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Highland

December 21, 2021

Paula Campbell
Posted 12/21/21

One of my very favorite Christmas Events is coming up on Christmas Eve and it involves the Delaware River. The Shohola Area Lions Club will have their annual Remembrance Luminary candles placed on …

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Highland

December 21, 2021

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One of my very favorite Christmas Events is coming up on Christmas Eve and it involves the Delaware River. The Shohola Area Lions Club will have their annual Remembrance Luminary candles placed on the Shohola Bridge, and they will remain luminating the bridge all of Christmas Eve night.

Shohola where the bridge passes above the river is a significant site for occurrences and events in our area’s rich history. The word itself Shohola in the Lenni Lenape language means a “place of peace.” The Lenni Lenape are known as being peace loving people and are referred to as “the grandfathers or the “ancient ones” in Native history.

Centuries ago, Native Americans including the Lenni Lenape traveling from Canada through to what we now know as New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey frequently used the Shohola stretch of the Delaware River to cross. Not very far from the Shohola Bridge site in July of 1864 a train carrying Confederate prisoners of war collided head-on with a coal train. Sixty-five prisoners, guards and train crew were killed. The former Shohola bridge at the same location was the first suspension bridge to cross the Delaware River.

The luminaries are a way to remember your family, loved ones and friends during Christmas. It’s unbelievably beautiful to walk the candle-lit bridge over the Delaware River especially at sunset when the luminaries are on their most radiant display. I make sure I buy luminaries and take that Christmas Eve walk every year and rest assured the bridge is safe to walk. Before the event, you can purchase a Shohola Lions Club luminary at Wayne Bank, Milford Auto Body Shop, Harry’s Gas Station and Rohman’s Inn in Shohola and Back to Baker’s and Il Castello Restaurant in Barryville, and St. Ann’s Church in Shohola after mass.

The candles are only $5.00 and there is a space on the holder to print a name of the person you wish to honor. Come to the bridge at 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and light your luminary yourself or the Lions Club members who will be on hand will do it for you. You may also send a check for $5.00 made out to the Shohola Area Lion’s Club and mail it to Carol Mittlemark, 183 Laurel Drive, Shohola, PA 18458. If you have never seen the luminaries, take a stroll across the Bridge on Christmas Eve, it is really a wonderful Christmas community event.

There is certainly something amiss this Christmas and for me I have been missing the vibrancy and fun of the Santa Express. Lou Monteleone had told me that after sixteen years of flying through the frigid nights the actual vehicle just had too many issues to get it up and running safely after being dormant due to the pandemic. Also, for some reason the insurance would have doubled.

The Village of Giving is collecting donations of food, clothing, pet supplies and toys and Santa himself has visited the Village several times. This year, by a miracle, the entire Dove Park across from the Highland Town Hall has been decorated with beautiful lights, and a massive live Christmas Tree was placed in the park for visitors to enjoy.

I must say because of the efforts of the Monteleone family decorating the Town looks really beautiful. I want to wish everyone a very merry and peace filled Christmas and leave you with an Irish Christmas blessing. “May you be blessed with the spirit of the season, which is peace, the gladness of the season which is hope and the heart of the season which is love.”

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