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.
1. Who was the first female preacher of the African Methodist Episcopal Church?
That was Harriet A. Baker, whose marker is in Allentown, Lehigh County.
2. Which marker subject co-founded the children's literary magazine in which Louisa May Alcott was first published?
This was the question for which I had said, in one of my clues, that there were three possible answers I would accept as correct. She was born Sara Clarke; her married name was Sara Lippincott (or Sara Clarke Lippincott); and she used the pen name of Grace Greenwood. Any of those would have been okay, and would have been found in the post about "White Cottage" in New Brighton, Beaver County.
3. What railroad president pushed for the construction of a railroad bridge that would connect McKean and Elk Counties?
Thomas L. Kane was the one who pushed for the creation of the Kinzua Viaduct in his namesake community of Kane, McKean County.
4. Who received the "Murder Mansion" as a wedding gift?
That was Harry Packer, who was given the stately home by his father, Asa Packer, in what today is Jim Thorpe, Carbon County.
5. Who was allowed to play baseball for Gettysburg College despite never being a student there?
Eddie Plank (or "Gettysburg Eddie") played for the college in Gettysburg, Adams County. He never actually attended any college at all. This was mentioned not only in his own post, but also in the one about Dwight D. Eisenhower's time in Gettysburg.
6. Who has a state park named after himself on the grounds of what were once the villages of Valhalla and New Norway?
Ole Bull attempted to create a Scandinavian settlement in what is now Cherry Springs State Park in Coudersport, Potter County. This was also mentioned in the post about the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, where he gave a concert to raise money for the endeavor.
7. Which marker subject was present for the Gettysburg Address and got to sit near President Lincoln?
Anna Morris Holstein, whose marker is in King of Prussia, Montgomery County, received this honor due to her work as matron-in-chief of Camp Letterman after the Battle of Gettysburg.
8. Who composed music for the Dorsey Brothers before leaving to pursue his own career?
Glenn Miller, and of course this was an easy one to find since it's in the post about the Dorsey Brothers, whose marker is in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County. (Miller disappeared in a plane over the English Channel during World War II and was never found, poor man.)
9. Who was the first woman to receive a medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters?
That was Hilda "H.D." Doolittle from Bethlehem, Northampton County.
10. Who proposed to his sweetheart using his West Point class ring?
John F. Reynolds, from Lancaster, Lancaster County, is both the answer to this question and the hero of my personal favorite ghostly love story.
11. Who had five daughters named Barbara, Caroline, Patricia, Marjorie, and Chloe?
This one was a little tricky, I admit. The answer is James "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin from Mount Carmel, Northumberland County.
12. What author is believed to have suffered in adulthood from Post-Polio Syndrome?
Lindley Murray, formerly of East Hanover Township in Lebanon County, was very ill and this is what modern research suggests may have been wrong with him.
13. What 18th century English noblewoman did a lot of the work to maintain the proprietorship of Pennsylvania when her husband's health declined?
This one apparently threw a few people off! It was Lady Juliana Penn, William Penn's daughter-in-law. She was married to his son Thomas, who was much older than she was, and had to take on a lot of his duties when he grew ill. They were the parents of John Penn, who designed and constructed The Solitude inside what is now the Philadelphia Zoo.
14. Whose generosity earned her the nickname "the Angel of the Anthracite"?
Sophia Coxe was the wife of Eckley Coxe, for whom Eckley Miners' Village in Weatherly, Luzerne County, was named. She was lavishly generous to the poor and is remembered for it still today.
15. Who invented a construction material known as the "K brick"?
Anna Wagner Keichline was a native of Bellefonte, Centre County, and one of the first and most highly regarded female architects in the commonwealth.
16. Who established a fort on the McClure farm and married the farmer's eldest daughter?
Another easily found one, since the name of the post is pretty much in the question - it was Moses Van Campen, who established Fort McClure in Bloomsburg, Columbia County.
17. Who purchased a custom vehicle with a cobra emblem on the radiator, but never actually got to drive it?
World-famous movie star Rudolph Valentino ordered a beautiful and highly customized car from Fleetwood Auto Body Company in Fleetwood, Berks County. Unfortunately, he died before it was finished.
18. Which artist first learned his craft as a child while living in a World War II internment camp?
Japanese-American woodcarver George Nakashima spent part of his childhood in an internment camp, where he learned many of the skills that he later used in his workshop in New Hope, Bucks County.
19. Who is reputed to have originated the phrase "You may fire when ready"?
This was another tricky one, because the speaker is not mentioned on the marker in question. It was Commodore George Dewey, who during the Spanish-American War issued that directive to Captain C. V. Gridley of Erie, Erie County.
20. Which Pennsylvanian is also a character in the musical Annie?
Harold L. Ickes of Altoona, Blair County, is not only a character but participates in one of the musical numbers!
And as for the bonuses...
Bonus question #1: Who was judged by another website to be the fourth most attractive signer of the Declaration of Independence?
This was James Smith of York, York County, who was listed at #4 on the official unofficial list of "The Signers of the Declaration of Independence in Order of Hotness." I included it in the sources on the blog post about him just for fun.
Bonus question #2: Who was the first president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers?
David Thomas, the 'father' of my hometown of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, is the answer to this question. You could actually find the answer in three different posts - the one about his house, the one about his company, or the one about the AIME itself.
Bonus question #3: To whom should you send any "worthless continental dollars" you happen to find?
This one I included mostly for my own amusement. I alluded to it in one of my clues on Facebook, where I explained that in order to receive a PHMC marker, a person must be deceased - but one of the answers to a question was still alive. This was the question, and the answer is me! I made the joke in my post about Hall & Sellers Press in York, York County, that continental dollars are worthless and if you find any, you can give them to me. They were worthless back in the day, but of course today they're extremely valuable, which is why no one has given me any yet.
So that's it for the scavenger hunt! Thanks again to everyone who showed any interest in it. I don't know what I'll do for the next reader participation event but it will probably be something different.
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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