Cannons blast over Wrightsville honoring the Mifflin House legacy

York Daily Record

A cannon in front of the Mifflin House is fired over the fields, Saturday, June 23, 2018. The reenactment and cannon blasts were to celebrate the Mifflin House's legacy throughout the 1800s. A Civil War Trails sign will soon be placed on Cherry St., in Wrightsville, to commemorate the house.

Wrightsville councilman Don Bair was smiling ear to ear as he yanked the fuse to blast cannon rounds from in front of the Mifflin House on Saturday in Hellam Township.

The thunders put the finishing touches on a reenactment of the battle of the Wrightsville bridge. It was the first time a reenactment has ever taken place in the fields surrounding the house, where Confederate soldiers fired artillery during the campaign.

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The gathering was to celebrate a sign that will commemorate the Mifflin House for its use in the Underground Railroad and the history of the Civil War battle.

Reenactors move the cannon, Saturday, June 23, 2018. The reenactment and cannon blasts were to celebrate the Mifflin House's legacy throughout the 1800s. A Civil War Trails sign will soon be placed on Cherry St., in Wrightsville, to commemorate the house.

Roughly 50 Red Rose Minutemen — a group of Confederate Civil War reenactors from Lancaster — stormed the field for a short reenactment before gathering to watch the cannon blast. The group then marched down to Cherry Street to see a temporary sign.

Bair said the temporary sign will only stay for a week, while the "real" Civil War Trails sign is being made.

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Preservationists have been working to retain the Mifflin House, which sits in a growing business park, from being demolished. Last year, Kinsley Equities II, an affiliate of Kinsley Properties, applied for a demolition permit, and the township denied it. The matter now is in the York County Court of Common Pleas.