Market time

 If you looked closely enough, you could see the years virtually rolling off Lee Jessup's face as if he was in some kind of time warp. Or perhaps, more precisely, on some kind of magical mystery tour.

He was back at the historic Lancaster (PA) Central Market, taking in the scents, sights and tastes that captured him more than 40 years ago and held him hostage ever since.

OK, OK. Disclosure time. The Right Reverend Dr. Lee Jessup, no doubt a familiar name to many, if not most of us Lexingtonians, was once the pastor of the First United Church of Christ before moving on to head up the local United Way chapter. And then there was that Lexington Barbecue Festival gig as the official emcee where he performed for X number of years, not to mention a memorable stint as a Blues Brother with local attorney Roger Tripp. That Lee Jessup.

He's also a Civil War buff, and this year, he was able to tag along with our breakaway Civil War Institute group of rogues, which includes fellow Lexingtonians Chris Ripple, Jay Egelnick and myself, as well as Arkansan Paul Becker and Pennsylvanian Richard Solon. The five of us have met in Gettysburg on our own for the past five years or so because we felt the CWI week had become too expensive and was not as battlefield oriented as it had been once in the past. So we broke off on our own and we now follow our own agenda.

Lee Jessup makes a stop at Long's.

In gratitude (I'm guessing), Lee took Ripple, Solon and myself to Lancaster on our free day on Friday to visit the theological seminary from where he graduated. The seminary is smack dab in the middle of the campus of beautiful Franklin and Marshall University, so that was a treat in itself.

But it was fascinating to see Lee visit his former classrooms and haunting grounds. You could see that it brought him great joy, and he was pleased to share this experience with his friends. Perfect.

On a personal note, we met the outgoing president of the seminary, who told us that they were merging with Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA. It seems like a fitting marriage. Moravian will now have access to a doctorate level program, which I think (as a Moravian) is a good thing.

Anyway, after about an hour, we headed to the market. This is a huge place (20,540 square feet) that has been in the current building since 1889. The big draw, of course, are the baked goods and produce from Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch farmers and bakers, but there's also a cultural mix of Greek, Korean, Caribbean, middle Eastern and Slavic goods from which to be tempted.

On a historical side note, King George II chartered the site as a marketplace in 1730, thus making this the oldest public marketplace in the country until 2005, when it became part of the non-profit Central Market Trust.

Lee and I broke off on our own and we promptly scouted all five aisles of the building. Then we were ready. We headed to the Long's booth (who are third generation vendors at the market), where Lee and I both purchased some locally famous Long's horseradish. At some point in the past, Lee probably wrote a column about the market and the horseradish for The Dispatch.

We also purchased some Long's Hair of the Dog Bloody Mary mix. Enough said.

Then it was off to Weaver's meats, located in the upper section of the gentle sloping market. Lee made a serious purchase of some sweet and regular Lebanon bologna, a Pennsylvania Dutch treat that only occasionally makes it out of the region. The guy behind the counter sliced off a sample for both of us, and we were momentarily transported to taste bud heaven. I decided right then that it's always good to have a minister with you when you go to heaven.

We shortly joined up with Chris and Richard outside for a deli lunch, and then it was back to Gettysburg.

The market was all good, but to me, the best part of it was watching Lee roll back the years. That's always Lebanon bologna for the soul.