About the Blogger

Hello internet, here I am.

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I've lived in eastern Pennsylvania for over forty years, which is the closest I'm going to get to telling you how old I am. 

My maternal grandfather's family has lived in Lehigh and Northampton Counties since before the American Revolution, and the various branches of my family tree are tied to the commonwealth's history in a lot of different ways. I'm directly descended from or confirmed to be related to:

• the family for whom Fort Everett (in Lynnport) is named;
• Nicholas Kern, the original founding resident of what is now Slatington; 
• the original residents of the Shelter House (in Emmaus); and 
• Johannes Kratzer, who gave up a bit of the family farm in order to build what today is known as Kratzer Elementary School in the Parkland school district of Lehigh County 

We're also distant cousins of Teddy Roosevelt. I think he's my ninth cousin twice removed or something like that.

On my maternal grandmother's side, I'm descended from the Evans family, which immigrated to Slatington from Wales and has been there for several generations; I wrote the history of the family for the 150th anniversary book published by the borough. As I put it in my initial email proposing this blog to the PHMC, Pennsylvania is in my blood.

I've been fascinated with these blue and gold markers since I was a kid, but when you're driving past them, you don't often really have the chance to read what they say. I always thought that was unfortunate since they seemed interesting, and as an adult, I've occasionally wondered if most people pay attention to them at all. I decided that this project would be a fun way to make sure that at least a few more people get to know about them and the information they contain. So, with the blessing of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (the people who have been putting the signs up for over a hundred years), I launched this blog. Because I'm a very well-rounded sort of nerd, I decided to treat it like one of the collection quests in my video games, and this is my quest log.

In addition to this blog, here's a list of things you can find that I've written. 

• I'm the author of Laury's Island: The Lehigh Valley's Forgotten Park, which is my first history book. I talk plenty about it here.
• I am a (very irregular) contributor to Mainly Museums, where I provide in-depth looks at museums throughout Pennsylvania.
• As an outside contractor for my local paper The Home News, I cover monthly board meetings for one of the regional municipalities.
• As a frequent attendee of Zenkaikon in Lancaster, I was tickled to be invited to author About Lancaster City, a history primer for those visiting the Red Rose City for the convention.
• As of spring 2024, I have launched Confessions of a Wandering History Nerd, where I can blather about historical facts that don't have anything to do with the PHMC markers. This is not just limited to Pennsylvania, but features stories from my travels all over the place.

If there's something else you'd like to know, check out my list of questions and answers, or leave a comment. I might even answer! ;)

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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.