A Blog of Nanticoke

Musicfest 2011

2011-06-16T17:06:00.000-04:00

Nanticoke Musicfest 2011 starts TOMORROW!

Friday - June 17, 2011
5-8 PM: Farmer's Daughter
8-11 PM: Pop Rox

Saturday - June 18, 2011
4-5 PM: GNA Ed Center Idol on Tour
5-8 PM: Johnny Unit
8-11 PM: Tyme Band

Patriot's Park in Nanticoke, Pa.

MusicFest 2011 will feature bands, games, refreshments and fun for the whole family!

For details: Musicfest 2011

Kids and Family Festival, 6/25/11

2011-06-16T13:53:00.001-04:00

The Kids and Family Festival is coming to Patriots' Square, June 25 2011! See here for more information:

Nanticoke 6/25/11 NEPA Cycling Event Promotions

2011 Nanticoke city-wide yard sale - Saturday, June 4

2011-05-31T17:58:00.001-04:00

From the Nanticoke City website:

(2011) City Wide Yard Sale

Saturday June 4th 8am to 2PM. Rain date Sunday June 5th. Maps and a list of sellers can be picked up Saturday morning at City Hall, 15 E. Ridge St. Nanticoke.

If anyone is interested in participating call 735-2800 to leave your address. Deadline to register is June 1st by noon.

Here's a link to the yard sale flyer.

Diamond's Candy Shoppe is back, for a limited time!

2011-04-15T23:48:00.000-04:00

One of the things that made Nanticoke special for much of my life was Diamond's Candy Shoppe. A fixture since long before I was born, Diamond's was a place where you could get the best chocolates anywhere, in a dizzying array of shapes - or my favorite, the chunk chocolate, broken into thumb-sized pieces with sharp cleavage planes everywhere.

Diamond's used to be open all the time, or so it seemed; I never had a problem stopping in to pick up some chocolates for my friends any time of the year. But about four years ago the store began closing temporarily at some times of the year. At first it was closed during the Summer. Then it was only open for a few weeks before Christmas and Easter, and maybe Valentine's Day, too. Then it wasn't open at all.

And then it closed. Diamond's Candy Shoppe closed a year or so ago. It had been mostly closed for some time, but when they sold off the chocolate-making equipment, the copper kettles and other such things, everyone knew it was over. Diamond's was gone for good.

Except it wasn't.

Just before last Christmas I was driving by the store with a friend who was in town for a visit. On a whim I drove him past the chocolate store, and there was the proprietor, Mr. Panagakos - unfortunately, locking up and leaving. I tried again early on Christmas Eve, and the old neon OPEN sign in the window was lit up. At least, it was lit up when I pulled up and parked, but as I got out of the car I saw Mr. Panagakos locking up again. Fortunately, this time he saw me, and he quickly reopened and waved me in. I came in, pulled out all the money in my wallet, and asked him to give me however much chocolate that would buy.

A week or so ago a sign appeared in the window of the old candy store informing interested parties that Mr. Panagakos would be taking orders for Easter candy. Even better: he is keeping the store open for a few hours each day - 9:00 to 2:00 - up until Easter. He has a few of his old display cabinets back up, filled with chocolate bunnies and ducks and race cars and a wide variety of Easter Eggs.

I stopped by today, pulled out a $50 bill I had been saving since Christmas, and used it to buy as much chocolate as I could.

Diamond's Candy Shoppe will be open, I think, for a few more days, or until Mr. Panagakos runs out of candy. I don't know when - or if - he will be opening again. If you want to grab a taste of this legendary chocolate, the time is now. Call ahead to the number shown above if you want to place a special order. This may be your last chance!

Nanticoke Historical Society on Facebook!

2011-02-11T21:58:00.000-05:00

The Nanticoke Historical Society has a new website and a Facebook page!

The new Nanticoke Historical Society website: http://nanticokehistoryonline.org/

The Nanticoke Historical Society Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nanticoke-Historical-Society/105746839496952

You can also still access the old website: http://www.nanticokepa.com/nanticoke-history.htm

Church closings in Nanticoke

2010-06-05T14:46:00.001-04:00

A while back I did a series of posts on the Churches of Nanticoke. Since that time many of those churches have closed - and not just the Catholic churches.

At a Firemen's Breakfast in Honeypot last November I overheard a couple talking about how they used to go to St. George's Episcopal Church - until it closed earlier in the year. I believe the First Presbyterian Church of Nanticoke was reported to be in dire straits financially earlier this year. And it seemed like the steps of the First United Methodist Church went unshoveled for several Sundays this Winter without the snow being trod upon. (These three churches can be seen here.)

Things with the Catholic churches in Nanticoke continue to go according to former Bishop Martino's plan. St. Francis has been closed for some time, since a leaking roof rendered the building unsafe for use, but its formal closure as a church took place more recently. St. Joseph's closed for good several weeks ago. St. Mary's and Holy Trinity have had formal closing ceremonies, although neither of these buildings will be closed in reality: Holy Trinity will be the primary worship site for the consolidated St. Faustina parish, and St. Mary's will serve as the secondary worship site. (The problem of extremely limited parking at the primary worship site has still not been resolved, and the building remains without air conditioning.) In two years, according to Martino's plan, the continued use of the secondary worship site "will be evaluated no later than two years after the consolidation, based on geography, attendance, fiscal realities and the availability of priests. ."

This coming Sunday - tomorrow, as I write this - St. Stanislaus will have its closing ceremony. Like St. Joseph's, this will be a for-real closing, not merely a formality. And, barring a miracle, Holy Child in Sheatown will be closing June 27, bringing the first wave of consolidations in Nanticoke to completion.

It's not just churches that are closing. Diamond's Candy Shoppe is gone. McDonald's Newsstand is gone. WNAK is gone, again, not just from Nanticoke but completely removed from the airwaves. The senior citizens' center - the old post office - is gone, (The steps and front arches were reportedly going to be preserved and incorporated into the new structure going up there, but I believe they were "accidentally" demolished along with the rest of the building. The steps and front entrance to the adjacent Susquehanna Coal building, which was demolished at the same time, were inexplicably preserved for a few days, but as these were of no special architectural significance they were also removed after a while.)

Oddly, one new pizza place has opened up downtown, near the post office, and business is booming.

Nanticoke Facebook Groups

2009-08-10T12:52:00.003-04:00

If you are on Facebook, there are several groups dedicated to Nanticoke.

St. Mary's Parochial School in Nanticoke, PA was started by Theresa Yankoski Wyzinski as a place where former students of the little red-brick school can reminisce about their schooldays.

I SURVIVED THE NANTICOKE EVACUATION 1987 - Who can forget the day that the fire at Riley Plating reminded us of the importance of Mr. Yastremski's frequent admonition, "Acid into water, NEVER water into acid"? As clouds of chlorine gas spread across the city, everyone in Nanticoke was evacuated until the gas had cleared. Even if tou were somewhere else when it happened, if you were from Nanticoke, you're still a survivor.

Nanticokians Unite!!!!!!!!!!!

John S Fine High School

Sanitary Bakery Pizza

Nanticoke Gang - This one is actually for Nanticoke, Ontario. There are quite a few Nanticokes out there, including one in New York and one in Maryland!

St. Mary's Church Bazaar

2009-08-06T00:19:00.001-04:00

The Parish Festival for Our Lady of Czestochowa, Nanticoke, a.k.a. Saint Mary's, will be held this Friday and Saturday, August 7 and 8, 2009, at the Holy Child Grove in Sheatown (directions, sort of; these are to Guardian Elder Care, a nursing home located in front of the grove.)

I could really just repost my entry about this from last year. Here is an excerpt:

Saint Mary's Parish Festival, or Church Bazaar, or "Picnic" (to use the more genteel term) used to be a thing of legend. For years these were held in the parking lot behind the church and school and were three-day events, starting Friday night and wrapping up Sunday night. Sounds of polkas could be heard for blocks around, and the smell of frying food permeated the area for days. Beer flowed like water, parked cars clogged the streets in the neighborhood, and young punks rubbed elbows with the elderly. Yet somehow, I never remember any fights or other disturbances.
This will be the very last St. Mary's Church Bazaar. ever. St. Mary's Church will be closing in a few months...technically. It will continue to function as a "secondary worship site" for as long as it so pleases His Excellency Bishop Martino of Scranton, with whom all ultimate authority for the direction of the Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Scranton rests. The primary worship site will be the building currently known as Holy Trinity Church, which features inadequate ventilation, inadequate handicapped access, and a parking lot which can comfortably fit about twenty cars - twice that many if the cars are parked so the ones that are parked in marked spaces are blocked in by the ones that are parked on every other square inch of asphalt.

I don't know when the technical "closing" of Holy Trinity will be held. Nor do I know when the actual closings of St. Joseph's, St. Stanislaus, and Holy Family will take place. (The parishioners of Holy Family, located several miles from Holy Trinity, have formally appealed their closure to the Vatican. ) Once upon a time, not long ago, each of these parishes as well as all the already-closed parishes in Nanticoke held individual church bazaars. Some were larger, some were smaller, but all were well-attended by people from throughout the city regardless of parish affiliation, and all turned a profit (as far as I know.) With all of these parishes consolidated into one, how many church bazaars will have to be held to equal the combined revenue of all of the consolidated parishes' bazaars? And if there is to be only one, how long will it have to run to bring in that sort of money?

And how will His Excellency the Bishop of Scranton react when he sees that the money coming in to his office from his cut of the church bazaars in Nanticoke has dropped drastically since consolidation?

Audio postcard from Nanticoke

2009-03-23T11:28:00.003-04:00

As part of the radio series "100 Days: On the Road in Troubled Times", NPR reporter David Greene posted a report from Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke:

Lessons From The Recession In The Classroom

...But things are different at a public institution in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where I arrived a few days ago.

"I have a very full load. My classes are packed these semesters," says Jim McAndrew, a professor of economics and management at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, Pa. He says Luzerne is "affordably priced" and has seen a "huge increase" in enrollment.
Unfortunately, the radio report somehow manages to omit mentioning where Luzerne County Community College is located, beyond "Northeastern Pennsylvania." At least Nanticoke is mentioned in the online version!

City-Data: Nanticoke

2009-03-02T10:57:00.003-05:00

City-Data.com is a nifty site that provides demographic information about various localities. It also provides discussion forums for people who want to talk about a particular city, which is especially useful for former residents who want to keep in touch with how things are going at the place they still think of as home. Nanticoke's entry on City-Data can be found here:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Nanticoke-Pennsylvania.html

Here are the current (as of this writing) forums about Nanticoke, and the current number of comments in each:

Reminisce about Nanticoke (39 replies)
Greater Nanticoke Area School DRESS CODE !! (32 replies)
Nanticoke Spider Infestation? (9 replies)
How's Nanticoke?? (46 replies)
Wilkes-Barre/Nanticoke Restaurants (0 replies)
Nanticoke bar/restaurant with stuffed turkey hanging over the bar? (2 replies)

Diamond's Candy Shoppe

2009-02-25T17:54:00.002-05:00

Originally published on Another Monkey on March 28, 2005

Diamond's has been a fixture of Nanticoke all of my life. It is located just off our city square, in a not-very-good neighborhood. Their chocolate is, I think, the best I have ever had, not too waxy or too sugary and with a strong chocolate aroma, but I am probably biased in this regard.

Diamond's Candy Shoppe, October 30 2004

I walked into the store this morning and was greeted by the proprietor, Mr. Panagakos, who was still reeling from the Easter rush. I told him I was looking for some unusual shapes, that my friends had told me he had chocolate knives and guns and Darth Vader heads. He didn't know about these shapes, but he did show me some other unusual ones - a chocolate Empire State Building for $26.50, a chocolate dancing pig and dog, and another chocolate pig. While he was going through the comical chocolate animals he came across the chocolate handgun, which surprised him quite a bit. I also spotted a fleet of chocolate submarines on his shelf and asked him to get one down for me. I thought I spotted a chocolate knife in the front display case, but it turned out to be the blade of a pair of chocolate scissors. Near the scissors was a whole tray of chocolate American flags, with the message "PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN" barely visible at the bottom.

Some chocolate shapes from Diamond's

I bought all of these, which Mr. Panagakos gave to me at the traditional discount given by most local shopkeepers (who tend to round down all of their prices), and he also threw in some cream-filled Easter Eggs free of charge ("Everybody likes Easter Eggs!" he enthused in his thick Greek accent as he shoveled them into the bag.)

I asked him for a business card as I paid for my goodies, and he pointed out that his clear plastic business card case was empty save for the one taped to the front - which he pulled off and gave to me, noting that the guy who takes care of printing his cards should be getting him more soon.

Diamond's business card

If you ever find yourself in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it's worth your while to visit Nanticoke and get some delicious chocolate from Diamond's Candy Shoppe at 4 East Broad Street. You'll be glad you did!

Nanticoke Church Consolidations

2009-02-05T10:17:00.001-05:00

The final report is out on parish closings and consolidations in the Diocese of Scranton. Erin Moody, who wrote the newspaper article on The Stained Glass Project several months ago, also wrote a comprehensive article on the closings and consolidations for the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice. The official announcement from the Diocese of Scranton can be found here.

Here is the information that pertains specifically to Nanticoke:

CLUSTER # 8 – the parishes of Holy Trinity, Nanticoke; St. Stanislaus, Nanticoke; St. Mary of Czestochowa, Nanticoke; St. Francis, Nanticoke; St. Joseph (Slovak), Nanticoke; Holy Child, Sheatown:

Holy Trinity, Nanticoke; St. Stanislaus, Nanticoke; St. Mary Czestochowa, Nanticoke; St. Francis, Nanticoke; St. Joseph (Slovak), Nanticoke; and Holy Child, Sheatown will consolidate no later than July 2010 at the Holy Trinity site. There will be an additional worship site (Masses as needed per weekend with occasional funerals and weddings) at St. Mary of Czestochowa which will be evaluated no later than two years after the consolidation, based on geography, attendance, fiscal realities and the availability of priests. St. Francis Church building will close no later than July 2009. The Church buildings of St. Stanislaus, St. Joseph, and Holy Child will close no later than July 2010.

Nanticoke Historical Society in the news

2008-12-15T16:18:00.005-05:00

Update, 2/12/2011: The Nanticoke Historical Society has a new website, and a Facebook page. Details here.

The Nanticoke Historical Society was featured in a story in today's Citizen's Voice:

Nanticoke Historical Society saves, documents pieces of city’s past
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS
STAFF WRITER

Published: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:58 AM EST
NANTICOKE — They’re preservationists, technophiles, detectives and, when the occasion calls for it, Dumpster-divers.

Members of the Nanticoke Historical Society have seen too much of the city’s history reduced to rubble, crumble to dust, get carted to landfills or otherwise irretrievably vanish to be squeamish. When it comes to saving records that might be crucial for charting the South Valley’s history or providing genealogical data, they’ll do what they have to.

“Believe me, it’s a rich, rich history we have in this town,” said Chester Zaremba, the society’s vice president and secretary.

You can read the rest of the article here. You can visit the Nanticoke Historical Society website here.

WNAK is gone

2008-12-04T16:12:00.009-05:00

A few days ago I received this comment on my post about Nanticoke's radio station, WNAK:

As a former employee of WNAK it saddens me that Neilson sold the station. I enjoyed the eight years I was there on-air, and the Nightwatch was like saying "goodbye" when the station would go off the air. Mr. Neilson passed away a few years ago but he told me how he made a mistake in the sale and wished we could have all worked together to keep the station alive. Time ran out for all of us and, well under different ownership things changed.

Some good news perhaps, as of Dec 1, 2008, I hear the old sounds could be coming back to WNAK? Let's all hope and prayer!!

I do not know if the format has switched back yet - I haven't tuned in in a very long time. But as of yesterday, the former funeral home that housed WNAK from 1982 until the new owners relocated earlier this year no longer exists.

Former home of WNAK razed for church parking

BY BOB KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
Published: Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:06 AM EST

The residential Nanticoke building that was home to the small, but popular WNAK radio station for decades and launched many successful media careers was demolished Wednesday.
The building at 84 S. Prospect St. has been empty since early this year, when the station’s new owners, West Chester-based Route 81 Radio, moved operations to a multi-station headquarters in Avoca.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Sadly, when I was taking pictures of the churches in the area of WNAK - including the Nebo Baptist Church, which purchased the building and had it torn down to build additional parking - I didn't bother to take any of WNAK itself. I'm not sure if the sign indicating that it once was home to the radio station - an old-style NBC "N" logo, a holdover from the brief period when the station was an NBC affiliate - was still there. (Owner and broadcaster Bob Neilson would refer to the station on-air as "NBC" long after this affiliation ended, saying it stood for "Nielson's Broadcasting Company.")

Another piece of Nanticoke history is gone.

UPDATE: Yes, it's true. The "old sounds" have returned, at least in the form of easy-listening Christmas music. After the season, who knows? But it will never be the same as I remember it, with Hymn Time (an hour of religious music) every day, and commercial-free Sundays (with the special Sunday jingle "There's something missing from this station...it's WNAK!"), and Bob Neilson giving a daily editorial called "Another Point of View" (with the sound of a chattering ticker-tape behind him) and ending it with the disclaimer that the station would broadcast other viewpoints from "responsible persons," although this always seemed to mean only one person, a woman named Marion Dunstan Karsten of Kingston, PA, and of course, Night Watch ending every day's programming.

UPDATE 2, 12/7/08: Jan Souther, in his column "The Wax Museum" at the Wilkes-Barre Citzens' Voice, confirms that these really are the "old sounds":

The station’s owners realized that what Luzerne County really needs is Adult Standards radio and they wisely kept the music library we listened to for so many years, with a little updating here and there.

Nanticoke churches in the news

2008-11-24T20:54:00.003-05:00

Erin Moody of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice wrote an article on The Stained Glass Project that featured several of my photos, including one on the top banner of the front page!

Erin Moody: Framing Stained Glass Snapshots - Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, November 24, 2008

Meanwhile, in other Nanticoke church news...

Nanticoke church will open its doors to Goth community with service

St. George's Episcopal Church is the cool little building described here. According to the article, the Goth service will be held this Saturday, November 29, though I am unclear on the time.

Last Chance to See: Stained Glass Edition

2008-11-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

In 1985, Douglas Adams (the bestselling author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series) and Mark Carwardine set out on a series of expeditions to locate and document some of the world's most endangered animals. The book that was later made of these adventures was called Last Chance to See, a title that urged readers to recognize the imminent threat of extinction faced by these animals. See them now, it urged, before it's too late. Save them now, before it's too late.

It was too late for some of these animals. The Baiji Dolphin was probably past the point of no return well before Douglas and Mark made their trip to the Yangtze River, but the Three Gorges Dam sealed its fate. The Northern White Rhino was still "in with a chance," as they say, as long as intensive conservation efforts could be maintained and something like, say, intensive poaching efforts could be avoided. The Northern White Rhino is now extinct in the wild.

Sadly, Douglas Adams died in May of in 2001. But others carry on his work. Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry are shooting a sequel to the original expeditions, and Gareth's Another Chance to See has kept the torch burning and the updates coming.

Animal species aren't the only things that go extinct.

Catholic churches in the Diocese of Scranton and throughout the U.S. face the prospect of imminent parish consolidation. Populations have shifted, fewer men are becoming priests, and economic pressures are making it financially infeasible to keep underperforming parishes open.

When parishes consolidate, churches close.

Some of these churches are well over a century old. Many of them retain aspects of their original construction that may very well qualify them for historical landmark status. Some, like my own church of St. Mary's (Our Lady of Czestochowa) in Nanticoke, contain works of liturgical art that are both priceless and highly immobile, like the stained glass windows that line the walls and bear the names of the donors - many of them historical figures who played major roles in the history of our region.

What fate awaits these churches? Some will remain open. Some will be kept inactive but in reserve, spending most of the year closed to public and parishioners alike and opened only for special occasions. Others will be closed permanently. Some will be deconsecrated and sold, after their liturgical ornaments - such as their stained glass windows - are removed. Some will fall into disrepair, fall victim to fire or vandalism or the ravages of entropy.

In another place and time, the stained glass windows of St. Mary's church in Nanticoke would be a major tourist attraction, drawing visitors from far and wide to marvel at their beauty and the skill of their manufacture and the richness of the symbolism built into each image. (That fellow in the window on the left in the picture above is St. Leo. Read up on him to find out who the dog-dragon at his feet might be.) But in the here and now, these are just ornaments in a church that is probably slated for closure.

In the Hudson Valley of New York there is a tiny church known as the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. This small, simple structure is exceptional for two reasons: its construction was partially funded by the Rockefeller family, and it contains nine stained glass windows by Marc Chagall and one by Henri Matisse. Visitors come from all over to see them. I've been there, twice. They're beautiful. They're worth the trip.

So are the windows of St. Mary's.

St. Mary's, however, is not set up as a tourist attraction. For security reasons it is usually kept locked when services are not being conducted. But the Union Church of Pocantico Hills literature notes that the best time to observe and fully appreciate the beauty of church windows is during a service, in the company of the congregation.

How much longer does St. Mary's have to be open? How many more services will be held under its steeple? How many more opportunities will people have to visit this church and marvel at the beauty of its windows?

The answer is, I don't know. I have no idea. Not yet, anyway.

In The Stained Glass Project I am making an effort to photograph and document these windows, to save them for posterity and share them with the world. This started out as a personal wish, a "...wouldn't it be nice if somebody..." sort of plan, which only started to become a reality almost on a whim when I found myself in the church, camera in hand, waiting for my cousin to begin her march down the aisle. At the moment I'm doing it entirely on my own, without official approval from either the parish priest or the Bishop of Scranton. I will carry on with it as long as I am able. I encourage others in other parishes do do the same thing, for as long as their churches are open and the opportunity exists.

It may be a matter of weeks, or months, or perhaps years, but someday the doors of St. Mary's will be closed and locked for good. And then the only way to appreciate these works of art will be from the outside, looking in.

So hurry, hurry, hurry. Do not miss what may be your final opportunity to gaze upon these works of art with your own eyes. Masses at St. Mary's are currently held Saturday evenings at 5:30 PM - too late to appreciate the windows at this time of year - and Sunday mornings at 11:30 AM. Directions to St. Mary's can be found here. Stop in, attend Mass, throw a few dollars in the collection basket. On the way out at the end of the services tell the priest how much you appreciate having the opportunity to see St. Mary's stained glass windows for yourself.

This may just be your last chance to see.

In a different light

2008-11-07T23:37:00.000-05:00

I was able to get some decent images of the twelve major stained glass windows at St. Mary's Church in Nanticoke this past Sunday. The one above is of St. Hedwig and St. Edward (also known as King Edward the Confessor.) To get the image full length and relatively undistorted I had to take the picture from the central aisle of the church, while bracing myself against the pews - something that would not have been possible if I were not the only person taking advantage of the open Day of Prayer at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon. (And yes, I did spend some time in prayer before, during, and after the taking of these photos.)

These full-length images capture every major part of the windows, which is what I was trying to accomplish. I don't know if there are technical names for each of these parts, but if there are I expect I shall be learning them over the next few weeks. In the meantime I'll just use my own terms.

For now I want to focus on the lower part of the window, which is where the sponsor tag is included when it is actually still attached to the window.

This window - well, pair of windows - has a single tag that extends across both windows and reads "PRESENTED BY" (under St. Hedwig) and "K.M. SMITH" (under St. Edward.) Anyone familiar with Nanticoke will recognize the name K.M. Smith, which has been memorialized in the K.M. Smith school located just a few blocks from St. Mary's church. Unfortunately, references to the school dominate the results for any online search for "K.M. Smith," so I may have to resort to more old-fashioned means of investigation. The Nanticoke Historical Society may be able to help me locate information on this donor, as well as information on other donors (like "WILLIAM EVANS") whose names are not distinct enough (like, for example, "F.H. KOHLBRAKER") to provide a clean hit online.

I made a quick attempt to gather the names of the window donors / sponsors / presenters on Saturday evening after Mass, but by then the light had faded enough that I needed to use my flash to get the images. Which meant that I captured images of the windows by reflected, rather than transmitted, light. So while the image above shows what the bottom of the St. Edward window looked like with the sun shining through it at 1:20 on Sunday afternoon, here's what that same window looked like at 6:30 Saturday evening:

Notice the very unsubtle stripes of color, particularly in the middle of the row of five tablet-shaped panes, and how these fade to nuances and subtle distinctions of color once the sun shines through. I never did like seeing these windows after sunset, or when the sun was clouded over. But as a kid I served plenty of evening Masses and Masses on rainy days, so I got to see these windows under all different lighting conditions.

(Note for the uninitiated: "ORA PRO NOBIS", which can be seen under most (possibly all) of the images of the saints, is Latin for "Pray for us." While many outsiders believe that Catholics treat saints as a pantheon of demigods and pray directly to them, in reality Catholics pray only for the intercession of the saints - they ask the saint to put in a good word for them with the Big Guy. I know that saints are not unique to the Catholic church, though I have no idea how other Christian sects deal with the relationship of the individual to the saint.)

The Stained Glass Project

2008-11-07T23:36:00.000-05:00

I've already given a little preview of this project in Angel, Dark Angel. Actually, this post was supposed to be the preview, but I couldn't wait to post the images of St. Michael (visible in context in this detail of a wedding photo.)

This project is starting to grow, and some people have expressed an interest in it. Here's how I summed it up in response to one inquiry:

I grew up in Nanticoke and have lived here most of my life. I attended St. Mary's Church and School as a child, so I've spent nearly every Sunday (and lots of other days back in grade school) in that church looking at those windows. I suppose being in such frequent proximity causes you to take things for granted. I have traveled many miles to see Marc Chagall's stained glass windows at Union Church of Pocantico Hills in New York, and I must say I like our little windows more!

With the possibility of the closing of St. Mary's looming into a probability, I have started to look at all these things I have taken for granted in a new light. Often I have thought that it would be wonderful to arrange for some professional photographer to come into the church with a specially-designed rig to capture detailed images of the windows. But as I sat in the pew before my cousin's wedding last week, camera in hand, I thought "Well, why not?" and started taking pictures.

St. Mary's isn't the only church in this area with beautiful stained glass windows or other works of art. Nor is it the only church in this area slated for closing. (Or potentially slated; Bishop Martino is now advising the people of the diocese that nothing is decided yet, though - but as we saw with the school closings, and the bishop's fight with the teachers, once Bishop Martino has made up his mind, no appeals to reason or mercy will sway his decision.) I'm sure there's at least one person in each congregation with a camera. I think it would be fantastic on so many levels if the people of this area were to take it upon themselves to photographically document the things that mean so much to them, so that these things are not lost forever when they are gone. Or, perhaps, so future generations might understand just what has been lost.

So that's what I'm doing. Beyond just photographically documenting the windows, I will also try to dig up as much information on them as I can. When were they installed? Where were they made? Who are the people whose names are listed at the bottoms as donors?* The church itself may have records that will answer these questions - but if I wait too long, those records may be lost or discarded. Already many of the people with memories of the church stretching back decades beyond my mother's have passed from the scene. I guess I should have acted on another of my little projects sooner.

As I noted in the e-mail I quoted, there are a lot of churches in this area with art worth preserving, even if only photographically, and many of those churches are slated for closing. I wonder if I can generate enough interest to get someone from each parish to take on the task of photographing and researching the windows in their church?

*My mom thinks the answer to the second question may be Baut Studios, a local stained glass manufacturer. Until today, I had no idea there was a local stained glass manufacturer. But if they are the suppliers, then the answer to the first question would have to be "sometime after 1927." And the church is over 100 years old. I'll see if I can grab the priest after Mass this weekend.

Angel, Dark Angel

2008-11-07T23:34:00.002-05:00

My parish church is closing. Probably. Maybe. Churches throughout the Diocese of Scranton are closing, and St. Mary's in Nanticoke (a.k.a. Our Lady of Czestachowa) is shortlisted for closing. Though Bishop Martino has recently stated that nothing is final, nothing is decided yet. Maybe he's waiting for election results to come in to let him know which parishes voted according to his directive issued last week.

I'm operating on the assumption that St. Mary's will be closed, and that we will be consolidated along with two or three other parishes into a single church with no air conditioning, poor handicapped access, and ample parking for up to 30 vehicles. Word is that St. Mary's will be a backup or secondary church to be used for special occasions, like when more than one Nanticoke couple wants to get married in a Catholic Church on the same weekend. Still, I worry that it will fall into disrepair while it is idle, and some things will be lost forever due to neglect.

Among these are the stained glass windows. These are magnificent works of art, perhaps as old as the church itself, more than a century old. They bear the names of their donors, and some of these names are familiar to anyone who lives in Nanticoke. For example, one was donated by a "K.M. Smith." For decades I have assumed that this means it was donated by the children of the K.M. Smith Elementary school. But only last week it occurred to me that this was donated by the school's namesake. Now I want to find out who K.M. Smith was.

I've started photographing these windows. This is something I have thought about for a very long time. Ideally a project to capture these windows as photographic images would involve a large-format camera on a rig that allows it to image a small section of each window at a time, and create a mosaic of the window that will avoid having any distortion due to perspective issues. Less ideally the project would be undertaken by some guy with a Nikon Coolpix L4 who was waiting for his cousin's wedding to begin. But, hey, it's an imperfect world.

So before the wedding, and after Mass the next day, and after Mass today, I have been trying to capture each and every stained glass window in the church. The pictures are not perfect: they are sometimes blurred, rarely encompass everything I would like to grab, and always involve some perspective distortion. But they're better than nothing. I will not let this church, and these windows, pass beyond the veil unremembered.

I've got them all, I think. I'll go back and get them again and again, as often as I can, trying to achieve quality through quantity. But I've got them all. Here's one that's been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid.

This window is remarkable for several reasons. It may contain the only image of the adult Jesus in the main church windows. (I think there's another in the baptismal font area, but I think that's a later addition.) It's the only window that I could see that shows signs of wear, on both the images of St. Michael and Jesus. (A cleaning attempt gone awry?) It's the only one that shows an angel, as far as I know the only angel who is also classified as a saint. (Gabriel is a named angel, but I'm not sure he/she/it is considered a saint.) It's the only figure in the windows holding a weapon. (Others hold miniature churches, books, staves, crowns, but only Michael gets a sword.)

And...it sure as heck looks like a black guy.

Try to understand: Nanticoke was a coal mining town, settled primarily by Roman Catholic Poles, though several other nationalities and religions were represented. Until the middle of the last century the population was fairly static: your parents lived here, you lived here, and odds were your spouse was someone from in town. Very few people moved into town. So very few black people moved into town. Having a black guy in a century-old stained glass window in church is a pretty big thing. (Though I cannot say for sure if anyone else has ever remarked upon it.)

Brightness and contrast enhanced to show detail

Of course, one could argue that St. Michael was an angel, and as we all learned from the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism, "Angels are spirits that ain't got no bodies." (Well, that's how I remember learning it. From the older children.) So the artist had pretty free reign to depict St. Michael in whatever way he wanted. As a black guy with an Afro or whatever. And apparently, that's just what he did.

Damn, he looks pretty pleased with himself.

For all these years, a black guy has looked over the Polish parishioners of Our Lady of Czestachowa, sword in his hand, wings on his back, crown on his Afro, a crocodile-lizard-serpent version of Satan under his feet.

Note the distinctly Medieval footwear here. I only just noticed the flipped-up
portion of the hem of St. Michael's skirt. Is he preparing to pee on Satan?
No wonder the crocodile-lizard-serpent looks worried.

It's a little thing. Just a window, just a detail in a building slated for closing. But it's part of the story of this Parish, of the city of Nanticoke itself. And it's something that should not be lost. Somebody needs to remember it.

Title Reference: "Angel, Dark Angel", short story by Roger Zelazny.

The Churches of Nanticoke, Part 4

2008-11-07T23:34:00.001-05:00

For Part 1 of this tour, go here. For Part 2 of this tour, go here. For Part 3 of this tour, go here. For all parts of this tour, go here.

We now come to the final part of our tour of the Churches of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. While the other groups of churches have been clustered close to each other in certain parts of town, this last group is one that stretches all along Main Street, from close to the Nanticoke city limits on the East side to a point actually beyond the limits to the West.

Visitors entering or leaving Nanticoke along Main Street in the East will be familiar with a large tree that puts on a spectacular show of color each Autumn. While this tree is quite close to Janison's, the flower and garden shop, it is actually situated in front of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. Located at 663 East Main Street, just off of Lawrence Street, this modest hall is one of the first buildings to greet visitors entering Nanticoke from the direction of Wilkes-Barre.

Farther West along Main Street, past the traffic light at Kosciuszko and Main, past the Mill Memorial Library and the Nanticoke Armory, lurks St. George's Episcopal Church at 408 East Main Street. This small building with ~~a heavy wooden door set in~~* an archway topped by a stone engraved with the church's name has the appearance of a medieval chapel - appropriate, perhaps, for a church whose patron saint is a knight who, according to legend,slew a dragon!

Keeping with the Medieval theme is the First United Methodist Church, which resembles a large, yellow castle looming over the downtown at 267 East Main Street. Its yellow brick body and purple stone foundation closely resemble the materials used in the old Nanticoke High School, which used to be located at the bottom of Kosciuszko Street until it was torn down and replaced with a CVS.

Next door to the First United Methodist Church is the First Presbyterian Church of Nanticoke, at 229 East Main. Its rich red bricks and long flight of stone steps give it a simultaneous air of simplicity and majesty - though many a child's eye has doubtless recast this building as some sort of spooky haunted house!

Note the steeple of St. John's Lutheran Church visible in the background of this photo.

To reach the final church in Nanticoke proper we must continue West along Main Street past Nanticoke's other traffic light at the corner of Main and Market Streets, past the Old Post Office / current Senior Center (soon to be torn down to make way for a Culinary Arts annex for the local Community College) and Burger King, to 40 West Main Street and the Zion United Church of Christ. This small, simple structure is set back a bit in a residential area just off of the downtown, and is easily overlooked by passing drivers.

The final church in this series is actually located in Sheatown, which is a small satellite community technically a part of Nanticoke, though in practice thought of as its own entity. To get there we continue West along Main Street until we reach a fork in the road. Taking the right fork puts us on Old Newport Street. If we follow this to 135 Old Newport Street, across the street from Marty's Blue Room and just next to Guardian Elder Care, we come upon the tiny Holy Child Church, dwarfed by the nearby now-empty St. Stanislaus Orphanage.

I include this church not for the sake of completeness - there are actually still a few other churches on the outskirts of Nanticoke that I have not included here - but because this parish is currently facing consolidation with other Catholic parishes in Nanticoke. So while others may lament the loss of their neighborhood churches, parishioners used to walking to Holy Child will now have to drive several miles to attend weekly services.

This concludes our tour of the Churches of Nanticoke. At some point in the future I may go on another photo expedition to document all of the churches located on the outskirts of Nanticoke, including one on Middle Road, several in the Hanover Section, and one in a part of Nanticoke inexplicably located on the West Nanticoke side of the river. But for now, I close the book on this part of the story of my hometown.

Map showing the locations of the churches discussed
in this entry and previous entries in this series.

*Well, I thought there was a wooden door there. Turns out it's glass. I wonder how long that's been there?

The Churches of Nanticoke, Part 3

2008-11-07T23:32:00.000-05:00

For Part 1 of this tour, go here. For Part 2 of this tour, go here. For all parts of this tour, go here.

Next on our tour of the Churches of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania we come to a cluster of churches located in the narrow lanes just off of Main Street, four on Prospect Street and two others near the intersection of Walnut and State Streets.

The first building we come to as we move North from the vicinity of Patriot Square is a small, humble place that does not look much like a church. In fact, it was the Nanticoke Library in the decades before the Mill Memorial Library was built on the corner of Kosciuszko and Main. Located at 112 South Prospect Street, the Nanticoke Christian Fellowship serves as a place of gathering for the local Mennonite population.

Continuing North along Prospect Street we come to the Holy Name of Jesus Polish National Catholic Church, located at 98 South Prospect Street. The church's name is almost as big as the building itself!

(Fasinating note: the Polish National Catholic Church was actually initiated in the United States by a priest from Nanticoke, Rev. Francis Hodur of Holy Trinity, in 1897! This tidbit is from this website, which I found by backtracking on a StteMeter search.)

Slightly farther North and across the street to the corner of Prospect and State Streets is the Nebo Baptist Church, one of two Baptist churches in this neighborhood. The back portion of this building, which is located at 75 South Prospect Street, was once Nanticoke's only Synagogue many years ago.

Moving back across the street we come to another Baptist church. The First English Baptist Church is located at 58 South Prospect Street.

As the map below shows, these four churches form a fairly tight cluster on Prospect Street. But there are still two more churches to see in the neighborhood.

At 120 South Walnut Street, the corner of State and Walnut Streets, we find a long, unadorned building whose only indication that it is a religious structure - aside from the small sign on the foundation indicating that it is the meeting place of the Tree of Life Christian Fellowship - are the stained glass windows set into the front and sides of the building.

Looking even further East along State Street we see a steeple rising up over a residential neighborhood. Moving closer we discover St. John's Lutheran Church, located at 231 State Street. This is actually one of two churches with very similar names - the other is St. John's Slovak Lutheran Church, located on Hanover Street near Holy Trinity Church.

This concludes the third part of our tour of the Churches of Nanticoke. In the fourth and (for now) final part of our tour we will look at the six churches located along Main Street, stretching from very close to the city limits in the East to a lone Catholic parish located beyond the city limits to the West - but one still considered very much one of the Churches of Nanticoke.

Here is a map showing the locations of the various
churches visited on this part of the tour.

Here is a larger map of the City of Nanticoke,
placing each of these first three groups in context.

The Churches of Nanticoke, Part 2

2008-11-07T23:31:00.001-05:00

This is the second in a series of posts photographically documenting all of the churches of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. Go here to read part 1.

Having visited the churches on the West side of Nanticoke, our tour now moves to the central section of the city. We begin with another of the city's six Roman Catholic churches, St. Francis.

St. Francis is located at 173 East Green Street and features a large attached school and community center, which in the past was rented out for graduation parties and wedding receptions. It was one of the few Catholic churches in Nanticoke not affected by the first wave of parish consolidations several years ago, and boasted a large congregation and lavish decorations both within and without. Ironically, in 2007 it also became one of the first to close - not due to any of the reasons affecting parishes throughout the city, but because a leak in the roof went undetected until it had compromised the structural integrity of the building to the point that the church was deemed unsafe to use.

The St. Francis community pulled up stakes and relocated several blocks South to St. Joseph's Slovak Roman Catholic Church, located at 107 East Noble Street. St. Joseph's is a smaller, simpler church, though its steeple rises majestically over central Nanticoke and is easily visible from throughout the city. Sadly, the nearby school has been closed for many years and has fallen into disarray, with most of the windows smashed out and boarded up.

(If you find yourself in the vicinity of St. Joseph's, be sure to cross the parking lot behind the church to visit the legendary Sanitary Bakery, which is located at 126 East Ridge Street.)

Moving North once again we come to the First Primitive Methodist Church, which according to the banner across the front is celebrating 125 years (since its establishment, I presume.) It is located at the corner of Church and Prospect Streets, just a few blocks East of St. Stanislaus.

Continuing North down Prospect Street we come to Nanticoke's central park, Patriot Square. This is a pleasant wooded park, featuring walkways and benches and a monument that resembles a missile rising from the center of the park. Across the street from the North side of this park is Diamond's Candy Shoppe, located at 4 East Broad Street - definitely worth a visit in the months when they're open. But the final church on this portion of our tour is located across from the Southwestern portion of the square, heading West.

The building at 2 West Green Street has housed several different congregations in its time. It is currently host to the Berean Lighthouse, and has been for several years.

This concludes the second part of the tour of the Churches of Nanticoke. So far we've only covered nine of the churches. Next we will travel slightly further North, and will look at six churches located just off of Main Street. In the fourth and (for now) final part of our tour, we will see all of the churches that are located on Main Street itself.

Here is an aerial view of the churches covered in part 2 of the tour, courtesy of Google Earth.

The Churches of Nanticoke, Part 1

2008-11-07T23:28:00.001-05:00

This is a project I've been kicking around for several years, at least since this post. And thanks to a last-minute schedule change this morning, I was able to get the project started today.

Nanticoke has a lot of churches. How many, I'm still not sure - that depends on what your definition of "Nanticoke" is. Counting just the main body of the city itself, there are over twenty. And I have set out to photograph them all.

I think I got them, all in one day! But this is too much to mash together into a single post. So I've tried to break up the churches into semi-logical groupings, more or less by location.

I started my tour of Nanticoke's churches around 9:00 this morning with a trip to my own church, Our Lady of Czestachowa (also known as St. Mary's), located at 1030 South Hanover Street. I have written about this church before, and it is the initial focus of The Stained Glass Project, so I will be writing more about it in the future.

Heading North along Hanover Street, the first church we encounter is St. John's Slovak Lutheran Church. For some reason this church is not listed in the directory of churches on the Nanticoke City 2006 Community Guide & Map that I had hanging next to the 2008 Recycling Schedule.* It is possible that it was erroneously thought to be a duplicate entry for St. John's Lutheran Church, which is located several blocks away.

According to the sign in front, this church has been around for 120 years as of 2008. It is located at the intersection of Hanover and West Ridge Streets, on the other side of Ridge from Holy Trinity.

Holy Trinity, located at 520 Hanover Street, is a huge, impressive church with an incongruously small parking lot located on the other side of the busiest part of Hanover Street - a holdover from a time when churches were neighborhood affairs, and most parishioners walked to church each Sunday. It is imposing on the inside as well, with limited handicapped access and many stairs. The absence of a modern ventilation system results in a striking demonstration of what Purgatory might be like, particularly during long, hot Summer masses. This is the church currently slated to be the primary Catholic church in Nanticoke, post-consolidation.

Holy Trinity parking lot, across Hanover Street from the church.
Some people also park on Hanover Street itself.

St. Mary's parking lot, to same scale.
("Eye altitude" adjusted for difference in elevation.)

Sadly, St. Nicholas Ukranian Catholic Church, located several blocks further North at the corner of Hanover and Green Streets, is now closed, and has been for some time.

We now backtrack a bit for the last stop in the first part of our tour. St. Stanislaus is located at 38 East Church Street, just a few blocks East of Holy Trinity. For many years a special relationship existed between St. Mary's and St. Stan's, and for a while the two churches took responsibility for alternate grades of students - St. Mary's had Kindergarten, First Grade, and all the subsequent odd grades, while St. Stan's had the even-numbered grades. (Each retained its own basketball team, of course.)

This concludes the first leg of the tour of the Churches of Nanticoke. There are many more churches to cover, so I expect to spread this out over another two or three posts.

Map showing the location of the churches featured on this part of the tour. Note the location of this group on the larger map of Nanticoke.

*Also the schedules from 2007 and 2006, just in case those years ever come around again.

Nanticoke Trojans 2008 Football Schedule

2008-10-07T21:49:00.002-04:00

I'm a little - well, a lot - late with this. Only four games left on the Nanticoke Trojans' 2008 football schedule as I write this. But I'm listing the entire schedule in case someone is curious about past match-ups.

This is taken from the Greater Nanticoke Area School District website.

Fri. 8/29 Away Wyoming Area 7:00 pm
Sat. 9/6 Away Columbia Montour Vo-Tech 1:00 pm
Fri. 9/12 Home Meyers 7:00 pm
Fri. 9/19 Home Mid Valley 7:00 pm
Fri. 9/26 Away Old Forge 7:00 pm
Fri. 10/3 Home Northwest 7:00 pm
Fri. 10/10 Home Lake Lehman 7:00 pm
Sat. 10/18 Away GAR 1:00 pm
Fri. 10/24 Home Holy Redeemer 7:00 pm
Fri. 10/31 Away Hanover 7:00 pm

St. Mary's Parish Festival this weekend, August 1 & 2

2008-07-30T21:06:00.001-04:00

The Parish Festival for Our Lady of Czestochowa, Nanticoke, a.k.a. Saint Mary's, will be held this Friday and Saturday, August 1 and 2, 2008, at the Holy Child Grove in Sheatown (directions, sort of; these are to Guardian Elder Care, a nursing home located in front of the grove.)

Saint Mary's Parish Festival, or Church Bazaar, or "Picnic" (to use the more genteel term) used to be a thing of legend. For years these were held in the parking lot behind the church and school and were three-day events, starting Friday night and wrapping up Sunday night. Sounds of polkas could be heard for blocks around, and the smell of frying food permeated the area for days. Beer flowed like water, parked cars clogged the streets in the neighborhood, and young punks rubbed elbows with the elderly. Yet somehow, I never remember any fights or other disturbances.

2005 is the last year St, Mary's had a traditional Church Bazaar. November 2005 was the first time we had a Fall Festival, an indoor mini-festival. We didn't have a Church Bazaar or Fall Festival in 2006, but we did have a "Spring Fling" in 2007. There was no Church Bazaar in 2007. I don't recall if we had a Fall Festival in 2007, and there was no Spring Fling this year. But this year we are having a Parish Festival. It may be our last.

Parish consolidation continues throughout the Scranton Diocese, and St. Mary's is one of the parishes shortlisted for closure. It's not set in stone yet, though. But in any case, please come to the St. Mary's Parish Festival this weekend. It may be the last one, ever.

The Cemeteries of Nanticoke

2008-06-21T15:44:00.002-04:00

Originally published on Another Monkey on June 20, 2008

In a lot of ways, the cemeteries of Nanticoke form the heart of the city.

Actually, they form what used to be the Southern border of the city, before a bunch of culm banks were cleared out to make way for Luzerne County Community College some thirty-five or so years ago. But LCCC is separated from the rest of the city by a ravine. The complex of cemeteries belonging to several different parishes and the city itself present about half a mile of frontage along Washington Street alone. They contain the remains of ancestors and relatives of many of the people who live in Nanticoke, and of many more who are forgotten and nameless save for the engravings on their stones.

These cemeteries have modeled for me many times, and have provided scenic backdrops for many photos and even subjects for two of my paintings.
This week the cemeteries have come under attack. Vandals smashed flowerpots and vigil lights and toppled headstones. Estimates put the damage in the thousands of dollars.

Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice: Nanticoke cemeteries vandalized

Nanticoke police are investigating vandalism to St. Mary, St. Francis, St. Joseph’s and City cemeteries.
Someone toppled gravestones and statues, broke candle holders, ruined and stole flowers, and otherwise did a variety of damage in the cemeteries.
“This is the first time we had anything like that in a long time,” Mayor John Bushko said.
The vandalism most likely happened Sunday into Monday, probably by more than one individual, Nanticoke Detective William Shultz said. Police have not been able to determine if anything of value was missing. They are waiting for lists of damages from the churches, Shultz said.
Shultz called it the worst he’d seen, perpetrated by “some type of sick individuals.”
“I wouldn’t even think of doing something like that for fear that I would go to hell when I die,” he said.
Anyone with information should call Nanticoke police at 735-2200.

Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader: Vandals hit 5 Nanticoke cemeteries

Headstones toppled, American flag sticks broken and other damage
reported at sites.

EDWARD LEWIS elewis@timesleader.com

NANTICOKE – Paul Kankiewicz and his friend Dan Kotsko noticed broken wooden American-flag sticks at St. Francis Cemetery earlier this week.

Thinking the damage was caused by recent thunderstorms and high winds, they continued with their summer job of updating cemetery burial records.

But, when they arrived at the cemetery Wednesday morning, they noticed 16 headstones had been toppled.

Police said the damage is widespread and involved four other city cemeteries -- Nanticoke City, St. Stanislaus, St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s -- that are adjacent to each other in the area of Washington and Prospect streets.

Capt. Detective William Shultz said more than 100 tombstones were knocked over at the five locations. Most of the damage was found in Nanticoke City Cemetery on top of the hill.
A few reports of toppled headstones were reported to police earlier in the week, he said, noting the vandalism became more widespread. Flower pots, religious statues and solar lights were also vandalized, Shultz said.

A toppled headstone was reported on Monday by people who left the cemetery to buy topsoil, only to return to find additional vandalism at the site, Shultz said.

“Based on that report, we can’t say for sure all this vandalism took place at night,” Shultz said.
Shultz believes more than one person is responsible.

Tom Roman, who was cleaning his parents’ burial site in the Nanticoke City Cemetery, said he didn’t notice any veterans’ grave markers missing from other plots.

Contact police
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to contact Nanticoke police at 735-2200.

Edward Lewis, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7196.

I don't believe in ghosts. I don't believe in revenants - spirits in corporeal form who are set out to avenge a specific wrong. (Think of James O'Barr's The Crow, later made into a movie that proved fatal for Brandon Lee.)

I don't believe in curses, or hallowed ground, or magic inherent in cemetery soil. I don't believe any supernatural force will marshal itself to see to it that the people who committed this crime against the dead, and against those who loved them and honored their memories, have a fitting punishment bestowed upon them in this life and the next.

I believe in what I call the Cosmic All. Essentially, it's the universe put under an integral sign, with limits at plus and minus infinity. Our task in life is to contribute to this in a positive way. If we do harm to people, to the universe in general, we're contributing in a negative way - and that's fundamentally wrong.

The national economy is in terrible shape. Nanticoke's is even worse. Nobody - no individual, no church, not even the city itself - has a few thousand dollars just siting around waiting to be spent to repair the damage done by a few individuals on a vandalism spree.

But the damage will be repaired. The money will be spent. And if nobody can afford it right now, someone will go deeper into debt. The damage will be compounded.
No, I don't believe that some curse will fall upon the heads of the people who did this. I don't believe that some rotting, stinking, blackened corpse will rise from its grave and dog their steps until the day they die, always just behind them, just out of sight, to be glimpsed briefly in the edges of their vision and in reflections in mirrors in darkened rooms. I don't believe in any of these things.
But I hope somewhere, on some level, they do.

And I hope in time they know fear, and maybe guilt, and perhaps even remorse.

And if I should ever catch them in the act, they will wish that curses and avenging spirits were the worst things they ever had to fear.

Nanticoke Musicfest 2008, June 6, 7, and 8

2008-06-03T22:29:00.007-04:00

From the official website:

Party In The Park

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

June 6th, 7th, and 8th, 2008

Party hours and information:

Friday - June 6th

From Harrisburg, Pa.- Brad Crum as "Elvis"

5pm to 8pm

Meets

From Philadelphia, Pa. -"Shattered" a "Rolling Stones" tribute band

8pm to 10pm

Saturday - June 7th

From Pittsburgh, Pa. - Lee Alverson's tribute to "Elton John/Billy Joel"

5pm to 7pm

and dance to

"The Original Starfires with Eddie Day"

7pm to 11pm

Sunday - June 8th

Dance to the oldies with "The Cadillacs"

3pm to 6pm

Get ready to PARTY with "M-80"

6pm to 9pm

Come party in the park with us and win prizes at our hula hoop and jitterbug contest, and bring your appetite for our pierogie eating contest!

Featuring: Rides, games, Pat Ward (Magician extrodinaire and all around balloon guy), refreshments and fun for the whole family.

Nanticoke on YouTube

2008-01-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Videos from around Nanticoke are appearing on YouTube! As of this writing nanticokeweb has posted 25 of them. So far they're all from either Musicfest 2007 or Christmas 2007. Here's hoping that more are on the way!

Here's a sample - the Christmas in the Park parade:

Also, check out the Pierogi Eating Contest from Musicfest 2007:

Go here for all of nanticokeweb's YouTube videos!

WNAK

2007-10-31T09:06:00.000-04:00

When I was growing up we always had Nanticoke's own easy listening station, WNAK, playing in the house. My parents were children of the 1930's, and came from somewhere in-between "The Greatest Generation" that fought World War II and the "Happy Days" generation of sock hops and submarine races. Technically, I believe they fell into what was called the "Silent Generation" - overshadowed by those who came before them, eclipsed by the Baby Boomers who came after them, conformist, moderately conservative, moderately progressive. Their music was not the rock'n'roll of Elvis and Chuck Berry, but was something smoother, mellower, gentler.

WNAK catered to their tastes, playing a mix of songs from their childhood by performers like The Andrews Sisters, The Mills Brothers, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, songs by their contemporaries such as Jim Reeves, Englebert Humperdinck, and Robert Goulet, Polkas (always popular in this Polish-dominated area), and hymns (also popular in a primarily Roman Catholic area), along with softer stuff by more modern artists like Elvis, Ray Charles, Jim Croce, Anne Murray, The Carpenters, and The Captain & Tennille. Each day would be punctuated by the ultra-conservative editorials of station owner Bob Nielson and pieces by Paul Harvey and "This Is Pennsylvania" by Peter C. Wambach (featuring the line "It's a beautiful day in Pennsylvania,"), even "Old-time radio dramas" - actually funny little 30-second melodramatic commercials for C.W. Schultz and Sons Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning. Each broadcasting day would end with Jim Reeves' version of "Night Watch":

Bright stars are watching the world as it sleeps
Shepherds watch over the little white sheep
The lighthouse is shining for ships far at sea
As God keeps the night watch for you and for me.

So sleep, sleep in peace and rest
Don't be afraid of the darkness
All's well for over the land and the sea
God's keeping the night watch for you and for me.*

I learned a lot of older songs back then, while other kids my age were growing up listening to The Who and The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. I would learn those songs, too, but later, as my older sister entered her teen years and blasted them from her stereo. (Later, during her college years, she would work as a DJ at WNAK for a while.) I think my childhood is richer for this layer of musical experience that many of my contemporaries, whose parents were sometimes ten to fifteen years younger than my own, never got to have.

Over time the artists I heard on WNAK have died off. Some, like Jim Reeves, died before I was born; others died when I was young. A few, like Englebert Humperdinck, are still alive and well, touring and performing.

WNAK itself has died, in a sense. Years ago Bob Nielson sold it to a corporation, which gradually morphed the station into a soft rock/easy listening format intended to appeal to the under-70 crowd. A while back Bob Nielsen died. A few weeks ago WNAK changed formats again, now into a Spanish easy listening station. It calls its format "Caliente", but the times I have listened to it - well, without the lyrics, you wouldn't know the music was any different; even polka and mariachi songs are fairly interchangeable.

Now another artist I learned to love from WNAK has passed away. Two days ago I learned that Robert Goulet was gravely ill and in need of a lung transplant. Yesterday he died. Tragically, the world has lost one of its great voices - and a pretty fair actor, too. He will be missed.

*Hearing this song on a Sunday evening was always one of the saddest experiences of my childhood, because it meant that the weekend was ending, and it was time to start thinking about whatever homework I might have been assigned on Friday.

Nanticoke City-Wide Yard Sale Part 2, Saturday October 6

2007-10-02T19:13:00.000-04:00

Nanticoke will be having another citywide Yard Sale this Saturday, October 6 from 9 AM to 3 PM. Check out the (very spiffy) Citywide Yard Sale webpage on the official City of Nanticoke website. Here is the text of that page:

The Civic Pride Committee is planning another citywide yard sale for fall, but this one has a twist — it’s also a treasure hunt.

Sharpen that brain of yours and you might be $25 richer during the yard sale, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 6.

Also, the Salvation Army will have a truck by the old Nanticoke/West Nanticoke bridge where the Street Department used to be to take your useable or recyclable items from 3pm to 5pm that day.

Committee member J.D. Verazin, who brainstormed the idea, said that it will feature clues to street names in the town. For example: Where do people wear 10-gallon hats and pointy boots? Where do baseball players play?

If you figured “west” and “green,” then you’d be one step closer. Now you just have to visit a yard sale on West Green Street, and if you purchase an item that’s marked, you win one of six $25 prizes.

“Every year we’ll be coming up with something new like this treasure hunt to keep it exciting,” Verazin said. “The event keeps growing from last year.”

The first citywide yard sale was held during one weekend last summer, and the second was held in the beginning of this summer. Verazin said the committee decided to split the single event into one summer and one fall event. For this year’s summer event, Verazin said, about 280 residents signed up.

“It was great for Nanticoke,” he said. “We had people walking around 2 hours before the yard sale was scheduled to begin.”

This year Verazin is expecting a higher number of people to sign up for the fall and is asking residents of the Honey Pot and Hanover sections to call 735-2800 to register for October’s event. The address of everyone who registers will be printed onto a map that will be offered at Patriot Park on Oct. 6.

“This event brings a lot of people into Nanticoke,” Verazin said. “People from as far as Shickshinny were here, and it was great for local businesses.”

Larry Karnes, owner of Larry’s Pizzeria on the corner of Church and College streets, said tables were set in the back parking lot to satisfy the customers during this summer’s sale.

“We were selling anything that we had ready and it was going,” Karnes said. “People were walking around town hours before (the yard sale) started.”

And for residents participating in the sale, Verazin said it’s a perfect opportunity to lose the extra summer stuff and get ready for winter.

“It’s also great for the extra cash,” he said. “One lady made $350 selling only dollar items, so that tells you something.”

Karnes said he’s going to prepare more for October’s event, due to running low on everything during the summer sale. He recommends other businesses also better prepare.

“This is a great impact on Nanticoke,” Karnes said, who’s also a city fire officer. “I’ve never seen so many positive people come through Nanticoke on one day.”

Local merchants are encouraged to plan special promotions or sidewalk sales to coincide with the event.

Unfortunately, I will be working that day, so some other enterprising soul will have to take the initiative to sell soda and water to thirsty yard sale shoppers. Come to Nanticoke this Saturday and see what everyone has to offer!

Nanticoke Trojans Football Schedule

2007-08-28T18:29:00.001-04:00

Here is the schedule for the Nanticoke Trojans football team, as reported on the Greater Nanticoke Area School District sports page.

ALL GAMES ARE SCHEDULED FOR 7 PM. Schedules are always subject to change; please check the GNA school district page linked above for the latest information, and for cshedules for other sports.

Home games are indicated in BLUE.

Friday 8/31 - Away
Central Columbia

Saturday 9/8 - Away
Meyers

Thursday 9/13 - Away
GAR

Friday 9/21 - Home
Wyoming Area

Saturday 9/29 - Away
Holy Reedemer

Friday 10/5 - Away
Northwest

Friday 10/12 - Home
Coughlin

Friday 10/19 - Home
Dallas

Friday 10/26 - Away
Lake Lehman

Friday 11/2 - Home
Hanover

School's Back in Session August 28

2007-08-22T19:03:00.000-04:00

Classes will begin in the Greater Nanticoke Area next Tuesday, August 28. This means police will be out in force, ticketing people who exceed the 15 mph School Zone speed limit on Kosciuszko Street (which normally has a speed limit of just 25 mph, anyway.)

Students at Luzerne County Community College should be aware that police preferentially ticket vehicles heading south on Kosciuszko Street, towards L.C.C.C. While reasons for this are unclear - students driving towards the High School also exceed the speed limit on a regular basis, both at the beginning of the school day and after school lets out in the afternoon, when many of them also show off by stunt driving through the streets surrounding the school - there has been some speculation that it is connected to the fact that while most of the students attending the John S. Fine High School probably have relatives, or friends, or relatives of friends or friends of relatives who have city connections who would be able to get a speeding ticket overturned, most L.C.C.C. students are from outside of Nanticoke and do not.

On a related note, it seems unlikely that the construction on Kosciuszko and Main will be completed by August 28, so expect some congestion as a result of that. L.C.C.C. students should plan accordingly, allowing extra time to reach the school or considering an alternate route along Middle Road (exit 2 off of Route 29, heading west.) Note that Middle Road is a long, narrow, winding road through a residential area, and also has speed limits which are sometimes strictly enforced.

One last point: the street sign indicating "Kosciuszko Street" has been removed as part of the construction project, so incoming students may be confused as to where they should turn to get on this road. It is the north-south road that intersects with Main Street at the traffic light on the east side of Nanticoke. Just to make things more confusing, where the street continues north of Main Street for 50 feet towards the river, it is actually called "Jefkin Street" - and that sign is in place.

Pope John Paul II school library sale, September 8 - 10

2007-08-21T19:31:00.000-04:00

The recent realignment of Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Scranton has left many closed schools in its wake. One of those is Pope John Paul II school, located on the corner of Church and Hanover Streets, next to Holy Trinity Church. (This is the former Holy Trinity school building, but it was PJP II for at least the last 25 years, perhaps 27.)

There are many books that were a part of the Pope John Paul II school library that will not be being transferred to the new, central Catholic school for the region. These books are being put up for sale to the public.

The sale will be held at the former Pope John Paul II school at the corner of Hanover and Church streets in Nanticoke. The days of the sale will be:

Saturday, September 8, 3 PM to 6 PM
Sunday, September 9, 9 AM to 1 PM
Monday, September 10, 12 PM to 3 PM

Prices will be $0.10 - $0.25 for softcover books and $0.50 - $1.00 for hardcovers.

South Valley Heritage Days, August 8-11 2007

2007-08-07T13:27:00.000-04:00

In an earlier post I mentioned the "Nanticoke Heritage Days". Turns out I was wrong - these are the South Valley Heritage Days, going on on Lower Broadway in Nanticoke.

Here are the details, from an article in today's Times-Leader:

WHAT: South Valley Heritage Days
WHEN: Wednesday-Saturday
WHERE: Nanticoke Fairgrounds, Lower Broadway
NOTES: Admission is free. Food, crafts and games will be featured.
INFO: 735-6990

Music will be provided nightly, from 6 to 10, and will include:

Wednesday: Polka band Jolly Joe and the Bavarians
Thursday: Local recording band 40 Lb. Head
Friday: Oz Band
Saturday: John Stanky, from 3:30-5:30 p.m., followed by X Country at 6 p.m. during Bike Night.

Special events each night:

Wednesday:
Heritage Days festivities kick off at 5 p.m. Wednesday when officials tap a keg of root beer.

Minivan shuttle service will pick up residents from the three senior citizen high-rise towers in Nanticoke hourly on Wednesday during the polka-themed night. Glen Lyon residents can be picked up at 5 p.m. at the senior citizen center with a return trip at 9 p.m.

Thursday:
Children may have their pictures taken while sitting in a race car Thursday during the motorsports-themed night.

The Danko race team from the Giants Despair Hillclimb in Wilkes-Barre Township will make an appearance, and antique, restored and stock cars will be featured.

Friday:
Fire departments throughout the county have been invited to participate in a 6 p.m. parade on Friday during Fireman’s Night.

Saturday:
Motorcyclists will leave from Nanticoke High School on Kosciuszko Street at 2 p.m. Saturday on a course through Back Mountain, Glen Lyon, Wilkes-Barre, Hanover Township and Nanticoke.

Potato pancake eating contest at 4 p.m. Saturday.

National Night Out in Nanticoke, August 7 2007

2007-08-06T22:10:00.001-04:00

Nanticoke will take part in the crime prevention event National Night Out on Tuesday, August 7 starting at 4:00 PM. Events will take place at the St. John's Picnic Grounds on Front Street in the Hanover Section of Nanticoke (click here for directions).

From the Times Leader website:
With talks by Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas and the Nanticoke Police Department, food and beverages, music by OZ, face painting and games.
Phone: 570-735-3659

Nanticoke Heritage Days, August 8 - 11

2007-08-06T21:47:00.001-04:00

NOTE: This event is actually the South Valley Heritage Days. Please see this post for more derails.

I am still looking for information on this event, which I just learned about by way of a sign on a bench at the bottom of Kosciuszko Street. All I know is that it will feature The Oz Band on Friday, and John Stanky possibly every day.

If anyone has any more information on the Nanticoke Heritage Days, please post it as a comment. Thanks!

Give Blood

2007-08-04T11:05:00.001-04:00

The Red Cross Donor Center is conveniently located on Middle Road just a few minutes from downtown Nanticoke. Donating blood takes about an hour from the time you enter to the time you leave. You can give blood every eight weeks. Donating blood is one of the easiest and most effective ways of helping other people!

For directions to the Donor Center, click here.

Web site: http://www.nepagivelife.org/

American Red Cross
Northeastern Pennsylvania Blood Region
29 New Commerce Blvd.
Ashley, PA 18706

E-mail: nepainfo@usa.redcross.org
Phone: 570-823-7164
Fax: 570-825-4264

To donate blood or plasma, call 1-800-GIVELIFE (1-800-448-3543).
For bone marrow donation, visit http://www.marrow.org/ .
To schedule a blood donation online, visit http://www.givelife.org/ .

Cabbage Roll 2007 is this weekend!

2007-07-25T16:21:00.000-04:00

Rock 107 DJs Daniels and Webster will be broadcasting live from Lower Broadway in Nanticoke (just outside of Honeypot, near the Weis Market complex) this Friday, July 27 to support this weekend's Honey Pot Fire Company #6 Cabbage Roll! From the latest bulletin from the Cabbage Roll 2007 MySpace site:

Live broadcast from the Cabbage Roll Festival Lower Broadway Nanticoke, a 6am to 10 am Friday July 27th features Daniels and Webster from ROCK 107 FM Guest appearances from The NEPA Miners; Coal City Rollers; Pioneer Dance Team "The Hottest Ticket in Town”, Gentlemen’s Club 10 girls, Diamond City Rollers and more. Come and join in the fun and wake up to the dawning of the Cabbage Roll. Music is great and IT'S FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And from the previous bulletin:

Cabbage Roll 07

Friday July 27, 2007 5-11PM
Saturday July 28, 2007 Noon -11PM
Lower Broadway Fairgrounds Nanticoke, Pa
Music - Rides - Fireworks - Bike Show - Arts and Crafts Fair

Friday
Fireworks; Rides; Food; Games; Motorcycle Show, Arts and Craft Show and of course 40 lb Head; Beyond Fallen (Melissa Records Artists)
Special Cabbage Roll Challenge Match
NEPA Miners Pro Football Team (with Cheerleaders)
- Versus -
Coal City Rollers (Flat Track Female Roller Derby Team)
Special Referee: WWF Legend King Kong Bundy

Saturday
Arts and Craft Fair; Rides; Food; Games
Music by: RSO and Jolly Joe
Cabbage Roll on Cabbage Hill, Honey Pot with DJ Iceman 2-6 PM;
W-B Pioneers and Dance Team, Coal City Rollers and the NEPA Miners and Mystery Guests

Directions
From Harrisburg, Pa.
Take ramp onto I-81 NORTH toward HAZLETON/ALLENTOWN - go 97.3 mi
Take exit #164/PA-29 onto SOUTH CROSS VALLEY EXPY toward NANTICOKE - go 4.3 mi
Take exit #3 toward NANTICOKE - go 0.3 mi
Turn Left on SANS SOUCI PKY - go 0.4 mi
Continue on E MAIN ST - go 0.8 mi
Turn Right on N WALNUT ST - go 0.2 mi
Continue on ACCESS RD - go 0.0 mi
Arrive at ACCESS RD, NANTICOKE

From Binghamton, NY
Bear Right onto I-81 SOUTH toward NEW YORK/SCRANTON - go 51.6 mi
Take exit #194/PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE onto I-476 SOUTH - go 16.1 mi
Take exit #115 onto PA-315 SOUTH - go 1.5 mi
Bear Right onto I-81 SOUTH - go 10.4 mi
Take exit #164/PA-29 onto SOUTH CROSS VALLEY EXPY toward
NANTICOKE - go 4.1 mi
Take exit #3 toward NANTICOKE - go 0.3 mi
Turn Left on SANS SOUCI PKY - go 0.4 mi
Continue on E MAIN ST - go 0.8 mi
Turn Right on N WALNUT ST - go 0.2 mi
Continue on ACCESS RD - go 0.0 mi
Arrive at ACCESS RD, NANTICOKE

From Stroudsburg, Pa
Turn Right onto I-80 WEST - go 45.5 mi
Take exit #260B onto I-81
NORTH toward WILKES-BARRE - go 13.5 mi
Take exit #164/PA-29 onto SOUTH CROSS VALLEY EXPY toward NANTICOKE - go 4.3 mi
Take exit #3 toward NANTICOKE - go 0.3 mi
Turn Left on SANS SOUCI PKY - go 0.4 mi
Continue on E MAIN ST - go 0.8 mi
Turn Right on N WALNUT ST - go 0.2 mi
Continue on ACCESS RD - go 0.0 mi
Arrive at ACCESS RD, NANTICOKE

From Williamsport, Pa
Starting in WILLIAMSPORT, PA on MARKET ST go toward CHURCH ST - go 1.1 mi
Bear Left on MONTGOMERY RD[US-15] - go 0.6 mi
Continue to follow US-15 SOUTH - go 15.3 mi
Take the I-80 EAST exit toward BLOOMSBURG - go 30.5 mi
Take exit #241B onto US-11 EAST toward BERWICK - go 25.9 mi
Turn Right on LOWER BROADWAY ST - go 0.6 mi
Turn Right on ACCESS RD - go 0.0 mi
Arrive at ACCESS RD, NANTICOKE

Lots of stuff that is free:
Music, fireworks,meeting King Kong Bundy,Coal City Rollers,NEPA Miners, W-B Pioneers, enter the bike show, and watch the greatest sport in the World: Cabbage Rolling!

Hang with us Friday morning with Daniels and Webster
Rock 107 Legends at the Fairgrounds 6-10AM

Go to the official Cabbage Roll 2007 website for more details!

The Great Nanticoke Yard Sale is this Saturday, July 14!

2007-07-10T23:01:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, anyone driving through Nanticoke will be greeted with a strange sight: yard sale after yard sale, as Nanticoke holds what is now being billed as "The Great Nanticoke Yard Sale Part II A"! (Part II B will be held sometime in September.) Come to Nanticoke this Saturday and see what the people of this city have to offer!

For more information, go here:
http://www.nanticokecity.com/yardsale.htm

Upcoming events

2007-07-05T12:42:00.000-04:00

Upcoming events in and around Nanticoke:

Holy Trinity Church Annual Homecoming Festival, Friday July 6 and Saturday, July 7, 5:00 PM - Midnight on the grounds of Holy Child Church, Sheatown
(Saturday Outdoor Mass, 4:00 PM at Holy Child Grove)
- Entertainment by X-Country (Friday) and 40 Lb. Head (Saturday)
- Homemade Polish Foods, Games, Refreshments
- Stop in at the Holy Child Orphanage to browse their final "Flea Market" - Fill a bag for $2.00
- Flowers and plants donated by A&J Florist will be available to buy

Cabbage Roll 2007 T-shirts on sale Saturday, July 7, noon - 6:00 PM, Honey Pot Fire House, 13 Honey Pot Street, Nanticoke
- All sizes adult and children's, $10 each
- See their official website for more information

Greater Nanticoke Area Drug Task Force golf tournament July 9, 2007 at the Wyoming Valley Country Club
- Format is Captain & Crew
- Cost per foursome is $340.00
- For tournament information call Ken Malin at 814-9002 or Jim Samselski at 574-8111

City-wide Yard Sale, Saturday, July 14
Maps will be available at Patriots' Square on the day of the event, or just come to town and drive around from sale to sale!

Cabbage Roll 2007, July 27 and 28
See their official website for more information!

Sanitary Bakery

2007-07-05T08:16:00.000-04:00

Sanitary Bakery

126 East Ridge Street

Nanticoke, PA 18634

(570) 735-6630

http://www.sanitarybakery.com/

Directions to Sanitary Bakery

Phone orders accepted for worldwide shipping

Sanitary Bakery in Nanticoke is the oldest bakery in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Its name comes from a long-ago time when the word "Sanitary" indicated a level of quality and cleanliness beyond that of run-of-the-mill bakeries. In Nanticoke today, simply saying "Sanitary" brings to mind the best fresh-baked cakes, cookies, breads, and pastries this side of your grandmother's kitchen!

Block out plenty of time for your visit to Sanitary Bakery, because there's sure to be a line of people ahead of you. Walk in, take a number, look at all the delicious items in the glass cases, and if you're able, hold the door open for folks leaving the place with their arms full of boxes of goodies!

The mornings are always an especially busy time at Sanitary Bakery as people line up to get a fresh-brewed coffee and maybe a just-made donut or danish for the ride to work - or a box of them to share with their co-workers. Visiting Sanitary on Sunday morning after church is a tradition for many families. And their birthday cakes and cupcakes are the finest around, far better and less expensive than what supermarkets or big-box stores have to offer!

Seasonal and ethnic foods are a specialty, too. These include kruschicki (crisp-fried pastry bow-ties or ribbons dusted with powdered sugar) and, during the Lenten leadup to Easter, ponchki (also called paczki, punchki, or pounchki), dense, delicious, donut-like pastries traditionally filled with prunes or prune paste (lekvar) but also available with other fruit fillings.

And these treats are not solely available to residents of Nanticoke and surrounding areas! No, thanks to their website (http://www.sanitarybakery.com/) people from all over can see what Sanitary Bakery has to offer, and can order their favorite items by calling (570) 735-6630 (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express accepted). But if you are anywhere in or near Nanticoke, you must experience the sights and smells of Sanitary Bakery in person!

For directions to Sanitary Bakery, go here.

Nanticoke's amazing web presence

2007-07-04T17:51:00.000-04:00

For a city as small as it is, there are quite a few websites about Nanticoke. Here's a sampling:

The Official City of Nanticoke web page.

The unofficial Home Page for Nanticoke Online. 9,082,000 square kilometers of land? I don't think so. If our city were a square, each side would be over 3000 kilometers long! I think they meant square meters. Maybe.

The Greater Nanticoke Area School District web site, complete with an interactive map of our schools. Kosciuszko Street used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only street where you could go from Kindergarten through the second year of college (at Luzerne County Community College, a.k.a. L.C.C.C., a.k.a. the University of Nanticoke) without ever having to leave the street.

Here's some general data on Nanticoke, and here's some more detailed demographic data. Nanticoke has its own Wikipedia entry!

Then there are tribute pages, like Capt'n Clint's Place, with antique photos of Nanticoke. The Nanticoke Historical Society has some more old photos here.
Here's a really nice page, with maps and a history. Middle Road is as old as the United States itself...? Wow!

Nanticoke has at least one other famous citizen, the actor Nick Adams.

I blog a blog of Nanticoke

2007-07-04T17:04:00.000-04:00

Sunrise over Nanticoke, October 20, 2005

I've lived in Nanticoke pretty much all of my life, with some time away in college and immediately afterwards. As an adult I've made a conscious decision to stay here, having recently bought the house that used to belong to my grandmother.

Nanticoke is the sort of town that Norman Rockwell used to paint, a genuine slice of Americana with tree-lined streets and kids playing in their front yards. It is not perfect - no place is - but it has a lot more to offer than many people realize.

I want to change that. Nanticoke already has a fairly strong web presence, but it could be better. This blog, and the things that will follow, are my attempt to improve Naticoke's online image, and to help people see this city as I see it.