Manor of Maske, Gettysburg and Seven Stars, Adams County

We're once again having heat wave temperatures here in my part of the commonwealth, not helped by smoke from Canadian wildfires. As I said last time, keep your pets inside, check on your elderly neighbors, and maybe put out some bowls of water for the local wildlife if you don't live near a stream or something.

Next week's blog post will be a day early or (more likely) a day late. That's because next Wednesday is my husband Kevin's birthday, and barring any unforeseen difficulties, we will be doing... well, something. We haven't decided exactly what just yet. Last year we did a tour of Sullivan County and collected all of their markers, but this year's activity will likely be on a smaller scale for multiple reasons. Knowing Kevin, however, it'll almost certainly include collecting a marker or two while we're out and about. 

Speaking of 'a marker or two', this week's quest is technically a double-marker post. I'm cheating, however, because I only found one of them when we were in Adams County for my own birthday a few years ago. That's because we didn't have time to venture beyond Gettysburg, what with all the stuff we wanted to explore there, so I have yet to visit the charmingly-named community of Seven Stars. Once I do, I'll come back and add the second marker. The wording on them is basically the same, however, so it works well enough. The only real difference is that the Gettysburg marker indicates the eastern boundary of the property in question, and the Seven Stars marker is for the western boundary.

Lincoln Biography, West Chester, Chester County

Well, it happened again. ABC 27 in Harrisburg called on me to assist with another historical piece for the country's 250th anniversary. This time, my pal Kaylee Lindenmuth (the only reason ABC 27 has even heard of me, really) was doing a piece about Pennsylvania's first governor, Thomas Mifflin, and why so many things in the commonwealth are named after him. They actually put me on television this time, which I hadn't quite expected. So if you found your way here via that broadcast or article, hi! And if you haven't seen it, here it is.

And just today I also got featured in a more local newspaper. Patty and I cover a couple of the same meetings for our respective local papers, so we sit together and chitchat. I told her about the Harrisburg gigs and she asked if it would be okay to do a piece on me for her paper; I said sure, and today it happened. Interesting month so far, and I'm very honored to have had this little blog of mine featured so much!

Meanwhile, in preparation for a possible small influx of new readers, I should probably get to this week's quest, yes? We're wandering down to Chester County today, specifically to the historic borough of West Chester, where yet another local paper once did something rather remarkable that impacted the Presidential election of 1860.

Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Montgomery County

First of all, it's July. I did not sign off on that. Also, we're in the midst of a dangerous heat wave, and I really didn't sign off on that. Most importantly, I'm sending best wishes to my pal The Hometown Historian, who is currently out of commission due to health concerns but will hopefully be back to pursuing his love of history before long.

Last week, before all this disgusting heat showed up, I had a reunion with my two closest friends from the brief Kutztown University era of my life. AmyBeth, Christine, and I all live roughly an hour's drive away from one another, so we don't get together terribly often, but we try to do it every several months. We spent the morning at the Elmwood Park Zoo, which I had never seen, and then it was proposed that they take me marker hunting. (I have such wonderfully supportive friends!)

We ended up in the historic little community of Trappe, which is home to three markers all related to the Muhlenberg family. Two of them are located at houses, and one at a church, which is what we're discussing this week. Apologies to my mobile readers, this one has a few more pictures than usual. We were wandering around the church property, examining things and taking these pictures, when we came across something I don't usually encounter when I'm on the hunt - an actual human being.