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W hen I was younger I always dreamed of moving and being the new girl in a community. However, my family still lives in the same house, in the same community, that I was born in. I never had the chance to become the "new girl", but I feel living in the same area my whole life did make me very knowledgeable about my community's past, present, and projected future. I have always felt that I knew my community very well. It was always common knowledge that Native Americans had once resided in the area, the Klu Klux Klan once had a strong presence here, and that the businesses though small, were plentiful. I had heard many stores of shops that used to be on Main Street, how the school system used to run, and how far away the next town over, where I now did all of my errands and grocery shopping, had once seemed. I knew our iconic oak tree was hundreds of years old and likely seen by many explorers and early settlers of the area. I also knew quite a bit about the old one room school houses that used to exist in the area. Much of this information I gathered from living here or from either my mother or fathers families who were also born and raised within this same community. Both of my parents graduated from the same West Middlesex Area Highschool that my brothers and I had.
What I did not realize however, was how much I did not know about my community. In doing this project, the thing that surprised me the most was learning how thriving my community had once been long ago. There used to be several grocery stores, many shops, doctors, dentists, and etc. Today, we travel to a neighboring, larger community for these amenities, so it never occurred to me there was a time these were all provided in West Middlesex. I had absolutely no idea that my town had a Historical Society or museum which coincidentally, was where I spent a great deal of time gathering information for this assignment.
I had also always assumed that our schools mascot of the Big Red Indian had a meaning that came from the Native American presence here. I learned the Big Red part was added becuase of the 5 big and strong red heads on the football team line in the 1930's. I also did not know that the nearby McConnell's Mill State Park had been owned by James McConnell who owned and started a mill in West Middlese before selling his property here and moving to the area just East of New Castle where the mill still stands. Most things I learned were simply just things I never had thought about. I feel we as humans live very much in the present and sometimes do not put enough thought into the past or future. As long as our needs are being met now, we are content.
I have no shame of not knowing certain informtation about my community. I still feel that though I did make those few new discoveries, most information I was already privy to. This next section of my project will provide you with two things: A glance into my communities past and a look at what I project its future to hold. Please read on in the next section labeled, RESEARCH for more information.
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