Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: Hershey PA 6/29/2106- Day One

In Hershey PA we set out for three separate destinations. First we went to the Hershey Gardens. The Hershey Gardens were first opened as a 3 1/2 acre rose garden in 1937 by Milton Hershey. By 1942 it had become a 23 acre botanical garden. In addition to 5000 rose brushes on the property we really enjoyed all of the unusual mature trees. A special highlight for us, however, was the Butterfly Conservatory. The Conservatory grand opening was scheduled to be on the day we were going to leave Hershey. What a pleasant surprise we were in for to find that we could have a first peek at the butterflies, prior to the Grand Opening. What a lovely way to start our day.

Our second destination was to 'The Hershey Story', which is a museum for Hershey the man and also the company. While the Hershey story is interesting, we felt that the museum could have been laid out a bit better. That said, we still came away with knowing a whole lot more about Milton Hershey.

Upon finishing the 4th grade, Milton Hershey's parents decided he had gotten enough of an education and needed to become employed learning a trade. He began employment as an apprentice printer, but was soon fired. His mother helped him get an apprentice job with the candy maker Joseph Royer. At just 19 years old, Hershey parted ways with Royer believing he could go it alone. But alone was difficult and full of numerous failures over a period of almost 20 years. Finally he was successful in starting and running the Lancaster Caramel Company. Hershey, however, became fascinated with the Milk Chocolate industry. Milk Chocolate in the late 1800's was prohibitively expensive for the average person. Hershey was determined that he could bring Milk Chocolate to people at an affordable price and he sold his caramel company to set out and do that very thing.

The museum covers the development of his company and the automation that he incorporated. As interesting as this is, his vision was so much more than just chocolate. Hershey developed an entire town with recreation, culture and a sports arena too. It was a tight knit community and he succeeded in manufacturing by openly soliciting ideas from his manufacturing workers.

Milton and his wife Catherine were never able to have children. When his wife died in 1915, Milton donated his entire fortune to that date, 60 million, to a trust that would run the Milton Hershey school which is a 4000 acre school for children from disrupted homes (kindergarten-12th grade). Today the school owns 40% of the stock of Hershey Foods and controls 75% of the company voting shares. Hershey had donated, throughout his life, most of what he owned to the town and community. When he died in 1945 the sale of his personal possessions brought a mere $20,000. His chocolate factory remains the largest in the world and its profits continue to make positive impacts in the Hershey community and elsewhere.

Our last excursion was to the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum. Because we took so many pictures there we will follow with a day two post of Hershey, PA.

Note that we took a skip on the 'Hershey's Chocolate Factory Tour' ,a fake factory tour, that seems more geared for one's grand kids. Truth be told, Bob was concerned he would never be able to get the Willy Wonka style singing cows out of his head. To fully understand this concern of Bob's head to this link: Hershey Chocolate Factory Tour