E. Stanley “NED” SMITH

The most famous artist from the Millersburg area was Edmund Stanley Smith or, as everybody knew him, Ned Smith. Ned was born on October 19, 1919, in Millersburg. He showed an interest in art at an early age; his first-grade teacher scolded him for drawing too much. Because he spent his summers working on local farms, his early drawings from those days are mostly farm scenes.

An aunt who had provided funds for Ned's brother Richard's business education offered to send Ned to business school. Ned declined, suggesting she send him to art school instead. Having seen too many starving artists, she decided against it. So Ned went to work in a local shoe factory and tool shop, but he continued to draw and paint.

People who were familiar with Ned's work and ability recommended him to various publishers. He began to produce illustrations for Pennsylvania Angler and for Samworth, the publisher of American Rifleman. In the late 1940s, Ned got his first assignment from Pennsylvania Game News. Ned's growth and career can be traced by following his illustrations in Pennsylvania Game News, for which he worked as staff artist. He was obsessed about getting outdoors. He worked from life, as well as from a library of thousands of color slides of animals, plants, birds, and fish. He could remember the finest details of what he observed. In 1953, he began to freelance full-time and later branched out to produce limited-edition prints.

Ned was a nationally known artist and writer whose work drew many young people toward art. In 1993, the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art was founded in his name. The Center’s lands offer a tranquil outdoor experience on more than 500 contiguous acres of rustic beauty just outside of Millersburg, Pennsylvania. The permanent physical center opened on October 9, 2004, eventually growing to house three gallery spaces, a gift shop, administrative offices, and classrooms, an amphitheater, and out.