Then and Now: A Tour of Rising Sun, Pennsylvania with Paul Schneck

In May 2022, Paul Schneck and his daughter, Darlene, took a tour of the hamlet of Rising Sun, Pennsylvania. Rising Sun is situated at the northern end of North Whitehall Township in Lehigh County. A place of beautiful views and rolling landscapes, it lies between the villages of Neffs and Laurys Station. Much of it is still rural. This area was settled in the mid-1700s by German-speaking immigrants from the Palatinate, Alsace, and Switzerland. These settlers were Lutheran and Reformed, and were among the immigrants known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. In colonial days, more than 90% of Pennsylvania Dutch people were of the Lutheran and Reformed faith. (The rest were Anabaptists.) Remnants of colonial days are still being uncovered in Rising Sun. An original settler homestead is featured in this video-the farm of Jacob Snyder (1767-1839). Other historic buildings appearing in this video are the 1847 Rising Sun Hotel, the circa-1870 Long's Schoolhouse, and the circa-1870 David Schneck house and farm. Rising Sun had its own post office from 1891 to 1906, managed by Elias Kuntz, the owner of the Rising Sun Hotel and Store. Today, the farms that once dotted the Rising Sun landscape are being replaced by housing developments.

[@barbaraedgley2634]

Love the memories! May we all live into our 90s & beyond.

[@devawnbledsoe462]

Thank you so much for making this video and preserving the history of your family and Pennsylvania.

[@barbaraedgley2634]

Love the music & beautiful scenery, thanks.

[@CarolChorney]

Fascinating!!! I live in Laurys and drive these roads every day!!! Thank you so much for sharing this history!!!

[@darleneschneck]

Thanks for watching! Now you can imagine life along those roads 200 years ago! By the way, I went to school with Russ Chorney. Do you know him?

[@cathywlodek8897]

wonderful to see an area that I live near! I also drove those roads when I was a rural postal worker a few years back! thank you for the history lesson! you are so lucky to have your Dad take that trip with you!

[@darleneschneck]

Glad you enjoyed it!!

[@donnagilbert6480]

Rising Sun is where my grandmother was born - Bertha Long, daughter of Henry and Louisa Long in 1893. They rented a farm. I would love to learn exactly where they lived.

[@jessicajones6032]

I could listen to your dad all day😊. You do a very good job editing your videos. I love hearing about the area’s history

[@darleneschneck]

Thank you so much! ❤ I sent your comment on to my dad. He enjoys hearing from people. I’m glad you appreciate the history of Lehigh County. There’s so much still to discover and share!

[@dony.9014]

Thank-You for making such a beautiful video. I was born and grew up on the neighboring farm you were at on Echo road I never knew your father's grandfather previously owned that farm . Yes that whole area mostly grew potatoes my father did on our farm also. It is a very beautiful area thanx again for posting keep making more.

[@darleneschneck]

Thank you for watching and commenting! That’s so interesting that you grew up next to the former David Schneck farm. I believe it left the Schneck family after he died. Do you know who owns it today? I was hoping they saw this so they know who built their house. What is your last name? My father might have known your father. I’m thinking about where we can go next!

[@ChristiannaKnauss]

You have done a great job creating this video and I have really enjoyed learning about the history of our neighboring community. I live in Laurys and have spent innumerable hours with camera in hand photographing many of these historic farms, the local landscape on Rising Sun and Neffs Laurys Roads and their many adjacent side roads. My hobby is to try and photograph many of the historic structures before they fall to decay or are taken down and gone forever. The view of the Lehigh Gap and Blue Mts. over your grandfather David's farm is spectacular! I really enjoyed listening to your father talk about his life experiences growing up on these same farmlands!

[@darleneschneck]

Thank you so much for your kind comments. You are doing what I was doing with my dad’s homestead, making a record over the years of a specific place in time. That’s wonderful to hear you have put that much time into documenting your area. Those images would make a great KZbin video! Thanks again for appreciating our video and commenting!

[@pamarner5616]

Gosh … totally wonderful . Are there others posting videos in surrounding towns?

[@darleneschneck]

Thank you, and yes!! I made videos with my dad of Neffs, Schnecksville, Neffs Valley Park, Schnecksville Elementary School’s 1929 Building, The Schneider-Schneck Barn in Rising Sun, and A Pennsylvania Dutch Childhood. You can find all of these on my channel by searching for my name.

[@pamarner5616]

@@darleneschneck just shared your videos with 10 old timers ! They are so impressed

[@darleneschneck]

@@pamarner5616 thank you so SO much! This is the link to my channel www.youtube.com/@darleneschneck

[@4ajustpeace]

This is an excellent video because you use your grandfather to tell his history in relation to the people and places he remembers. I call them little histories as opposed to the big histories told in history books. My roots are in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties going back to 1682 and I have loved exploring the region, its history, and genealogy. Although I've filled many binders with bits of family history I've written and collected many documents, you've planted a seed in my brain to maybe go back and film some of my family's old haunts. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm also glad you mentioned at the beginning of the film that this used to be Leni Lenape land. Just as we cherish our ancestors and can still marvel at the beauty of this land, it's right and fitting that we recognize that they most certainly did too. Regards and happy hunting.

[@darleneschneck]

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments. I had an art professor in college who encouraged us to paint what we knew, and so I strive to creatively tell stories that are unique to me and my people. Nobody else so far had told the story of Rising Sun, it appears I was meant to do it. I’m glad this could provide you with a bit of inspiration. Best wishes on your journey to capture the past!

[@sallykershaw4837]

Thank you so much for this. I absolutely love your vids. They bring back such good memories. I was born and raised in Allentown. I don’t remember this town but .I’m sure my dad drove us thru here on occasion. We went for rides almost every Sunday. Went swimming at Neffs. My mom’s favorite place was the game preserve. Went thru there at least once a month. As a matter of fact, my parents ashes were scattered in the game preserve. That’s what my mom always wanted. We had to het special permission to do so and had a bench erected there. Unfortunately it was stolen not long after. Thank you again.

[@warningsigns4526]

where the sun rises - William Penn is watching in Pennsylvania

[@Roadtripmik]

All these places Mr Schneck is from have turned into suburbia!! Does he have any thoughts on the traffic and development in the area?

[@darleneschneck]

He has mixed feelings about it, as many of us do. It's nice to have stores close by. But gosh, we miss the open space.

[@Roadtripmik]

@@darleneschneck Also i-476 goes through your towns but you cant get on the highway, no onramp, I went to kutztown university for 1 year, from Philadelphia

[@vanderbt1]

Hello. My mother, Myrtle Rose (Rusti) Van der Bloemen, (Kuntz) is related to Elias Kuntz.

[@vanderbt1]

Elias is my mother's great grandfather. Ellsworth Kuntz was her great grandfather. Her father was Willian A. Kuntz.

[@darleneschneck]

@@vanderbt1 how interesting! Thank you for sharing that. You must have enjoyed this video, seeing where he lived and the community around it. Have you ever been to Rising Sun?

[@LindsayGlass-k3i]

Hey Darlene! I'm helping my mom, Cindy Frantz, with genealogy and saw your video. She was wondering where did you get the Stanley Frantz farm and family photos? Stanley was her grandfather, and her great grandparents are pictured in the one photo. She'd love a copy! Please let me know!! I can give you my email if that'd help?

[@darleneschneck]

Please tell your mom I said hello! I remember her from our school days. I got scans of both of those postcards from another researcher who actually has the original postcards. I asked her to mail the cards to me so I could get them to the Frantz family, but she wasn’t able to locate them. I think she has quite a large collection. Anyway, Ill be happy to email you the scans, send me a message through facebook messenger with your email.

[@swoopdown43]

lol this motivated me to trace my Schneck ancestor from my grandmother -> Etha (Schneck) Peters b.1894 -> Franklin David Schneck b.1861 -> David Schneck b.1833 -> Johannes Schneck b.1783 -> Johann Peter Schneck b.1738. And congrats to Johannes who, if the family tree was right, had a son at 60 years old, David. David (Paul's great grandfather?) could be a common ancestor. Or maybe Johannes? I'll have to chart it to figure that out. A proud schneck

[@darleneschneck]

Hi cousin! Yes, our common ancestor is David, whose brick house appears in this video. You and I are third cousins because our great grandparents, Edwin and Franklin, were siblings! I have a couple of tintypes of Edwin with his siblings, do you know what Franklin looked like? They are not identified but I can pick out Edwin. I would love to identify everyone in the photo. Franklin’s farm was between Slatington and Neffs along route 873. His grandson David, who died last year, was a good friend of ours. Yes, Johannes and his wife Maria Baer had 15 children!