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| Tue Jun 24, 2008 18:50:45 Randy Shaver Honolulu Hawaii  | Charlie, Thanks for the site, I first found it when I was researching my father's family line. Clarence Shaver, the General Manager of the Steamboat, was my great uncle, you have picture of him next to one of the boats. My mother's family is also from near the lake and I've found school photo's of them also. Great to see the site is still active and alive. Randy Shaver | ||
| Fri Jun 13, 2008 21:29:27 Janice McClintock San Antonio, TX | Thank you so much for making "Ghost Towns of North Mountain" available on the site, Mr. Petrillo. I have been interested in this for many years and I only wish my father were still here to enjoy it with me. He showed me the site of Ricketts years ago and told me the story of the town that used to be there; It taught me that nothing is permanent. His interest in local railroad and lumber history would have found the perfect outlet in this volume. Your careful research and resulting work are very much appreciated. | ||
| Sat Jun 07, 2008 09:33:16 Catherine Macungie PA | I remeber this place and hanging with Donna Hanson, if you read this please contact me | ||
| Mon May 26, 2008 16:58:13 marie wallingford,ct | spent most of my
younger life with
my aunt catherine
cadden who lived
year round at the
lake very few
people did in those
days we lived up
from sandy beach i
remember the
stories about the
horse sled, the
ferry boat of
handycapped
childern, the sea
monster that caused
the crack across
the lake in the
winter. it was the
best time in my
life . i still have
family in the aera
i visit every
chance i get and
when there i make
that drive around
the lake to make me
remember how lucky
i was to have spent
my growing up days
there.. thanks for
the trip back to a
time well
loved. | ||
| Tue May 06, 2008 08:47:18 Gary Serhan Harrisburg PA | I was born in 1946
and from that year
I grew up at
Harveys Lake on Ash
Street, near
Hanson’s Park. We
lived one block
from the Pine Grove
Hotel. The hotel
would open every
spring. The Lake
came alive with
people coming for
the summer, renting
cottages and
camping. Traffic
around the Lake,
especially on
weekends, was
steady. After Labor
Day, vacationing at
the Lake came to an
end and cottages
closed the Lake
became quiet again.
There was very
little if any
traffic after Labor
Day. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s and even into the 70’s there were very few families that lived year round at the lake as we did. Fall was a beautiful time at the Lake. On a still morning the fall colors of the trees on the surrounding mountains reflected off the Lake. On the calm water just a few fishermen, trolling very slowly for large lake trout, crisscrossed the Lake. We knew who they were because they trolled out there for years and told us the best fish stories I ever heard. When the Lake would freeze over we would see what appeared to be villages of ice fishermen huts and at night it was amazing to see them all lit up. Ice needed to be cut around the docks creating moats to avoid damage from the ever expanding ice. During the winter months we would go sleigh riding down Pine Street across the Lake road down the dock steps, over the dock jumping the moat ( water surrounding the dock after the ice was cut) and out onto the ice. When we didn’t make the jump, we would retrieve our sleds from the water in the spring. We ice skated a lot and we occasionally burned a tire and wood fire on the ice and stayed out for hours into the evenings. We also jumped the moats by skating as fast as we could to leap and grab onto the dock. There were times we didn’t make the jump and paid for it every time when our parents found out what we did. Although I don't hold the record for failed jumps, I went into the moat three times in my professional childhood moat jumping career…twice by skates… once by sled. Spring would bring the first day of trout season and my friends and I along with thousands of fisherman would line the Lake shore and docks fishing for the daily limit of eight trout. My friends and I always got our limit. Every summer since I was thirteen I worked at Hansons Park. Sweeping and general maintenance, running the kiddee rides, working the food concession stand and running the Tilt-o-whirl. I hated working this ride because people had a good tendency to get sick. This was the only Park ride that had a mop and a bucket of water on site. Mopping up after people in the summer heat was far from pleasant. The scariest job, and by the way not a pleasant Lake memory, was the oiling of the Hanson’s Park roller coaster tracks every Sunday morning. Four of us would get into the first car, Joe Volley the foreman, another full time employee, me and another kid not much older than me. The other kid and I would stand in the first car holding glass quart bottles full of automobile oil. Just as we got to the top of the first dip, each of us would bend over the front of the car holding the oil bottles upside down a few inches over each of the coaster tracks. We were tightly held by our waists by the two men sitting behind us. In the two seconds it took for the coaster to speed down the first dip the bottles were empty. Each time I was glad that it was over and not once did I ever look forward to the next Sunday’s oiling of the tracks. We knew the Wintersteens well. Mr. and Mrs. Wintersteen owned the Dodgem (bumper cars) and Merry-Go-Round Park rides. Their sons, Bob and Barry Wintersteen , my brother and I grew up together. Bob showed me how to grab three rings on one pass of the Merry-go Round giving a greater advantage to grab the coveted brass ring for a free ride. I was only allowed to do that on days when the Park wasn’t busy. Water skiing, boating, quiet early mornings when the lake was so still it looked like glass, sunsets, fish jumping, skipping stones, swimming, jumping off the forty foot tower at Hansons Park beach and each winter with my friends nervously ice skating across the Lake at night are very vivid memories. The great memories of the Park dances with Eddie Day and the Starfires is another subject left for another time. I can write much more about wonderful people I knew when I was growing up including life saving summer heroics by some very courageous, anonymous people. But I will end this by saying this internet site obviously took me back to many memories that are important to me. Your site includes much historical content and lure that I know or I heard older people talk about when I was growing up. Thank you for such a fine site. | ||
| Sun Apr 27, 2008 17:47:35 debi cappellini pld forge pa | dear charlie this is really a great site .. so many warm memories of the lake ,,my greatest memory is of the ice fishermen who used our dock to fish on the lake and how beautiful to look out my window and see they villages ... and their lights blazing at nite in the cold cold winters... thanks for the memories | ||
| Fri Apr 25, 2008 13:08:02 Dave Toys United Kingdom  | Great site. Keep up the good work. | ||
| Mon Apr 21, 2008 20:55:35 Rich Lebanon, PA | I wish all of this incredible history was not actually history. This world needs the return of a little nostalgia. Bring back the days of family's going to the park on a weekend afternoon, eating lunch, and conversing in a socially acceptable manner. I wish I could have seen the day. | ||
| Mon Apr 21, 2008 14:38:49 James McGinn Ft. Lauderdale | Charles, Great job
on the website.
Harveys Lake is
like no other place
in the world. I
enjoyed all the
times at the Lake
and look forward to
more to come! Thank you. Jim | ||
| Mon Apr 14, 2008 07:19:09 Thom Greco Wilkes Barre | Charles, So glad to see you updated site with the Harveys Lake Amphitheatre sponsored by Bud Light. Thank you for recognizing it as part of the history of the lake. As time permits, I will supply some additional pictures and information to complete the picture and history. You did an amazing job with great accuracy. Thom | ||
| Sun Apr 13, 2008 19:11:15 David Misiewicz Ridgewood,NJ | I spent the summer of 1962 at Harvey's Lake. I was 8 years old, and it was the best summer of my life. I have never returned to this beautiful place so I was thrilled to find this very excellent site. | ||
| Tue Apr 08, 2008 17:03:36 C. Charles Ciesla Mountain Top, PA | Charles: Thanks
very much for the
excellent web site
about Harveys Lake.
It is easy to use,
fast, colorful, and
comprehensive. I
consider it
"another job
well done" by
the Petrillo
Family. Keep up the
good work. The
Wyoming Valley Area
is deeply indebted
to you for
preserving its
history. Thanks
again. C. Charles Ciesla | ||
| Mon Apr 07, 2008 16:43:04 Wendy Lewisburg PA | I didn't check here first, and regret it, but I just listed an album/scrapbook on ebay which belonged to Vernon Rood in 1924. After looking here, I see that his family and he and his brother were part of the history of the lake. I apologize for not checking with any of you first, but this book has many pictures from HArvey's lake and is of Vernon's Keystone Academy days. The link is: http://cgi.ebay.com /ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V iewItem&item=15 0234220716 if this doesn't work, my seller name is pgarden3 | ||
| Thu Apr 03, 2008 14:30:24 PVE Plains Twp | Signed back in to
post the following
URL. It's an ad from a very early Sunday Independent for a picnic at the lake by the Wilkes Barre Degree Team  on
Decoration Day, May
30.Copy/Paste, then scroll at - [Editor's Note: The link supplied didn't work well with our online guestbook. As an alternative, we've supplied below the link to the online archive of the Sunday Independent where you will find the ad noted in this post. Sorry to create additional steps, but we appreciate the link to this important resource.] http://www.accesspa digital.org | ||
| Wed Apr 02, 2008 15:22:12 PVE Plains Twp | The photos I have
of my brother &
me in the water,
with him holding a
dead fish, an
another of us with
our mother, on the
road outside the
cottage she rented
at Harvey's Lake
(with lady friends
- summer circa
1939/40) have taken
on another
dimension for me
after surfing your
site. Likewise those taken on a after-Plains-High-S chool-Class-Day-Eve nt June 1948 drive taken to the "lake" present a different view for me now. Delighted to have read of the URL in the past Sunday Times Leader. |