Small Town America: Identity Found in Christmas Caroling

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“Small Town America: Identity found in Christmas Caroling,” explores how heritage and tradition influences cultural identity in rural America.

Glen Rock, Pennsylvania is a small town in southern Pennsylvania, nearly on the border of Maryland. The town is hidden at the bottom of a valley and is not much different from other agricultural towns in Pennsylvania. Housing developments have created a maze of streets on hillsides that used to be sheep pasture. Interstate-83, in collaboration with the invention of tractor trailers, hushed the old train that transported wool from Glen Rock to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. But an old soul who lives at the bottom of the valley doesn’t mind these modern developments, because they know… come Christmas Eve, a memoir of how things once were will arrive on a snowy wind.

In 1848, five men shook their arms through heavy coat sleeves, adjusted their top hats to sit just above the ears, tightened their scarfs snuggly to their necks, stepped through the doors of their warm homes, and set out into the darkness of early Christmas Morning. After living in the United States for several years, 21-year-old Mark Radcliffe, 19-year-old George Shaw, 28-year-old Charles Heathcote, 52-year-old Mark Heathcote, and 61-year-old James Heathcote became homesick for the jubilee of Christmas Morning in Northern England. Even though the hilly landscape surrounding Glen Rock resembles regions like Sheffield, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire, the valleys scarcely whispered the mens shared memories of home. So, before the sun arose, the carolers visited each of the seven families living in Glen Rock that Christmas Morning and sang carols, which reminded them of the country they left. The four songs from the first morning are: “Hosanna”, “Christmas Hym”, “Hark Hark”, and ”While Shepherds.”All four songs have endured over a century of singing and are still sung by the Carolers today. “Hosanna” remains a favorite amongst the group, despite it containing the longest note.

Presently, the Caroling tradition has grown to include over 100 active members who still walk the town on Christmas Morning, wearing Victorian clothing and singing Old English carols, which are passed down to new members through voice. They begin their morning at midnight, under the only signal light in downtown Glen Rock, to sing their first song. They then hike up the hills, down the valleys, throughout the cold, only stopping to sing at the homes of Carolers and locations of prominence in the Glen Rock community. It has also become tradition to partake in the occasional festivity along the way.

When the sun dawns over the old pastures, sleepy Carolers gather downtown around a live Christmas tree. Their return is welcomed by family, friends, and rides home. With a raise of his hands, and a whisper to the Carolers, the conductor leads the men in addressing the morning silence with their voices one last time. They sing a song of choice for the morning audience, “The Doxology” in memory of Carolers who passed, and with a final muster of jubilee, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” before turning to one another to wish the same.

Despite extreme weather, wars at home and abroad, the Great Depression, and several pandemics caused by disease, the Glen Rock Christmas Carolers have yet to miss singing on a Christmas Eve.