and waterway of the old Union Canal

Country barn dance.  A button makes the circular platform spin and the people dance.

Blacksmith shop in the pioneer village of the early 1700's.  A button makes the blacksmith use his hammer.

In the country old mud roads were impassable many times of the year.  Note the early car on the hilside, mired in mud.

Overview of the display.  The blue line on the right is an upper level observation deck.  The back wall is a mirror.  This shows the paths of some of the many roads and railroads.  These pix represent just a tiny fraction of the thousands of pieces in this display.

Display of old trains for my train loving family members.

This old steamboat was used as an advertisement for the Steamboat Restaurant.  The restaurant is not in the steamboat.  Duane thought it was cool.  Makes you want to tour it doesn't it!

Our tour complete, we headed for Lebanon and church, then home.

Next--chocolate!

Louise and Duane