Day 2
This day was reserved as the day we would visit my grandparents' graves and to do a driving tour.
To understand some of the photos and why they are important one needs to know some background.
This area is built around industry. To my knowledge, there are businesses centered around slate, coal, zinc, and steel. My dad explained that the New Jersey Zinc Company (NJZ) came in here and built the town on a tiered system. In the valley was the NJZ, divided into the East Plant and the West Plant. The houses were built as duplexes style bungalows, with the poorer/worker folks nearest to the plant and the NJZ executives at the top of the hill. The plant spewed out toxins to the point that no grass or plants would grow and the hillside was denuded of almost all trees. Slag heaps sat around smoldering. I even remember seeing them radiating heat when I visited here as a kid.
His kin, for the most part, worked in one of those sites. They held jobs ranging from cleaning out the furnace of toxic slag (my great grandfather: Teofil Hrusovsky), and as an electrician (my grandfather: Nicholas Melnick, Sr.). Both my grandma and grandpa never made it beyond the sixth grade.
My grandpa was the youngest of many siblings. He was born on Valentine's Day, 1913, was left handed (but mostly ambidextrous), dotted his letter "i" with a circle, was super industrious (built and installed his own cruise control in his car...from scratch without any instructional manual), and relished in being a showman. He sang, played guitar, harmonica, jaw harp, clarinet, danced, bragged about standing up riding a horse bareback to woo my grandma... And he had this uncanny ability to spy four leaf clovers! There wasn't a clover patch that he couldn't find a four leaf clover in in just a few seconds! He was unique!
My grandma was a tiny, soft, wrinkly old woman with thin skin that was covered in bruises from just a gentle bump. Her hands were ways cold, veiny, and knobby...but I loved when she took me by the chin and called me, "Schnookums". She was the oldest of all of her sisters and although she was physically frail, quite a worrier, and had to drop out of school to help take care of her younger siblings and crops, she was quietly strong! She secretly took driving lessons and learned to drive a car when she was in her sixties! I suspect she was the brains of the operation.
My dad was the oldest of three boys. He was born in a house, was raised in another house...actually the back half of a house (with no indoor plumbing and an outhouse), and was some type of child phenom clarinet player. My grandpa used to take my dad to play "dance jobs" all around town. My guess is that my dad had the talent that my grandpa wished HE had and enjoyed showing off his son's freakishly fast fingers on the clarinet and saxophone.
And thus begins the driving tour...
My dad played in many bars and dance halls. This is a picture of the bandshell in Palmerton. (Built for the townsfolk by the NJZ.)
This is the high school my dad graduated from.
We made our way to the town florist (to get flowers for the grave site) and surprisingly my dad knew the way and it was STILL there after many DECADES! Once inside, we were greeted by four old men. One was the owner and three others were just swattin' flies...LITERALLY! The owner explained that he opened that shop right out of high school when he was 19, and although he didn't actually know my dad, he said that the 94 year old man with the cap on might. It turns out one of the other men was a former teacher at Palmerton High and knew several of my dad's kin.
Then it was time to go to the cemetery and try to find my grandparents' grave. Neither of my folks knew where it was exactly...they just knew it wasn't too far off the road. I remembered that it was a pinkish colored stone. After about a minute we saw it: MELNICK. Nicholas and Mary B. (The "B" is for Bertha, my grandma's middle name.)
My dad set down the flowers. (Later, my mom took them out of the paper and artfully arranged them as shown.)
The backside of the stone.
Then we rambled over to another section of the cemetery, looking for my dad's grandparents (my great grandparents). Lo and behold...
We also found one of my grandma's sisters.
We moseyed around a bit and then left, successfully accomplishing the task we set out to complete...only having gotten a little dewy eyed a few times.
Next stop, find the Appalachian Trail. We drove up the mountain to the ski resort where we got out for a look-see.
And then we drove about 100 yards to the spot where the Appalachian Trail crossed the road.
Appalachian Trail: Check.
After that, we found the building where my grandpa went to school. He told me once that he used to get to school on a horse.
Presently, the building is no longer a school.
Then back into Palmerton for lunch. Since we were nearish to Philly...cheese steak was a must.
This house were my dad was first raised. They rented out the back half of the house. There was no running water, used a chamber pot, and an out house. My dad said that for bathing my grandma used to get water from a hose, put it in a pot, heat it up on the stove, and bathe that way.
We stopped by the church my dad used to go to. The doors were locked and the place looked quite unused.
We drove through other neighborhoods. My dad pointed out where so and so lived, the way he used to walk from one place to another, houses of friends, a place where he used to get his hair cut, places he fished, the school my grandma went to (now apartments), and the house where my great grandparents lived:
And the house where one of my grandma's sisters lived:
Then, back to the hotel for a little rest before going to dinner with my dad's first cousins.
For dinner we went the Schnecksville Diner, visited with the family, and then returned to their farmhouse for firefly catching and homemade pineapple upside down cake.
What a day!
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