Jamie and Domi’s YoCo Backstory
The situation
Historian Jamie Noerpel & Archivist Domi Miller are conversational. They’re fun. They’re passionate about local history. Without flinching, they take on challenging stories about York County’s past. Their base is the northeastern York County village of Newberrytown. That’s where they live. And they move to sites around YoCo to talk about their native county. They are the co-hosts of Hometown History.
Jamie, an educator and community leader, holds a doctorate in American studies, blogs about local history and culture and operates this digital site, WitnessingYork.com. Domi, a federal court archivist, holds a master’s degree in library science and local history and moderates the Preserving the History of Newberrytown Facebook group. She is a Civil War re-enactor in the 87th Pennsylvania.
Here are some of the goals driving Jamie and Domi and “Hometown History,” complete with a YouTube channel and podcast.
- To introduce next generations of York County residents to York County history.
- In so doing, present the history of all people in a way that has weight and is winsome
- To test, refine and practice a conversational way of storytelling about history.
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In Season 6, Episodes 1-2 of “Hometown History: Jamie and Domi’s YoCo Backstory,” Jamie and Domi talk about York County and the American Revolution in “The summer we broke up with Britain” and “The role of women and families in the American Revolution.”
Description: We’re kicking off our 6th season of Hometown History at the Hard Bargains outdoor installation or sculpture in York. This brand-new exhibit explores the Articles of Confederation adopted in York in 1777. This was America’s first constitution, the predecessor to the U.S. Constitution. This framework helped bring France on board as an ally.
In Season 6, Episode 1-2, Jamie and Domi produced a Facebook Live event at the Black Cap brewery in Red Lion. This episode came in two parts, the first here streamed in June 2026 and the second in July 2026.
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The Witness
Hometown History: Season 1, show notes.
The questions
One of Jamie and Domi’s goals is to engage the next generation. They’ve found that, if local Facebook audiences are any indication, at least half are above 50 years in age. To fuel local history interest in those south of 50, these videos, with podcast, are meant to reach a broader audience, interesting people of all ages in York County history. However, this is just the first step. How else can we get our kids and grandkids into history?
Related links and sources: Top photo, Jim McClure picture at Hometown History team at Hard Bargains outdoor installation, spotlighting the Articles of Confederation.
— By JAMIE NOERPEL and JIM McCLURE
