Sunday 9th July 2023

A bit of my family history.

We did not go walk about today. My blue inhaler fell out of my pocket in Marietta’s car and she offered to deliver it to the hotel. So we asked her to pick up Bobby, my brother, on the way over as Bobby was giving us a private tour of the Helfrich’s Spring Grist Mill and the Grim House the associated farm house where my great grandparents had lived when they owned the mill.

The bedrooms were up stairs but currently used as the historical society library and storage.

The Grist Mill is across the road and has a great display about the history of the Lehigh Valley and surrounding area. Both buildings are open on Saturdays through the summer and for special occasions the rest of the year.

In another building on the site Bobby has a workshop for making small ornaments for Christmas trees which the historical society sell in the autumn and winter. He gathers all the seed pods, teasels, and sticks he uses from the surrounding fields, boxes them up for storage until he makes the ornaments.

It was a detailed tour but it was a fun time to share family stories, so Ev & Denny beware as Marietta has heard some childhood tales. 😉

We then retreated from the rain to the Red Lobster for our Sunday seafood dinner. Marietta dropped us back at the hotel and we arranged for her to pick us up at 7.20am to start our journey to my sister Susan’s family in Westminster, MD.