Once known as Faus Park, grandson Jim Snyder stands next to the area beneath a grove of Hemlocks where many church and family related picnics were held.

MORELAND TOWNSHIP Life was anything but dull according to those who answered the call for content to include in a commemorative book prepared for Moreland Township’s 200th anniversary.

Available September 14 during the township’s all-day celebration, the publication highlights families, roads, schools, churches, locations and organizations.

Whimsical pranks include the Fraley boys who used the telephone party line to trick their mother, and a scary scenario aptly named “Haunting on Harris Hill.”

The expansive time frame covered is as recent as the Fry/Sheets belling entitled “Belling a Blast and perhaps the Last,” to as early as the 1796 erection of the Smith/Wallis mill. A military page honors several generations of the John Houseknecht family, a fatality of the Civil War and Revoluntionary War survivor, J. Peter Sones.

Discover the identity of the last baby home delivered by Dr. Richolt; become acquainted with Squire Bitler’s family; and take a look back to girlhood days of one who entered, “Rocks, every year another Crop.”

Of the more than 60 township roads, learn the reasons prompting the naming of a dozen of them including Harman Road where an annual occurrence is the “Harmany Hill Olympics.” Do you know the locations of Colley Hill, Trainer Hill, Warn Hill, and Litchard Hollow?

Information was submitted on six of the township’s several one-room schools including Ball School closed in 1869 with Laurel Run opening at a nearby site.

Churches are well represented with excerpts from a 1930’s minute book of the Missionary Society of Moreland Baptist Church. A photo of the late Rev. Lester Barton, who served ten years during the 1940’s, was shared by daughter Elaine Harmon of Jersey Shore. The daughter, born here during her father’s tenure, keeps ties with the community by attending annual picnics with the Gardner/Faus family.

Moreland Community Church leaders posed for a picture revealing why the church changed its name, and how its cemetery is still referred to as Moreland Lutheran.

Members of the Canusargo Grange are pictured in their meeting place, formerly the Frenchtown School. A poem featuring the school and photo of authoress Edna Myers McCarty is now recorded for posterity.

Agriculture continues its dominance in the rural township as farming methods evolve to maximize production while minimizing cost. Few current residents recall the steam engines and threshing crews of the past, however proof of their existence appear in the book. You can also read about the advent of large barns for chickens, calves and swine. They replace scenes of women scattering feed to a few dozen chickens, or boys carrying pails to slop hogs.

For generations, Moreland’s Wagner families have provided food for America’s dinner tables. From a weekly egg route in Hughesville to trucks now leaving farms with thousands of eggs gathered daily, concepts in farming are bold and new.

To temper work with play, former inhabitants gathered for relaxation at such township sites as Hemlock Grove and Ferndale.

A multitude of photos and a smattering of stories are sure to provide readers a sentimental journey through Moreland’s past, where its people lived, laughed and loved.