Foothills and Baker's Knob: Strawberry Hill Nature Reserve

July 27, 2014 JD and I returned to Strawberry Hill Nature Reserve to hike Foothills and Baker's Knob Trail. We both wore our boots in case we encountered venomous snakes. No such luck! 

These four pictures show a massive tree fall. 

These devices are helping saplings develop strong roots. 1800 saplings, dogwoods and sugar maples, for example,  were planted to complement the existing flora and fauna.  

These critters shared the trail with us.  

We did not see the owner of these feathers: Eastern Wild Turkey.

Gettysburg Town: July 26

We spent the day in the town of Gettysburg. We started with the
Lincoln Square outdoor market, and chatted with a coffee merchant
and an artist. 

      

       JD and I sampled some wines from the
Adams' County Winery.
  I'm sipping a cranberry and plum Pinot Noir, "Destination".

As I stopped and took this photo, I noticed a man watching us. He was leaving a government building across the street. "Why are you taking pictures of signs?" he asked. We replied "It's an interesting sign, it's old school". Then he said "Yeah, it is old school".

We were on our way to a hardware store, so we asked our curious friend, "Are we close to the hardware store?" He answered "you are" and pointed in its' direction, then proclaimed "you'll really like it, if you like guns".

It was, indeed a gun store, with some hardware. It had neither of the two items we were seeking.

http://www.federalpointeinn.com/history.php

Some friends from the 70's we reconnected with.

Appalachian Brewing Company restaurant

We spent several hours in the David Wills House Museum . 
This is the original saddle cover for the horse Lincoln rode to the dedication of Soldiers' National Cemetery in 1863. 

I had watched "Lincoln" several months ago. The
           images from the movie were still in my mind when I
           viewed these artifacts. Lincoln as family man, lawyer, politician,
          and president exemplified qualities that remain relevant to our
 current age. It was an emotional experience to be close to
objects from Lincoln's life.

Earlier, in the day, we stopped here and met Ron Rock, a curator of Christ Lutheran Church. Ron noticed Jonathan's Hockey Night in Canada t- shirt. Ron is originally from Quebec and is a Habs fan.  Ron shared with us the history of the church and its' role as a hospital during the civil war. Ron attended Gettysburg College in the 1960's. He remembers seeing Eisenhower around town. He showed us a picture of Eisenhower with his Westpoint graduation class in front of the church in 1919. Ron invited us to the evening’s performance “Songs and Stories of a Civil War Hospital”. It began at 7:30 outside the church with musicians playing civil war music. Inside the church, the musicians gathered to the right of the church, and two women in 19th century dresses sat to the left with a minister. Ron introduced and narrated the program.  A  personal journal of a nurse and a wounded soldier were read, as well as two of Walt Whitman’s poems.  In the front pew, a grieving woman sat with a young man beside her. She was dressed in mourning clothes, all black and her face was covered in black lace.

Strawberry Hill Nature Reserve--July 25, 2014

  Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve is a private
non-profit education and conservation institution
located in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of Pennsylvania.
We hiked three trails: Nature Trail, Swamp Creek Trail
and Quarry Trail.

These groundlings I heard 1st, before I saw them.
    After our hike, I spoke with a naturalist who explained
       they may have fallen out of their nest, or were practicing their flying
 skills (or a combination of the two!).

Turkey Tail Fungus

Skunk Cabbage 

I saw something come across the trail. I looked
down and a saw a black figure slither into the
bushes. It hissed at me a few times then
continued on its' way.  

We discovered the name of the snake
at the Quarry Trail interpretative sign.

Lots of other types of snakes that live in this area.  

Quarry Trail  

This section of the Strawberry Hill property was previously used for mining purposes. A local resident, Mr. George O. Mickley, was the first to begin mining here. His family owned the quarry land from 1907 until 1965, when it was purchased by the commercial corporation, Gross Minerals Corp. This corporation strip-mined 6,000 to 10,000 tons of Phyllite annually. In the year 2000, the quarry site, including a total of 81 acres of land, was purchased from Gross Minerals Corp. by the Strawberry Hill Foundation. Since that time, the land has been reclaimed through a process of re-vegetation and soil maintenance. Plants that were reseeded included: two species of panic grass, woolgrass, white goldenrod, soft rush, purple top and grass leaved goldenrod. Phyllite is from scientific Latin and means "leaf-stone." Phyllite is a medium-gray stone, one step beyond slate in the chain of metamorphism. Whereas slate has a light sheen from tiny grains of mica, graphite, chlorite and similar minerals, phyllite fairly glitters because with further heat and pressure, the reflective grains grow more abundant and join each other. And whereas slate usually breaks in very flat sheets, phyllite tends to have a corrugated cleavage. This rock has nearly all of its original sedimentary structure erased, although some of its clay minerals persist. Further metamorphism will convert all of the clays into micas, along with quartz and feldspar. At that point, phyllite becomes schist.  
The quarry is one of the richest areas on Strawberry Hill’s property in terms of species diversity.
Source: http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC13YX5_quarrying-times-earthcache?guid=1c0b7561-c605-41f6-98bc-5b6da47e1e7d

Water Snake

Today, there were several school groups visiting Strawberry Hill. We just spotted the deer before we met an enthusiastic group of kids on the trail.  After our lunch, we listened to a presentation with another group. The guide showed us a turtle with three legs-- its' right leg was missing and it had a small chip in its' shell near its' neck.  The cause of the turtle's injury is not known, but it may be due to frostbite or it was hit by a car.
A Black Rat snake was not taken out of its' enclosure. It's a biter. The guide explained she is one of the few people at the centre that is able to hold it. The first time she held it, it "musked" her on her arm. It took two days for the smell to disappear.

Hike With Ike

Thursday, July 24 We met a park ranger at the Gettysburg  College gates to learn more about Dwight D. Eisenhower's connections to Gettysburg.                                                                                                                      

The Eisenhower's moved into this much more
substantial home after the Gettysburg College frat boys
moved home for the summer. In September, the Eisenhowers
had to find other accommodations. 

The 2nd floor featured the starter home of Dwight and Mamie, and their son "Icky".