Take a look back at Franklin County’s history through news and photos that appeared in local newspapers 25, 50, and 100 years ago on September 5th.
25 Years Ago
September 5, 1994 – Monday
“Historical treasures sought in old garbage”
WAYNESBORO – With every flick of his trowel, archaeologist Will Sheppard opens an underworld filled with dirty clues.
The mystery: discovering how a famous local potter made a living 100 years ago.
In a 20-by-0-foot grid just down the block from Main Street, Sheppard and seven others have spent the last month digging, scraping and shaving their way through a parking lot and abandoned church once home to John Bell’s pottery works.
As Sheppard put it, they’re going through Bell’s garbage. “This is common, this scattering of bricks,” Sheppard said. “Pottery generates a lot of trash.”
The diggers are searching through the broken leftovers of kitchenware, decorative pieces and kiln remains, which reveal what Bell used and how he used it.
The pottery works operated on South Potomac street from 1833 to 1900.
Sheppard, also a professor and consultant for the Renfrew Institute for Cultural and Environmental Studies, says the key for researchers is the color of soil they slice away with the sides of their sharp instruments.
“Different colors allow us to see the context or relationship of objects in the soil,” he said. “From that context, we can determine the age of the things we find.”
The Renfrew Museum and Nicodemus Center for Ceramic Studies of the Cumberland Shenandoah Valley Pottery Tradition are supporting the $60,000 dig through donations and state grants.
The two-year project one of six digs currently underway in the Cumberland Valley will allow the researcher to study the artifacts for their mineral contents and other features. The Renfrew Institute will use the findings to help teach the public about local pottery through symposiums and school programs.
“(John Bell) is becoming increasingly important as a recognized artist nationally, as well as locally,” said Marie Lanser Beck, a member of the Renfrew Museum’s board of directors.
Bell’s work is unique from other potters because he stamped his name on his pieces, Beck said, adding that some of his intact works have sold for as much as $8,000.
Among the bigger finds so far: an 8-foot diameter cistern filled with kiln ruins and broken pottery pieces. Workers found the cistern about 50 feet from where they’re digging now. The artifacts were buried in the adjacent church basement.
Ed Harbaugh of Fairfield and Harry Morningstar Jr. of Waynesboro own the properties being excavated. Diggers have unearthed plenty of artifacts with research value, but the pieces aren’t worth much money, Beck said.
“Nobody’s going to find a whole John Bell pot worth $8,000,” Beck said. “From way back in Ancient Egypt to the recent day, there’s always been people who think they can find something just by poking around.”
Workers have uncovered lead-glazed and unglazed earthenware, salt-glazed stoneware and selenium, says museum curator James Smith, also an archaeologist.
“Once we get it back in the lab we can analyze it,” he said. “This is our only opportunity to excavate so we want to document it thoroughly.”
One of the project volunteers is Dr. Richard Bell, a descendant of the potter. He also works at Waynesboro Hospital.
The volunteers spend hours on all fours, chipping at clay and scooping it into buckets; they say having a chance to shovel through the past is the only motivation they need.
“It’s exciting to find something,” said digger Brenda Krepps of Chambersburg. “I just like being a part of uncovering this.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Look at the following page for more information of John Bell’s pottery works: https://www.explorefranklincountypa.com/home/tag/john-bell-pottery/
50 Years Ago
September 5, 1969 – Friday
“LIFE MEMBER”
Award of life membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars was presented to Robert S. Chastulik, center, Chambersburg, during the recent state VFW convention in Harrisburg.
Chastulik, who led VFW District 21 during 1968-69, received the award for his contribution to the state membership drive which brought in a new record 155,000 overseas war veterans. With Chastulik are new state Commander Lowell II. Norris, left, Altoona; and Membership Coordinator Louis Rizzo, Masontown, right.
100 Years Ago
September 5, 1919 – Friday
“School Children Restricted In Going To Movies Now”
CHAMBERSBURG – Now school children between 8 and 14 years old must have another kind of note if they want to go to the movies on any day except Saturday, unless accompanied by their elders.
A law, passed by the last legislature and approved July 8 by Governor Sproul, says: “Be it enacted, etc. that no owner, proprietor, or lessee, or, the agent of such owner, proprietor, or lessee, of any moving picture theater, shall during the term of compulsory attendance or public school, as fixed by the board of school directors in any school district, and during the hours and upon the days such schools are in actual session admit or permit entrance into said moving picture theater of any child ‘or children between S to 14 years of age: Provided, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to any such child or children accompanied by its or their parent or parents or other responsible adult, nor to any such child or children presenting a permit signed by the’ teacher of said child, which permit allows such child or children to be absent from school during school hours and permits admission to the moving picture theater. Such permit shall be retained by the owner, proprietor, lesses or agent, and shall be preserved for a period of six months.”
