Graceanna Lewis, Phoenixville, Chester County

It's a weird day in Pennsylvania today; we've all been urged to stay inside as much as possible. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires is affecting the whole state, and I live in the area that's been flagged as code red rather than code orange. I just hope everyone is staying safe. 

I really thought I was coming to the end of my ability to do a different county each week - the fact that I made it all the way to June without repeating one is quite something! But the bff Andrea and I had some free time last Tuesday, so we took a drive to Chester County and I'm now debuting my first marker from that locale. I wasn't able to attend the marker dedication this past weekend for Fighter's Heaven in Schuylkill County (they changed the date to one when I wasn't available), but I'm hoping I might get to take a run up there and get a picture of it fairly soon - it'll depend partly on this smoke situation. So next week you can either anticipate a Schuylkill post or else the first repeat county of 2023.

For this week, we're looking at the interesting life of a Quaker woman who battled both gender discrimination and slavery, while still finding time to make art.

Abolition Hall, Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County

As you may have seen in the latest newsletter (please forgive the typos I only noticed after it went out, it was an emotional one for me), I'm spending this week in the company of one of my dearest friends. Rachel, who has contributed to a number of the Bethlehem posts on the blog, is back with us for the occasion of my birthday week, and it takes some of the sting out of getting older. We're having plenty of good nerdy fun with my usual wrecking crew, including having spent Labor Day at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. There's nothing quite like having random strangers in funny costumes walk up to you and start singing birthday songs.

I wanted to give a quick plug here for the upcoming Museum Day, which will be all day long on Saturday, September 17th. Anyone carrying a Museum Day ticket will be granted free admission to participating museums throughout the country! You can download one free ticket per email address, so to get instructions and find out which Pennsylvania museums are taking part in the event, click here. (Not going to be in Pennsylvania? Just uncheck it from the box on the left to see participating museums across the United States.) 

As for today, we're going to meander back down to Montgomery County and pay a visit to a beautiful still-standing structure from the anti-slavery movement. Many thanks to my new contacts at the Historical Society of Montgomery County for their kind remarks and helpful information!

Thaddeus Stevens, Lancaster, Lancaster County

And here we are for part two of the 230th birthday celebration for Mr. Thaddeus Stevens! I very much would like to thank everyone who has shared the previous post, especially the Thaddeus Stevens Society. This past weekend, they celebrated his birthday by putting up a new statue of the gentleman outside of the Adams County courthouse, and I'll look forward to seeing that the next time I go to Gettysburg. I'm also grateful to my fellow Zenkaikon attendees who expressed interest in this, and who have been so kind as to click the links I'm giving them.

This post will be a little more image-heavy than the first one was, because I have more pictures from Thaddeus's later life. I made them smaller than usual for the post, but you can click on any of the pictures if you want to see the larger versions.

Underground Railroad, Harrisburg, Dauphin County

As I write this, my region is feeling the effects of Winter Storm Gail. Jim Cantore, famous fan of "thunder snow" from The Weather Channel, has traveled over to Bethlehem to experience the storm firsthand. When he shows up, you know it's serious. I've got chili in the slow cooker and we're planning to basically just graze and try to relax. I hope everyone affected by the storm is warm and safe.

Before I get into today's quest, a quick word of thanks to everyone who has sent congratulatory messages on the publication of Laury's Island. The response has been more than slightly overwhelming - I was even interviewed by my local TV news station! (It will air next Monday, December 21st. Details are on this page down at the bottom.)

I had planned, as my last quest for 2020, to talk about the two historical markers dedicated to George Taylor. However, I seem to be missing a couple of the photographs I need for the post; I know I took them, but for the life of me I cannot find them. So we'll leave Mr. Taylor until the new year, by which time I should have either found or replaced the pictures, and today I'll add one more new guest photographer to this blog. My parents were in Harrisburg some weeks back, and while they were in the vicinity, they were kind enough to send me a few pictures of markers they encountered.

Richard Moore, Quakertown, Bucks County

Before I sink my teeth into this week's post, let me draw your attention to the snazzy new header image, designed by my friend Rachel - I love it so much! Check out the quest links page if you'd like to contact her about her graphic designs. Thank you, Rach!

Last week, I told you about the fun I had watching this marker be unveiled and dedicated. This week, we'll actually talk about what's on the marker, and the history which led to it.

I recently had a conversation with my mother about history. Apparently, some public school students we know were never taught about the Underground Railroad in school, and neither of us can figure out why. Part of the reason it's so important for us to learn about our history is so that we can learn from our history, or else mankind is just doomed to keep making the same mistakes. I don't generally get political on this blog, for what I would imagine are fairly obvious reasons, but I also don't think it's exactly a major political statement when I say that slavery is wrong, and is one of the big mistakes that we need to learn not to repeat. 

Richard Moore marker dedication, Quakertown, Bucks County

So if you're paying attention to my usual update schedule, you might be thinking, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be posting next week instead of this week?" And you would be correct, because this is one of the in-between weeks in which I don't tell you about the history behind a marker.

Instead, I thought I'd do a sort of 'special edition' for the blog, and share my experiences from this past weekend when a marker was dedicated. I don't know how often I'll be able to attend a marker dedication ceremony, but I'm going to get to them when I can because I'm interested to see how the different communities handle the events. This was the first one I ever attended, and I had a wonderful time. The actual history behind the Richard Moore marker will be covered in next week's regularly scheduled blog post; but here's how it went seeing it unveiled.