2023 Retrospective, 2024 Plans

2024 doesn't even sound like a real year to me. But neither did 2023 or 2022.

Nevertheless, here we are again for another end-of-year wrap-up post! As those of you who have been with me for a while know, I like to end the blogging year with a final post which shares some facts and figures related to the blog, acknowledges certain persons, and talks about what I have in mind for the coming year. I began taking the month of December off from blogging back in 2019, when I had severe pneumonia on top of my chronic health problems; and because my day job is in retail, it just seems like a good idea to do it every year. So this is the final post for 2023, and I'll be itching to get back to it by the time January arrives. (I'll also be itching to not hear any Christmas carols for the next several months, because my store and some of the radio stations have been playing them nonstop since November first, but that's beside the point.)

Christopher Sholes, Danville and Mooresburg, Montour County

Well, my friends, this is it! Today's quest is the final one for 2023. Next week I'll be doing my annual wrap-up and looking at all the weird and wonderful things I've experienced through this blog over the past year (there have been a lot!) and also examining the stats to see which posts have resonated with my readers the most, or at least went the most viral on social media. I'm continually befuddled to see which posts are getting hits, and I wish Blogger had a way to let me know how people are finding them, but it's exciting nevertheless.

Meanwhile, today's quest is a double whammy in Montour County. (Special hello to Shane Kiefer, at the Columbia-Montour Visitors Center - I promised I'd get one for you before the year was out! Thanks for your ongoing support.) Quite literally, the work I'm doing as I write this post would not be possible without the subject of today's post, and he's so important that he has two markers.

Joseph Priestley and Joseph Priestley House, Northumberland, Northumberland County

As I mentioned last month, my bff Andrea and I took a day trip through some of the more northeastern counties to collect a few markers, and this post is a result of that. After this there's just one more quest remaining for 2023 before I do my annual wrap-up for the year. My longtime readers may recall that, because I work in retail, I take the month of December off from blogging in order to have more time for little things like sleep.

This is only my second jaunt to Northumberland County with the blog; I hadn't managed to get there since I wrote about "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin some time ago. He had one thing in common with the subject of today's post - they both had insanely long lists of achievements, just in very different fields. In the case of today's subject, it was in a lot of different fields.

Gettys Crossroads and Tavern, Gettysburg, Adams County

I'll admit I was partly inspired to return to Adams County by recent events. Like many people across the commonwealth and the country, I've been fascinated by the exploits of Kevin Bacon the pig, who escaped from his enclosure a few weeks ago and was on the run. Kevin, who is a beloved pet, never went very far from his Cumberland Township farm home; he would come and eat and then leave again, and it was only last week that his 'mom' managed to catch him at last. He gained national fame as various news outlets picked up his story, and even the human Kevin Bacon took an interest in his namesake's antics. If you somehow managed to miss the nonsense and want to see what all went on, just look for the hashtag #GettysburgKevin on social media.

Happy to have their mischievous porker back where he belongs, Kevin's human parents changed the name of their Facebook page from "Bring Kevin Bacon Home" to "Kevin's Home Adventures" and revealed their plans for the farm, which is chiefly occupied by various rescue animals - they plan on opening their gates to the public, offering programs especially for children and adults with neurodivergence or mental health needs. They're also looking into writing a series of children's books about Kevin! To that end, the Rumbaughs have started a GoFundMe to bring in enough capital to improve the fencing on the farm and purchase some heaters, which will allow them to host hot cocoa events in the winter. If you'd like to help these incredibly nice people achieve their dream of sharing Kevin and his friends with the world, please check out the fundraiser by clicking here.

Well, since Gettysburg Kevin is all the rage, I thought I'd return to the time when my own Kevin and I were in that beautiful little community. Here is the story of how it all began, how an immigrant's tavern at a significant crossroads turned into a bustling borough, long before the battle which gave the community its biggest claim to fame.

Sheppton Mine Disaster and Rescue, Sheppton, Schuylkill County

I really, really don't understand how it is November already. We turn the clocks back in a few days, and vote next week, and it just doesn't seem real. On the other hand, the store where I work has been selling Christmas decorations for the last few weeks already, so you could argue that my sense of time is a bit muddled. (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas stuff all crowds together. It's organized chaos at its most festive.)

But it is most certainly the start of November. If you don't already subscribe, you can find the latest issue of my monthly newsletter by clicking here.

Near the end of October, the bff Andrea and I had a day where we were both completely free, so we hopped in my car and took a very pleasant tour of some of our northern counties, enjoying the fine weather and glorious fall foliage. I don't care what anyone else says, for my money it's hard to beat Pennsylvania for sheer beauty in autumn. Of course, the real objective was to collect markers, and I came home with a very satisfying bundle. So we'll kick off the penultimate month of the year by visiting Schuylkill County, and learning an emotionally complex story of both tragedy and triumph.

Old Log Church, Schellsburg, Bedford County

Happy Halloween! Well, almost. 

This time tomorrow I'll be heading north with the BFF Andrea, to collect as many of the remaining markers as I can in Columbia and Montour Counties. We'll be stopping in Bloomsburg at the Columbia-Montour Visitors Center, to say hello to my contact Shane (the one who very carefully reproduces my posts about their counties in their quarterly newsletter).

Meanwhile, my most recent contribution to the Mainly Museums collective went live early this morning. Kevin and I visited the famous Horseshoe Curve when we were in Altoona last year, and I enjoyed having the chance to tell readers all about it. You can find my piece here.

We're closing out October here on the blog with another county debut. On our way to Latrobe last week, my sister Liza very patiently pulled over whenever possible to allow me to collect other markers, and I came home with a total of nine, including this - my first for Bedford County. We couldn't stop to view this wonderful old church building up close, but I admired it from a distance and I've been looking forward to telling you all about it.

Fred McFeely Rogers, Latrobe, Westmoreland County

I'm very pleased to report that yesterday's mission was a complete success - thanks to my 'baby' sister Liza, I was able to collect nine markers, including all three of those in Latrobe. So hello to the good people of Westmoreland County, and welcome to the blog! And a particular hello to David Newell, aka Mr. McFeely (Speedy delivery!), my mutual on Twitter and a truly lovely gentleman.

This has actually turned out to be a somewhat difficult post to write. Not because of a lack of source material - goodness knows, there's an abundance! No, it's a little difficult because there is so much information about the beloved topic that it's been a challenge to cut it down so the blog post doesn't go on forever. But I'm doing my best. 

Rhoads Opera House Fire, Boyertown, Berks County

Next week, if all goes according to plan, I'll have something really special for my readers. My sister Liza and I are finally following through with something we had discussed before the 2020 lockdown. On Tuesday I'll be getting up way earlier than my body normally likes to do, getting into her Jeep, and traveling four hours to Westmoreland County. We're going to pay our respects to the legendary Mr. Rogers and bring back pictures of his marker. 

(Among others. His hometown is also the birthplace of the banana split, so I mean to get that marker too, and I think we're kind of required by law to have ice cream while we're there.)

But first, this week's quest. This is a sad one. The events of this marker led to profound overhauls in fire safety regulations, which is good, but those changes came at a terrible, terrible cost.

Rocky Glen Park, Moosic, Lackawanna County

We're finally in my favorite month of the year, the one with the pretty leaves and cooler temperatures. This weekend my husband ,Kevin and I will be heading up to Knoebels Amusement Resort, hopefully to get a couple markers along the way, and that makes it strangely appropriate that this week's blog post is about a different amusement park which actually has a minor connection to Knoebels.

As you might guess from the topic of my first history book, defunct amusement parks are very interesting to me. Not many of them have historical markers, however, so discovering that there was one in Lackawanna County which does took me by surprise. Let's dive into the history.

11/3/2023: Made a few edits after hearing from Mary Ann Moran-Savakinus of the Lackawanna Historical Society. Thank you, Mary Ann!

W. W. H. Davis, Doylestown, Bucks County

First, happy capital day to the city of Lancaster! As you may remember, it was on this day in 1777 that Lancaster became the capital of the United States... and lost the designation one day later. The Founding Fathers, having taken refuge in Lancaster as the British captured Philadelphia, decided to put the Susquehanna River between themselves and anyone who might be pursuing them, and relocated the capital to the city of Yorktown (now just called York). 

I couldn't quite decide what to write about for this week's quest, so I put up a poll for the blog's Facebook followers and asked them to make the choice for me. Much to my surprise, it ended in a tie, which was no help to me at all! So I resorted to that time-honored method of making a decision, flipping a coin, and the result is today's post. (If you voted for one of the other two options, don't worry - they'll both be appearing in October.) Join me for a look at the life of one of Bucks County's most celebrated sons - a veteran of two wars, prolific author, and prominent Doylestown resident.

Philo T. Farnsworth, Glenside, Montgomery County

This week's quest is rather a fun one, with a marker photo courtesy of my friend and former coworker Sheila. (She said she saw it and thought of me - thank you!) Of course, as I've said many times in the past, we in Pennsylvania do like our firsts and oldests. We're the home of America's first zoo and the world's oldest roller coaster, to name but two. We're also, up in Schuylkill County, the birthplace of cable television, which I'll be talking about in a future post. But today, I'm going to tell you about Pennsylvania's role in the creation of electronic television, which came before cable.

Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, Chester County

Last Wednesday was my [insert number here]th birthday, and I intended to do a special blog post; but between the various acts of celebration (I basically had a birthday week, because what's the point of getting older if you don't have fun with it) and some really bad weather, it didn't get posted in time. But it did get posted! So if you'd like to have couple of chuckles vaguely related to the content of this blog, you'll find it here.

Speaking of my birthday, in the September newsletter I put out a request for a birthday gift from my readers - I asked everyone to help me bridge the final gap standing between this blog and reaching the 100,000 page view mark. Well, you all delivered way faster than I expected, and the milestone was reached within 36 hours of the newsletter being sent! Thank you! Even more incredibly, the blog received a little over 10,000 hits just during the month of August, and with September not quite half over we're on track to double that. Honestly, I don't know how so many people are finding me but I'm beyond grateful.

For today's quest, we're going to head back down to scenic Chester County and learn about Valley Forge General Hospital. Despite the obvious implications of the name, this actually doesn't have anything to do with the America Revolution. It does, however, have an unexpected connection to - of all things - Saturday Night Live.

Blogger Birthday, Something Silly

So about half a million years ago (give or take a few hundred thousand), Labor Day fell on September 6th in the United States, and I came into the world. This year, for the first time since the blog began in 2018, that date happened to be on a blog update day, and I wanted very much to do something special.

Instead, what you're getting is something incredibly silly. These are actual signs I have seen or been sent by friends and loved ones - they're not historical markers, but they're somewhat in the spirit of the marker program. Somewhat. If you squint.

Anyway, please enjoy my birthday month and have a piece of cake for me. And I hope these all make you smile as they did me.

Bellefonte, Centre County

It always throws me off a little when there are five Wednesdays in a month, because it means one extra blog post sneaks in there. Next week is my birthday, and I'll be taking some time off from work for the occasion - not so much to celebrate getting older, but in order to get moving on a couple of projects I've been trying to get underway. If all goes well, I should be making an announcement in the next few weeks that I never expected I would be making, but here we are.

Go ahead and indulge your imaginations. No, I'm not having a child or getting another pet, but beyond that, feel free to go wild.

Anyway, for this final quest in August, we're heading out to almost the exact middle of the state for another visit to the adorable borough of Bellefonte. This time we'll just find out why the community itself is significant - it actually has two (identical) historical markers of its own.

St. Joseph's Church, Hazleton, Luzerne County

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been finding August to be rather topsy-turvy. We've had a lot of things going on around here which have drastically interfered in my ability to focus on writing. It's not helping me get the first blog book finished, that's for sure! But my birthday's coming in a few weeks and I'll be taking some time off for that, so I'm hoping to make use of at least a couple of those days. This will be the first year since the blog began that I'll be doing a post on my actual birthday (when I will once again be fortymumble years old); hopefully I'll have something special for the occasion. Or at least something amusing.

For today, I looked at my list of completed posts and realized that we haven't visited Luzerne County since April, so I thought it might be time to do just that. Let's take a ride up to Hazleton and visit the oldest Slovak Roman Catholic church this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Hotel Fauchère, Milford, Pike County

Yes, friends, you read that correctly - quite unexpectedly, I'm debuting my first marker post for Pike County this week! My bff Andrea's aunt recently took a trip out that way with her boyfriend, and he was so kind as to stop and grab a couple of pictures for her to send to me. Their timing was amazing, because I had literally just been trying to decide what to do for this week's post when the text came through. Thanks again, Jeff and Donna!

This is an interesting one, because the exact nature of the historical significance isn't immediately apparent. But as it turns out, it's a rather unique one.

Betsy Ross, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County

Coming to you live from the blog's department of "Did That Actually Happen?" is the latest in unexpected developments. I check my blog's statistics regularly, and I recently noticed a curious uptick in hits on my 2020 post about the Dorsey Brothers. I wasn't sure why that would be until I received a private message on Facebook. The person contacting me was Tommy Dorsey's granddaughter Joanne - someone found my blog and shared the post with the surviving family members! She was able to give me a little bit of information that was missing from my post and had nice things to say about my work. As you can imagine, it was pretty exciting to hear from someone connected with one of my subjects.

Who knows, maybe it'll happen again.

Also, you might have noticed another link over on my sidebar - the blog now has a store! Well, sort of. It's all stuff I designed, mostly history themed, and you can get my designs on a variety of shirts and other products. I don't actually have anything for sale with the blog's logo on it, but if that's something anyone would want I can certainly make that happen. Please click on the link sometime and see if there's anything that catches your eye; any profits I make go toward paying my bills so I can keep doing this project that I love.

Today's post is a name I'm sure most if not all of my readers will recognize. Americans all learn in elementary school that Betsy Ross is credited with designing and making the first flag for the United States. She was indeed a real person, and her house in Philadelphia is one of the popular tourist stops in "America's Most Historic Square Mile." Much of the information I'm about to share with you actually comes from the signage throughout her house. I didn't actually get to go inside, because of time constraints on the day of my being there, but I'm hoping to make another trip and get more photographs to add to this post in the future.

The Haines Shoe House, Hellam Township, York County

I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I did finally remember to get the August newsletter up and out! Subscribers, be sure to check your email. If you're not a subscriber, get on that you can click here and read it.

Last week I shared with you my adventures with bff Andrea as we attended the marker dedication for the Haines Shoe House in York County. As promised, now I'm going to tell you about the house itself.

Marker Dedication: Haines Shoe House

There has been so much going on around here lately that I feel a little head-spinny. But before I tell you about my latest adventure out in the world, I do have a fun announcement to make. I was recently contacted by John, the lovely gentleman who runs Mainly Museums, which is a crowdsourced blog dedicated to showcasing museums around the world. He likes my work (yay!) and invited me to do a series of articles about the Pennsylvania museums I encounter in the course of my research. Since blathering about Pennsylvania history seems to be what I do best, I of course said yes and my first article went live yesterday. My regular readers will know that I wrote about Eckley Miners' Village Museum here on the blog last year, and because I enjoyed it so much, I kicked off my MM series with the same subject. I'll be contributing two articles per month to the MM collective, so watch for future links and meanwhile check out the rest of the site; they're still pretty new but they've got a lot of talent in the pool.

Meanwhile, last week I mentioned that my bff Andrea and I were off to attend another marker dedication. I'll tell you about the actual Haines Shoe House in next week's post, but for today, here's everything that went down while we were in York. We met so many cool people!

Irving Female College, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County

My bff Andrea and I are spending part of today attending the marker dedication for the Haines Shoe House in York County. So next week I'll be telling you about our adventures, and then the following week I'll be telling you about the marker and the house. That'll bring us into August, and those of you who subscribe to the monthly newsletter will be getting a big one because I may have sort of forgotten to send the one for July. (If you're not subscribed, there's plenty of time to sign up before the new one comes out - just use the handy little form on the right side of the blog. It's 100% free.)

Meanwhile, for today, I thought I'd head back to Cumberland County and take a look at a very interesting institute of higher learning. It's not a school anymore, but for a few decades it was one of the best places for a young woman to be educated, and at a time when only about 2% of women were attending college at all, that was an especially noteworthy feat.

John A. Sutter, Lititz, Lancaster County

First, thank you to everyone who shared last week's post about the Marshalls Creek explosion and the search for surviving relatives and friends of the victims. If you haven't seen it, please do check it out and pass it on to anyone you think might be able to help with that.

For this week's quest, we're heading out to Lancaster County thanks to some help from my pal Jon, the Hometown Historian. We both were researching this gentleman last year, and we had amusingly opposite experiences. I was in Lititz on a bitterly windy day in February and was able to get photos of the marker, while he was there later in the year and was able to get photos of the gravesite. But I hadn't found the grave, and he hadn't found the marker, so naturally we teamed up and traded pictures. You can find the video he made in my sources section at the bottom of the post. Thanks, Jon!

Marshalls Creek Explosion, East Stroudsburg, Monroe County

This is an unusual one for me, because I'm pretty sure this is the first time I'm writing a post on this blog about an event which happened within living memory. I hadn't been born yet when the terrible explosion happened on route 209 in Marshalls Creek (or Middle Smithfield Township, or East Stroudsburg - the area seems to have three different names, which isn't unusual around here), but I know several people who had. If my grandparents were still with us, I'll bet my grandfather would have been able to tell me a lot about it.

Last week I shared my experiences at the marker dedication at the spot on the highway where six people were killed in horrendous circumstances. This week, we're going to have a look at those circumstances, and I'll be asking my readers for their help concerning the victims.

Marker Dedication: Marshalls Creek Explosion

This past Monday I finally got to attend a marker dedication ceremony for the first time all year. These ceremonies will unfortunately be few and far between for a while - although the PHMC did approve a number of new markers for 2023, they are actually suspending the marker program for the time being, due to supply issues and other difficulties. So several of the newly approved markers have their dedication ceremonies "TBA" for the time being. This page will always show the most up-to-date information on when and where markers are being dedicated. But this Monroe County marker was ready in time for a particular anniversary, which meant a lot to many of the people there for the ceremony.

I'll be talking about the actual Marshalls Creek explosion in next week's post, so I'm not going to get into much of it today, but it claimed six lives and greatly impacted the entire Marshalls Creek area - and eventually, the country as a whole. But I can tell you that I had actually never heard of it until the marker was approved, so Monday was quite a learning experience for me.

Logan House, Altoona, Blair County

I'm waiting on confirmation about my work schedule, but if all goes as planned, I'll be in East Stroudsburg next Monday to attend a marker dedication. So there's a strong likelihood that next week's post will be about that. I still haven't been able to get up to Schuylkill County as I'd hoped, although there's a good chance I'll be able to do that very soon.

Meanwhile, let's take a trip out west to Blair County and the historical downtown section of Altoona. Today's marker is one that I was actually not able to find - when husband Kevin and I were there last year for his birthday, we did search for this one, but had no luck with it. However, my pal Kaylee of the Shenandoah Sentinel was recently out that way and got pictures of it, which she very kindly shared with me, so she's joining the list of guest photographers today with her contribution to this post.

Like so many buildings commemorated on PHMC markers, the hotel called Logan House is long gone, but it has left its mark on history in a very singular fashion.

Boyertown Burial Casket Company, Boyertown, Berks County

Happy Flag Day!

I had hoped that this week I'd be bringing you all the details of the new marker up at Fighter's Heaven in Schuylkill County, but between the poor air quality of last week, the lingering sinus issues I developed as a result, and my day job, I just didn't get the chance to go there. 

Instead, for this week's quest, it's the first time all year that I'm repeating a county! We're going back to Berks County, which was the location of the first post of the year, to find out the answer to a question I couldn't help asking: exactly why does a casket company, of all things, have a historical marker? 

Graceanna Lewis, Phoenixville, Chester County

It's a weird day in Pennsylvania today; we've all been urged to stay inside as much as possible. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires is affecting the whole state, and I live in the area that's been flagged as code red rather than code orange. I just hope everyone is staying safe. 

I really thought I was coming to the end of my ability to do a different county each week - the fact that I made it all the way to June without repeating one is quite something! But the bff Andrea and I had some free time last Tuesday, so we took a drive to Chester County and I'm now debuting my first marker from that locale. I wasn't able to attend the marker dedication this past weekend for Fighter's Heaven in Schuylkill County (they changed the date to one when I wasn't available), but I'm hoping I might get to take a run up there and get a picture of it fairly soon - it'll depend partly on this smoke situation. So next week you can either anticipate a Schuylkill post or else the first repeat county of 2023.

For this week, we're looking at the interesting life of a Quaker woman who battled both gender discrimination and slavery, while still finding time to make art.

Fiveaversary Scavenger Hunt Answers

It was quite a ride through the month of May, and there was certainly a lot of interest shown in the "fiveaversary" scavenger hunt. As promised, this post wraps up the month with the revelation of the answers to the twenty-three questions. (Was that too many?)

Congratulations to Rachel Durs, who won the $25 Amazon gift card! Rachel was the only one to submit correct answers to every single question, including the bonuses. Here are the answers, along with links to the post (or posts) where you could find each answer.

Executive Mansion, Harrisburg, Dauphin County

Happy #143Day, Pennsylvania! This annual observance was inspired by one of my personal heroes, Mr. Rogers, whose personal favorite number was 143 - because it represents the number of letters in "I love you." So every year on the 143rd day of the year, Pennsylvanians are urged to commit acts of kindness in his memory, and share them on social media. Read all about it here.

The scavenger hunt ends tonight! 11:59 Eastern time, to be precise, so one minute before midnight at my local time. (However, if you're a couple minutes late, I won't know because I'll probably be asleep. So go ahead and submit anyway.) I can tell, based on the hit count on the posts containing the correct answers, that a lot of people have been trying to answer the questions, which is very exciting for me - thank you for the enthusiasm! Remember, you don't have to get all the answers right to win a prize, but the more right answers you have, the better your chances are. Don't forget to check the Facebook page to see all the clues I've been providing all month, and here's one last one: The answer to bonus question #2 is found in no less than three different blog posts, and if you're really stuck, you might find it helpful to go back to the beginning. Next week's post will reveal the answers and the winners!

Meanwhile, on to today's post. I really thought this would be the week where I'd have to finally repeat a county for the first time all year. But this past Saturday was the quarterly meeting of the White Rose Irregulars of York, and after discussing all things Sherlockian, my stepdad Ravi very generously took a detour through Harrisburg on the way home to help me collect some markers there. I came away with twelve thanks to his driving and my bff Andrea's talent for spotting them, so I'm doing a Dauphin County post for the first time in quite a while.

Old Forge, Lackawanna County

Only one week remaining to get your answers in for the scavenger hunt! I'm starting to worry I made it too difficult, but I really just wanted everyone to have fun trying to find the answers. Here's a fresh clue for my readers: The Fulton Opera House is not the answer to any of the questions, but it's mentioned in the blog posts about the men who are the answers to questions #6 and #10. Remember, answers must be submitted by midnight next Wednesday! Even if you don't have them all, you can still enter, because the winners will be determined by who has the most correct answers. Feel free to guess if you get stumped!

This past weekend I made a trip to Bethlehem for their fine arts festival, with one particular goal in mind - I wanted to meet up with Jim Cheney, the owner of the marvelous Uncovering PA website. We had a very nice chat; not only are we familiar with and admirers of one another's work, but we also have a mutual acquaintance in one of the members of my Sherlock Holmes club. I also got a signed copy of his wonderful book, Waterfalls of Pennsylvania, which I heartily recommend to nature lovers and hiking enthusiasts. Thanks again, Jim, it was great to meet you!

By complete coincidence (no, really), Jim is one of my sources for today's blog post, which is the first one ever for Lackawanna County. My bff Andrea and I took advantage of a mutual day off and went up to the southernmost corner to collect a few markers; I was a little torn about which one to cover today, to inaugurate the county, but here's the one I chose.

Doylestown Agricultural Works, Doylestown, Bucks County

It looks like a lot of people are taking interest in the "fiveaversary" scavenger hunt, and I'm excited about it! I've shared a few clues on the blog's social media outlets already, so if you're not already following the Facebook or Twitter, definitely hop over there to read those. Meanwhile, here's a clue for everyone: The answers to questions #7 and #15 have the same first name, and that's pretty much the only thing they have in common. You've got just two more weeks to submit your answers - good luck!

As for the quest, I said last week that it was the final week of not repeating a county this year. I was wrong! I was recently able to take a couple of unexpected side quests and add a bit more to my list of captured markers. This past Sunday, the plans that I had with my youngest sister Liza were upended, and she surprised me by proposing we go and collect some markers instead. We had an excellent day in Doylestown, where we toured the Mercer Museum and she delighted the docent with her exclamation of "Wow!" upon seeing the central room. After that we visited Peace Valley Lavender Farm, which was new to us both; her whole car smelled like lavender for the rest of the day from everything we bought. Following lunch, we had some delicious ice cream at Evolution Candy on State Street. Before heading home, we went to Le Macaron Doylestown, on Oakland Avenue, and treated ourselves to gourmet cookies. (Hi Steve! Thanks for the Facebook follow!) I definitely recommend all of these places for the next time you're in the area, and I particularly recommend the lemon macarons, which were divine.

And I managed to get five markers, which means I've got almost all of the Doylestown markers now, and today we're going to look at one of them.

New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church, East Greenville, Montgomery County

We're kicking off the fifth month of the year, and thus far I've managed to do a marker from a different county every week. This is the last week I'll be able to say that, but it's still kind of exciting!

Speaking of exciting, if you haven't already heard, the big news I promised last week has been unveiled on social media and in the monthly newsletter. This month marks the blog's fifth birthday! To celebrate the "fiveaversary," as I've dubbed it, I've launched a virtual scavenger hunt. You don't have to go anywhere or hunt down any physical objects; you just have to go through the blog and find the answers to questions about the people featured on markers or in the stories behind them. There's some silliness and some shameless self-promotion and some great prizes too! Head over to this page to read all the guidelines and find out how to get started. Good luck!

Meanwhile, for today's quest, my bff Andrea and I took a drive down to Montgomery County last week to grab a couple of markers, since I hadn't done anything there in quite a while. We found this beautiful church tucked out of the way in East Greenville, and if I'd been alone I probably would have spent an hour or two looking through their old churchyard at the 18th century headstones. 

Crane Iron Works, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

Before we get into this week's quest, I have a very exciting announcement. Next month I will be celebrating five years running this blog! Over the years it's transitioned from updating twice a month to every week (usually), the day of update has changed, and the whole thing has grown beyond what I had ever dared to hope. I've met fantastic people and had some extraordinary opportunities that I never expected. And a lot of is thanks to you, my loyal readers, who have accompanied me on my quests. 

There's a lot more to come, but the big news is that I'm celebrating my anniversary with a special contest. I'm still finalizing the details, especially with regards to prizes. It's going to be a virtual scavenger hunt, which will send you back through the various quests I've already completed in search of answers. I'll be launching the contest on Monday, May first, and it will run through the blog's actual anniversary on Wednesday, May 24th. Be sure to follow the blog on Facebook and/or subscribe to the email list! That'll give you first crack at signing up to participate. 

Meanwhile, as the anniversary month is about to begin, I'm going to head back to the very first quest (is that a clue? it might be!) and revisit good old David Thomas, the founding father of my hometown and one of the leading industrialists of the 19th century. My terrible sense of humor makes me really want to make a joke about how I certainly hope Crane iron works. If I have to live with that in my head, so do you.

Daniel Brodhead and Dansbury Mission, Monroe County

Well, it's Wednesday, and you know what that means - besides the fact that my vacation is over, that is. (It was a very hot trip. But we had a great time; we visited ancient Mayan ruins, and I even held a sloth!)

This week I'm doing a double quest in the mountains of Monroe County. The two markers are in separate communities, so initially I thought they would each get their own post; but they are so connected that it made more sense to put them together.

I won't lie - this one was tricky to research. Google kept turning up results for the wrong person, or the wrong location, because of similar names. I think all my information is now correct, though, thanks in no small part to the resources of the Monroe County Historical Association. 

The Angel of Gettysburg, Gettysburg, Adams County

Greetings, friends! I'm preparing this post in advance, because I'm going away on vacation with my parents and best friend Andrea for a week. I will actually be in Mexico at the time I would normally be blogging on a Wednesday morning.

(How are things in the future? Do we have hover cars yet?)

Kevin is at home caring for our kitties, and as I was trying to get ready, I realized that I was running out of time to get everything done. So he suggested that I do something unusual given the unusual circumstances. Therefore, rather than a marker backstory, I'm going to instead tell the backstory behind one of the many statues in Gettysburg. This article was originally published at the now-defunct Herstory Club, and when the website folded I lost most of my contributions. I did manage to save this one, though, and I'm sharing it with all of you. This is the story of one woman who, though she probably didn't see herself that way at the time, became a true hero of the American Civil War.

Bethlehem Steel Plant, Bethlehem, Northampton County

Zenkaikon was - as always - exactly what the doctor ordered for me. My presentation about "The Red Rose City: A History of Lancaster" (and also my second presentation about Welsh history and language) went extremely well and I was very excited! I had wonderful attentive audience members who asked great questions and really wanted more stories, so I've promised to come back next year and provide them. Hello to everyone who has found their way here because of the convention, and thank you for checking out my passion project!

The April newsletter went out a few days ago - if you haven't seen it yet, you can find it here. I'm hoping to do something interesting for my subscribers in the coming months, so please consider subscribing. (It's free!)

I came back from the convention and got sucked right into a week of work, so I just had no time to do a blog post last week. Heck, I barely remembered to get the newsletter done. But this week I'm going to stay right here in my adopted county of Northampton, and take a look at one of the Lehigh Valley's biggest industry titans of bygone days. Bethlehem Steel has a couple markers, actually, which we'll be examining in coming posts; today, we're going to visit the actual plant... or what's left of it. This post has more pictures than usual, simply because I have been there so many times and taken so many pictures.

Gen. Wayne Headquarters, York, York County

Tomorrow we leave for Zenkaikon, and I'm running around in circles trying to get everything done that I need to have done. That of course includes this blog post.

It's been a while since we looked at anything in York, so I thought it would be good to head back there. In the process of setting up this post, I learned that the individual named on the marker actually has a couple of markers about him. So I won't be talking a whole lot about the gentleman himself - we'll leave that for when I've collected those markers. I will, however, go into the details about his time in York.

The Union League of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County

The next few weeks are going to be very busy for me - not only do I have Zenkaikon coming up next week, but in April I'll be on a family trip out of the country. (No marker hunting? What do normal people do on vacation?) Throw in the job, the writing gigs, the book I'm trying to finish... well, there's a reason I'm actually working on this blog post the night before it goes live instead of on Wednesday morning.

I'm not complaining, though. I do like to keep busy. Now if it would just stop snowing...

For today we're going back to that very un-snowy day last August, when my mother treated the BFF and me to a day in Philadelphia and helped me catch some markers there. This was one of the markers I spotted while we were riding on the upper level of a double-decker bus tour; for that reason, my current photo of the marker is not the clearest, and I promise to replace it with a better one at the first opportunity.

Columbia County

I leave for my annual sojourn to Lancaster two weeks from tomorrow, and for some reason it just doesn't seem like my to-do list gets any smaller. (Maybe it's because I keep thinking of things to add to it...) I'm both excited and nervous, since my presentation on "The Red Rose City: A History of Lancaster" will be the first time I'm doing an actual public engagement as the face of this blog. Adding to both the excitement and the nervousness, they have me scheduled to give my presentation in one of the two biggest rooms in the whole convention. Either they expect a lot of people to be interested in the subject or they ran out of broom closets. I kid, of course, and I'm honored to be regarded as one of this year's featured panelists.

But first, a blog post. Once the weather gets more palatable, unlike the wind that's howling outside my window right now, I'll be heading back up to Columbia County to collect some more markers and pay a visit to the kindly folks at the Columbia-Montour Visitors Center. In the meantime, let's take a look at the history of the county itself.

Cumberland Valley Railroad, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County

Many thanks to everyone who shared and commented on last week's post! I'm sure the good folks at the Liberty Bell Museum will be grateful that so many people have taken an interest in the museum's precarious situation, and I truly hope that we can make a difference.

Just a quick reminder that it's the first of the month, which means the newsletter has gone out with links to all of the February posts. To read it online, click here - and please do consider subscribing, it's free and sometimes there is exclusive content.

For today's post, I'm introducing the first new county of 2023. This past Saturday, Kevin and I made our way to Mechanicsburg for a meeting of our beloved Sherlock Holmes club, the White Rose Irregulars. After the meeting, we amused ourselves with running around the community collecting markers, and managed to get almost all of them. As a reward for his help, I treated him to some incredible homemade ice cream at Urban Churn Creamery. (I had the honey lemon lavender, and all I can say is that it's a good thing this place isn't closer to our house, because I'd go bankrupt.) This was the first of the seven markers we got that day, and we were a little chagrined that we were about twenty minutes too late to go inside the building in question.

History Endangered: Can the Shrine Be Saved?

This isn't the blog post I had intended to write today, but it's the one that I'm writing because... well, to put it bluntly, I'm upset.

A while back, my friend John, who lives in Allentown, contacted me to say that the Liberty Bell Shrine on Hamilton Street was in trouble. My regular readers may recall that the old Zion's Reformed Church is where the Liberty Bell was concealed for safekeeping during the American Revolution; for sixty years, a museum has been maintained in the church basement to celebrate this fact. Last summer they got a PHMC marker and I attended the dedication ceremony. At the time, attendance in the church was dwindling, due to an aging congregation, and they were expecting to sell the building.

John was letting me know that the museum was in danger of not surviving the forthcoming transition. As a member of the museum, I was concerned; however, due to various schedule conflicts I didn't have a chance to follow up on his tip, and what I had heard from other sources was that the buyers of the church were interested in maintaining the museum's presence, so I thought it was one of those things that would work itself out.

I have always been a little too optimistic.

Pennsylvania Match Factory, Bellefonte, Centre County

We've had suspiciously decent weather in recent days. February feels more like early April. I'm not sure I trust it, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

For this week's quest, we're heading back to beautiful Centre County, which I visited with husband Kevin last summer on his birthday trip. The weather was much more predictable on that occasion, since one generally knows what to expect from July, and we were charmed by the county seat of Bellefonte. The community has a lot of markers, including one for what I hadn't realized was once a major industry in central Pennsylvania.

Harold L. Ickes, Altoona, Blair County

Back in the saddle this week - I ended up having to take last week off from blogging, as my Facebook followers know, because I was hit with a sudden and unpleasant stomach bug. I did manage to get the February newsletter out at least, though, so if you didn't get your copy of that you can find it here.

So let's get into what would have been last week's post if I'd felt well enough to pull it together! The gentleman being profiled today was a key member of Franklin Roosevelt's cabinet and a fierce defender of the great outdoors. He also has a fictional claim to fame that I think might be unique to him among all Pennsylvanians, although I could be wrong.

Old Courthouse, Gettysburg, Adams County

It's a snowy day here, so I hope everyone reading this is safe and warm. As usual with this kind of weather, I'm not feeling my best, so the result is kind of a quiet post this week. To be fair, there's only so much to be said about the subject, which no longer exists, but I will tell you what I can.

John F. Reynolds, Lancaster, Lancaster County

A quick congratulatory shout-out to my pal the Hometown Historian, who just reached 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. So proud of you, Jon, keep up the great work!

As I write this, there's just a little more than two months separating me from Zenkaikon, my annual gift to myself. Each year (except when things like a global pandemic prevent it) I travel to beautiful downtown Lancaster to join my fellow nerds from all over in a long weekend of costumes, pageantry, and general mayhem as we celebrate all the different forms of media we love. It's very important to me.

This year, I'm deeply gratified to be able to say that I've become kind of an official and permanent part of the convention, in my own way. At last year's closing ceremony, during the feedback session, an out-of-town participant suggested that the con staff create a sort of primer about Lancaster's history. And since they already have someone right in their midst who will take any opportunity to ramble about history in Pennsylvania, they knew just who to call. About Lancaster City went live on the convention website earlier this week and I'm so happy that they welcomed my unique contribution to the program. Many thanks to the con staff, and especially vice-chair Adam, for giving me this opportunity.

Well, since I was already immersed in the history of the Red Rose City, it seemed only natural that this week's post should continue in that direction. The story of this gentleman begins in Lancaster and ends in Gettysburg, but there are some who claim that his story still continues to this day. 

Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran Church, Freeland, Luzerne County

It's very cold today, though at least it's not as gloomy as it was yesterday or is expected to be tomorrow. It has me thinking back to the much sunnier and more temperate day I enjoyed when I was last in Luzerne County. 

I had a great time on my visit to Eckley Miners' Village, except for one tiny thing: by the time I had finished walking the length of the little patch town, I was very hungry, and the souvenir shop only sold things like candy bars and bags of chips. I asked our tour guide if he could recommend a place for me to get lunch once I left the village, but before he could answer, another gentleman on the tour piped up and encouraged me to drive roughly three miles to the community of Freeland, and eat at the Freeland Diner.

This turned out to be a great tip and I again thank the gentleman for his recommendation. Not only was the food there very good and quite reasonably priced, but Freeland is home to one of my markers, so I was going to have to go there at some point anyway. (Also, if you visit the diner's website, you can actually see a picture of the booth where I was seated, which amuses me more than it probably should.)

Interestingly, not only did I conduct both the Eckley quest and this one on the same day, but they're actually related.

Goshenhoppen, Bally, Berks County

Happy New Year! It felt so strange not to be updating this blog throughout the past month, but I definitely am glad that I took the time off. It's great to be back in the saddle, though, and we're just going to dive right in with a visit to Berks County.

When I visited the Indian Jasper Quarries marker last fall, I had a little extra time following the event, so I took a drive down the local highway to collect a few additional markers. This one was my actual objective, though I was pleased to grab two others along the way. As of this writing, it's the only historical marker in the borough of Bally, and it all has to do with the origins of that municipality.