New Hanover Lutheran Church, Gilbertsville, Montgomery County

Today is April Fool's Day, but this is not a prank: the hit count on this blog in the month of February was over 28,000, which was an all-time high. But in March? You crazy history fiends smashed that number! March ended with a monthly hit count of 39,726, and I was stunned speechless. That's a rare event, as many people could tell you. So whoever has been coming here and reading what I have to say, thank you so very much. It means a lot.

There are a lot of history-related events happening around here in the coming weeks, now that the onion snow has fallen and winter is finally leaving us. In particular, on April 11th and 12th, the community of Trappe will be dedicating the Speaker's House, which was the home of Frederick Muhlenberg and his family. He has a connection to today's blog post. The community has spent the last 25 years (no, that's not a typo) restoring the house to its colonial glory and preparing it to be a jewel of the historic community. The event is free to the public and you can find details here.

Also, one month from today - May 1st - will be the grand opening of the Stevens & Smith Center for History and Democracy in Lancaster. I'm hoping I can be there! The festivities will begin at 9 in the morning, though, so the odds are not in my favor. If you're interested in being there too, get the details here.

Meanwhile, it's time to get back into the regular flow of blogging and kick off this month with a return to scenic Montgomery County. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going.

Falkner Swamp Reformed Church, Gilbertsville, Montgomery County

Welcome to November! Louisa May Alcott, in her novel Little Women, had the character of Meg remark that "I do believe November is the most disagreeable month of the year." So far, it hasn't been that bad - the fall colors are still quite brilliant around here - but it has been rather on the blustery side. My neighborhood has lost power multiple times in the past week due to the wind, which is not at all usual for us. I'm hoping that it will continue to be tolerable for a little while longer, at least, because I've got to get out of here and collect some more markers to get me through the winter. I only have the rest of November to go for the blog, and then I'll be taking my usual December hiatus after detailing the year's interesting facts, but I want to be prepared for January and February with a decent stockpile.

For this week, though, we're going to take a ride down to Montgomery County, where I had stumbled across one of my favorite things to include in this blog. I love talking about subjects from colonial times, and especially churches from the time period, because they tend to have really unique stories behind them. This one is no exception.

Tulpehocken Evangelical and Reformed Church, Richland, Lebanon County

How would you like to be able to pay your rent in flowers? 

'Red rose rent' is specified as being a type of "quit-rent," which is not a commonly used term nowadays. It has its roots in feudal Europe, in which a tenant either worked the land or provided military services for his liege lord (either the king or a lesser noble) in lieu of paying rent or taxes on the property he occupied. In essence, the quit-rent took the place of feudal services. The practice continued all the way into colonial America, where the quit-rent was more or less a kind of land tax. In the case of 'red rose rent,' though, it's a merely symbolic gesture, usually because the person creating the rental agreement was being generous for one reason or another. For the princely sum of one red rose every year, the renter continues to have the full use of a specified building or tract of land.

I don't think there are too many modern examples of 'red rose rent' being used anymore, the economy being what it is. But here in Pennsylvania, there are a number of historic locations which still pay homage to the tradition, and one of these is a church in Lebanon County.

John A. Sutter, Lititz, Lancaster County

First, thank you to everyone who shared last week's post about the Marshalls Creek explosion and the search for surviving relatives and friends of the victims. If you haven't seen it, please do check it out and pass it on to anyone you think might be able to help with that.

For this week's quest, we're heading out to Lancaster County thanks to some help from my pal Jon, the Hometown Historian. We both were researching this gentleman last year, and we had amusingly opposite experiences. I was in Lititz on a bitterly windy day in February and was able to get photos of the marker, while he was there later in the year and was able to get photos of the gravesite. But I hadn't found the grave, and he hadn't found the marker, so naturally we teamed up and traded pictures. You can find the video he made in my sources section at the bottom of the post. Thanks, Jon!

Goshenhoppen, Bally, Berks County

Happy New Year! It felt so strange not to be updating this blog throughout the past month, but I definitely am glad that I took the time off. It's great to be back in the saddle, though, and we're just going to dive right in with a visit to Berks County.

When I visited the Indian Jasper Quarries marker last fall, I had a little extra time following the event, so I took a drive down the local highway to collect a few additional markers. This one was my actual objective, though I was pleased to grab two others along the way. As of this writing, it's the only historical marker in the borough of Bally, and it all has to do with the origins of that municipality.

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.

Christ Little Tulpehocken Church, Bernville, Berks County

I'm very excited because as soon as this post goes live and I take care of a few other details related to it, like updating the Facebook page, I'll be heading out on a long-expected road trip. It's my best friend Andrea's birthday, and to celebrate, she and I are making a trek to York County to visit our friends who operate Moon Family Studios - we haven't seen them in nearly two years because of the pandemic. Naturally, the plan is for me to collect some markers while we're in the vicinity, because all of my travel now has an ulterior motive.

Before we get into the actual quest, which takes us back to Berks County for the first time since last summer, I want to direct your attention elsewhere in the same county. I'm a member of the Berks History Buffs group on Facebook, and I was asked to share this with my readers in hopes of giving the matter a wider audience. The historic Kemp Family Burial Grounds is being threatened by a developer, who wants to put a warehouse on the land where some of Berks County's earliest settlers are buried. Their plan is to disinter the remains and transfer them to another cemetery, but the people buried there have descendants in the area still and these descendants are not happy about this. The Berks History Center has put out a call for help with the struggle to come to a mutually satisfying agreement with the developer; you can read the details here. You can learn about the burial grounds and the people interred there by visiting the official website, where you will also find links to the petition and a donation page, as well as photographs of the grounds.

Meanwhile, in a different part of Berks County, I was able to capture a couple of markers on a recent run, and this is one of them. Here's what I can tell you about a lovely church on a rolling hillside, which as of this writing is still covered in snow.