Experience Columbia

TEXT BY PAM MCDANOLDS

What a perfect day for a drive. The road was wide and straight, the sunlight shone through the trees. It was early spring, the first day of warm weather. Snow was melting quickly and running down the sides of the road like little streams, and I was cruising. A perfect day to put the pedal to the metal and aim the old station wagon south.

Route 441 south of Middletown is, for the most part, a wide open stretch of highway the just begs for a bit of high speed cruising. But I held myself, and my car, Anabel, in check (sadly) as we drove to Columbia.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: The midstate is full of fascinating history. So many of our towns have such colorful pasts and Columbia is no different. The town was founded in 1724 when John Wright built a log cabin 100 yards from the Susquehanna River. 

Wright went on to begin a ferry service across the river, which is over a mile wide here. The first ferry was two dugout canoes. As the business grew, he added bigger and larger ferries until eventually a steamboat carried people, animals and wagons to the York County shore. The line for the ferry was sometimes 150 or more wagons long and people had to wait up to four days to cross the river – think about that the next time you’re stuck on the Harvey Taylor at 5:30. At this time, the town was known as Wright’s Ferry. 

In 1788, the name was changed from Wright’s Ferry to Columbia, in honor of Christopher Columbus. It was hoped that the name would influence Congress and the town would be named as the young nation’s capitol. When Congress voted in 1790, Columbia lost by one vote.

In 1814, the world’s longest covered bridge was built here to facilitate traffic flow from Columbia to the York County side. Instead of taking days to cross the river, the trip could be made in mere hours. By now, Wright’s son had sold the ferry business. He owned and operated a tavern in York County in the town of Wrightsville.

Columbia also played an important role in the Civil War. The good citizens of the town burned down their wooden bridge spanning the Susquehanna River. This caused the Confederate troops to change direction and march instead to a little town called Gettysburg.

By 1900, the town’s population had grown to over 12,000 people. The town flourished with factories that made wagons, lace, stoves, flour, pipes, lumber and more. 

In 1943, the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors opened their headquarters in Columbia. The NAWCC is both a museum and a school, which teaches horology. Horology is the study of the art and science of measuring time. Here’s a bonus tip for you: if you are in need of watch or clock repair, the NAWCC website has a members’ directory on their website at www.nawcc.org. The museum has exhibits on all things relating to time from ancient time pieces to pocket watches to wrist watches. 

Today downtown Columbia has oodles of antique and second hand shops. On every downtown block, I saw flea markets, antique malls and what I like to call “curiosity” shops that have a blend of everything.

By chance I walked into one such curiosity shop. It so happened that I was looking for a parking spot for my car Anabel. I am picky about parking spots and found a nice large spot on Locust Street. I ended up parking in front of a shop called Useful Things and More. The window displays intrigued me so I tried the door. 

It was locked, but the smiling owner opened the door and welcomed me inside.  Michelle Pierce just opened her store and everywhere I looked in the small space, I saw curious and interesting things. “It’s kind of like a thrift store but I’ve got antiques and lots of other stuff,” said Pierce. “I grew up going to Goodwill and Salvation Army stores but their prices have gotten so high. I just want to make things affordable for everyone.” 

True to form, Pierce has a huge rack of kids’ clothing for a steal. “I don’t care what brand it is, I just want people to be able to buy things that they need or want.” It worked on me. I walked out with a box of stamps for my seven-year-old son’s stamp collection.  

So it was with a tinge of sadness that I pointed Anabel back to Harrisburg and home. The wide open road was before me, windows down, stereo up, ready to cruise – at least I was ready to cruise until I got behind that slow dump truck. But when you have a free afternoon, head to Columbia. Get ready for some really unique shopping and check out the Watch and Clock Museum. In the meantime, I’ll be cruising around, looking for more of Central PA’s small town history. HBG