Fort McIntosh, Beaver, Beaver County

I almost don't dare to believe it, but we managed to get through pretty much the entire month of March without any snow (or at least, any snow accumulation). We even had some actual springlike weather! April is just around the bend, and with the days getting longer, I think the worst of winter really is behind us at last.

Time to add another name to the list of guest photographers, and it's someone I hadn't anticipated when the blog began! John Robinson is retired from the PHMC itself, and has been kind enough to send me my first (of many, I hope) marker from Beaver County. This particular landmark actually has several markers for it, as I discovered when I went to the Historic Marker Database to look for it, but only one was erected by the PHMC so that's the one in today's post. Let's pay a long-distance visit to a garrison of the American Revolution - a very important one, in fact.

Christ Little Tulpehocken Church, Bernville, Berks County

I'm very excited because as soon as this post goes live and I take care of a few other details related to it, like updating the Facebook page, I'll be heading out on a long-expected road trip. It's my best friend Andrea's birthday, and to celebrate, she and I are making a trek to York County to visit our friends who operate Moon Family Studios - we haven't seen them in nearly two years because of the pandemic. Naturally, the plan is for me to collect some markers while we're in the vicinity, because all of my travel now has an ulterior motive.

Before we get into the actual quest, which takes us back to Berks County for the first time since last summer, I want to direct your attention elsewhere in the same county. I'm a member of the Berks History Buffs group on Facebook, and I was asked to share this with my readers in hopes of giving the matter a wider audience. The historic Kemp Family Burial Grounds is being threatened by a developer, who wants to put a warehouse on the land where some of Berks County's earliest settlers are buried. Their plan is to disinter the remains and transfer them to another cemetery, but the people buried there have descendants in the area still and these descendants are not happy about this. The Berks History Center has put out a call for help with the struggle to come to a mutually satisfying agreement with the developer; you can read the details here. You can learn about the burial grounds and the people interred there by visiting the official website, where you will also find links to the petition and a donation page, as well as photographs of the grounds.

Meanwhile, in a different part of Berks County, I was able to capture a couple of markers on a recent run, and this is one of them. Here's what I can tell you about a lovely church on a rolling hillside, which as of this writing is still covered in snow.