Hoy Park Memories

A while ago, while walking on the Perkiomen Trail, I saw a park on the other side of the Perkiomen Creek. Now, being that there are a lot of creeks in the area, and the earliest roads were formed back before the American Revolutionary War, it is often difficult to find your way from "here" to "there" because bridges are where they put them, and not where you want them.

With the power of Google Maps, I was able find my way to the little park I saw.


Fittingly, as it turned out, the park was located just off Hoy Circle.


Hoy Park - dedicated August 28, 2003 - Harry and Alice Hoy and all their children donate this park to the families of Lower Providence Township for the enjoyment of outdoor activities and quality family time, as well as the preservation of waterways and open space... Many memories have been shared here, enjoy creating your own.


You can see the stone with the brass plaque on the right - the sign board listed hundreds of bird and fish species to be seen within the park. A small boat ramp is to the left, entering the Skippack Creek while ahead, a short walk down a path, lies a dock on the Perkiomen Creek.


The Skippack (on the left) flows into the Perkiomen Creek (on right) as this point.


Memories indeed... I wondered how many Hoy family reunions saw hot dogs and burgers grilled on this stone fireplace, now mostly hidden in the lush growth.


The park has several small paths that run through the woods along the side of the creek. In these woods, I found towering ferns and felt as if I had stumbled into a rain forest.


Needing a short break, I sat on one of the many park benches... and saw, this bench was labeled, Donated By the Francis J. Hoy Family - In Memory Of Carrie K. Coulston - "Grandmom". Once rested, I got up and looked at all the other park benches...


Donated By the Francis J. Hoy Family - In Memory Of Francis J. Hoy - "Bud".

It turned out that all of the park benches were donated by the Francis J. Hoy Family in memory of family members.

I came away from that little park that day, somewhat staggered by the love, adoration, and closeness that this family seemed to have - and their generosity in giving a place with so many of their cherished, precious "memories" to their neighbors.

I wanted to share the beauty of the site with you - I promised myself to investigate the family of Harry and Alice Hoy - and find out who they were and what their story was... I suspect it will be a "worthy" journey.

Addendum:

Harry Francis HOY was born on 24 Sep 1894 in Philadelphia, PA, died on 8 May 1984 in Phoenixville, PA at age 89, and was buried in May 1984 in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Norristown, PA.

Harry married Mary Alice LEFORT, daughter of Joseph LEFORT and Julia RODDEN, on 24 Oct 1923 in St. Francis Church, Norristown, PA. Mary was born on 21 Aug 1896 in Annapolis, MD and died on 18 Oct 1975 in Norristown, PA at age 79.

Their branch of the Hoy family came from Ireland. Harry Hoy's great-great grandfather, Bernard HOY was born before 1790 in Antrim, Ireland and died in Antrim, Ireland.

Bernard HOY, Jr. was born in May 1803 in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland/Dundalk, Ireland, died on 28 Nov 1858 in Valley Forge, Chester Co., PA at age 55, and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Phoenixville, PA.

What Do You Say?

What do you say, when you post about a Goose styled from an orange cone and one of your friends takes the time to track down Michael Savona, the artist that created them, to find out if they are available?

It happened.

And what do you say, when one of your friends, crochets a couple really cute orange cones and you post a blog about them calling them the Conas Brothers...and that friend decides that since there are three guys in the band, she needs to make another one?

And while's she at it, she takes pictures, showing how they are made, step by step?

And what do you say when she makes a handmade orange cone card to send with the third cone - a card with three cones on it?

And what can you say, when Nick and Joe Conas meet their "lost" brother, Kevin, live and on stage?


Kevin, the once "missing" Conas Brother, is ready to crank it up on guitar!


I just wish I knew what to say. I want to say something like, "friendship is the best gift a person can have" and I treasure yours but I can't find the right words and the words I have aren't coming out right.

Thank you Lynn. I'm a lucky guy. :)

I've Gone (Completely) Insane

I read a number of blogs regularly, and I read some as a matter of random chance. I sometimes click on that "next blog" button that appears at the top of some blogs when I'm up for a something new.

Recently while looking at a "random to me" blog called The Architect's Newpaper I saw ... something that filled my long-empty, lonely heart with insatiable, burning, Jimmy Carter-like lust.

Oh, how I long to have the objects I found. I would give up donuts, ice cream, Mom's homemade pie, McDonald's French Fries, cheap internet broadband, and things I don't have to give up, like six pack abs, or a full head of hair... Oh heck, I'd even give up income tax refunds in order to possess them, such is how deep I yearn for them...


Michael Savona’s Goose Cones playfully reconfigures orange construction cones as a line of crossing geese.

I wonder what Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Edward Thorndike, Alfred Kinsey, Noam Chomsky, Hermann Rorschach, Sigmund Freud, or even Linda Freeman (Jane Lynch) would make of this obsession... or is a fatal attraction?

Bouncing Around the Internet

Back when my Dad and I went to the Trolley Museum, I took some pictures inside the trolley car of the "old timey" ads.

It struck me how much things have changed or perhaps haven't changed as much as they might need to...


The ad over the "No Spitting" sign and next to the timeless Heinz vinegar ad, was a curious one. Gold Dust? What, do tell, is Gold Dust?

After I googled up a hundred links or so, I found out that this 1921 advertizing sign was for Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing Powder - The Many Purpose Cleaner. The company's logo featured the Gold Dust Twins, Goldie and Dustie, two African-American children surrounded by gold coins; the significance of which eludes me.


Mr. Google tells me this is an ad from 1944 - the cartoony Hilter made me wonder just what they were thinking?


This ad says, The Folding Brownie - almost a Kodak - for pictures 2 1/4 by 3 1/4 inches. Price $5.00 - Iver Johnson Sporting Goods Co., 153-55 Washington Street.

I had to chuckle at "almost a Kodak". I'm sure a lot of youngsters nowadays do not realize that years ago, just about every camera that an ordinary person could afford, was a Kodak (and used gasp! Kodak film!). Intrigued and intent on placing a date on this camera ad, I googled the name of the store selling them.

The Iver Johnson Sporting Goods Co. was located in Boston, Massachusetts and dealt primarily in sporting rifles, handguns and bicycles. The earliest catalogs dates from 1871 and Iver Johnson died in 1895. I like a good wrestling match with Mr. Google and a search for the truth, but I felt a challenge coming on...

Further digging around, led to a New York Times article on a Boston city-wide riot over gambling laws that occurred on September 11, 1919 in which 7 persons died and the Iver Johnson Sporting Good Store suffered "several thousands of dollars" of losses, primarily broken store front windows.

Not to be denied the age of the camera ad, I looked further... and uncovered another article, this one by Edward Park, written in November, 1983 recounting his childhood and early days as a news reporter.

"...Iver Johnson's was a wholesome interest. There I could wander through aisles flanked by baseball bats; through thickets of split-bamboo fly rods and stubbles of short, steel bait-casting rods ...; through an arsenal of rifles and shotguns, ... ; and through a long array of heavy woolen winter clothes and thick leather hunting boots. Boys were under constant surveillance by supercilious clerks. I remember how surprised one of them was the day I actually bought something, but no matter. This was a place in which to build dreams."

After a short sidetrip to look up "supercilious" in the dictionary*, I continued to read.

"Along with the coffee smell was another, equally pervading. One could discern throughout much of downtown Boston, and especially around the North End, the unmistakable aroma of molasses.

'Why does Boston smell of molasses?' I asked my friend. He looked at me curiously.

'Because of the molasses flood, of course,' he said."


My Mom being from Boston, immediately knew of the Molasses Flood, when I asked her about it. Such is the power of 'folklore'.

The Boston Molasses Flood occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston. A 2,300,000 gallon molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph, killing 21 and injuring 150. To this day, residents claim that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses.

"Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage. Here and there struggled a form — whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was... Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings — men and women — suffered likewise."

"It took over 87,000 man hours to remove the molasses from the cobblestone streets, theaters, businesses, automobiles, and homes. The harbor was still brown with molasses until summer."

I never did find out how old that camera ad was... I got stuck in the virtual molasses...


* Supercilious - showing haughty disdain.