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.

Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, Chester County

Last Wednesday was my [insert number here]th birthday, and I intended to do a special blog post; but between the various acts of celebration (I basically had a birthday week, because what's the point of getting older if you don't have fun with it) and some really bad weather, it didn't get posted in time. But it did get posted! So if you'd like to have couple of chuckles vaguely related to the content of this blog, you'll find it here.

Speaking of my birthday, in the September newsletter I put out a request for a birthday gift from my readers - I asked everyone to help me bridge the final gap standing between this blog and reaching the 100,000 page view mark. Well, you all delivered way faster than I expected, and the milestone was reached within 36 hours of the newsletter being sent! Thank you! Even more incredibly, the blog received a little over 10,000 hits just during the month of August, and with September not quite half over we're on track to double that. Honestly, I don't know how so many people are finding me but I'm beyond grateful.

For today's quest, we're going to head back down to scenic Chester County and learn about Valley Forge General Hospital. Despite the obvious implications of the name, this actually doesn't have anything to do with the America Revolution. It does, however, have an unexpected connection to - of all things - Saturday Night Live.

Graceanna Lewis, Phoenixville, Chester County

It's a weird day in Pennsylvania today; we've all been urged to stay inside as much as possible. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires is affecting the whole state, and I live in the area that's been flagged as code red rather than code orange. I just hope everyone is staying safe. 

I really thought I was coming to the end of my ability to do a different county each week - the fact that I made it all the way to June without repeating one is quite something! But the bff Andrea and I had some free time last Tuesday, so we took a drive to Chester County and I'm now debuting my first marker from that locale. I wasn't able to attend the marker dedication this past weekend for Fighter's Heaven in Schuylkill County (they changed the date to one when I wasn't available), but I'm hoping I might get to take a run up there and get a picture of it fairly soon - it'll depend partly on this smoke situation. So next week you can either anticipate a Schuylkill post or else the first repeat county of 2023.

For this week, we're looking at the interesting life of a Quaker woman who battled both gender discrimination and slavery, while still finding time to make art.