h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Gothic in the Wilderness: St Michael, Fryburg, Pennsylvania - A87948526
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - Not Banned in China - U1590784

This one took a week's research and two field trips, but it was worth it from my point of view. I finally figured out why Fryburg was called that, etc.

Pictures and video pre-attached to make it a little more fun to read. (And so they don't get lost.)

I took the 208 when I should've 322'd ? Been looking forward to reading this, thanks DG (still looks much older!)

No, 208 is right! You turn off 322 and go north on 208.

Thanks!

Thought I was trudging the wrong way again for a mo!

One question, John Ditz? Anything to do with 'ditzy'?

Depends on who you talk to, I'm guessing. 'Ditz' is probably a variant of 'Dietz', which is a common German name, and one I saw a lot growing up north of Pittsburgh.

'Ditzy' is debated, but I suspect it comes from German, 'dutzig' or 'ditzig', which can mean 'punch-drunk' or 'dizzy'.

Okidoki

I feel so bad for the people who waited for the bishop.

I have a few link suggestions:
walls A87785022
Roman Catholicism A533828
quilt A87798875

Good Entry.

Thank you, I'll add those.

"St Michael is an imposing building to find on the side of a two-lane highway in farm country."

Thank you for being curious about that and researching it for us

Superb photographs of St Michael - love the drama of the photo looking up to the top of the tower, and the vignetting in the photo of the statue of Michael is perfect to focus on the detail 'Superimpressive' indeed

I just had a couple of questions:

"Fryburg, Pennsylvania (pop 444)" - what does 'pop 444' mean? The population on a specific date in history?

" Spelling in 19th-century America was a fluid quantity, although the first parochial school in the Erie Diocese was a log edifice on John Ditz's property built in 1856." - does this mean spelling was fluid even though there had been a school (to teach people how to spell) since before the town was named?

Hi, Sasha - thanks for reading! Fryburg's been on my 'to-do' list all summer. We've been back since - because my brother-in-law said, 'Now go to Venus.' Which is past Fryburg.

'Pop 444' means 'population 444'. That's often what it says under the signs in the US. It refers to the population at the latest census. I can clarify that.

Yes, I mean to imply that schools didn't always result in uniform spelling. Both English and German speakers tended to vary spellings for quite a long time. There was even the infamous argument in the Continental Congress in 1776 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson over whether human rights were 'inalienable' or 'unalienable'.

Aha

Thank you for the clarification - I worked for a time in a city's population forecasting department so we had various different numbers at our disposal but the Census result was one of them, so that makes sense

Many places in the US are very small, especially the unincorporated communities. People will say, 'The population is about 30, unless Aunt Suzy has company...'

Would you consider adding the link to the story about it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVpj18FXKg8

Great idea! Done!

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