Many look back on the Yorktowne Hotel, thinking about weddings and dances in the grand ballroom, special anniversary nights or meeting celebrities in the lobby on their way from performances at the Appell Center or the Valencia. And there’s immense meaning spawned in that tall building, with its 77-foot signature rooftop flagpole. For sure, not everyone had access to those Yorktowne memories and that would start with people of color. When the Yorktowne opened in 1925, Black people could not stay there. After 30 years, the Yorktowne Hotel gained a well-earned entry in the Green Book, a treasure of safe and accepting places for Black people who were traveling to stay. Thirty years later, the hotel banned a white supremacist organization from meeting there. This landmark has long reflected its community. The Yorktowne has presided over York’s post World War II retail zenith and persevered through its downturns. Now, the renovated Yorktowne is a tall part of the downtown’s comeback. Indeed, the Yorktowne story is one of complexity and celebration and now of rebirth - sporting a newly minted Hilton tag and a restoration that will make it a place of memories and meaning for decades to come.

YouTube video links:

Season 2, 2022

2.1 - All in One Room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgo8fAxhO68

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/one-room-schools-york-county-pa/

2.2 - Stitching Secret Messages: https://youtu.be/ZlSo7zjCuQo

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/quilting-as-a-symbol-of-independence/

2.3 - Bridging the Susquehanna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8CpirdR_uA&list=PLtbDp4leDwa1JZVq8wkIKUqp9esXET-CK&index=6&t=694s

2.4 - Hellam's Horn Farm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIw-bhYjfAo&list=PLtbDp4leDwa1JZVq8wkIKUqp9esXET-CK&index=8&t=1s

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/horn-farm-this-old-york-county-place-fights-adversity/

2.5 We walk the line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQmUn0ArkZs

2.6 Tropical Storm Agnes at 50: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFCm11oUZiw

2.7 Summertime in YoCo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVuxr0fptJc&list=PLtbDp4leDwa1JZVq8wkIKUqp9esXET-CK&index=20&t=7s

Season 1, 2021

1.1 - The Baptist Farm and Underground Railroad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2sWWEION4&t=69s

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/farming-by-day-underground-railroad-by-night/

1.2 - Trauma in War and the Workplace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5qX5Bii_LE&t=1s

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/a-soldiers-escape-healing-ptsd-in-nature/

1.3 - The People of the Golden Venture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOgEgctNYck&list=PLtbDp4leDwa070VfzjPh7bienFPDDppwq&index=5&t=3s

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/access-to-justice-the-mantra-of-liberty-for-the-golden-venture/

1.4 - A Hill to Die on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX22YCQuvcQ&list=PLtbDp4leDwa070VfzjPh7bienFPDDppwq&index=4&t=4s

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/a-hidden-space-the-potters-field-in-north-york/

1.5 - Millers' Tales: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBSuGKetfYo&list=PLtbDp4leDwa070VfzjPh7bienFPDDppwq&index=3&t=924s

https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/a-woman-with-one-arm-how-the-wallace-sisters-successfully-ran-their-grist-mill-despite-a-disability/

1.6 - Susquehanna Trail: This Old Road Keeps Rolling On: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2oV5yRPRuk&list=PLtbDp4leDwa070VfzjPh7bienFPDDppwq

Related sites:

Preserving Newberrytown: https://www.facebook.com/groups/96217

Retro York: https://www.facebook.com/groups/retro...

Witnessing York: https://www.witnessingyork.com/

Wandering in York County: https://yorkblog.com/wandering/

EXTRAS:

Codie Eash, Civil War expert: Sacrificing our Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db18uK_OHF0&list=PLtbDp4leDwa1JZVq8wkIKUqp9esXET-CK&index=7&t=1s

Sara Bixler, owner of Red Stone Glen Fiber Arts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3li87J2M9c&list=PLtbDp4leDwa1JZVq8wkIKUqp9esXET-CK&index=2&t=4s