2024 Retrospective, 2025 Plans

How on earth is the century about to turn 25? That just... doesn't feel right.

Well, here we are again. Time to look back at the highs and lows of this blog (and its little sister) during the past twelve months.

The Pennsylvania Chautauqua, Mount Gretna, Lebanon County

Important update from my post about Smithfield Church - the fire on Blue Mountain is out! Our entire community is deeply grateful to all of the fire companies who helped to bring the disaster to an impressive end - no one was injured and there was no property damage, apart from several hundred acres of trees. Hopefully it recovers quickly. Meanwhile, additional thanks to everyone who contributed in some way to the relief effort, as our home company was truly overwhelmed by the generosity. Even the visiting representatives from FEMA were astonished by the community response.

I'm still doing my best here to try to get the blogs caught up, but it's a slow process. I keep an awful lot of balls in the air at one time, and then sometimes life randomly tosses in a chainsaw or two. I appreciate the patience and the words of support I've received from many of you!

Kevin and I were at a meeting of my beloved White Rose Irregulars this past Saturday, where I talked for a little while about the family tree of Sherlock Holmes. Public speaking might be the greatest fear of a lot of people, but it honestly doesn't bother me very much at all; I quite enjoy it, even though I'm not overly fond of the sound of my own voice. After the meeting, we detoured off of the road home to collect today's marker - I found the subject so interesting, both visually and historically, that I had to make it the focus of this week's post because I couldn't wait to share it with all of you.

Smithfield Church, Shawnee, Monroe County

October disappeared while I was looking the other way, it seems. Even without touching on the election or its results, the back half of 2024 has been frankly dizzying for me. I sure am happy to not be getting any more spam texts, though.

Of particular note, for the last several days the mountain behind my house has been on fire. It's far enough away (about five miles) that I haven't been in any danger, but it's been a big enough issue that we have at least a dozen fire companies, all or nearly all volunteers, working together to fight the blaze. It's burned just under 600 acres of woodland, though they do believe they have it contained now. The community has rallied around our firefighters - seriously, I'm so proud of everyone for contributing water and snacks and supplies, to the point that the local fire company had to ask people to stop bringing donations because they have no more space to store it all. If you would like to contribute to the effort, what Lehigh Township's fire company needs now is money to replace equipment and things like that, so they do accept donations via Squaresite at this link. (The fire is situated in Lehigh Township, so they've been leading the operation.) Alternately, consider contributing to your own local fire company, because I'm sure they can always use more support.

At the very least, please pay attention to burn bans. It's believed this was all started by a campfire, which no one had any business building when the entire commonwealth is in a severe drought. (We haven't had any measurable rainfall in my area since the middle of September!)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep on top of the blog in between all the other madness. It's not easy, but I dearly love my blogs so it's important to me. So let's kick off November with a trip to scenic Monroe County, to a spot where a church is believed to have once stood.

Early Telegraph, Mount Joy, Lancaster County

October has been very, very busy! I'm trying to get both blogs caught up for the entire month, but apart from anything else, things have gone a bit haywire at my regular job and it's been frankly exhausting.

Among other things, I recently took a trip with my parents to visit my youngest sister. Until earlier this year, Liza had been living here in the Lehigh Valley in the same house with me, but now she's gotten a new job and a new place farther west. So we made a trek out to see her and her boyfriend Taylor and their new residence, and afterward we went out for lunch with some of her friends from her new church. 

There happened to be a marker between her house and the restaurant, which I didn't even see - my stepdad Ravi caught sight of it, and was even so kind as to be the one to hop out and run across the street to get a photo. And that is how I ended up telling you today about how the first commercial telegraph line in the country was set up right here in Pennsylvania.

Abington Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Abington Township, Montgomery County

Recently I had a message from my good friend Brian. He saw my lament a short time ago, about running out of markers, and kindly sent me some pictures he took of one that he spotted in his neck of the woods. Thanks, Brian!

(Brian is one of the reasons I really need to get back into podcasting, as he's a particular fan of the show. But there turned out to be a lot of things happening in 2024 that were not on my bingo card, and every time I think I'm going to be able to make new episodes, something gets in the way.)

So to kick off October, we're heading down to beautiful Montgomery County to have a look at a cemetery. My longtime readers know I'm rather fond of cemeteries, and this is a lovely old one from the pre-Revolutionary days.

Davies and Thomas Company, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

One final reminder: I will be signing copies of Laury's Island: The Lehigh Valley's Forgotten Park at the Laurys Station Volunteer Fire Company's annual Community Day this coming Saturday, September 21st. The event runs from noon to 8 p.m. and will include a ton of activities for kids, plus food vendors, crafters, local non-profits, live music, and more. If you're within driving distance of the Lehigh Valley and this sounds like it might interest you, check out this Facebook page for more information, including the address of the fire station.

As I said on my own Facebook, I will be there until I run out of books. Please help me run out of books. ;)

Speaking of running out, I am genuinely starting to run out of markers! I haven't been able to take too many road trips this summer for various reasons, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to add to my stash. I do still have a few from prior trips, but I need more. I have a visit planned with a friend next week in Chester County, so that will help. In the meantime, I'm going to start occasionally updating Confessions of a Wandering History Nerd on Wednesdays instead of MQ, just to help my content stretch a bit farther, so look for a new post over there next week. (It'll be about a cemetery, for those of you who like that sort of thing.)

My hometown of Catasauqua put up a new marker last year when I wasn't looking, so for this week's regularly scheduled nonsense, let's go visit my former neighbors and see what we can learn.

William Findley, Latrobe, Westmoreland County

You know that expression about how life is what happens while you're making other plans? That was my experience trying to get this blog updated! This month has been more than a little topsy-turvy thus far, what with an erratic work schedule, a (thankfully short-lived) stomach bug, my birthday, and a whole lot of other things. I've had to keep quite a few balls in the air, and I'm really not good at juggling. But I'm trying, I promise.

Before I get into this week's topic, for those of you who didn't see it in this month's newsletter, I will be signing copies of Laury's Island at the Laurys Station Volunteer Fire Company's annual Community Day on Saturday, September 21st. The event runs from noon to 8 p.m. and will include a ton of activities for kids, plus food vendors, crafters, local non-profits, live music, and more. If you're within driving distance of the Lehigh Valley and this sounds like it might interest you, check out this Facebook page for more information, including the address of the fire station.

Meanwhile, this week we're trekking back to Westmoreland County. This is the last marker I have from what I collected there during my trip with my sister last October, which to my mind sounds like a great excuse to take another one, but time will tell. This gentleman had a lot to say on the subject of the Whiskey Rebellion, and his account of the situation was rather at odds with the one issued by Alexander Hamilton.

Simpson Ferry Road, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County

So we've been in a drought for much of the summer, and yes, we needed the rain we got last week. It's my considered opinion, however, that we did not need it all at once. I hope that those of you who gave the "Rainy Day in PA" crossword a try found it enjoyable, it was actually quite fun to make. Happily, the weather this week has been much kinder to me and I've been able to do a lot more of my usual stuff and nonsense.

For this week's quest, we're heading back to scenic Cumberland County to talk about a very old ferry road. The road is still there; the ferry, not so much. This post will probably be one of the shorter ones because in all honesty, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information about the subject, but I'm going to share what I was able to find.

Rainy Day in PA

First, happy birthday to my own personal mother!

Well, like most of the eastern seaboard, I'm currently keeping eyes on a storm named Debby. And as many of my longtime readers know, I'm one of those people who doesn't do well in certain kinds of weather - when the barometer drops, my pain levels rise. I'm used to it, but that doesn't make it fun. It does, however, make it difficult to focus on things like a blog post. Add in the fact that this is going to be a concern for a few days straight and I don't anticipate doing anywhere near as much writing this week as I would like.

But I'm not leaving you in the lurch, not this time! When I realized that the odds of my getting a post done were lower than usual, I went in search of an alternative. And I found what I think is a pretty good one. I do the NYT crossword puzzle every day and I'm quite fond of it, so if you also enjoy crosswords, you'll probably like this.

Revolutionary War Gun Factory, Hummelstown, Dauphin County

Yesterday I had a grand adventure, the likes of which I haven't been able to enjoy for some little while. I made my way to picturesque Hummelstown to visit a friend from my days at Kutztown University; AmyBeth and I were members of the school's Medieval & Renaissance Club (and you are shocked by that, I'm sure). She offered to be my tour guide if I would make the trip to visit her, and was so considerate as to schedule us a visit at the community's historical society. Geneva, who met us there, gave me access to all kinds of information related to the two markers in Hummelstown and was very interested to hear about what I do. 

We caught up on each other's lives while we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the 1950's themed diner The Soda Jerk (delicious burgers and excellent service!) and then took a trip to nearby Hershey. In total, together we collected seven markers, visited two cemeteries (one of which I'll be writing about for my other blog, so look for that), and discovered a museum that neither one of us even knew existed. We both had such a good time that we're going to arrange another trip, maybe when it cools down some in the fall. Meanwhile, today we're heading back to the colonial era to learn about a brief moment in Hummelstown history.

John A. Shulze, Womelsdorf, Berks County

It wasn't my plan, when I wrote last week's post, that someone who rated a brief mention in that story would be the focus of this week's work, but here we are. I collected this marker a few months back while roaming the wilds of Berks County with husband Kevin and bff Andrea - I think we were on our way home from Zenkaikon, but at this point I don't honestly remember for certain.

In any event, this week we're looking at the life of another of Pennsylvania's governors. This time, it's number six.

Lehigh-Lafayette Football Game, Bethlehem and Easton, Northampton County

The weather this week has been really hard on me. I've been taking pain medicine at night in order to be able to sleep. Between the excessive heat warnings, the (sometimes fulfilled) threat of thunderstorms, and the rising humidity pushing the barometer down, I haven't been exactly well. My longtime readers know that I'm very much at the mercy of the weather for a lot of things, and it's hard to be awesome when you don't want to move. But I'm doing my best here.

Being subject to the weather isn't helping with another problem - I'm running low on stockpiled markers, as I've mentioned. I'll be fixing that a bit in the coming weeks; I have a planned day trip to Schuylkill County near the end of July to collect markers with a college friend, and a few other possibilities up my sleeve. I have some plans for posts on the other blog as well, such as next month when some of my friends and I go to Dorney Park in Allentown and celebrate the 100th birthday of the roller coaster Thunderhawk.

All of that is to tell you why this week's post is about a football game. I just collected the second of the two relevant markers during a trip to Bethlehem with best friend Andrea last week; we were a little bored, the weather was decent, and we decided to grab a few markers in the nearby city and follow up with ice cream at the historic Bethlehem Dairy Store, familiarly known as "the Cup." I'd heard of it but never been, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in the vicinity of Lehigh University. A proper marker hunt always involves ice cream, you know, it's a rule.

Montour County

Before I get started, I just want to wish my parents a very happy wedding anniversary! Thank you both for all your generosity and support over the years.

I had mentioned it a while back, but when I gave presentations at Zenkaikon back in March, some of them were recorded, and the tech crew is still hard at work getting them uploaded to the convention's YouTube channel. For those of you who didn't see it on Facebook, my presentation about Celtic mythology and its impact on modern media is now available, so if you'd like to watch me babble my way through almost a full hour of the topic, you have the option. You can find it here. 

Meanwhile, today I'll be making a return to Montour County for the first time this year, to take a look at the county's general history. Once again, hi and thanks to Shane and the rest of the staff at the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau for their kind interest in my work!

George Ross, Lancaster, Lancaster County

I very much appreciate the kind interest people are taking in my secondary history blog. It's getting off to a slow start, of course, but I have to remind myself that so did this - and look where we are six years later.

For this week's quest, I'm heading back to one of my favorite cities, Lancaster, to talk about another one of those gentlemen who put their signatures at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence. 

A New Quest

Hello, my readers! Yes, I have a post this week, but it's not quite what you might be expecting. I'm here to announce the start of something new. 

Starting today, I have a second history blog. Confessions of a Wandering History Nerd is where I'll be sharing all the stuff I learn when I'm out and about in places that don't have PHMC markers. These will include places outside of Pennsylvania, such as my family vacations, but also places within the commonwealth that are incredibly interesting but just don't have a marker to identify them. Unlike MQ, which I intend to continue on its regular Wednesday update schedule, Confessions is going to be updated somewhat intermittently - when I have that wonderful trifecta of time, energy, and inspiration. The Confessions posts will probably turn out to be even more playful and less homework-like than what you've read on here, because I try to make history accessible to people without sounding like I'm lecturing them.

I do still plan to continue the podcasts of MQ. My voice is finally starting to recover from the chest infection of earlier this month, so as soon as I can sing an entire song without coughing, I'll know I can record podcasts again. I haven't decided yet whether Confessions will also become podcast material, but if there seems to be interest, I'll probably yield to the temptation.

So in lieu of a regular post on this blog (I have one planned for next week though), please join me in reading the inaugural Confessions post. As part of the family vacation last month, we visited the stunningly beautiful island of Sint Maarten, and I got to spend some time exploring the Sint Maarten National Heritage Museum. If you ever have the chance, I hope you'll also visit it - and tell Jean-Marc I sent you. ;) Enjoy!

James A. Michener, Doylestown, Bucks County

Sorry I'm late? I didn't intend to be gone for what amounts to four weeks, but upon returning from our fantastic vacation (thank you very much, parents), both my sister and I were struck with some pretty nasty sinus infections. She was much worse than I was, but I was bad enough that it was hard to concentrate on writing. My voice was also affected, so there have been no new podcast episodes because it hurt to talk that much. I'm hoping that the orange boys will help me with a new one in the next few days; we'll see if they feel like cooperating.

To get back into the swing of things, I thought I'd make a return trip to scenic Doylestown and talk about a writer who was way more productive than I'm ever likely to be. James Michener was the author of more than forty books, both fiction and non-fiction, and even if you've never read a single one of them you've probably at least heard a few of their titles.

See you next month!

I had hoped to have both this week's quest and next week's lined up in advance, as I'm about to head out on vacation. But as usual, life is what happened while I was making other plans, and I just never got to it. I also didn't get to finish season one of the podcast as I'd hoped either. So I'm just washing my hands of the whole idea and calling it quits for the month, because there's only so much of me to go around.

The orange boys will be well tended in my absence, never fear. I'll most likely come home and find that they're more spoiled than ever. Meanwhile, I'm hoping to spend some of my time off catching up on my reading and - maybe - doing a bit more work on the novel I've been neglecting for a long time now. 

When I return, I do have some plans that I'll be unveiling, and the June newsletter will only be going out a day or two late. Until we meet again, good friends, I hope the rest of May treats you well and that you have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day. Thanks as always for joining me on my quests!

Gemeinhaus, Bethlehem, Northampton County

I'm once again starting to run out of my stock of markers! I haven't had the opportunity to do a great deal of marker hunting this spring, though I'm hoping to get out next month and collect a few. My best friend Andrea and my sister Liza are both interested in accompanying me on an excursion to Concrete City up north, and I have a handful of other destinations on my radar, so we'll see how that goes.

For this week's quest, I'm venturing back to Moravian Bethlehem, one of my favorite historical places, and showing you around the beautiful Gemeinhaus. When I last had a visit from my dear friend Rachel, who moved out of state, she requested that we spend a day in Bethlehem, where she had grown up. I was more than happy to oblige, and she took me around several of the places she knew best. That included today's destination, where she used to work as a tour guide.

Allentown State Hospital, Allentown, Lehigh County

As I mentioned last week, husband Kevin and I attended the marker dedication ceremony for Allentown State Hospital this past Friday. My longtime readers know that I usually do separate posts for the ceremonies and the markers themselves; however, this event was probably the shortest of its kind that I've ever attended, and it just made more sense for me to combine it with the history behind the marker. So as a result, this post may be a little longer than usual.

Phoenix Iron Company, Phoenixville, Chester County

The May newsletter is out! If you're not already subscribed, you can read it here. (But please consider subscribing.)

This Friday, May 3rd, I'll be heading to my birth city to attend the marker dedication ceremony for the Allentown State Hospital. It was originally supposed to be held last fall but got rescheduled, and I only just found out a few days ago that it was set for this week! They've scheduled a few more dedication ceremonies throughout the coming summer, so be sure to check the official calendar to see if any of them are happening near you.

Meanwhile, for the first quest of the fifth month, let's travel to Chester County and take a look at the history of a company which, like the bird for which it was named, emerged from its own ashes repeatedly over almost two centuries before finally closing its doors.

Grace Methodist Church, Harrisburg, Dauphin County

April feels (to me at least) like it's been about three months long. Then again, ever since the pandemic I'm pretty sure time has lost a lot of its meaning. In any case, I've got one more blog post for you before we head into the month of May, so let's take a trek to Dauphin County and learn about a building that served one very unusual purpose: saving Harrisburg's role as capital of the commonwealth.

Troxell-Steckel House, Whitehall, Lehigh County

I had hoped to be starting this post with the announcement that I've got a new podcast episode ready to roll. As it happens, however, I'm still waiting on YouTube's account verification and a couple other details. (I'm trying to clean up the audio quality.) So instead we're just getting straight into the blogging.

This will be a slightly odd blog post, at least by my own standards. I have two markers for the location, because the wording is just a little different on each, but I won't be sharing pictures of the actual farmhouse. That's not to say that I don't have pictures - I do. Quite a few, in fact, and I would love to share them. But it's a peculiar quirk of the Lehigh County Historical Society that you can't publish photographs of either the Troxell-Steckel House in Whitehall or Trout Hall in Allentown without their explicit written permission, and I just never got around to requesting the permission. Maybe they wouldn't mind, but then again, maybe they would, and I don't feel like dealing with any possible legal fallout. I'd rather play by the rules. Eventually I'll remember to write and ask for permission at a time when I'm actually able to do it, and I'll come back and add my photos to the post.

The Banana Split, Latrobe, Westmoreland County

My apologies to anyone who missed a post last week. We had two and a half days of rain around here, and as my longtime readers know, my body does not take kindly to that sort of thing. I was hurting pretty badly and I just couldn't focus. But I'm back this week!

Pennsylvania, among its many claims to fame, is known as the snack food capital of the United States. It's not hard to see why, either. We're the home of Hershey, Tastykake, Middleswarth chips, Sturgis pretzels (both Julius and Tom), and a whole bunch of other companies that make many of our favorite snackies. This includes ice cream products, from outfits like Yuengling. 

There's apparently something of a mild debate about the origin of the banana split. It seems that a number of communities across the country like to claim to be where the famous sundae was invented. However, our own Latrobe has the earliest claim, and has been certified as the birthplace of the banana split by the National Ice Cream Retailers Association. My sister Liza and I visited Latrobe last autumn to pay homage to Mister Rogers, and the marker for the banana split isn't far from his.

Isaac Charles Mishler, Altoona, Blair County

I'm back from Zenkaikon and feeling very good about the whole thing! Also a bit melancholy, but that's nothing unusual - con weekend is one of the highlights of my year. All three of my historical presentations were very well attended and my jokes landed well, which always helps; the Celtic mythology presentation is the only one that's going to be available to watch online, though, and it'll take a little time because they have a lot to upload and YouTube only allows so much at once. So hopefully I'll have a link to share within a few weeks. But it was a wonderful experience and I honestly don't think I could be more pleased with how it all went.

For this week's quest, we're heading back out to Blair County, where a magnificent theater stands as a monument to one man's civic-minded spirit.

Bellefonte Air Mail Field, Bellefonte, Centre County

It's crunch time for Zenkaikon. We leave tomorrow and spend three and a quarter lovely days in beautiful downtown Lancaster, hobnobbing with other weirdos (most of them in costume). I'll be doing two presentations about Lancaster history and one about Celtic mythology. I'm not sure which ones will be available to watch via Zenkaikon Online, but they did make it free for everyone this year - so if and when I have links to share, I'll provide them for anyone who might care to watch me babble about history. I'll also return to uploading podcast episodes next week when it's over, I want to do a little fine-tuning.

For today, you just get to read my babbling. We're going to skip back in time just a little over a century, back to when air mail was a relatively new thing and somewhat dangerous to boot. A little community in central Pennsylvania was key to the success of the endeavor.

James Lick, Fredericksburg, Lebanon County

About this time next week I expect to be in my usual pre-convention frenzy. All the things in the world to do, no time in the world to do them. It happens every year.

But for today, I'm bringing you a blog post that turned out to be much more complex and intriguing than I initially expected. It's my first post from Lebanon County in well over a year, and it's a bit longer than usual because there was just so much to tell you. I can honestly say that it's the first time I've ever started a blog post by saying that almost everything you're about to read was the result of a young man's quest to be able to marry the woman he loved.

Union Church, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County

Again, I really want to say how much I appreciate all the support I've received for the podcast. I haven't gotten a ton of feedback, but every single scrap I've been given has been very positive. Some of it even came from people I don't know personally! If you haven't checked it out already, please investigate this page for all the details. I posted a new episode yesterday featuring a surprise cameo by one of my cats; he's taking his newfound fame in stride.

We're coming down to the wire for Zenkaikon, at which I'll be doing three history-related presentations - two about Lancaster, where the con takes place, and one about Celtic mythology and its relationship with modern media. It's crunch time and the panic is starting to set in, because my to-do list for the two weeks remaining is out of control. I think I picked a bad year to give up soda for Lent, because I desperately need some caffeine!

Well, in the interest of getting at least one thing checked off of that list, let's have a blog post, shall we? This week I'm taking you back to beautiful Cumberland County to learn about the oldest public building in Mechanicsburg, and the many ways it has served the community for nearly two hundred years. Please note that the images in this post turned out inexplicably large, so I had to shrink them in order to make the page readable; just click on them if you'd like to see bigger versions.

Charming Forge, Womelsdorf, Berks County

First of all, I want to express my appreciation to everyone who has checked out the podcast so far! I genuinely had my doubts about it, despite what my friends said, but it's been very reassuring to get so much positive feedback. I anticipate uploading the next episode tomorrow, and it's my hope that I will have all of 'season one' (that is, the blog posts from 2018) recorded and uploaded by the end of May.

Meanwhile, for this week's quest we're going to visit an allegedly haunted house in Berks County. I say 'allegedly' mostly because I can't verify either way, but the stories persist.

Aaron Siskind, Doylestown, Bucks County

Those of you who subscribe to the monthly newsletter already knew this was coming, but it's officially happened. As of Tuesday, February 20th, I am a podcaster. It's my hope that the blog will reach lots of new friends in this manner, but also that my existing followers and readers will find it interesting as well. You can get all the details here.

Meanwhile, for this week's quest I'm returning to the poll I took on Facebook last week. We're heading back down to the very photogenic Bucks County to learn about a gentleman who found inspiration in the unique architecture of the region.

Frank N. D. Buchman, Pennsburg, Montgomery County

Happy Valentine's Day! It's also Ash Wednesday, for those who observe the Easter holidays. We got hit with a fast-moving snowstorm yesterday which dumped an entire foot of snow on my neighborhood, but fortunately, we never lost power so here I am.

I invited the followers of the blog's Facebook account to vote on this week's topic. It was very nearly a three-way tie, but by a margin of one vote, we had a winner. He gained international renown for his rather unusual approach to world peace.

Sugarloaf Massacre, Sugarloaf and Conyngham, Luzerne County

Recently, the Luzerne County Historical Society's Facebook page began doing "Marker Mondays," in which they take a weekly look at one of the PHMC historical markers in their county. As I joked with my own Facebook followers, "A weekly look at PHMC markers? Why does that sound familiar?"

Well, I promised them that I would do a Luzerne County post in the relatively near future, and that's what we're doing today. Let's travel back to 1780, and learn about a tragedy which befell a company of militia from Northampton County.

Before I get started, I do want to clarify up front that a number of sources don't entirely agree with each other about names and other pieces of information. I've done the best I can to tell the basic story. All I try to do with each blog post is give my readers a fair understanding of the subject, and then if anyone wants to learn more, they're welcome to do their own research into the deeper lore. (This sometimes results in me coming back to correct a post later, when they share their findings with me, and I have no problem doing that! In fact, it happened recently with regards to my post about the Packer Mansion.) So if anything recorded here turns out to not be completely accurate, it's because of the conflicting details in the various sources.

Andrew Ellicott, Lancaster, Lancaster County

Well, it might be another dreary January day in Pennsylvania, but at least it's the last one? Literally, of course, since tomorrow is the start of February. Rumor has it the temperatures might be going up a little bit soon - here's hoping. I'll be sending out the first monthly newsletter of 2024 tomorrow too, so if you don't already subscribe, now's the perfect time.

I'm slightly panicked because I now have just under two months until I return to my beloved Zenkaikon and give presentations about the history of Lancaster. This always happens to me; I jump at a chance to do something, then I get scared that I'm in over my head, and then somehow it all works out. Usually, anyway. So to get back into practice of telling Lancaster stories, we're going to spend today's quest learning about a gentleman who had a house there and contributed greatly to science and exploration back during the early days of our country.

Harrisburg State Hospital, Harrisburg, Dauphin County

I'm eager for the weather to improve so that I can start going out again in search of markers (and other adventures - I have some ideas up my sleeve). I'm also looking forward to throwing off the last of this lingering cough and getting my voice back to normal, as that's kind of necessary for a project I've been contemplating for a while. In the meantime, I'm trying to devote my energies to tackling a number of other things, which of course includes blog posts. 

For this week's quest, we're going to venture out to lovely Harrisburg and take a look at one of the many beautiful buildings found there. This one isn't like most of the others, though; it sits on a lonely hillside, somewhat removed from the bustle of the city, and no - you can't go inside.

Nazareth, Northampton County

Well, the verdict is in - I've been battling an upper respiratory infection since the new year started. I'm doing much better now than I was these past two Wednesdays, and I'm easing myself back into the blogging saddle. I still have some lingering symptoms, so this update is a slow process.

I took the pictures in this blog post a few years ago when it was quite cold and the ground was covered with snow. As I write the post, it's actually even colder and, once again, the ground is covered in snow - meaning that the photos remain very accurate for the moment.

Happy New Year!

Not a usual blog post, I'm afraid, but I didn't want to let another Wednesday slip past without an update. As those of you who follow the blog's Facebook account may have seen, there was no post last week because I was sick. Unfortunately, I still am. I have some kind of upper respiratory infection which is lingering; according to my editor at the newspaper for which I do some light coverage, it's been hitting quite a few people around here. 

It's been hindering my ability to do a lot of things, including speak. But I expect to be able to return to my blogging duties within a few more days, so I'll ask your patience in the meantime. I have a number of interesting posts planned for the coming weeks, and I'm also working on a couple of other special projects - or rather, I will be once I'm well enough. History has more or less taken over my life, and I'm rather fine with it.

My beloved Zenkaikon is coming up in March again too, and I've been asked to bring back the presentation I did last year about the history of the city of Lancaster! I also applied to do a second one about some of the darker aspects of the city's history, some of which I've showcased in posts on this blog, so I'm hoping that will also be accepted. The convention's online presence is going to be offered free of charge this year, so I should be able to provide links eventually where my readers can, if so inclined, watch me talk about Pennsylvania history. (Spoiler alert, I'm a lot more eloquent in writing. Also, presentations at Zenkaikon can be a little unpredictable - last year's Lancaster history discussion was briefly interrupted by the head of live programming bringing me a box of doughnuts. I can't wait to be there again.)

I hope all of my readers had a very pleasant holiday season and that 2024 brings good things for all of us. Thanks for sticking with me on my adventures, and I'll look forward to bringing you another one as soon as I possibly can!