Jenkins' Fort, West Pittston, Luzerne County

I ended up taking last week off from blogging, due to chronic medical nonsense. It's annoying, but sometimes I have to concede defeat for a day or so. On the bright side, I'm in the home stretch on the new book. I had hoped to be finished in time for my birthday, but now it's looking more like the end of September or very early October. I found some cool stuff (or at least I think so) that ended up causing a handful of updates and edits and rewrites, so I'm still plugging away when time and energy permit.

Speaking of history books, I will once again be signing copies of Laury's Island at the Laurys Station Community Day festivities this coming Saturday, September 20th. There will be food trucks, local wineries, craft vendors, a big raffle, live music, fun stuff for kids, community programs and nonprofits (including a camper full of kitties!), and, well, me. Everything kicks off at noon at the Laurys Station fire company headquarters; you can get the details here.

Meanwhile, this week the quest map leads us back to Luzerne County for the first time in a while. Like nearly all of the colonial forts, this one is long gone, but not forgotten.

Fort McClure, Bloomsburg, Columbia County

There's some interesting news from the PHMC, the ones who keep putting up these markers and therefore give me something to do in this blog each week. They've launched a new initiative called the PA Humanities Discovery Project, which they describe as "an effort to map, network, and celebrate Pennsylvania's wonderfully rich humanities landscape," and they're looking for informative contributions from historians, preservationists, archaeologists, and anyone else who works with Pennsylvania's heritage. To find out more, and possibly contribute your own experiences, check out their article here.

For this week's quest, we'll head back to scenic Columbia County. When I wrote about Fort Wheeler back in August, I mentioned that the story of Moses Van Campen continued in the history of Fort McClure, so let's resume telling that tale.

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.

Reed's Fort, Annville, Lebanon County

So today's blog post took a weird turn as I was collecting my sources. As I was searching for information online as I do every week, I came across a YouTube video from nearly a year ago, part of a series related to the PHMC markers. "Cool," I thought, "I can watch this and see what the Hometown Historian has to say about Reed's Fort!" And so I started to do exactly that, and then I got about two minutes into the video and had to stop because I was completely gobsmacked.

I have the video linked down below, so you can see it for yourself, but the long and short of it is that the good Hometown Historian talks about this blog. This one. The one you are reading right now. He couldn't remember what it was called, but given that my work is extremely niche I think it's fair to say that there's no other blog it could have been. He had some very nice things to say about it and I'm extremely flattered, so thank you, sir! We're corresponding and will possibly be collaborating on something in the future.

Researching this one has been a wee bit tricky, because Reed's Fort and Fort Reed are two completely different places. They both have markers, so we'll get to Fort Reed whenever I finally make my way to Clinton County. Today, we're looking at Reed's Fort.

Fort Wheeler, Bloomsburg, Columbia County

It's been a really good month with these 'county first' posts, and I'm happy to observe that my readership seems to be on the rise! So hello to all of my new friends, and a particular wave in the direction of Shane and the rest of the gang at the Columbia-Montour Visitors Center.

We were in Columbia County on our way to Altoona last month, and we stopped in Bloomsburg for lunch and some markers. My husband is an extremely good sport. It would have been neat if Fort Wheeler had still been there for us to see, but I still get to share its interesting history with all of you.

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.

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.

Barnett's Fort, Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County

Welcome to July! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

We're going to head back to Dauphin County today, thanks to some photos that were sent to me by John Robinson, a retired employee of the PHMC. Most of what John emails me comes from Beaver County, but this time he also sent a picture which actually connects to a previous post in this blog. My longtime readers may remember when I wrote about the Blue Mountain Forts two years ago, and the post concluded with the observation that I hadn't learned as much about them as I would have liked. It also mentioned the names of five confirmed forts which were part of this chain; there's apparently a sixth but I couldn't find a source which identified it for sure (although it may have been Fort Lebanon). All of those forts have historical markers of their own, and today we'll be taking a look at one of them.

Fort Franklin, Andreas, Schuylkill County

The Schuylkill County Historical Society is following this blog on Facebook! I was so excited to learn this that I was determined to get to a marker in that county this month, and here we are.

Here's a fun fact which I didn't know until I started researching today's quest. Pennsylvania has actually, at different points in the 18th century, had two different places named Fort Franklin. One was in Venango County, which I've never visited, so I expect to be tackling that subject in a future post. The other, which is today's subject, was the first of its name and stood in Schuylkill County overlooking a scenic valley.

Fort McIntosh, Beaver, Beaver County

I almost don't dare to believe it, but we managed to get through pretty much the entire month of March without any snow (or at least, any snow accumulation). We even had some actual springlike weather! April is just around the bend, and with the days getting longer, I think the worst of winter really is behind us at last.

Time to add another name to the list of guest photographers, and it's someone I hadn't anticipated when the blog began! John Robinson is retired from the PHMC itself, and has been kind enough to send me my first (of many, I hope) marker from Beaver County. This particular landmark actually has several markers for it, as I discovered when I went to the Historic Marker Database to look for it, but only one was erected by the PHMC so that's the one in today's post. Let's pay a long-distance visit to a garrison of the American Revolution - a very important one, in fact.

Trucker's Mill, Slatington, Lehigh County

July is almost over, which is jarring to realize when you consider what a weird year this has been. The summer is flying, almost like 2020 itself is in a hurry to be finished. I hope my readers all continue to be well and safe.

Tomorrow would have been my maternal grandmother's 89th birthday if she were still with us, which is also hard to imagine, and she and my grandfather would be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary. (Pop always said they got married on her birthday so he didn't have to worry about remembering two different dates. I always said he was the smartest man I ever knew.) So in honor of the occasion, I thought that this week I'd wander back over to Nana's hometown of Slatington, to talk about some of Pop's ancestors. It always sounded a little peculiar in my head, but while it's my grandmother who grew up in the little borough, it's my grandfather whose family founded the place.

Indiantown and Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Annville, Lebanon County

This rightly should have been posted two weeks ago, but it turned out to be more complicated than I expected; I also haven't been feeling my best, thanks to all the shifts in Pennsylvania's weather.

Before we get started, I wanted to let my readers know that the PHMC has begun sharing this year's marker dedication ceremonies on its calendar. The first one will be in Chester County next month, when a marker will celebrate musician Jim Croce. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to make it there myself, but we'll see!

My initial intention with this post was to do it simply about the "Indiantown" marker. The thing is, there's not a whole lot to say about that one. So I ended up having to bundle it in with Fort Indiantown Gap, about which there's plenty more information, and the result is that you get this massive twofer - or if you want to be picky, a fourfer, since Fort Indiantown Gap has three markers to its name.

Blue Mountain Forts, Annville, Lebanon County

If you live in Pennsylvania, you know that last week we had a lot of severe weather all over the state for a few days in a row, including several tornado watches and warnings. As I mentioned in the past, my body reacts badly to severe weather, so I was in pretty bad shape and missed last week's update. My apologies to anyone who was looking forward to it!

It seems that the last time I mentioned my problems with the weather was in my post about the Hanover Resolves. Today's post has two things in common with that one, and this is the first. The second is that, like in that post, I only have one photograph for today - the picture of the historical marker itself. After attending the latest meeting of the White Rose Irregulars of York, my companions and I made a brief detour in Lebanon County to collect a few markers there, and here is the first post from that county.

Fort Deshler, Whitehall, Lehigh County

Hello and Happy 2019, history fans! I'm looking forward to another year of sharing with you the fascinating stories of our beloved commonwealth. To start us off, I'm back in my native Lehigh County for a marker which I pass almost every day.

A few months ago I told you about Fort Allen, up in Carbon County, which was built during the French and Indian War to help protect the local settlers from Native American raids. In fact, Pennsylvania was home to quite a number of similar forts, most of which are gone. One of these stood in Whitehall, near what today is Route 145, and it was called Fort Deshler.

Fort Allen and Fort Allen Well, Weissport, Carbon County

Edit 8/20/2025: This post has been updated! For the more recent version, click here.

I mostly know Weissport as the little town under the route 209 bridge, which every August hangs up signs advertising their "Redneck Festival" over Labor Day weekend. I also know it from my article about Gnadenhütten, where I mentioned that Weissport was eventually formed from two of the three Moravian settlements by that name. 

In the Gnadenhütten article, I mentioned that Fort Allen was built as a direct result of the attack on the Moravians, and that I'd be getting to that in a later post - and here we are. This is another two-fer, because there are two markers connected to the fort; the well, which is the only part of the fort still existing today, has a marker all its own.