Shawnee-Minisink Archaeological Site, Smithfield Township, Monroe County

One last reminder - you've got a few more days to email me (markerquestblog@gmail.com) and tell me about your favorite PHMC historical marker! Next week I'll be sharing the submissions I've received. 

This week's subject took me by surprise. I collected the marker quite some time ago - I'm not even sure how long it's been, but it was the last time my bff Andrea and I went on a drive through Monroe County. The part that surprised me was the fact that I hadn't written about it yet, because for some reason I thought I had. Don't ask me why. As I've become fond of saying, my brain has too many tabs open at any given moment. 

So we'll take a look at the subject today, and it's the first time this blog is going back to prehistoric days. I don't mean back when I was walking my pet dinosaur after school, either; I mean back when we actually had mastodons roaming around Pennsylvania. Everybody into the time machine, and set the dial for several thousand years ago.

Smithfield Church, Shawnee, Monroe County

October disappeared while I was looking the other way, it seems. Even without touching on the election or its results, the back half of 2024 has been frankly dizzying for me. I sure am happy to not be getting any more spam texts, though.

Of particular note, for the last several days the mountain behind my house has been on fire. It's far enough away (about five miles) that I haven't been in any danger, but it's been a big enough issue that we have at least a dozen fire companies, all or nearly all volunteers, working together to fight the blaze. It's burned just under 600 acres of woodland, though they do believe they have it contained now. The community has rallied around our firefighters - seriously, I'm so proud of everyone for contributing water and snacks and supplies, to the point that the local fire company had to ask people to stop bringing donations because they have no more space to store it all. If you would like to contribute to the effort, what Lehigh Township's fire company needs now is money to replace equipment and things like that, so they do accept donations via Squaresite at this link. (The fire is situated in Lehigh Township, so they've been leading the operation.) Alternately, consider contributing to your own local fire company, because I'm sure they can always use more support.

At the very least, please pay attention to burn bans. It's believed this was all started by a campfire, which no one had any business building when the entire commonwealth is in a severe drought. (We haven't had any measurable rainfall in my area since the middle of September!)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep on top of the blog in between all the other madness. It's not easy, but I dearly love my blogs so it's important to me. So let's kick off November with a trip to scenic Monroe County, to a spot where a church is believed to have once stood.

Marshalls Creek Explosion, East Stroudsburg, Monroe County

This is an unusual one for me, because I'm pretty sure this is the first time I'm writing a post on this blog about an event which happened within living memory. I hadn't been born yet when the terrible explosion happened on route 209 in Marshalls Creek (or Middle Smithfield Township, or East Stroudsburg - the area seems to have three different names, which isn't unusual around here), but I know several people who had. If my grandparents were still with us, I'll bet my grandfather would have been able to tell me a lot about it.

Last week I shared my experiences at the marker dedication at the spot on the highway where six people were killed in horrendous circumstances. This week, we're going to have a look at those circumstances, and I'll be asking my readers for their help concerning the victims.

Marker Dedication: Marshalls Creek Explosion

This past Monday I finally got to attend a marker dedication ceremony for the first time all year. These ceremonies will unfortunately be few and far between for a while - although the PHMC did approve a number of new markers for 2023, they are actually suspending the marker program for the time being, due to supply issues and other difficulties. So several of the newly approved markers have their dedication ceremonies "TBA" for the time being. This page will always show the most up-to-date information on when and where markers are being dedicated. But this Monroe County marker was ready in time for a particular anniversary, which meant a lot to many of the people there for the ceremony.

I'll be talking about the actual Marshalls Creek explosion in next week's post, so I'm not going to get into much of it today, but it claimed six lives and greatly impacted the entire Marshalls Creek area - and eventually, the country as a whole. But I can tell you that I had actually never heard of it until the marker was approved, so Monday was quite a learning experience for me.

Daniel Brodhead and Dansbury Mission, Monroe County

Well, it's Wednesday, and you know what that means - besides the fact that my vacation is over, that is. (It was a very hot trip. But we had a great time; we visited ancient Mayan ruins, and I even held a sloth!)

This week I'm doing a double quest in the mountains of Monroe County. The two markers are in separate communities, so initially I thought they would each get their own post; but they are so connected that it made more sense to put them together.

I won't lie - this one was tricky to research. Google kept turning up results for the wrong person, or the wrong location, because of similar names. I think all my information is now correct, though, thanks in no small part to the resources of the Monroe County Historical Association. 

Fort Norris, Kresgeville, Monroe County

"Pennsylvania in October is so beautiful it breaks your heart."

My best friend Andrea and I went on a trip to Monroe County yesterday in order to gather some more markers. We stopped for lunch at the Chestnuthill Diner in Brodheadsville; while at the table by myself, I was gazing outside at the trees and admiring the changing colors, and that was the thought which went through my mind. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for the purpose. I'm fattening up my hoard of markers for the coming winter, so that when I'm snowbound (as I'm likely to be at some point) I can still keep sharing the commonwealth's history with you.

Today we'll take a look at the story of Fort Norris. I mentioned this one in a few other fort-related posts; it was one of the 'chain' of forts commissioned by Benjamin Franklin to defend Pennsylvania's settlers from Native American attacks during the French and Indian War.

A. Mitchell Palmer, Stroudsburg, Monroe County

Between the winter weather and a rather annoying sinus infection, I haven't felt too terrific lately. I hope my readers are in better shape! I'm certainly not sorry to be saying goodbye to January, and they're promising warmer temperatures for the first week of February, so fingers crossed.

I'm sure that as cold as it is here, though, it's much colder up in Monroe County at the gateway to the Poconos, where today's marker stands by the county courthouse.

Fort Hamilton, Stroudsburg, Monroe County

First, hello to anyone who is finding their way here for the first time after my book signing this past Saturday! Thank you very much to everyone who turned out to see me. I had a really good time and they're hoping I'll come back again - maybe with a new book. We'll see what shakes out in the coming months.

I'm trying to get a little ahead of myself (instead of constantly feeling like I'm running behind) because the winter holidays are approaching, and since I'm in retail, you can imagine that my free time tends to be at a bit of a premium. So I'm doing my best to create a little bit of wiggle room in terms of having blog posts ready to fire up on a Wednesday. For this week's quest, we're heading back up to lovely Monroe County to have a look at a colonial fort which isn't there anymore.

Monroe County

As my Facebook followers may have seen, last week my husband and I celebrated his birthday by traveling down to Lancaster, one of our favorite cities, and touring President Buchanan's beautiful home at Wheatland. Kevin drove, and because he's an indulgent sort, he kept pulling over every time he spotted a marker, so I was able to catch a couple that I still needed. I also got plenty of pictures for the post I'm going to be doing next month about Wheatland itself.

Moving on to today's quest, I decided to revisit my trip to Stroudsburg from this past spring and learn more about Monroe County itself.

Colonel Jacob Stroud, Stroudsburg, Monroe County

I'm delighted to report, as my Facebook followers have seen, that I've been invited to a historical event up in Luzerne County later this month! A gentleman named Michael Korb very kindly reached out to let me know that they're going to be installing a plaque in Wilkes-Barre to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. It's not one of my markers (they already have one of those, so you can guess what I'll be doing while I'm there), but he thought it would be of interest to me and my readers. If the name of the organization sounds vaguely familiar, that may be because I've mentioned it before in this blog - David Thomas, the Welsh ironmaster considered the father of my hometown, was its first president. The ceremony is to take place at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 16th, in the Public Square of Wilkes-Barre, and you can read the details here. So if you're in the vicinity, grab your face mask and come enjoy a socially distanced historic event. (And look for me.)

As for this week's quest, it's my first post from Monroe County! I'm hitting all kinds of new places lately, between the restrictions easing up and the contributions from guest photographers, and I'm very pleased about it. Today's quest is from a few weeks ago, when my best friend Andrea and I took a little road trip to Stroudsburg. For some reason, despite being only about thirty miles away, Stroudsburg has always seemed like it's incredibly far off; I guess it's because it's considered a gateway to the Poconos. (Then again, as I think I've mentioned in another post or two, my sense of distance is inexplicably skewed.) What I found was a charming, quiet community with a rich history of which they are justifiably very proud.

Stroudsburg dates its origins back to colonial times, and has a Moravian connection which I'll be discussing in more detail in a future post. They actually have two different markers for the man who gave his name to the community, so we're going to hit them both.