Published June 25. 2026 01:09PM<\/p>\n
JoAnn Nonnemaker-Markowicz grew up on the Nonnemaker Farm, which has been operated by her family at its current location on Nonnemaker Lane since 1867.<\/p>\n
Through a Facebook page dedicated to the farm\u2019s history, she shares photographs and stories passed down through generations, documenting the changing realities of family farming in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n
Her great-grandfather, William Henry Harrison Nonnemaker, was born in 1862.<\/p>\n
After completing his education, he became a teacher at the Dorney Park School, a one-room schoolhouse serving grades one through eight.<\/p>\n
He taught there for 44 years, from 1881 until his retirement in 1925.<\/p>\n
Upon retiring, he took possession of the school bell, which has remained on the family farm for the past century.<\/p>\n
His son, Edwin Nonnemaker, later served South Whitehall Township as a school director for many years.<\/p>\n
As part of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary celebration, the Nonnemaker Farm is inviting community members to decorate wooden stars for the farm\u2019s iconic \u201cMr. Smiley\u201d barn doors.<\/p>\n
More than 250 stars are available and must be returned by June 27.<\/p>\n
The stars can be picked up at the farm stand on Nonnemaker Lane.<\/p>\n
The celebration will culminate at 7 p.m. on July 4 when the historic school bell may ring for the first time since William Nonnemaker retired from teaching in 1925.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTOS BY MICHAEL HIRSCHThis school bell from the Dorney Park one-room school was kept by former teacher William Henry Harrison Nonnemaker after his retirement in 1925. The bell is expected to be donated to South Whitehall Township this summer.<\/p>\n
Visitors may pick up wooden stars at the farmstand on Nonnemaker Lane to decorate for the farm\u2019s July 4th celebration of America\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n
JoAnn Nonnemaker-Markowicz said her older brother painted the smiley face on the barn after returning home from service in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
This Catalpa tree may date to about 1872. A younger tree growing from its base represents later generations of the Nonnemaker family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published June 25. 2026 01:09PM JoAnn Nonnemaker-Markowicz grew up on the Nonnemaker Farm, which has been operated by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-228165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}