A little town named Jim Thorpe

Hi everyone!  I know it has been a while .... been playing with grandchildren and having a blast !!! Also, we attended an RV rally with over a thousand other RV'ers!  A week long - constantly on the go, attending several seminars, social activities, entertainment (including a talent show where attendees volunteered their skills and Russ played his Dulcimer - he did great!!)  Anyway, we are back to our trek around this big beautiful country and I have some memories to share with you.
 
Jim Thorpe is a small sleepy yet beautiful town in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.  Jim Thorpe was founded as Mauch Chunk, a name derived from the term Mawsch Unk (Bear Place) in the language of the native Munsee-Lenape Delaware peoples.  It is possibly a reference to Bear Mountain, an extension of Mauch Chunk Ridge that resembled a sleeping bear, or perhaps the original profile of the ridge, which has since been changed heavily by 220 years of mining.  The company town was founded by Josiah White and his two partners, founders of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company.
 
Mauch Chunk was the location of one of the trials of the Molly Maguire's  in 1876, which resulted in the hanging of four men found guilty of murder.  More recently Mauch Chunk was renamed to  Jim Thorpe when, following the 1953 death of the renowned athlete and Olympic medal winner, Thorpe's widow and third wife, Patricia, was angry when the government of Oklahoma would not erect a memorial to honor him. When she heard that the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were desperately seeking to attract business, she made a deal with civic officials.  The name was changed and a memorial erected in the town center. 

If anyone out there saw the movie of Jim Thorpe's life you will remember a little of his history.  For those like myself who have not seen the movie here is a very short history:  James Francis "Jim" Thorpe (May 22, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American Olympic athlete and gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for his home country. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football (collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals. (WIKIPEDIA)








So we begin with the monument to honor Jim Thorpe.  It was difficult
to get a clear shot of him as he stands a mid many buildings and so many electrical wires it was a bit of a photographic nightmare!  This
side view does show he is pretty tall and he stands on quite a large
pedestal which holds his remains.  His body  rests on mounds of soil from Thorpe's native Oklahoma and from the stadium in which he won his Olympic medals.  ^(WIKIPEDIA)









 Jim Thorpe also has a beautiful church, St. Marks Episcopal, originally built in 1869.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. (WIKIPEDIA)

 

 

 This church is built right into the side of the mountain.  It also contains one of the first, and an original, elevator from Otis Elevator Company.

 A small Chapel was built in memory of Mary Packer Cummings.

Moving on with the tour we finally get to the sanctuary.  It is absolutely beautiful and the attention to detail by the builders is something your rarely see today.  From the altar to the pulpit to the ceilings to the choir loft to the pipe organ to the baptismal to the stain glass, during normal daytime as well at sunset ... this church is lovely!  Take a look...

Thanks to my new friend Mary you can see what sunset does to the altar.  Thank you so much Mary!

 

 

 

Now for a few shots of other views of Jim Thorpe!  Like the train station, the bell tower and other vintage buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once around the train station we took  a train ride!!🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃

 

So that is a small taste of a small town in Pennsylvania that has somehow managed to keep it's quaintness and yet grow, progress and even flourish.  I recommend a visit if your able to travel, we enjoyed it completely ☺

More chapters to come soon.
Jan  🌷🌷🐾🐾