Judy Rothermel, Broker of Record / Owner EXIT Realty JP Rothermel Blog

The holiday of pranksters goes back centuries. In the 16^th century, Pope Gregory XIII changed the standardized calendar from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar (the one we still use today). The Gregorian Calendar added more days to the year, so this effectively made the new year celebration on Jan 1^st instead of at the end of March.

In the 16th century, news spread very slowly compared to what we are used to, so not everyone was aware of the change. And people would see others celebra...

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17th which is the anniversary of his death in the 5th century. Saint Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to the people of Ireland after he escaped slavery. The Irish believed the shamrock (three leaf clover) was a sacred plant which symbolized that spring was coming. The first reported celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in America actually happened before the American Revolution. In a Spanish colony, where St. Augustine Florida is locat...

Conversation hearts were supposed to be medical lozenges. In the 1800s, pharmacist Oliver Chase from Boston invented a machine to make the lozenge production process easier. He ended up making the first candy making machine. Chase then went into the candy business and developed Necco wafers. People also give their pets Valentine’s Day gifts. As of 2021, people spend $1.7 billion for their pets for the holiday. Most roses sold on Valentine’s Day are imported from South America. A Swedish king st...

It can come off as a total mystery as to why the world looks to a groundhog to see if spring is around the corner. If the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his little burrow and sees his shadow and rushes back to his home we’ll have six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, spring is coming early.

1. Like most modern traditions, it has roots with an old Christian holiday.

February 2nd was known as Candlemas, a clergy would distribute candles for winter, and these candles rep...

Celebrating the New Year in Times Square has been a tradition since The New York Times opened a new headquarters in 1903. It was this commemorative celebration that kickstarted the annual celebrations on New Year’s Eve. They launched fireworks each year. But after New York Times owner Adolph Ochs successfully lobbied to have what was then known as “Longacre Square” changed to “Times Square”, he wanted an even bigger spectacle.

In 1907, an electrician was hired to build a lit ball to be lowered d...

Jingle Bells was the first song to ever be played in space, astronauts of flight Gemini 6A played the song on Dec. 16, 1965. Spiders are a Christmas symbol in Ukraine, there are often spider ornaments placed on their trees. This is a nod to an old story of spiders using their web to decorate the tree of a poor widow and her children. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally created for advertising. According to Smithsonian Insider, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in 1939 whe...

Today we remember the lives that were lost on this day, 80 years ago. Here are some interesting facts, you might not have known about Pearl Harbor.

Americans fired the first shot before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Ward fired on a Ko-hyoteki-class submarine near the entrance to Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor lasted for about two hours. The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the US declared war on Japan. This is how the US got involved in World War II. Japan attacked Pearl Harbo...