Category: Culture

Gift For The Grangers Detail 1873 1

The Hagenbuchs and The Grange

I have mentioned in a few, previous articles that I was familiar with the Grange organization when I was growing up. A few weeks ago, Linda and I were visiting our daughter, Julie, her...

Wreath Clarence and Hannah (Sechler) Hagenbuch Grave 0

Wreaths of Remembrance

As Christmas approaches, each year for the past several years my wife, Linda, has made evergreen wreaths to give to friends, to hang outside at our abode, and to place on relatives’ gravesites. These...

Noodles Cutting Board 8

Does Food Define Heritage?

On New Year’s Day, Linda and I were supposed to have friends of ours over for the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch meal of sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and pork. However, since it was just to be...

Hagenbuch Library Shelves Detail 0

What Did They Read?

Books, magazines, newspapers, fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies, biographies, historical fiction, pure history, romance, poetry—the list could go on and on of what people read. What we read is a reflection of our pleasures, our beliefs,...

Finished Doughnuts or Fastnachts Detail 2

Doughnuts or Fastnachts?

In March of 2017, I wrote an article about Fastnachts, those holeless, wholesome doughnuts that appear every year in parts of Pennsylvania on Shrove Tuesday to usher in the Lenten season. So as not...