Monday, March 17, 2003

The History Buffs met at the Brass Pelican on Monday, March 17, Jim Vance chaired the meeting and asked all those present to introduce themselves and tell us where they were from. We had a full house with 50 people present.

Jim announced the next meeting would have as the topic "Story Tellers". David Kline has several interesting storytellers lined up. Jim then introduced the speaker, Chris Young, County Commissioner for Columbia County. He is active in The Columbia County Covered Bridge Association, a group formed to preserve the covered bridges of Columbia County.

At present the group has purchased the Stillwater Bridge and the Josiah Hess bridge located on Huntingdon Creek in Fishing Creek Township between Forks and
Jonestown. They are arranging for and funding the repairs for these two bridges. They are a non-profit organization with over 100 members and over $27,000 in
their Treasury. This is money brought in from tourism brought in by interest in the covered bridges in the county. Mr. Young emphasized that the covered bridges are an asset to the community- not a liability.

There are 23 covered bridges in Columbia County and the organization is dedicated to repairing and preserving them. Columbia County has the second most covered bridges in the state, only Lancaster County has more. "Let's keep it that way," urged Mr. Young.

We thank Mr. Young for an interesting and informative presentation. The next meeting will be at the Brass Pelican on the third Monday in April, April
21. Plan to come, enjoy the stories, and if you have a story to share you are most welcome to do so.