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Except for an early brush with an unusual October snowstorm that blanketed parts of the northeast with up to 20” of snow, we haven’t seen much of the typical winter around Cecil County.  As for what the remainder of the season holds, the Delaware Climatologist notes that there’s a high probability of continued warmer weather.  Of course, we haven’t forgotten those recent heavy snows, including the big blizzard of 2010.  So while we hope winter doesn’t return with a vengeance in the months ahead, here is a photo of a snow day of yesteryear for readers.  A team of horses pulling a plow struggles to clear Elkton’s West Main Street in the vicinity of the Howard Hotel.  This image is probably from around 1890.

The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Perryville from local author Alan Fox. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images and memories of days gone by.

From the early days—when Perryville was known as Lower Ferry and John Rodgers hosted George Washington and other Founding Fathers in his tavern on the bank of the Susquehanna River—to the present, Perryville has seen boom and bust, war and peace, and triumph and tragedy. The Susquehanna and the Chesapeake Bay have always shaped the growth of the town, providing jobs, transportation, food, and recreation.

By the 1860s, the emergence of the railroads as a dominant commercial force ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity for Perryville. A new commercial and industrial base emerged in the 19th century. Spurred by the proximity of the river and the railroads, this brought good jobs and decent wages to the town. Perryville illustrates a century of progress through vintage images, documenting the citizens of Perryville and the town they lived in.

Author Alan Fox is a longtime resident of Perryville and local history enthusiast. This volume offers a unique glimpse at the changing face of a town that has been witness to a wealth of history. Using photographs from museums, archives, and local citizens, Fox brings a human face to the history of Perryville.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888)-313-2665.

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places. Have we done a book on your town? Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.

Celebrate black history month and join us as Eric Mease presents a program on the lives of Cecil County African-Americans who served with the Union forces during the Civil War.  Over 130 served their county in segregated black regiments.  Find out what life was like for them and the struggles they faced and successes they achieved in this fascinating program at the Elkton Branch of the Ceicl County Public Library on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m, 2012.

Commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War through unique programs and learning opportunities at your library this year! Through May 2012, all Cecil County Public Library branches will feature events and activities centered around the greatest conflict in our nation’s history. From reenactments to special programs on the role of women and local African Americans in the war, not to mention children’s activities and book discussions with local authors, there’s something for everyone–and everywhere!

Here is the February schedule.

• Cecil County African-Americans in the Civil War; Eric Mease speaker; Wednesday, February 8 @ 7pm; Elkton Central Library
• Freedom Quilts for Kids (Grades 3-6); Wednesday, February 22 @ 3:30pm; Elkton Central Library
• Follow the North Star Workshop for Kids (Grades 3 -8); From the Banneker-Douglass Museum; Wednesday, February 22 @ 3:30pm; Perryville Branch Library
• A Copperhead Looks at the Civil War; Monday, February 27 @7pm; Rising Sun Branch Library;

Registration is required for all programs.

The life of a Waterman, a video documentary examining the work of Cecil Countians commercially fishing the Chesapeake, recently came to our attention.  It was completed by Megan Moore, a Cecil College student, for a class project.  Thanks Megan for sharing this excellent work.  Hopefully we’ll see more of these creative products, as other videographers document how life is changing so quickly in the 21st century in Cecil County, and hopefully we’ll see more from Megan.  Check it out.  It’s a fine piece of work, profiling one aspect of the area’s culture and heritage through new media.

Sylmar draws its name from its location on the state border, taking the second syllable of Pennsylvania and first syllable of Maryland.   Its growth came about after the Philadelphia and

Baltimore Central Railroad built a line through the area in the mid-1860s.  In 1877, the company erected a depot and freight house at the spot, calling the station State Line.  That was soon changed to Sylmar.   By 1902, the population had reached 50 people, according to Polk’s Maryland Directory.  It had an undertaker (W. N. Brown), a blacksmith (Amos Whiteman), an auctioneer (S. H. Dowland), a general store (Kimble S. Howard), and several other business interests that year.

With the railroad depot, freight house, and siding creating growth, the U.S. Post Office opened a station here on March 26, 1886.  Amid the Great Depression, the facility closed on Dec. 30, 1933.

Several postcards exist of this northwestern Cecil County town, located just a few miles northeast of Rising Sun.  The two below show the railroad depot and the post office and store.  Other community images include shots of the church, school and additional views of the railroad.  These cards are from about 1912.

Additional Sylmar photos

The 118-year-old fire bell that stood watch over Elkton for decades, arousing firefighters from their slumbers in the dead of winter nights or calling them from their labors on hot summer days, remains an important part of Singerly Fire Company today.  For years this instrument, mounted in the belfry high atop the fire station, alerted volunteers when a blaze threatened the community.

Cast by the C. S. Bell Co. of Hillsboro, Ohio, the 1,190 pound instrument was placed in its perch high above the engine room in the fall of 1893.   By 1910 things advanced as the company installed an electric gong.  When the operator at the telephone exchange received a fire call, she pushed a button activating the device. Once the first firefighter arrived at the station, he tugged on the rope striking the gong in the tower as that urgent tolling was heard all over town.    In time, the tapping out of calls for Elkton’s volunteers on the bell stopped as Singerly installed a modern fire whistle.

Sam Goldwater, a young firefighter in the early 1970s recalled helping put the instrument back into the spotlight.  It had been stored away for generations, but when the Newark Avenue station opened in 1970 Gene Meekins became interested in getting the ancient relic out of storage.  As part of the opening of the new firehouse, it was placed on a pedestal at an entrance to the station.  Later, in preparation for the 1976 Bicentennial, Mark Onifer, Bobby Holmes and Sam cleaned up the sentinel that had tapped out many urgent alerts, cleaning it up and giving it a fresh coat of paint.

Although the bell was silenced once electronic alarm systems arrived, the Singerly Fire Company has made sure this relic from its past has been preserved.  The bell was last formally rung when the fire company celebrated its 100^th anniversary.  Two former presidents, Jim Spry and Gary Storke, struck the gong causing the sound that once called Elkton firefighters to duty to ring out as the members gathered for the special celebration.

While traveling in Western Mass one summer backs in the 1980s, we stopped at a large roadside flea market.  There  I found a few photographs of Singerly Fire Company apparatus in the inventory at one table so I immediately picked them up.  Here are scans of two of those images, one showing the Ahrens Fox and the other the Hale.  I suspect the pictures were snapped in the 1950s.