Carl A. Spaatz, Boyertown, Berks County

Before diving into the heart of this week's post, I wanted to share some fascinating news that's been released by the PHMC (you know, the folks who put up these markers I chase). As part of the celebrations for America's 250th anniversary in 2026, they're going to be organizing some of the historical markers into "trails" according to certain themes. These include We the People, for "stories of identity, belonging, and community," and Unfinished Revolutions, for "ongoing struggles for justice, equity, and freedom." The trails will be announced quarterly, starting this fall, and will be a significant reminder of Pennsylvania's place in our country's history. Check out all the details here!

In other, arguably less exciting news, my longtime readers might remember that this is my birthday week. I am a lot older than I like to think and a lot younger than my body sometimes feels. I was hoping to finish the first marker book in time for the occasion, as a gift to myself, but I've still got a couple chapters to go so I probably won't quite make it. But we're celebrating by going to Knoebels and probably grabbing a few more markers along the way. I hope that you'll celebrate the occasion by doing something nice for yourself. (If you want to do something nice for me as well, consider going back and reading older posts to bump up my hit count for the month!)

As for this week's quest, we're heading to beautiful Berks County, where Boyertown was the birthplace of one of the country's foremost Air Force personnel. You might have heard of him; I'll admit that I never did until I found his marker.

W. W. H. Davis, Doylestown, Bucks County

First, happy capital day to the city of Lancaster! As you may remember, it was on this day in 1777 that Lancaster became the capital of the United States... and lost the designation one day later. The Founding Fathers, having taken refuge in Lancaster as the British captured Philadelphia, decided to put the Susquehanna River between themselves and anyone who might be pursuing them, and relocated the capital to the city of Yorktown (now just called York). 

I couldn't quite decide what to write about for this week's quest, so I put up a poll for the blog's Facebook followers and asked them to make the choice for me. Much to my surprise, it ended in a tie, which was no help to me at all! So I resorted to that time-honored method of making a decision, flipping a coin, and the result is today's post. (If you voted for one of the other two options, don't worry - they'll both be appearing in October.) Join me for a look at the life of one of Bucks County's most celebrated sons - a veteran of two wars, prolific author, and prominent Doylestown resident.

John F. Reynolds, Lancaster, Lancaster County

A quick congratulatory shout-out to my pal the Hometown Historian, who just reached 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. So proud of you, Jon, keep up the great work!

As I write this, there's just a little more than two months separating me from Zenkaikon, my annual gift to myself. Each year (except when things like a global pandemic prevent it) I travel to beautiful downtown Lancaster to join my fellow nerds from all over in a long weekend of costumes, pageantry, and general mayhem as we celebrate all the different forms of media we love. It's very important to me.

This year, I'm deeply gratified to be able to say that I've become kind of an official and permanent part of the convention, in my own way. At last year's closing ceremony, during the feedback session, an out-of-town participant suggested that the con staff create a sort of primer about Lancaster's history. And since they already have someone right in their midst who will take any opportunity to ramble about history in Pennsylvania, they knew just who to call. About Lancaster City went live on the convention website earlier this week and I'm so happy that they welcomed my unique contribution to the program. Many thanks to the con staff, and especially vice-chair Adam, for giving me this opportunity.

Well, since I was already immersed in the history of the Red Rose City, it seemed only natural that this week's post should continue in that direction. The story of this gentleman begins in Lancaster and ends in Gettysburg, but there are some who claim that his story still continues to this day. 

Gen. James M. Gavin, Mount Carmel, Northumberland County

I hate to open a blog post on a down note, but here we are. This bit has nothing to do with Pennsylvania history, although it's tangentially related to my writing. Shortly after last week's blog post went live, I received the devastating news that my dear friend Jessica had died unexpectedly. We had been friends for more than twenty years; she was one of my most supportive readers of nearly anything I wrote, and also one of my most honest and trustworthy critics. I valued her opinion deeply. She was much too young and it was a terrible shock. It feels strange to be writing something that, for the first time ever, I know she won't read.

But I know she's still making music where she is now, and I also know she'd want me to keep making words. So this is for you, Jess, with thanks for all the love and encouragement.

This week the blog makes its first visit to Northumberland County. I managed to snag this on the way home from a recent trip to Knoebels Amusement Park with husband Kevin, who deliberately veered off course in order to venture into the borough of Mount Carmel so we could all learn about "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin.

Captain C. V. Gridley, Erie, Erie County

Before I get into today's quest, I just wanted to extend my thanks to St. John's Episcopal Church of York. That's the place where the York Liberty Bell is housed, and they shared the link to my post in their latest e-newsletter. I really appreciate that and I hope the congregation enjoyed reading the article!

As some of my longtime readers might recall, I'm an occasional volunteer with FindAGrave.com. In recent weeks, through our mutual work on that site, I unexpectedly made contact with my distant cousin Ron Bauerle. Ron, according to his researches, is my mother's eighth cousin through her father's line; like us, he's descended from Philip Kratzer, one of the earliest settlers of Emmaus. Much to my surprise and delight, he checked out this blog and offered to send me pictures of markers from his home county, which I gladly accepted since who the heck knows when I'll be able to go there myself. So thanks to his contributions, today we're going to learn about a sailor in the Spanish-American War, and the origin of a certain well-known military catchphrase of the time.

Thomas Mifflin, Shillington, Berks County

My best friend Andrea and I have both been feeling a little nostalgic for our annual trip to Lancaster, as I wrote in my last post. By happy coincidence, our boss asked us to drive down there last week to get some supplies from one of our sister stores. Naturally, that involved some marker hunting on my part, and I came home with a nice big haul of marker pictures. I think I got seven or eight in Lancaster itself, and also today's marker, which was only slightly out of our way in Berks County. It's been several months since I did a Berks marker, so we're overdue!

Lafayette, Bethlehem, Northampton County

May is here, and it's actually starting to look like it where I live! Several of my neighbors have planted fields of canola, and it's a massive lift to the spirits to drive to the grocery store past fields of beautiful yellow flowers, stretching for acres. I'm so grateful to the farmers who decided to put in that crop.

I didn't know what to write for today's post. I'm actually starting to run out of my backlog of 'saved' subjects; I've done all of the markers I've collected for several counties. (That's not to say that those counties are done, just that I need more material from them.) My younger sister lives with us, and I remarked that today I needed to do a blog post. She wanted to know if I've written about bread yet, which as my longtime readers know, I have not. I've made bread - yesterday was my first attempt at homemade bread and it went very well; I have dubbed it "existential bread" because we joke that people are baking to stave off the sensations of existential dread. I'm probably not as funny as I think I am.

Anyway, I gave her two possible topics for today's post and she picked the one you're about to read. So it's partly because of Liza that we're learning about the Marquis de Lafayette.

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.