Hockendauqua Indian Town, Northampton, Northampton County

This is an odd one, which is part of why it's taken me so long to put it together. The borough of Hokendauqua as we know it today is in Lehigh County. However, this marker - like the original settlement by that name - is in Northampton County, although very close to the border.

This marker located right next to one of the (many, many) markers for the Walking Purchase, which is going to be a ridiculously long blog post. It's taking me forever to collect them all and I might end up skipping some, depending on my mood. This marker is clearly at least somewhat associated with the same thing. I know that in part, the situation is the way that it is because this marker is a plaque, and dates from back when the PHMC was just called the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, so it's a lot older than the standard blue and gold collection and the wording is, shall we say, less politically correct.

Gnadenhütten, Lehighton, Carbon County

As promised, after last week's unusual post, it's back to business as usual. I had hoped to finish my Carbon County book last October, but life has a tendency to get in the way. Between work, health, weather, and the holidays, I haven't gotten it done. But it's almost done. I have two chapters and an afterword left to finish, plus some tweaks I want to make to the finished chapters, and I'm hoping to get it wrapped up in the next few weeks.

So when I was trying to decide what to write about this week, I took a poll on the blog's Facebook account asking if people would rather have a new quest or another sneak peek at the book. It was a close call (things were in a dead heat even when I woke up this morning), but the tie finally broke with one last vote to do a sneak peek. 

The original post about Gnadenhütten remains one of the most popular I've ever done, and I'm extremely proud of how I've fleshed it out in the book. I won't share the entire chapter, but here's a look at some of the detailing, including an image I've never before shared on this blog.

Friedenshuetten, Wyalusing, Bradford County

The fall colors are glorious throughout the commonwealth, though as I write this the weather is on the dreary side. I'm baffled to realize that I have one more blog post after this and then the month of October is done; it's like I blinked and it was over.

We haven't talked about the Moravians in a couple of minutes, so I thought I'd rectify that with a visit to what could be regarded as a lost settlement. I'm very low on images for this one, which is something I'm going to need to change eventually, but at least I can tell you a very interesting story.

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.

Sugarloaf Massacre, Sugarloaf and Conyngham, Luzerne County

Recently, the Luzerne County Historical Society's Facebook page began doing "Marker Mondays," in which they take a weekly look at one of the PHMC historical markers in their county. As I joked with my own Facebook followers, "A weekly look at PHMC markers? Why does that sound familiar?"

Well, I promised them that I would do a Luzerne County post in the relatively near future, and that's what we're doing today. Let's travel back to 1780, and learn about a tragedy which befell a company of militia from Northampton County.

Before I get started, I do want to clarify up front that a number of sources don't entirely agree with each other about names and other pieces of information. I've done the best I can to tell the basic story. All I try to do with each blog post is give my readers a fair understanding of the subject, and then if anyone wants to learn more, they're welcome to do their own research into the deeper lore. (This sometimes results in me coming back to correct a post later, when they share their findings with me, and I have no problem doing that! In fact, it happened recently with regards to my post about the Packer Mansion.) So if anything recorded here turns out to not be completely accurate, it's because of the conflicting details in the various sources.

Indian Jasper Quarries, Vera Cruz, Lehigh County

I've been wanting for some time to do this post, but my past attempts to visit the location in question never worked in my favor. But that ended up being a good thing! The Longswamp Township Historical Society invited their members and the general public to join them on a visit to the Upper Milford Historical Society to learn about the jasper quarries of the Lenni Lenape, and so off I went.

Our guides were John Fegley and Neil Moser of the UMHS, and as Neil put it, they "learn something new every week" in the organization. John in particular is an absolute fount of knowledge about the jasper quarries, which are so much the pride of the area that the community of Vera Cruz uses a jasper arrowhead as its emblem. 

Daniel Alexander Payne, Gettysburg, Adams County

Don't forget that this coming Saturday, September 24th, is Free Admission Day at all participating Pennsylvania Trails of History sites! I'm hoping to head up to Eckley's Miners Village, because every other time I've planned to go there I've had to cancel. Check out this page for a list of participating sites, and indulge yourself in some free history near you.

Meanwhile, my new friend the Hometown Historian has produced the start of a new playlist, in which he features YouTube channels and other sites which provide him with information and inspiration. I am extremely touched to be featured in this first video, which can be found here; I'm "last but not least" in quite a bit of illustrious company, so definitely check out some of the other recommendations he makes too!

As for today, we'll take a look at a gentleman who spent an important chunk of his life in Gettysburg, but isn't famous for being connected to the battlefield.

Anthony Sadowski, Douglassville, Berks County

I hadn't planned on taking last week off from blogging. But I delayed the post due to some family stuff that came up, and between that and work I just decided it made more sense to wait until this week to take you all on another quest.

We're returning to Berks County for a trip back in time to when this was the Province of Pennsylvania, and people were lured by William Penn's promise of religious freedom - like this guy was.

Lehigh Path, Drums, Luzerne County

My sister Lisa went hiking a couple of weeks ago, and while husband Kevin and I were collecting markers in Lebanon County on our way to have lunch with our fellow Sherlockians, she was up in Luzerne County sending me pictures of the Lehigh Path.

Northkill Amish, Bernville, Berks County

Things have been a little quiet here lately, except for some unsettled weather patterns doing what they do to me. Nothing new there. I'm getting ready for my upcoming week's vacation, half of which will be spent running around in search of new history tidbits; the other half will be spent doing, well, as little as possible to be honest. 

I see by my list of planned blog posts that it's time for a visit to Berks County (hello to my pals in the Berks History Buffs) so off we go. We're heading back to the lovely community of Bernville, but this time we're just a mile from the neighboring community of Shartlesville; it's so close that I scratched my head a little bit about where exactly the marker is located. If you are, or I should say were, at all familiar with the now-closed and much-lamented attraction Roadside America, the marker is located very close to the exit from their parking lot. In fact, the property which held Roadside America was once part of the farm which was the site of this post's major event.

Heckewelder House and John Frederick Wolle, Bethlehem, Northampton County

November, which Louisa May Alcott once called "the most disagreeable month," is a little more than halfway done. It was actually snowing earlier, and I don't really care for that at all. But I'm a little bit warmed by the knowledge that I will soon be receiving something special in the mail - a proof copy of my newest book, my very first history book! You might say it's a MarkerQuest side quest, as it doesn't focus on the subject of a marker; it's a bit of Lehigh Valley apocrypha which has been all but forgotten, and I'm looking forward to reviewing it and approving it for distribution. I will probably be able to confirm the launch and provide a link by the next time I update the blog, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, for today's post we'll take yet another trip into the Moravian heart of Bethlehem. I did not originally intend for this to be a two-marker quest, but as I was putting the pieces together I realized that it made sense. Although the two markers are for different subjects, they have something very significant in common, and writing about one without the other just didn't feel right.

Old Jail and Fulton Opera House, Lancaster, Lancaster County

Hello, and welcome to the end of August. There should have been an update two weeks ago, but I ran into a lot of trouble following a visit from Tropical Storm Isaias, and I was too busy dealing with the fallout of a flooded basement to be able to give the blog the attention it deserves. In the meantime, Blogger changed its format, so I've also had to spend some time learning how to use the new tools; if anything looks 'off' as you read this post, please let me know so I can try to fix it.

To somewhat make up for the skip, I'm pulling out my folder of markers in Lancaster and giving you a double entry. The Old Jail of Lancaster once sat on the property now occupied by the Fulton Opera House, and there's a marker dedicated to each building, so it makes sense to write about them together. It's not always a pretty history, but the truth is that so much of history really isn't pretty, and it's not my job to make it look nice. It's definitely interesting, though, and it's a long one too, so let's get started.

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.

Pilger Ruh, Bethel Township, Berks County

I've mentioned in previous posts that my good friend Rachel used to work for Historic Bethlehem before she moved out of state. One thing she told me is a running joke for the staff and volunteers is that "Count Zinzendorf is everywhere." The Count, as you may remember from my post about the first house of Bethlehem, is the one who gave that city its name and was extremely involved in the Moravian movement of the 18th century.

It's really not an exaggeration to say that he's everywhere, either, given the number of times I've come across his name in my work. However, while I'm used to him cropping up during research in Northampton County, I wasn't expecting to find his name on one of the markers in Berks County, more than seventy miles away.

Gnadenhütten, Lehighton, Carbon County

As promised on Facebook, I'm making my first foray into Carbon County with this article, but also keeping with the Moravian theme of the last one. Gnadenhütten (or Gnadenhuetten if you write it without the umlaut) is a German word literally meaning "huts of grace," and this was the name given to many settlements established by the German Moravian church. 

Two such settlements by this name were formed in North America, both of which came to unfortunate ends. "The Gnadenhütten Massacre" specifically refers to the incident in Ohio, in 1782. But a few decades earlier, here in Pennsylvania, there was a similar but smaller massacre in what today is known as Lehighton.

Edited 2/23/2024: This blog post is now available as a podcast episode! Learn even more facts about Gnadenhütten by downloading the episode today at Audio.com, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Edited 2/4/2026: In preparation for my upcoming book about Carbon County's markers, this blog post is now available in an updated form, which you can find here.