Thaddeus Stevens, Gettysburg, Adams County

As my Facebook followers are aware, I went radio silent for much of the past week due to being on a desperately-needed vacation. For the first time since 2019, my beloved Zenkaikon once again took place at the Lancaster County Convention Center and I was there for the whole thing, participating in discussions about my favorite media and admiring the colorful costumes and hugging people I had not seen in far too long. It is my happy place and I missed it more than I can say. (To use a modern colloquialism: If you know, you know.)

It was originally my intention to do this as a double marker post. However, there is simply too much to say about this particular subject; I can't confine myself to just one. So since there are two markers, in two counties, and a lot to say... you get two posts. The timing of this is deliberate, because the gentleman in question is observing his 230th birthday this coming week, and the two posts will be examining his life and legacy in both Gettysburg and Lancaster. 

Meriwether Lewis, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County

First, thank you to those who wished me a happy anniversary last week! Husband Kevin and I had a very nice day at the Franklin Institute, which he and I have visited many times over the years. They were even so kind as to feature us on their Twitter page that day.

The weather was not entirely compatible with marker hunting, as it rained a lot; however, there are two markers right near the Franklin itself, and I was able to grab both of those before we returned home. This one, which was the first one I spotted, is about a man who opened the western frontier before meeting with a tragic end - and a mystery which has never been solved.

James Smith, York, York County

I'm not often speechless, but I definitely had a few dumbstruck moments upon logging into the blog. Last week's quest, an examination of the work of William G. McGowan, was shared by a number of individuals on Facebook, as well as two large organizations - Anthracite Coal National Park and the Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society. As a result, the hit count catapulted it into the #1 spot on my all-time statistics record! In just six days, it managed to overtake the piece about the Moravian Cemetery in Bethlehem, which is over three years old. I'm truly floored and very grateful for all the shares.

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary, so husband Kevin and I have plans to go down to Philadelphia for the first time in over a year. Catching some Philly markers isn't the focus of the trip, but you can bet it's going to happen, because I'm having a serious problem with the blog - I'm running out of markers. That's not to say that they aren't there (the commonwealth has more than 2,000, as I've noted on other occasions); I just don't have pictures of them. The only county where I've literally run out of markers is Carbon County, since they only have six and I've done them all, but I definitely need more. So this trip to Philly should help.

Meanwhile, for today we're going to head back to scenic York. I've already told you about one signer of the Declaration of Independence who's buried in the city, but there's another one across town.

William G. McGowan, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

The weather's continuing to be a thorn in my side. Over the weekend we had temperatures close to 70 degrees, then thunderstorms on Monday, and now it looks like a blizzard here. I know this is Pennsylvania, where the forecasts are made up and the seasons don't matter, but it's getting to be a bit much.

This post has been a tricky one to write - not because it's a delicate topic or anything, but because there's just so much information that it's a real challenge to distill it all into an easy-to-follow article. I don't remember Ma Bell; the major event of this post took place when I was a small child. So in order to understand the life's work of the man in this week's quest, I first had to do a lot of reading about that whole situation.

Matthew S. Quay, Beaver, Beaver County

I'm almost afraid to say anything and possibly jinx things, but we're finally starting to have some decent temperatures around here. I had to skip last week's post because I was down with a severe head cold, no doubt at least partly because of the roller coaster weather we had throughout the month of February. But I did get the March newsletter out on schedule yesterday, so if you aren't subscribed to that and want to check it out, you can find it here.

Meanwhile, let's take a trip out to Beaver County, which I had intended for the end of February, and have a look at the last of the markers sent to me by my kind friend John Robinson.