Special Edition: Summer Puzzle Fun

As I implied in last week's post, I have something big happening tomorrow. Really big. Probably the biggest thing that's happened in the blog so far, or at the very least, the biggest thing since Laury's Island went to press. So I'm having trouble focusing on anything except preparing.

I could have just skipped this week's post, but where's the fun in that?

About once a year for the last couple of years, I've had a special edition post where I create and provide a puzzle for my readers. This is that post. If you like jigsaw puzzles but don't like having to put them away when the puzzle is finished, this is perfect for you because the entire thing is online and there's no mess. (My parents have become big jigsaw enthusiasts in the last several months, and I decided to do this partly for them.) And I don't have to worry that I'll forget to provide a solution later, because obviously, you won't need that. So if this sounds like something you'd like to try, read on.

Markerless Quest: Samurai in the White House

I have returned from Zenkaikon and am, however reluctantly, taking up my real-world activities once again. (But I have no reluctance about returning to the blog! On our way home, Kevin and I took a detour to the city of West Chester to collect some markers, so I've got plenty of Chester County content for a while.) Our anniversary was very pleasant and the convention was a lot of fun - the entire week's vacation was a great time in so many ways.

If you're visiting this blog after meeting me at Zenkaikon, hi! Thank you so much for coming to see what I do here! And if you aren't familiar with Zenkaikon and are wondering what exactly it is, here's a video explanation. This documentary was created for the con's 20th anniversary, but I wasn't involved; my contributions to being on the anniversary committee involved the museum and the trivia game we held on Friday night. I was there for the documentary debut on Saturday evening, though, and it's beautifully made.

My presentations all went extremely well, and the one on which I got the most feedback was the one which had a tenuous connection to Lancaster. As you probably know, President James Buchanan was a native of Lancaster. But what you probably don't know is that during his presidency, the White House welcomed a delegation of visitors from Japan, including three actual samurai warriors. Several of the people who attended this presentation mentioned wanting to share it with others, so I thought I'd make it the final blog post of March. This one didn't get filmed; instead, I'm sharing the write-up I used to narrate the slide show, as well as the pictures which appeared in the slides. At least this way I don't have to worry that I'm mangling the pronunciation of Japanese names or words, as I did when presenting.

Also, to make a blog-ish version of my perennial con presentation joke, if you're not completely satisfied with this post, please return the unused portion for a full refund.

2025 Retrospective, 2026 Plans

It wasn't my intention to entirely skip the last week of November and dive straight into the yearly wrap-up, but it also wasn't my intention to come down with a sinus infection. Between that, the holiday, and the usual hullabaloo of working retail on Black Friday weekend, there just wasn't enough time for blogging. I hope all of my American readers had a great Thanksgiving, and that my handful of international followers enjoyed a very pleasant Thursday.

We are now entering the last year in which I can describe my age as "fortymumble" and I haven't quite decided how I feel about that. But one thing remains certain, and that is that I'm still having a lot of fun with this blog, so rest assured that it's still going to be a thing in the new year. With that, let's dive into the annual recap and see which of this year's offerings you all liked the best.

Special Edition: Solve a Puzzle or Two

As I mentioned not long ago, I'm starting to run through my hoard of collected markers, and I still have to get through the rest of November. I'm hoping to make a run to either Schuylkill or Bucks County in the next few days to grab one or two, which should give me enough to finish the year. 

I've also been a little under the weather - rather more literally than most people. The temperatures have taken a decided downturn in the last few days, and that's having its usual consequences for my pain levels. I'm used to this, but it doesn't lend itself much to getting a lot of things done, and I'm still trying to wrap up the Carbon County book. It's gray, it's cold, and the news is giving everybody headaches.

So, all things considered, I thought I'd do something a little fun this week to try to brighten all of our spirits. I can't promise it'll work, but I'm trying. If you like puzzles, I think you'll enjoy this.

Special Edition: Your Favorite Markers

Well, friends, today the blog is seven years old exactly! Time flies when you're having fun. Fruit flies like a banana. Anyway, I had seven responses to my inquiry about your favorite historical markers on the PHMC Trails of History, so that's what we're going to discuss in this week's post. Thanks once again to longtime reader (and retired PHMC employee) John Robinson for suggesting this.

The split is roughly even between markers I've already covered and markers that I haven't. So this will be an image-free post (that should be pleasant for those of you on mobile) - if I've already covered the marker, I'll link to my post, and if I haven't, I'll link to my friends at the Historical Marker Database. Either way, you can see the markers and learn a little more about them by following the relevant link.

What I had asked, if anyone missed it, was for my readers to tell me which of the historical markers is their particular favorite and why. I got some very interesting and varied answers. Possibly my favorite submission came from Debbie Shankar, who championed the marker for the founding of Mother's Day. The marker is in Philadelphia, since the holiday was originated by Philadelphia resident Anna Jarvis. This submission didn't come with an explanation for why the marker is her favorite - but seeing as how Debbie happens to be my mother, I think we can call it self-explanatory.

News and Notes as April Begins

Welcome to April! Hopefully the cold weather is soon behind us, but for now there's still some chill in the air. I'll be back with a regular post next week, but I wanted to cover a few pieces of news, and it just seemed to make sense to compile them all into a single post and then go back to blogging as usual. Nothing earth-shattering, but some very interesting bits and pieces all the same.

Chat GPT Meets MarkerQuest

I missed last week's post for the same reason I literally forgot to send out a newsletter for February - I was hit hard with a stomach bug (not Norovirus, thankfully, but still not fun) and just didn't have the spoons. 

It's been a very topsy-turvy February, not least because this weather is driving me crazy. My longtime readers know that snow and similar conditions are not kind to me, and there's been quite a bit of that. On the bright side, the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and on the even brighter side, my sister got married. Congratulations, Liza and Taylor!

I'm working on a real post for this week, which should be going up by tomorrow morning - I'm juggling a lot of things this week, more than usual. But to make up for last week's absence, I've got something very unusual for you today. I'm no great lover of artificial intelligence; I'm one of those people who says thank you to her Amazon Echo, because when the machines finally take over I want them to remember that I was polite to them. However, this morning I saw that one of the content creators I follow on Facebook had invited ChatGPT to roast her social media accounts, and the results were hilarious. I didn't know this was a thing, but it is.

You see where this is going. I had to ask it to roast my blog. I put it under a jump cut for those who would rather wait for actual MQ content, but if you'd like to see what gave me a good chuckle, I hope you enjoy it.

2024 Retrospective, 2025 Plans

How on earth is the century about to turn 25? That just... doesn't feel right.

Well, here we are again. Time to look back at the highs and lows of this blog (and its little sister) during the past twelve months.

Rainy Day in PA

First, happy birthday to my own personal mother!

Well, like most of the eastern seaboard, I'm currently keeping eyes on a storm named Debby. And as many of my longtime readers know, I'm one of those people who doesn't do well in certain kinds of weather - when the barometer drops, my pain levels rise. I'm used to it, but that doesn't make it fun. It does, however, make it difficult to focus on things like a blog post. Add in the fact that this is going to be a concern for a few days straight and I don't anticipate doing anywhere near as much writing this week as I would like.

But I'm not leaving you in the lurch, not this time! When I realized that the odds of my getting a post done were lower than usual, I went in search of an alternative. And I found what I think is a pretty good one. I do the NYT crossword puzzle every day and I'm quite fond of it, so if you also enjoy crosswords, you'll probably like this.

A New Quest

Hello, my readers! Yes, I have a post this week, but it's not quite what you might be expecting. I'm here to announce the start of something new. 

Starting today, I have a second history blog. Confessions of a Wandering History Nerd is where I'll be sharing all the stuff I learn when I'm out and about in places that don't have PHMC markers. These will include places outside of Pennsylvania, such as my family vacations, but also places within the commonwealth that are incredibly interesting but just don't have a marker to identify them. Unlike MQ, which I intend to continue on its regular Wednesday update schedule, Confessions is going to be updated somewhat intermittently - when I have that wonderful trifecta of time, energy, and inspiration. The Confessions posts will probably turn out to be even more playful and less homework-like than what you've read on here, because I try to make history accessible to people without sounding like I'm lecturing them.

I do still plan to continue the podcasts of MQ. My voice is finally starting to recover from the chest infection of earlier this month, so as soon as I can sing an entire song without coughing, I'll know I can record podcasts again. I haven't decided yet whether Confessions will also become podcast material, but if there seems to be interest, I'll probably yield to the temptation.

So in lieu of a regular post on this blog (I have one planned for next week though), please join me in reading the inaugural Confessions post. As part of the family vacation last month, we visited the stunningly beautiful island of Sint Maarten, and I got to spend some time exploring the Sint Maarten National Heritage Museum. If you ever have the chance, I hope you'll also visit it - and tell Jean-Marc I sent you. ;) Enjoy!

2023 Retrospective, 2024 Plans

2024 doesn't even sound like a real year to me. But neither did 2023 or 2022.

Nevertheless, here we are again for another end-of-year wrap-up post! As those of you who have been with me for a while know, I like to end the blogging year with a final post which shares some facts and figures related to the blog, acknowledges certain persons, and talks about what I have in mind for the coming year. I began taking the month of December off from blogging back in 2019, when I had severe pneumonia on top of my chronic health problems; and because my day job is in retail, it just seems like a good idea to do it every year. So this is the final post for 2023, and I'll be itching to get back to it by the time January arrives. (I'll also be itching to not hear any Christmas carols for the next several months, because my store and some of the radio stations have been playing them nonstop since November first, but that's beside the point.)

Blogger Birthday, Something Silly

So about half a million years ago (give or take a few hundred thousand), Labor Day fell on September 6th in the United States, and I came into the world. This year, for the first time since the blog began in 2018, that date happened to be on a blog update day, and I wanted very much to do something special.

Instead, what you're getting is something incredibly silly. These are actual signs I have seen or been sent by friends and loved ones - they're not historical markers, but they're somewhat in the spirit of the marker program. Somewhat. If you squint.

Anyway, please enjoy my birthday month and have a piece of cake for me. And I hope these all make you smile as they did me.

Marker Dedication: Marshalls Creek Explosion

This past Monday I finally got to attend a marker dedication ceremony for the first time all year. These ceremonies will unfortunately be few and far between for a while - although the PHMC did approve a number of new markers for 2023, they are actually suspending the marker program for the time being, due to supply issues and other difficulties. So several of the newly approved markers have their dedication ceremonies "TBA" for the time being. This page will always show the most up-to-date information on when and where markers are being dedicated. But this Monroe County marker was ready in time for a particular anniversary, which meant a lot to many of the people there for the ceremony.

I'll be talking about the actual Marshalls Creek explosion in next week's post, so I'm not going to get into much of it today, but it claimed six lives and greatly impacted the entire Marshalls Creek area - and eventually, the country as a whole. But I can tell you that I had actually never heard of it until the marker was approved, so Monday was quite a learning experience for me.

Fiveaversary Scavenger Hunt Answers

It was quite a ride through the month of May, and there was certainly a lot of interest shown in the "fiveaversary" scavenger hunt. As promised, this post wraps up the month with the revelation of the answers to the twenty-three questions. (Was that too many?)

Congratulations to Rachel Durs, who won the $25 Amazon gift card! Rachel was the only one to submit correct answers to every single question, including the bonuses. Here are the answers, along with links to the post (or posts) where you could find each answer.

History Endangered: Can the Shrine Be Saved?

This isn't the blog post I had intended to write today, but it's the one that I'm writing because... well, to put it bluntly, I'm upset.

A while back, my friend John, who lives in Allentown, contacted me to say that the Liberty Bell Shrine on Hamilton Street was in trouble. My regular readers may recall that the old Zion's Reformed Church is where the Liberty Bell was concealed for safekeeping during the American Revolution; for sixty years, a museum has been maintained in the church basement to celebrate this fact. Last summer they got a PHMC marker and I attended the dedication ceremony. At the time, attendance in the church was dwindling, due to an aging congregation, and they were expecting to sell the building.

John was letting me know that the museum was in danger of not surviving the forthcoming transition. As a member of the museum, I was concerned; however, due to various schedule conflicts I didn't have a chance to follow up on his tip, and what I had heard from other sources was that the buyers of the church were interested in maintaining the museum's presence, so I thought it was one of those things that would work itself out.

I have always been a little too optimistic.

2022 Retrospective, 2023 Plans

Well, here we are again for another end-of-year wrap-up post! As those of you who have been with me for a while know, I like to end the blogging year with a final post which shares some facts and figures related to the blog, acknowledges certain persons, and talks about what I have in mind for the coming year. Also, because I work in retail, I've developed the habit of doing this at the end of November so that I can take the month of December off from blogging. I do miss it and look forward to getting back to it in January, but at this time of year - between helping frantic customers (and coworkers), doing my own holiday preparations, and dealing with unpredictable Pennsylvania weather - I need all the extra sleep I can get.

In last year's post I made the comment that 2022 didn't even sound like a real year. I think 2023 sounds even less like one. 

Anyway, let's wrap up the year together!

Marker Dedication: Liberty Bell Hiding Place

Husband Kevin's birthday is this week, so we're getting ready to head out on our little road trip. The plan is to leave first thing in the morning tomorrow - if I can get my to-do list cleared! That includes updating this blog, of course, so here we are. As part of the lead-up to his birthday celebration, we attended the marker dedication in his home city of Allentown this past Saturday, where the beautiful Zion's Reformed United Church of Christ celebrated their very unique place in history.

Lots of churches have bells. Not too many have had bells underneath their floorboards.

James Buchanan's Birthday, Lancaster, Lancaster County

It's been quite some time since I did a 'special edition' post on this blog, but instead of covering a marker this week, I'd like to tell you all about something you could call marker-adjacent. This past Saturday, April 23rd, was the 231st birthday of James Buchanan - the only President of the United States who was born, died, and is buried in Pennsylvania. Traditionally, there is a ceremony at presidential tombs each year on their birthdays, at which wreaths of red, white, and blue flowers are presented in memory of their years in office. For the last few years, because of the pandemic, these ceremonies have been suspended. This year, Lancaster was able to hold theirs again, and my husband Kevin and I decided to make the trip down there and see what this entailed.

2021 Retrospective, 2022 Plans

As my longtime readers know, I wrap up the blogging year in December by looking back at the events and accomplishments of the previous year and talking about what I hope to do in the year ahead. I'm doing it a little earlier than usual for 2021, in part because my work schedule is very heavy; I'm in retail and I'm technically management, so I've been working more hours than usual due to the holidays. To be perfectly honest, I'm having trouble sometimes remembering what day it is! I also have a lot of pain at this time of year, due to my chronic health issues and the cold temperatures basically hating each other, and every opportunity to rest is needed. So rather than potentially mess up my update schedule, I've decided that I'll take the month of December off from blogging, and start fresh in 2022.

2022. That doesn't even sound like a real year, does it?

My final historical project for the year was to create a calendar of some of my favorite images that I've taken in the course of writing the blog. Some of them you might recognize, but others either haven't been shared yet or weren't part of the post about the subject. If you'd like to add some of Pennsylvania's beauty to your office or living space, the details are here.

What are some facts about MarkerQuest™?

Earlier this year I made the transition from blogging every other week to blogging every Wednesday. It wasn't a decision I made lightly, but there are so many markers that if I'm to have a prayer of getting through anywhere close to half of them, I needed to step up my game. The blog now has more than 100 posts, which means we've hit more than 100 markers (since some posts have multiple markers in them). It's a start!

I did get to travel a bit more in 2021 with the restrictions being reduced, so I introduced lots of new counties to the blog - Monroe, Luzerne, Northumberland, York, and Adams Counties all got their first posts. I was also able to add Erie and Beaver Counties, thanks to guest contributions; John Robinson, a retired member of the PHMC, and my own very distant cousin Ron Bauerle both sent me pictures of markers from the far side of the state. I don't know when I'd have been able to add those without their help and I'm very grateful. I also want to thank Mike Korb, who cordially invited me to Wilkes-Barre for the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and Larry, from the For the Historian bookstore in Gettysburg. And as always, I continue to appreciate the support of the Historical Marker Database and the PHMC itself. I hope my kind friend Karen Galle is enjoying retirement.

In keeping with tradition, let's see what the most popular posts of this past year have been. Quakertown's Fries Rebellion of 1799 (Bucks County) spent more than two years as my most-read post of all time, but it has finally been edged out by the Moravian Cemetery in Bethlehem (Northampton County). But of the posts actually published in 2021, the ten biggest hits were:

    10) George Taylor, Lehigh and Northampton Counties
      9) Oley Moravians, Oley, Berks County
      8) York Liberty Bell, York, York County
      7) Colonel Jacob Stroud, Stroudsburg, Monroe County
      6) Mahanoy Plane, Frackville, Schuylkill County
      5) Casimir A. Sienkiewicz, Doylestown, Bucks County
      4) Ashland Boys' Association, Ashland, Schuylkill County
      3) Northkill Amish, Bernville, Berks County
      2) Little Lithuania, USA, Shenandoah, Schuylkill County
      1) Christ Little Tulpehocken Church, Bernville, Berks County

I know my friends in the Berks History Buffs are to be credited with the popularity of the Berks County posts! I also more recently became part of the Bucks County History Group, who have welcomed my posts very warmly, and I appreciate all of you in both groups. In total, the blog has received more than 42,000 hits, which is close to twice as many as I reported in last year's summation post.

The blog's Facebook page has 212 followers as of this writing, almost double the number at this time last year, including several historical groups. I'm a little overwhelmed.

What's coming up for MarkerQuest™?

I honestly don't know! These last two years have been so unpredictable that I'm almost afraid to guess. I do know that (at least as of right now) my beloved Zenkaikon is scheduled to return to in-person status in March of next year, so I'll be enjoying a few days in beautiful historic Lancaster. I would dearly love to be able to return to Adams County, because two days in Gettysburg were not nearly enough. I also have some hopes of day trips, but we'll see what the better weather holds.

I was able to promote the blog through the publication of Laury's Island: The Lehigh Valley's Forgotten Park, which came out a little over a year ago; the COVID situation meant that promotion had to be a bit on the quiet side, but the Barnes & Noble at the Lehigh Valley Mall very graciously hosted me in October for a book signing. My book is on the shelf in the local history section, and it feels as good as I always thought it would. I've encountered a number of people on Facebook who - much to my delight - recognized my name and shared how much they and their families enjoyed the book, which means a lot to me. (I was especially gratified to be able to help one of Judge Laury's descendants work out her own exact connection to him, and she shared with me a photo of her father, who is the judge's spitting image.) And yes, there is another book in the works.

I will be appearing at the Moravian Bookshop in Bethlehem this coming Saturday, December 4th, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. I'll be signing copies of Pip the Mouse and His Magical Christmas, a children's book I coauthored a few years ago. The Moravian Bookshop is the oldest continually-operating bookstore in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world, and it's always a treat to be there. Unfortunately I'll need to leave for work as soon as the event is over, so I can't stay and talk to people; but if you're in downtown Bethlehem I'd love to say hello.

Whatever you celebrate, I hope it's peaceful, warm, and full of joy. I look forward to resuming my weekly posts in January, and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

To all of my readers, my supporters, and the friends which MarkerQuest™ has gained over the last three years - thank you for joining me on this adventure. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without you and I hope you'll continue to be a part of the MarkerQuest™ crew in the coming year.

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.

2020 Retrospective, 2021 Plans

When I wrote my 2019 post about what I hoped to do in the next year, I never could have imagined that 2020 would be... well, 2020. Then again, nobody could have seen that coming.