Catherine Drinker Bowen, Bethlehem, Northampton County

I'm writing this week's post in the company of my parents' cat, Edgar Winter. My friend Ed is technically a cat, but we like to call him "the cog" because he acts like a dog in many ways. He wags his tail when he's happy, which combines very oddly with the purring. I also maintain that he's part Klingon, because when he wants attention he is very hard to deter. (He clings on. Therefore, a Klingon.) He also really dislikes to be home alone for extended periods of time, so here I am.

Anyway, he's supervising this post, in between monitoring squirrel activity in the side yard and taking his fifteenth nap of the day. My subject has nothing to do with cats, so he's not overly enthused. I, on the other hand, am delighted with it. Today we're talking about a woman born and raised in Pennsylvania, who spent part of her life in Northampton County, and who lacked much in the way of formal training yet nevertheless emerged as a prolific, talented, and acclaimed writer of history. You know, kind of like I'm trying to do.

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.

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.

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.

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.

White Cottage, New Brighton, Beaver County

We're at the start of a three-day heat wave here in eastern Pennsylvania, and I keep asking my Alexa how I can opt out of it but she doesn't have any helpful information. I hope everyone is keeping cool and safe.

For this week's quest, we're going to head back to Beaver County, where John Robinson has once again shared his beautiful photos of a marker and its subject. I'm going to be completely honest and say that until he sent me the pictures, I had honestly never heard of today's subject - either by her real name or by her pen name. However, I am also an author and most people have never heard of me either, so she and I have that in common. (Her marker calls her an "authoress" and also a "poetess," which I find oddly delightful.)

John O'Hara, Pottsville, Schuylkill County

Before I get started with the latest post, I wanted to offer a small shout-out to the women of the Herstory Club! This internet collective is made up entirely of women of all ages who focus on the study of history, and I was recently welcomed into the ranks. I'm very excited to be in the club and appreciate the kind greetings I've received, so thank you!

November is here and I hope you are all well! At this time last year I was battling what turned out to be pneumonia, but so far I've been much luckier this autumn. The weather hasn't been the most conducive to going out to collect markers, but I've still got some stockpiled from before the lockdown, so we're going to take a trip back to Schuylkill County today to look at one of Pennsylvania's native authors.

Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Bethlehem, Northampton County

I'm celebrating two birthdays this week, after a fashion. One is my own; we spent the day at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, which is currently hosting Madame Tussaud's wax figures of the Presidents (yes, all of them) as well as some other historic notables. This is a limited engagement, with restricted entrance due to you-know-what, and will only run until January 3rd of next year. I very much encourage my readers to go if you have the opportunity, because it was really awesome! We also spent part of the day running around gathering markers for this blog, because that's what we do when we go somewhere.

The other birthday takes place tomorrow. Poetry enthusiasts (like my friend Rachel, who first mentioned today's subject to me a few years ago) may already be aware that tomorrow will be the 134th birthday of one of the most unique voices of the 20th century.

Lindley Murray, East Hanover Township, Lebanon County

Autumn has once again descended on Pennsylvania, with this week and the next expected to bring our peak colors. It's my favorite time of year and I'm hoping to get out this weekend and get some pictures - and not only of markers!

This week's quest is a relatively quiet one, since it's one of those for which I only have a picture of the marker itself. People who know me well may find it an amusing subject for me, though; among my friends and family members I'm known as being a stickler for grammar (that's putting it mildly), and so was today's subject. In fact, he wrote the book.

Pearl S. Buck, Perkasie, Bucks County

It frequently happens in my video games that while I'm on one quest, I stumble across multiple unrelated side quests (as they're called). MarkerQuest isn't all that different. It happens - quite often in fact - that while I'm out in the world simply doing whatever I'm doing, I stumble across those telltale markers which form the basis of this quest. However, it also happens, both in games and in real life, that one of the other characters will direct me to a side quest, and that's what happened in today's post.

I visit Peddler's Village in Bucks County with my mother a couple of times a year, usually in the company of friends. We were coming back from one such trip when she said, "You know, one of your signs is nearby. We should go get it."