In the News: Hidden history of Lancaster County’s Shenks Ferry nature preserve – ABC27

Shenks Ferry is famous for its wildflowers, but it is also home to quite a bit of local history that many people are unaware of.

I recently had the pleasure the taking ABC27 reporter Avery Van Etten, on a guided tour of Shenks Ferry, highlighting the area’s unique and often forgotten history. From culverts along the Enola Low Grade to remains of a Christmas 82-car train wreck to a plaque commemorating a deadly dynamite factory explosion, I shared all the fascinating stories of the area with Van Etten.

Check out the video below to hear all the stories.

Click here to read the full article by Avery Van Etten for ABC27.

Click here to read more about Shenks Ferry and its storied history.

The culvert at Shenks Ferry.

Click here to read more about the dynamite factory that exploded on June 9, 1906, killing 11 men.

The men who were killed and injured in the horrible accident.

Click here to read more about the Enola Low Grade, the ambitious Lancaster County engineering project that killed 200 men and cost half a billion dollars.

Click here to read more about the Safe Harbor Christmas train accident that answers the immortal question of what happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? Conrail engineer, William Neway, found out first-hand in 1981 when his freight train collided with a 3-ton boulder below Safe Habor?

When the Conrail freight train hit the boulder, lower left, the cars behind the engine crumpled into a zig-zag formation.
When the Conrail freight train hit the boulder, lower left, the cars behind the engine crumpled into a zig-zag formation.

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