Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Pennsylvania (35 page)

Aside from its green glass bottle and painted-on label (instead of a pasted-on paper label), one of Rolling Rock's most distinctive markings is the number “33” printed on every bottle. Over the years, people have posed theories as to what the number means: some claim it's the number of tanks at the brewery;
others say it stands for 1933, the year Prohibition was repealed.

But both are wrong. Here's the real story: When Rolling Rock was being introduced, several people in the company argued over how long the slogan on the beer's label should be. Eventually, the Tito brothers settled on a long one: “Rolling Rock from glass lined tanks in the Laurel Highlands. We tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you.” The adman who wrote the slogan wrote the number “33” next to the copy to indicate how many words it was.

Next, the slogan was sent to the bottle maker, who thought “33” was part of the slogan and printed it on each glass bottle. Rather than scrap the bottles, the company decided to leave it. And over the years, even though the slogan changed slightly, the number 33 became a recognizable part of Rolling Rock's brand.

 

 

Three more must-see Pennsylvania roadside attractions
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In 1900, the City of Pittsburgh erected a bronze statue of native son Stephen Foster (the 19th-century songwriter who penned classics like “Oh! Susanna” and “My Old Kentucky Home”) in the northeastern neighborhood of Highland Park. The statue showed Foster—in a bow tie and long coat, holding his songbook—seated, with a slave named Ned at his feet playing the banjo. But during the 1930s, people vandalized the statue, breaking off pieces of bronze to sell for scrap, and eventually, the city's mayor had Foster and Ned moved to Schenley Plaza. The park was situated along busy Forbes Avenue, which discouraged vandalism.

Over the years, the statue came under fire from civil-rights advocates, who said that the depiction of a slave was racially offensive. But the statue remained, and superstitious visitors started rubbing Ned's bare right big toe for good luck. Why the toe? Bare feet are rare for statues, making Ned unusual. And because one superstition says that good luck sinks (like gold), the toe—being the statue's lowest point—would be where all the luck was.

Bishop John Neumann of Philadelphia's Saint Peter's Catholic Church died in 1860 (Pope Paul VI made him a saint in 1977). At Neumann's request, the church enshrined him in a crypt in the basement. Today, his body is still there . . . behind glass
beneath the basement's altar. And if he looks especially good for a man who's been dead for more than 140 years, it's because his face is actually a plaster mask, and his body is covered in ceremonial robes.

Just off Highway 80 in Clearfield is Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, home to the world's largest hamburger: a 100-plus-pound gastrointestinal glut called the “Main Event Burger.” Denny Liegey opened the restaurant in 1977 and started out with smaller burgers: one-half and one-pounders. But in 1990, wondering how big a burger his customers could finish, he got the idea of offering a burger challenge. So he made two-pound burgers, then three-pounders, and so on, all the while offering customers various prizes if they finished their burgers in an hour or less. (Most people couldn't.) It's those challenges and the title of “world's largest” that keep customers coming. Oh, and in case you're wondering; the 100-pounder doesn't come cheap—one burger with all the fixings will set you back about $380.

For more roadside attractions
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turn to
page 12
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Most people know about George Washington's Revolutionary War triumph at Valley Forge. But what makes the story even more remarkable is how many of Washington's men didn't survive that winter—and why
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In December 1777, General Washington and the Continental Army were in full retreat from a British force that was bigger, better armed, and better fed. With the Americans driven out of New York and unable to protect the nation's new capital of Philadelphia, the British took over the city. Washington's troops were forced to flee to Valley Forge, a village on the Schuylkill River about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Washington's force was about 12,000 strong but was facing more than 30,000 British. The Americans were so short of supplies that thousands of them didn't even have shoes.

The exhausted rebels were stuck. Hemmed in by the superior British forces, they were short on food, there was no shelter available, and within days of their arrival, six inches of snow had fallen. According to the French Marquis de Lafayette, “The unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything; they had neither coats nor hats, nor shirts, nor shoes. Their feet and their legs froze until they were black, and it was often necessary to amputate them.”

The British expected that the coming winter would bring defeat to the threadbare American army, but Washington thought differently. He made shelter his first priority. He divided his men into
squads of 12 and ordered each group to build itself a small log hut. As an extra incentive, the general promised $12 to the group that built a shelter in the “quickest, most workmanlike manner.” The soldiers lacked the proper tools and had to scrounge for building supplies, but by February, they had created a small town of huts against the freezing landscape.

Survival was still dicey, though. Washington had written to the U.S. government warning that if no supplies came, his hungry army would have to disband to keep from starving. But the new United States was disorganized and lacked experience and money. Plus, with the nation's army outnumbered, the government couldn't get its supply wagons past the British.

They got some help when Chief Shenandoah and the nearby Oneida Indians brought the troops 600 bushels of corn. He also sent an Oneida woman to teach the soldiers how to prepare the vegetable. But Washington's troops subsisted mainly on water and “firecake”—a mixture of flour, water, and salt (if a soldier was lucky enough to have salt) that was baked on hot rocks or in the fire. The soldiers tried to hunt and forage, but winter had left the area nearly barren.

Still, the lack of food, the ever-present British threat, and the cold weren't the worst killers at Valley Forge—sickness was. Spring brought warmer weather and more food, but thanks to the crowded quarters and 18th-century sanitation (there was none), diseases like the flu, typhus, and dysentery spread through the camp.

Washington tried to keep the diseases from turning into an all-out epidemic. He had two hospitals built and made sure doctors were always available. He also petitioned the government for
milk and medicines for his soldiers and ordered that his troops be inoculated against smallpox. But the diseases still took a heavy toll. During the encampment, more than 2,500 soldiers died, all without a shot being fired.

Despite these miserable conditions, the sick, shivering, starving soldiers remained loyal to the patriot cause. Washington wrote:

To see the men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie upon, without shoes . . . without a house or hut to cover them until those could be built, and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of patience and obedience which, in my opinion, can scarcely be paralleled.

Even more amazing was that the men used their time at Valley Forge to become a superior fighting force. One of the new recruits who arrived in camp at the end of February was Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who had been a member of Frederick the Great's Prussian army. Washington immediately put him in charge of training. Von Steuben drilled and trained the Americans, teaching them new military skills and turning the woodsmen, tradesmen, and farmers of the Continental Army into professional soldiers ready to push their way out of the valley and take on the British again.

They got some more help in May 1778 when France came to their aid, giving the patriots new allies and supplies. Then on June 19, six months after their arrival, the Continental Army marched out of Valley Forge. They were still outnumbered and undersupplied, but when they marched into New Jersey nine days later, they took on British troops at the battle of
Monmouth and drove them from the battlefield. Washington's men held the area for another three years until the Americans finally beat the British once and for all at Yorktown.

Today, the encampment where Washington's army spent that winter is the 3,600-acre Valley Forge National Historical Park. Washington's original stone headquarters has been restored and furnished, and the log huts that saved the army from freezing have been reconstructed to retell the incredible story of perseverance and survival.