Daniel J. Flood, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this week's quest, I do want to share something of historical interest with my readers. My acquaintance Mary, who manages the Facebook account Photos of the Lehigh Valley, is as passionate about preserving local history as many of us here. She has established a petition to try to save the farm which once belonged to Rev. Abraham Blumer. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because I wrote about him a few years ago; he was one of the courageous farmers who smuggled the Liberty Bell out of Philadelphia and into Allentown for safekeeping. His farm along Lehigh County's Jordan Creek has been neglected and is in danger of being demolished, but we're hoping it can be preserved and restored for use as an educational site. If you'd like to help us with this goal, please check out Mary's petition by clicking here and adding your name.

On with the blog post, then. This week I'm heading up to scenic Luzerne County, which I've not visited in quite some time, to learn about a man whose claims to fame include controversy, folk heroism, and one extraordinary mustache.

William G. McGowan, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

The weather's continuing to be a thorn in my side. Over the weekend we had temperatures close to 70 degrees, then thunderstorms on Monday, and now it looks like a blizzard here. I know this is Pennsylvania, where the forecasts are made up and the seasons don't matter, but it's getting to be a bit much.

This post has been a tricky one to write - not because it's a delicate topic or anything, but because there's just so much information that it's a real challenge to distill it all into an easy-to-follow article. I don't remember Ma Bell; the major event of this post took place when I was a small child. So in order to understand the life's work of the man in this week's quest, I first had to do a lot of reading about that whole situation.

Wilkes-Barre Fort, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

I can't believe it's already November! Only a handful more blog posts before I do my annual retrospective post and look ahead to 2022. Hopefully I have enough material to get me through the winter months, especially if the snow is heavy and I can't go looking for more, although it would be nice if I can manage one more marker collecting quest before the days get too cold.

This blog is sort of a cross between a hobby and a job. It's both and it's neither all at once. I take it very seriously, because much of my personal identity is bound up in being a writer; but at the same time, I can't take it too seriously or I'll never have any fun with it, and life has enough things in it that aren't fun without volunteering for more. 

(On that note, thank you for the kind remarks I received following last week's post, with regards to the passing of my dear friend Jessica. I am very appreciative of all my readers who reached out to offer their condolences; it meant a lot.)

Today's post is one of those with which I've had a bit of fun. The subject itself isn't particularly amusing or anything, but the wording of the marker kind of is. See, almost without fail, the wording of the historical markers is sensible and easy to understand; this is a good thing, because otherwise most people would ignore them more than they already do. But today's marker is a little different - I kept reading the text and just sort of blinking at it. Why would Pennsylvania have had a fort which protected the courthouse of a county in Connecticut? On what map does that make any kind of sense?

Well, as it turns out, there was once a series of minor wars between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. If this is the first you're hearing of such a thing, don't feel bad, because I never heard about it either.

Min L. Matheson, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

Excited to announce that I've been added to another online collective of history bloggers! You can now find MarkerQuest at the History Creatives Hub. There's a wide variety of historical subjects being offered by the members of this group, so be sure to take a good look around and see what catches your eye. If you have or are interested in starting a historical blog of your own, the site owner has some very useful information and suggestions to help you get started.

Moving on to today's quest, we're going to have a look at a significant figure in the fight for workers' rights in the early 20th century. This one took me a while to write, because there was a lot of information for me to absorb and distill about this dedicated woman.

American Institute of Mining Engineers, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

As I mentioned recently in my post about Colonel Jacob Stroud, I was invited to attend a historical event in Wilkes-Barre. It so happens that the organization celebrating their 150th anniversary also has one of these markers, so this is the perfect time to do my first post from Luzerne County.