The Hex Murder of 1928 has rightly scored the tag as York County's crime of the 20th century. You have three guys, including two teens, killing a farmer in a remote part of the county in the days before Thanksgiving. The trio went to Rehmeyer’s Hollow to break what they believed was a malevolent spell that Nelson Rehmeyer had cast on them. Something went awry, and they killed Rehmeyer, a benevolent practitioner of the Pennsylvania Dutch practice of powwowing that combined folk religion with healing rituals. Their subsequent murder trials gained international attention when witchcraft came out in testimony and embarrassed the York County community. In the end, the work of the York County judicial system brought justice, calmed a community on edge and prompted the beginning of the end of powwowing as a common local healing practice.

Not long ago, Hometown History’s Dominish Marie Miller learned of once-welcoming blue-and-gold Keystone Markers rusting in a Newberry Township storage. In their day, these two vintage roadside markers announced the village of Newberrytown as a place worthy of notice. Domi approached township supervisors about repairing these cast-iron monuments, and they agreed. Domi gained other partners and the project commenced. One rehabbed marker has gone up in Newberrytown and another will soon be hoisted into place. This is just one do-it-yourself project that is part of a movement that is gaining momentum around York County. In this day of strapped government budgets, county residents are taking the initiative – beautifying and signing an overlooked monument in a city park, cultivating community gardens on weedy vacant lots and unearthing sunken graves in old cemeteries. Both Jamie Noerpel and Domi Miller, hosts of the August episode of Hometown History, will tell about do-it-yourself projects they catalyzed: Domi, the Keystone marker initiative, and Jamie, securing a monument to mark York City Cemetery, the potter’s field in North York. And they’ll look deeply at other volunteer efforts in this show streamed from the Blue Sky Tavern in Yocumtown, about 3 miles from the newly marked village of Newberrytown.

Discussing other do it yourself projects happening in York County

Bob Mann's work at the Farquhar Park. He continuously places fresh flowers at the interpretative plaques of the memorial to Lillie Belle Allen and Henry C. Schaad, 2 individuals who were killed in the 1969 race riots.

Jacob Lemon is the man behind the restoration efforts at Smoketown Cemetery. Recently, he's been able to take his love for history and turn it into a full blown one-man restoration project.

Years of neglect and vandalism lead to an overgrown and decaying hollowed ground.

Jacob started by cleaning the headstones that were straight and level. Then he noticed how many stones were broken and leaning, "now I'm tackling every stone I see, whether it needs cleaned, reset, repaired, or dug up (and yes, I have unearthed many stones that people thought were long lost)."

The Hanover Area, by intention or not, has long fashioned itself as an outsider in York County. Indeed, some in that southwestern region sought to form their own county in the early 1800s. In the Civil War era, Hanover on again operated against the grain. Hanoverians voted Republican in a sea of Democratic, anti-Lincoln townships. When the Confederates came calling the first time, in late June 1863, leaders bravely faced off with words against the enemy in the town square - passively or aggressively or maybe a little of both. In contrast, York’s leaders sought out the Confederates to surrender their town that same day. When Confederate Jeb Stuart sent in the cavalry, the town was at its peaceful best, feeding hungry mounted men dressed in blue. When the ensuing battle left 300 casualties, untrained townspeople treated the most painful and severe saber and point-blank pistol wounds. The Hanover Civil War story is a good one, and it’s not forgotten. Memory makers in the Hanover community have installed about 30 outdoor storyboards, many telling this story about when the Confederates came to town and Union horsemen and townspeople were at their best.

Codorus Creek has graduated from its “Inky Stinky” class, but few would call it a winsome waterway, with those high banks and scant creekside access. Years of use - and abuse - have caused many York Countians to simply walk over it with little thought, despite it being one of our most historically important waterways. Listen to Jamie Noerpel and Dominish Miller as they interview Mayor Michael Helfrich of York City, the former Susquehanna Riverkeeper. They discuss how the proposed Codorus Greenway Project will benefit the neighboring residents while also recognizing the challenges they face.

Codorus Creek has graduated from its “Inky Stinky” class, but few would call it a winsome waterway, with those high banks and scant creekside access. Years of use - and abuse - have damaged the York Countian’s image of what could be. But modern perceptions can’t alter the fact that the Codorus shaped York County culture from the indigenous peoples through colonialism and into the 21st century. Hundreds of thousands of people have relied on it for hydration, agriculture, recreation, energy, transportation of our goods, and even supporting our nation during times of war. But it’s also been used to dispose of our waste. It’s been so polluted that fish could barely live in it.

The Codorus Greenway project is seeking to rehab the part of the creek that runs through York, making it a city recreational showpiece. Plans call for more creek access to fish or boat, places to sit along its bank and a new trail on the west bank to offer the same recreational fun provided by the York County Heritage Rail Trail on its east bank. That park and trail also will connect west end neighborhoods with the downtown and with each other, giving a way for many to walk or bike to work. This project will broaden the way people view and use a one-mile stretch of the creek, transitioning the waterway from flood control alone to an enjoyable park and trail system that will still keep the city and its people safe in heavy rains. Jamie Noerpel and Dominish Marie Miller talk about this greenway project and take a deep dive into the stream’s history and efforts over time to clean it up.

*Update - The timeline and cost mentioned in this program reflect only Phase 1. The updated figure for entire project is roughly $70 millions, and many expect that cost to increase.

Don Robinson, Old Line Museum Volunteer, speaks with Jamie and Domi about the Welsh quarrymen’s cottages and the history of Delta- Peach Bottom area.

In the 1840s, the Welsh came to the Delta-Peach Bottom area to quarry slate, as they had in Wales for generations. The quarries boomed for 75 years and then declined from the World War I era to World War II, but the Welsh influence remains today. When high school students from Wales visited Delta in 2023, some felt that they were in their native country. Some found their hometowns inscribed on tombstones in Slateville Presbyterian Cemetery. “The Welsh cracked the stone in one direction,” the region’s primary history book states, “and split it in the other to make roofs that seem to last forever.”

Jamie Noerpel and Dominish Miller talk about the Welsh, their quarry work, their culture, and their lasting influences in this April episode of Hometown History, from the Welsh quarrymen’s village of Coulsontown.

In the 1840s, the Welsh came to the Delta-Peach Bottom area to quarry slate, as they had in Wales for generations. The quarries boomed for 75 years and then declined from the World War I era to World War II, but the Welsh influence remains today. When high school students from Wales visited Delta in 2023, some felt that they were in their native country. Some found their hometowns inscribed on tombstones in Slateville Presbyterian Cemetery. “The Welsh cracked the stone in one direction,” the region’s primary history book states, “and split it in the other to make roofs that seem to last forever.”