I don’t have the time to do a “Ten on Tuesday” EVERY Tuesday, but today is a snow day so I’ll play along.  Today’s task is to identify Ten Interesting Things About My Community.  I had some generous assistance from several websites (thank you Wikipedia and Google Image)!

1.  I have a “Gettysburg Address”!  Although I’ll include greater Adams County, PA, as part of my community, the county seat where I live is plenty famous.
2. As a person who doesn’t really like apples, I am friggin’ SURROUNDED by them (quite literally).   The 4th largest apple producer in the country, Adams County is home to more than 35 varieties of the fruit in 20,000 acres of orchard.  I actually know some Motts.
3. We are home to the Majestic Theater, the “grandest small-town theater in America!” Under the direction of Jeffrey Gabel, it was fully renovated in 2005.  The earlier version gained notoriety when President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady, Mamie (who were residents of Gettysburg) would attend performances there, often with world leaders as their guests.
4. Many places are tourist meccas.  Our tourists are the kind who like to dress up in wool clothing and parade around on the 4th of July (beat THAT, Martha’s Vineyard!)

Battle of Gettysburg

5. Because of that “civil” war (I hardly call a war that took the lives of a million people civil, although it is also known by other names, depending upon which side one’s people were on) my town boasts a lot of ghosts.  It is quite the booming industry here, in fact.  My own son took visitors on ghost tours.  The company he worked for sent the tour guides out with stud finders, which, when turned on and pointed at a ghost, would make unusual optical disturbances.  (Stud finders also do that when pointed at yogurt shops and living basset hounds, but what do I know!)

6.  Adams county was named after President John Adams, whose cousin, Samuel Adams, inspired a line of beer.    People in Adams County love their beer.

7.  They also love their cult films.  Jean Stapleton (of All in the Family fame) and her husband William Putch lived in nearby Franklin County and ran a summer stock theater that still exists (Totem Pole Playhouse).  Their son,  John Putch , produced, wrote, and directed a trilogy of films centered on a stretch of the Lincoln highway in south central Pennsylvania: Route 30.

8.  The entire county only has five high schools, although there are three institutions of higher learning: Harrisburg Area Community College, Gettysburg College, and the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary.

9.  The closest Indian restaurant is 40 minutes north of here.  We cherish our little Thai restaurant and endeavor to keep it open by eating there as frequently as possible.  The grocery store sells sushi (but note that it is grocery store sushi!).

10.  We host lots and lots of small town, community events all year round: the Halloween parade, New Year’s Eve on the square, Salsa night on the Square, First Friday events in town, concerts at the college and seminary, classic movie night at the Majestic in the summer…  I poke a little fun at this town on occasion, but I really love living here.