Jeremiah Sweinhart and Successors, Boyertown, Berks County

I am alive and returned from Zenkaikon! Hello to everyone who is new to the blog - I actually ran out of my business cards during the Lancaster history panel, so if any of you found your way here because of that, I'm very happy that you've joined us. 

If you read the most recent newsletter, you know that my computer is in need of a little TLC; I haven't had the chance to take care of that yet. But the main reason for a lack of posts this month is because almost every waking moment has been spent either at my actual job or preparing, in one sense or another, for my beloved convention. My panels went well, I think, and as ever I had a marvelous time. The only disappointment was that we were so busy with our friends and the many activities that I never had the chance to go marker hunting, even on the way home! But my emotional support silly man did record my panels for me, so next week (once he's had the chance to get them off of his phone) I'll be sharing the ghosts of Lancaster with all of you.

Also, for those of you who didn't see it in the newsletter or on the Facebook page, my non-convention excitement of recent weeks was being interviewed! Paula, the Keystone Wayfarer, is a fellow Pennsylvania blogger and she cites MarkerQuest as one of her inspirations, which touches me so deeply you don't even know. She really makes me sound like a big deal in her article, which can be read here, and definitely do yourself a favor and check out her other posts as well because she's awesome.

Meanwhile, trying to get back to what I do here, let's take a trip down to scenic Berks County and learn something, shall we?

Davies and Thomas Company, Catasauqua, Lehigh County

One final reminder: I will be signing copies of Laury's Island: The Lehigh Valley's Forgotten Park at the Laurys Station Volunteer Fire Company's annual Community Day this coming Saturday, September 21st. The event runs from noon to 8 p.m. and will include a ton of activities for kids, plus food vendors, crafters, local non-profits, live music, and more. If you're within driving distance of the Lehigh Valley and this sounds like it might interest you, check out this Facebook page for more information, including the address of the fire station.

As I said on my own Facebook, I will be there until I run out of books. Please help me run out of books. ;)

Speaking of running out, I am genuinely starting to run out of markers! I haven't been able to take too many road trips this summer for various reasons, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to add to my stash. I do still have a few from prior trips, but I need more. I have a visit planned with a friend next week in Chester County, so that will help. In the meantime, I'm going to start occasionally updating Confessions of a Wandering History Nerd on Wednesdays instead of MQ, just to help my content stretch a bit farther, so look for a new post over there next week. (It'll be about a cemetery, for those of you who like that sort of thing.)

My hometown of Catasauqua put up a new marker last year when I wasn't looking, so for this week's regularly scheduled nonsense, let's go visit my former neighbors and see what we can learn.

Simpson Ferry Road, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County

So we've been in a drought for much of the summer, and yes, we needed the rain we got last week. It's my considered opinion, however, that we did not need it all at once. I hope that those of you who gave the "Rainy Day in PA" crossword a try found it enjoyable, it was actually quite fun to make. Happily, the weather this week has been much kinder to me and I've been able to do a lot more of my usual stuff and nonsense.

For this week's quest, we're heading back to scenic Cumberland County to talk about a very old ferry road. The road is still there; the ferry, not so much. This post will probably be one of the shorter ones because in all honesty, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information about the subject, but I'm going to share what I was able to find.

Marshalls Creek Explosion, East Stroudsburg, Monroe County

This is an unusual one for me, because I'm pretty sure this is the first time I'm writing a post on this blog about an event which happened within living memory. I hadn't been born yet when the terrible explosion happened on route 209 in Marshalls Creek (or Middle Smithfield Township, or East Stroudsburg - the area seems to have three different names, which isn't unusual around here), but I know several people who had. If my grandparents were still with us, I'll bet my grandfather would have been able to tell me a lot about it.

Last week I shared my experiences at the marker dedication at the spot on the highway where six people were killed in horrendous circumstances. This week, we're going to have a look at those circumstances, and I'll be asking my readers for their help concerning the victims.

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.

Casimir A. Sienkiewicz, Doylestown, Bucks County

I intended to go to Lehigh County in this week's post, but while setting up my research I made a mildly embarrassing discovery. The marker I planned to cover is actually one of a pair, and I haven't 'caught' the second one yet. This will require another dual-county post to talk about them both, which is great - I love hitting two at once - but since I don't have that second one yet, it'll have to wait. It may have to wait until the new year; we shall see.

So instead, we'll take a trip back to scenic Doylestown, in Bucks County, and learn about a local Renaissance man. He had his fingers in a lot of pies - finance, military, transportation, and art.