Welsh Mountain Historical Presentations Will Examine Racial Attitudes

For a few years now, the Racial Literacy Team of Garden Spot Village (GSV) has been meeting to discuss issues of racial equity and justice. Now, members of that group, in cooperation with the New Holland Area Historical Society (NHAHS) and GSV's Lighter Side Players, have developed a program that incorporates Welsh Mountain history in a look back at prevailing attitudes toward race in the past and now.

NHAHS representative Don Horning referred to the program as "a look in the mirror." "(The program will include) a little self-examination," said Horning. He shared that at one time, New Holland had an "unwritten" prohibition against people of color owning property in town. "Was that part of the racial inequity that was happening everywhere in the U.S.?" asked Horning, who noted that discussing whether those attitudes affect today's perspectives will be part of the presentation.

The first program, which will be held on Monday, Feb. 13, at the GSV chapel, 433 S. Kinzer Ave., New Holland, at 7 p.m., will be called "Personalities and Perspectives," and it will feature letters and storytelling. Horning will moderate, and Ruthann Ware and Dick Johnson will serve as narrators. "While much of the program will focus on the changing culture of the Welsh Mountains from the early 1960s to the early 1990s, members of the Lighter Side Players of GSV will portray the personalities of Abe Buzzard, Isaac Boots and Nancy Sandoe, three prominent residents of the mountain from earlier in the century," said Paul Kelley, a member of the Racial Literacy Team.

Fran Rapp, head of the Lighter Side Players, will portray Buzzard, an outlaw who was active in the area in the late 1800s. Tony der Kinderen will play Boots, also known as Pegleg, a leader of the Welsh Mountain community. Born in 1889, Boots helped drive efforts to build a medical center on the mountain because it was too far to travel to Ephrata. Lou Ann Miller will play Sandoe, a black woman born on the mountain in 1891 to a Presbyterian minister and his wife. Her father served on the mountain, so Sandoe spent her childhood ministering to the mountain folk. As an adult, she was involved in the founding of the Welsh Mountain clinic.

On Monday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m., well-known local storyteller Ken Sensenig will give a presentation on the religious history and mission activities in the Welsh Mountains. "Sensenig will present stories and historical research," said Chet Yoder, GSV director of pastoral services. "He will touch on the Welsh Mountain Home as part of that," added Yoder.

Yoder said the public is welcome to attend, and Racial Literacy Team member Sara Jane Munshower added that the primary goal is to examine these issues locally. "(We want to look at) how (this history) impacts what we do going forward as a community," she said.

In the case of inclement weather, readers who wish to hear and see the presentation may livestream the event at http://www.gardenspotvillage.org/live.