Davies and Thomas Company, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

One final reminder: I will be signing copies of Laury's Island: The Lehigh Valley's Forgotten Park at the Laurys Station Volunteer Fire Company's annual Community Day this coming 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.

As I said on my own Facebook, I will be there until I run out of books. Please help me run out of books. ;)

Speaking of running out, I am genuinely starting to run out of markers! I haven't been able to take too many road trips this summer for various reasons, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to add to my stash. I do still have a few from prior trips, but I need more. I have a visit planned with a friend next week in Chester County, so that will help. In the meantime, I'm going to start occasionally updating Confessions of a Wandering History Nerd on Wednesdays instead of MQ, just to help my content stretch a bit farther, so look for a new post over there next week. (It'll be about a cemetery, for those of you who like that sort of thing.)

My hometown of Catasauqua put up a new marker last year when I wasn't looking, so for this week's regularly scheduled nonsense, let's go visit my former neighbors and see what we can learn.

Crane Iron Works, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

Before we get into this week's quest, I have a very exciting announcement. Next month I will be celebrating five years running this blog! Over the years it's transitioned from updating twice a month to every week (usually), the day of update has changed, and the whole thing has grown beyond what I had ever dared to hope. I've met fantastic people and had some extraordinary opportunities that I never expected. And a lot of is thanks to you, my loyal readers, who have accompanied me on my quests. 

There's a lot more to come, but the big news is that I'm celebrating my anniversary with a special contest. I'm still finalizing the details, especially with regards to prizes. It's going to be a virtual scavenger hunt, which will send you back through the various quests I've already completed in search of answers. I'll be launching the contest on Monday, May first, and it will run through the blog's actual anniversary on Wednesday, May 24th. Be sure to follow the blog on Facebook and/or subscribe to the email list! That'll give you first crack at signing up to participate. 

Meanwhile, as the anniversary month is about to begin, I'm going to head back to the very first quest (is that a clue? it might be!) and revisit good old David Thomas, the founding father of my hometown and one of the leading industrialists of the 19th century. My terrible sense of humor makes me really want to make a joke about how I certainly hope Crane iron works. If I have to live with that in my head, so do you.

Christian Frederick Martin, Nazareth, Northampton County

Happy Groundhog Day! One of these years I'll get out to Gobbler's Knob and meet the famous Punxsutawney Phil for myself. Yes, there's a marker, but more importantly, there's a cute critter. Anyway, I'm hoping and praying that Phil has promised an early end to winter.

Unfortunately, regardless of what the Seer of Seers decrees, it's still really cold. So let's warm ourselves with some music by visiting the oldest guitar manufacturer in the United States.

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. 

Bryden Horse Shoe Works, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

Before I get started on today's post, I wanted to share something from the PHMC - today, January 15th, is Museum Selfie Day! Do you have a picture of yourself visiting one of Pennsylvania's museums or historic sites? Share it on social media and use the hashtag #MuseumSelfie so they see it! (Somewhat ironically, I do not have any such selfies.)

Growing up in Catasauqua, two things in particular stuck with me in terms of my education. One, I became an excellent speller, mostly in self-defense. Two, the town has a peculiar place in Pennsylvania's history. I mean, it's literally the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, thanks in part to founding father David Thomas. It has, as of this writing, six different PHMC markers, which is kind of impressive when you remember that the town is roughly a mile square in size. Most of the subjects of those markers are fairly well known to me, and indeed I've already covered Father Thomas and George Dery. However, today's subject was one that had me scratching my head a little bit, because what's so special about horseshoes?

Packer Mansion, Jim Thorpe, Carbon County

Before we get into the meat of today's post, I wanted to share a link that was sent to me by Karen Galle, from the PHMC office. She enjoyed my description of the Richard Moore marker dedication and wanted to make sure I knew (and could tell all of you) that there's a calendar on the PHMC website, detailing upcoming dedication ceremonies. If you'd be interested in attending the unveiling of a new marker near you, be sure to take a look and mark your own calendar! Thanks, Karen!

I live very close to the point where the borders of Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon Counties all meet. Jim Thorpe is not too far from me, and I'm rather fond of the quaint little community. We used to drive through it periodically when I was a child, on the way to visit relatives in the nearby town of Nesquehoning, and the view of Jim Thorpe as we would enter it from its southern end has always been arresting to me. Of particular interest to my childhood fancies was the enormous green house with the red roofs, nestled into the distant hills. What was this fairy tale come to life? Who lived there?

Burd Patterson, Pottsville, Schuylkill County

Today we make the blog's first foray into Schuylkill County (that's "SKOO-kill," for those of you who aren't from around here). My youngest sister Liza took me on a drive around the city of Pottsville, which is not far from where she works; we collected a handful of the markers. There's nothing quite like driving around Pennsylvania in an open-air Jeep, so thank you, baby sis!

Among the findings of that afternoon was a beautiful Federal-style mansion on Mahantongo Street, which more than one sign identified as being the former home of Burd Patterson. He turned out to be a trickier subject than I expected.

Dery Silk Mill, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

I ended up doing this week's blog post a few days later than usual, on account of some bad weather in my area. My internet was extremely unreliable. I appreciate the patience shown by my Facebook followers, and now I'm taking you back to my hometown of Catasauqua for a look at another famous industrialist.

As I mentioned when talking about David Thomas, I grew up in the tiny borough which is proud to be known as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. The first thirtymumble years of my life were spent on Race Street, the town's main drag, which is also home to the Dery Silk Mill - a cornerstone of the company which was once the largest single private producer of silk in the entire world. 

First Cement, Coplay, Lehigh County

The subject of this blog post is unique in that it's the only one of these historical markers which I can visit by taking a fairly short and safe walk. The back of my residence is connected to Saylor Park, home of the Saylor Kilns, by the Ironton Rail Trail, where I've spent a lot of time since I moved here. A quick walk, or an even quicker bicycle ride, brings me into the little community of Coplay.

Despite the way it's spelled, Coplay is pronounced COP-lee. I recently learned the origin of the name; the borough is named for the Coplay Creek, which runs near it, and the creek in turn was named after Kolapechka, the son of Native American chieftain Paxanosa, who lived near the creek's origin point in Schnecksville. (As you might guess, growing up in the Lehigh Valley sort of requires you to be a very good speller.) Anyway, Coplay is a very small borough, with a strong industrial history that's partly due to the influence of our old buddy David Thomas. But that's for another day; today we're not talking about iron, but cement.

(Thanks to Facebook's Scott Nagy for pointing out a small error in this article.)

David Thomas, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

Well, they say it's best to start at the beginning. So to start this adventure, I set the quest marker on a small community that used to be known as Biery's Port. It's not the site of the first historical marker placed by the PHMC, or anything like that; it's my hometown, and since that's where I started, it seemed like a logical place to start the show.

Edited 2/20/2024: This blog post is now available as a podcast episode! Learn even more facts about David Thomas, his work, and his family by downloading the episode today at Audio.com, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.