GOBBLER’S KNOB – Every Feb. 2 for 128 years, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted the upcoming weather season. Today, Phil was raised from his burrow in the old oak stump and the prognostication was read, “A Super Bowl winner I will not predict. But my weather forecast, you cannot contradict. Why that’s not a football but my shadow I see. So, six more weeks of winter it must be!”
According to the Groundhog Day Web site:
The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May…”
Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800’s. The first official trek to Gobbler’s Knob was made on Feb. 2, 1887. So the story goes, Punxsutawney Phil was named after King Phillip. Prior to being called Phil, he was called Br’er Groundhog.
Photos by Mark Kolash