Milton S. Hershey Water Fountain and Historical Marker Inside Hersheypark

If you've been inside Hersheypark I'm sure you've seen the famous Milton S. Hershey water fountain and historical marker. It's located near the front entrance inside the park's gates. Every time we go to Hersheypark we like to take family photos with it. Heck, we're not the only ones...thousands of people take family photos around the water fountain.

Today...I wanted to share the information that's printed on the historical marker in front of the water fountain. I'm surprised at the thousands of people who walk by it and never take a minute to read it.

Milton S. Hershey 1857-1945

Milton S. Hershey founded the world famous Hershey's Chocolate Company in 1903 and built a town around it for his employees complete with homes, schools and cultural and recreational opportunities.

In 1907, Milton S. Hershey founded Hersheypark as a picnic and pleasure ground for his workers. Over the years the park has grown into a world class theme park, proudly maintaining and honoring the vision of it's founders.

Milton and his wife Catherine founded a school for orphaned boys in 1909. Today the Milton Hershey School provides an education and a home to thousands of disadvantaged children. 

Small Town Art - Manheim Made By Hand Wall Mural

Painting kindness rocks and seashells is a popular hobby around the world, especially here in the United States. In our family, we have 3 that actively paint rocks and shells and leave them every where we go. It's a way to pay-it-forward and to bring smiles to the faces of strangers who find them. It's an inexpensive hobby which allows you to be creative in making your own artwork.

While passing through Manheim, Pennsylvania we stumbled upon the Manheim Made by Hand Wall Mural and were pleasantly surprised to find out that it's also a place where the community can come to leave their painted rocks! In our case...we left 2 painted seashells and 3 painted rocks. They also have unpainted rocks that you can take home, paint and return them. All are placed in the rock bed located beneath the mural.

The wall mural was painted by Jason and Katherine Horst. You'll find it on the side of the building located at 38 S. Main Street in Manheim. You don't need to be a professional artist to participate in this project, everyone is invited! What a really fun and cool projects that the community and those passing through can participate in.

On the day that we were there it was difficult to get a nice photograph of the wall mural and the painted rock bed located below. Parked cars always seem to get in the way! We plan on visiting again to leave more painted rocks and to get better photographs. Check it out if you're going to be in the Manheim area.