Use the directions provided to locate markers, memorials, and plaques. Find the related marker questions in the scavenger hunt form, and read the markers to find the answers and record them in the spaces provided on the form.
Submit your answers and contact information by October 31, 2023 to enter the prize drawing. Completed forms can be dropped off at the Harborcreek Township Municipal Building, 5601 Buffalo Road, or you can submit your answers via an online form.
It has been nearly 30 years since the Society was first organized, and many significant changes have taken place since then, most notably our move into the Gifford-Blanchfield House. As the Board of Directors planned for the future of the organization in this beautiful new space, it became evident that the Society’s by-laws needed to be revised or amended.
To access a copy of the by-laws that are being proposed for adoption later this year, please download them here. Please read the by-laws and provide comments by July 31, 2021. You can share your comments by email at harborcreekhistory@gmail.com, or by phone at (814) 899-4447.
Printed copies of the current by-laws (approved in 1994) are available at the Society’s office, should you like to compare the existing by-laws with the proposed ones.
The Society’s membership will be asked to vote on the revised by-laws at the membership meeting August 14, 2021 at 10 am at the Harborcreek Township Building next to the Gifford-Blanchfield House.
Steven Mooradian, a Harborcreek native who just finished his senior year as a public history major at Mercyhurst University, focused his senior project on the history of Buffalo Road. His final product is a four episode podcast that highlights different aspects of the road, which serves as a main transportation artery for the Harborcreek Township community; they are agriculture, business, tourism/recreation, and transportation.
The Society’s new Vintage Wedding Album will be on display at the annual open house Saturday, December 8th 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. And while you’re there, browse our gift shop for great holiday gift ideas.
HHS Begins Vintage Wedding Album
The Society is inviting residents to bring or send their wedding photo to our office to be displayed in a photo album. Please include the day you exchanged vows, name of the church or place of the wedding, your attendants and honeymoon destination. Other information you might wish to add could be where you resided or reside in Harborcreek Township, number of or names of your children and any special notations you would like to include.
We look forward to receiving wedding photos either through our harborcreekhistory@gmail.com or by your bringing them to 5451 Merwin Lane to be scanned during office hours; original stays with YOU. This project will bring a new dimension to HHS and our purpose to preserve the exchange of marriage vows as township residents began their married lives together.
You’re invited to join the Harborcreek Historical Society and Harborcreek Township in dedicating a new historical marker at Shades Beach Saturday, May 20th at 10 am. The marker, which was funded in part by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, celebrates the history of Harborcreek’s shoreline.
Guest speakers for the dedication include Honey Stempka, Founder and CEO of Undo Undone and Project Manager for the Lake Erie Quadrangle National Marine Sanctuary Designation, and Jeanette Schnars, Executive Director of the Regional Science Consortium and member of the Pennsylvania Archaeological Shipwreck Survey Team (P.A.S.S.T.). Together, they will talk about recent efforts to identify, survey and document all shipwrecks in PA waters.
It’s been a long time since the Society has had a place to call home, but we’re finally in our forever home. It’s gorgeous. We thank the Harborcreek community, Dean Pepicello, Joe Peck, Tim May and the Blanchfield family for their support after our offices at Knowledge Park closed and providing a new home. With their encouragement, the board never lost sight of the mission developed 20 years ago.
The Gifford-Blanchfield House will be open weekly for the community to visit and use. Please consider volunteering with us. A new building comes with new responsibilities, and we’ll need volunteers to help care for the house and during special events.
The Gifford-Blanchfield House is ideal for gatherings of 15 people or less, so keep it in mind if you need a space to meet.
Be sure to add to your calendar the following two events: the Shades Beach historical marker dedication on May 20, 2017, and the official dedication of the Gifford-Blanchfield House on July 15, 2017. We’d love for you to join us!
At the 2017 Annual Meeting on January 28th, the Harborcreek Historical Society honored Harborcreek Township Supervisors Joe Peck, Tim May and Dean Pepicello for their unwavering commitment to the community and their investment in the Gifford-Blanchfield House. They orchestrated the transfer of the Blanchfield property from the Rick Blanchfield family to the Township and then oversaw the renovation of the house, all of which was done in partnership with the Society and Blanchfield family.
In January, the Harborcreek Historical Society was one of several local organizations to receive a donation from the East Erie Moose Lodge #593 from their games of chance fund. The donation of $500 will be used to support activities and projects at the new Gifford-Blanchfield House that will take place in 2017. We thank the Lodge for their generous donation, and invite them to visit our new headquarters and see the work made possible by their gift.
As board members identifying, discussing and researching the topics for a new marker for Shades Beach, our initial focus grew to include the entire Harborcreek Township shoreline, Lake Erie included. We each chose individual subjects on which to report. Being one of two male board members and a lifelong outdoorsman, I brought up the subject of fishing. Not fishing as we know it today, but fishing for Blue Pike sixty plus years ago. My memories are so vivid, that I forget my age and am surprised when talking with other fishermen who I suspect had the same experiences as me, respond by saying they are too young for that era. On the other hand, I know fishermen who have memories almost identical to mine.
As I look back, I am no longer sure who lived with whom, but it has never mattered. You see, my parents and grandparents always lived together. Although each of the four influenced me greatly, this story is about my grandpa. From a very early age, he instilled in me the love of nature and all things outdoors. As I recall, I was about ten years old when he took me on the first of countless blue pike outings. We took party boat excursions from the public dock and also rented much smaller boats from the local liveries. Sea sickness only laid me flat in the front of a party boat once. We caught lots and lots of fish, occasionally three at once on the same rod. Of course I am a fisherman and even in those early years, so they tell me, I loved to tell fish stories!
One of my treasures is my grandfather’s Coleman Lantern. It was manufactured in the early 1940’s and although I have repaired it many times, it still works as well as new. When we launched from the livery, it accompanied us on every trip. Many boats would collect tightly over the school of pike, each with at least one lantern, giving the impression of a small village when seen from shore. The Coleman was placed over the side of the boat on a hanger inserted in an oar lock. Since it shone exceptionally bright, ours had an accessory to shield our eyes. What was sometimes unpleasantly bright for us was an attraction for minnows – emerald shiners. When they appeared from out of nowhere, my grandfather frantically grabbed the bait net and swung it through the school before they could escape. Our supply of bait would be replenished preventing a fate dread by all fishermen – running out of bait!
Well into the night would come word from my grandpa that it was time to reel up because he was about to extinguish the lantern and head in. Even though we had caught many fish, I never looked forward to the end of fishing and still don’t even to this day!
The Coleman would be carefully inspected, made ready for next time and wait as I did for our next trip.
No matter what the season of the year, there is usually someone thinking or dreaming of what is on the opposite shore of Lake Erie. A recent article published in The Harbor View newsletter, which is published quarterly by the Society and distributed to members, highlighted two spectacular lake crossings. Here are a few more for your reading pleasure.
Due North, Harborcreek Historical Society Newsletter, March/April 2007 Because It’s There, Harborcreek Historical Society Newsletter, May/June 2008 The Ice Walkers, Harborcreek Historical Society Newsletter, May/June 2008
The North East News-Journal printed “Rare Lake Erie freeze shines new light on local men’s adventures” on March 28, 2014. Harborcreek resident and high school teacher Marty Dale has first-hand knowledge of the 1978 crossing of frozen Lake Erie by three North East men. Marty and Archie Wright “manned their CB radios for the night, transmitting every hour to the men.” Who were “the men?” They were Chris Sprague, John Hallenburg, Jr. and Bill Power, who successfully hiked across the frozen lake from Long Point to Freeport Beach March 4, 1978. The trek lasted for 18.5 hours.
One of my treasures is my grandfather’s Coleman Lantern. It was manufactured in the early 1940’s and although I have repaired it many times, it still works as well as new. When we launched from the livery, it accompanied us on every trip. Many boats would collect tightly over the school of pike, each with at least one lantern, giving the impression of a small village when seen from shore. The Coleman was placed over the side of the boat on a hanger inserted in an oar lock. Since it shone exceptionally bright, ours had an accessory to shield our eyes. What was sometimes unpleasantly bright for us was an attraction for minnows – emerald shiners. When they appeared from out of nowhere, my grandfather frantically grabbed the bait net and swung it through the school before they could escape. Our supply of bait would be replenished preventing a fate dread by all fishermen – running out of bait!