Lincoln Biography, West Chester, Chester County

Well, it happened again. ABC 27 in Harrisburg called on me to assist with another historical piece for the country's 250th anniversary. This time, my pal Kaylee Lindenmuth (the only reason ABC 27 has even heard of me, really) was doing a piece about Pennsylvania's first governor, Thomas Mifflin, and why so many things in the commonwealth are named after him. They actually put me on television this time, which I hadn't quite expected. So if you found your way here via that broadcast or article, hi! And if you haven't seen it, here it is.

And just today I also got featured in a more local newspaper. Patty and I cover a couple of the same meetings for our respective local papers, so we sit together and chitchat. I told her about the Harrisburg gigs and she asked if it would be okay to do a piece on me for her paper; I said sure, and today it happened. Interesting month so far, and I'm very honored to have had this little blog of mine featured so much!

Meanwhile, in preparation for a possible small influx of new readers, I should probably get to this week's quest, yes? We're wandering down to Chester County today, specifically to the historic borough of West Chester, where yet another local paper once did something rather remarkable that impacted the Presidential election of 1860.

Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Montgomery County

First of all, it's July. I did not sign off on that. Also, we're in the midst of a dangerous heat wave, and I really didn't sign off on that. Most importantly, I'm sending best wishes to my pal The Hometown Historian, who is currently out of commission due to health concerns but will hopefully be back to pursuing his love of history before long.

Last week, before all this disgusting heat showed up, I had a reunion with my two closest friends from the brief Kutztown University era of my life. AmyBeth, Christine, and I all live roughly an hour's drive away from one another, so we don't get together terribly often, but we try to do it every several months. We spent the morning at the Elmwood Park Zoo, which I had never seen, and then it was proposed that they take me marker hunting. (I have such wonderfully supportive friends!)

We ended up in the historic little community of Trappe, which is home to three markers all related to the Muhlenberg family. Two of them are located at houses, and one at a church, which is what we're discussing this week. Apologies to my mobile readers, this one has a few more pictures than usual. We were wandering around the church property, examining things and taking these pictures, when we came across something I don't usually encounter when I'm on the hunt - an actual human being.

John Durang, Lancaster, Lancaster County

This week's post is brought to you by Edgar Winter. No, not the musician; I'm hanging out with my parents' cat this afternoon. He is a very unusual cat, who wags his tail when he's happy and loves to be vacuumed. I'm supposed to also say that he is exceptionally handsome and intelligent. He wants you all to know that he actually has his own Facebook account now, so if you'd like to enjoy his antics, you can find him at Edgar Winter the Cat. (Yes, I am his social media manager. The price of being one of his favorite humans is feeding his ego.)

Of course, this post is not about the cat. I'll let him think it is, since one thing he can't do is read - at least as far as I know - but in fact we're going to talk about someone who was born a couple centuries before him. This Lancaster native has the very interesting distinction of being remembered as George Washington's favorite entertainer, and his performances were as varied as they were memorable.

John W. Coltrane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County

I'm back! It was a very lovely vacation - I can say now that we were on a cruise to Bermuda, thanks to the generosity of my parents, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I've been feeling kind of run-down and burned out in recent weeks, so this did me a world of good. It was my fourth time on that beautiful island, but we've already picked out one or two new things to do if there's another visit in our future. 

I hadn't decided what my topic would be when I returned to the blog, but I sort of had the decision made for me thanks to a new addition to the list of guest photographers. Kevin's brother Darren sent me a photo of a marker I didn't have in Philadelphia. (I considered saving it until September, for the 100th birthday of the gentleman in question, but knowing me I'd forget.) My prior knowledge of John Coltrane was extremely limited; it mostly stemmed from having seen the movie Mr. Holland's Opus in my late teens, in which the title character names his son Coltrane after the musician. While researching this quest, though, I learned a lot of things, some of which surprised me. For one, this is the first time I'm writing about a canonized saint, although it won't be the last.

Out of Blogosphere!

First, happy anniversary to this blog! MQ turned eight years old this past weekend. They grow up so fast.

Meanwhile, there will be no new quests this week or next - I'm on vacation. Your humble blogger needs some serious R&R and I'll be doing my best to actually get it. I'll be back in the saddle on June 10th with a fresh new story for my history-loving readers, but in the meantime, I hope we all have a great and peaceful two weeks. <3

Chocolate Workers' Sit-Down Strike, Hershey, Dauphin County

Spring? Never heard of her. In my part of Pennsylvania, we seem to have leaped from winter's last grasp straight to the front door of summer, but in the next couple days we're dropping from temperatures in the 90s down to the 50s. But on the bright side, it's not snowing.

I recently saw a trailer for a new movie from Angel Studios, coming out later this year, simply titled Hershey. I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to make a movie about the guy, since Milton Hershey is arguably one of the best-known figures in Pennsylvania history. In fact, out of all the native Pennsylvanians I can recall, it might be a toss-up between him and Mister Rogers for the top spot, though I'm inclined to give the prize to my childhood hero. (I'm only counting natives in that. The commonwealth has many famous figures who came from elsewhere, like William Penn himself and Ben Franklin.)

However, while Hershey the man is remembered with great affection, Hershey the company has a few dark spots in its story. This week's quest is about one of them.

Andrew G. Curtin, Bellefonte, Centre County

It's been an unexpectedly busy week! As I mentioned last time, I was recently interviewed by Alton Northup of the Harrisburg affiliate of ABC News. He was doing a piece about places that claim that "George Washington slept here" and my pal Kaylee Lindenmuth recommended that he contact me. We had a wonderful conversation and his article is now live, so definitely check it out here.

I also came across a surprising discovery on YouTube. I found a video about Thaddeus Stevens, whom I've often mentioned as being one of my favorite historical figures. Much to my surprise, about a year ago a video was produced about him using this blog as one of the sources! I'm very happy to have contributed, however unknowingly, to helping Thad's legacy spread in this way. You can watch the video here. I guess I'm going to have to create a page for listing places where I find MQ in other media.

Meanwhile, this week we're going to venture back to lovely Bellefonte, in Centre County, and talk about one of the individuals who grew up to be the governor of our fair commonwealth.