Philip Ginter, Summit Hill, Carbon County

Update 10/1/2025: This post has been freshly updated and re-released! Find it here.

For today's adventure, we'll head back to Carbon County - haven't been there in a while - and read about a man whose name is spelled two ways. I first talked about Philip Ginter, or Ginder, in my post about the Carbon County marker, and at the time I promised I'd tell you more about him later. Well, it's later.

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.

Victor Schertzinger, Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County

Anyone else having trouble remembering what day it is? I will admit that if I didn't have a reminder on my phone to tell me that today was a blog update, I probably would have forgotten. The joke in my house is that April was canceled; it's still March and it will continue to be March for the foreseeable future. By that logic, today is March 53rd.

I hope that you and your loved ones are all safe and healthy. As of this writing, the lockdown is scheduled to end in a little over two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to go out and collect some new markers, but in the meantime, I've still got my handy backlog. Today we're featuring one that I collected while passing through Mahanoy City on my way to Knoebels last fall; I simply cannot take a trip anywhere without getting at least one of these markers for the blog. I do wonder at times whether anyone notices me hopping out of the car to take the pictures, and what goes through their mind. I always carry some of the blog's business cards, just in case, but so far no one has actually approached to inquire after the nature of my quest.

(To be fair, when I'm playing a video game, people don't usually approach to ask my character what the heck she's doing either. So it fits with the blog's theme.)

Mahanoy City is actually known as the birthplace of cable television. I know there's a marker for that too, so when I spotted this marker from the car, I assumed that's what it was. In my defense, both of these markers are on Centre Street, but at very different locations. Still, I can't be disappointed with what I caught instead.

Lehigh County

I hope that all of my readers are safe and well during this unprecedented situation with COVID-19. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected. 

Before we get into today's quest, I wanted to share the announcement of the 2020 historical marker selections. Of course, circumstances being what they are right now, it's hard to say when the dedication ceremonies for any of these will be taking place, but I'm looking forward to a time when that becomes possible again. I'm especially excited that the Liberty Bell Museum in Allentown will be receiving a marker, since I had been surprised to find that they didn't already have one, and I will definitely be attending that ceremony whenever it gets scheduled. And my thanks to Karen Galle for promoting this blog in the article!

Moving on to the main event here, I was looking through my remaining saved markers - I have enough material to take us through June, at least, thankfully. For today's post, I thought we might wander around the county of my own birth.

Joseph Simon, Lancaster, Lancaster County

I fully expected that, when I posted this article, I would be freshly returned from Zenkaikon, my beloved annual gathering of nerds at the Lancaster County Convention Center. It was supposed to have taken place this past weekend. Sadly, however, Zenkaikon - like pretty much everything else recently - was canceled in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. I fully understand the reasoning, of course, but it was disappointing all the same, and I just wanted to say hello to my fellow frustrated weirdos. We'll be back next year. Funny thing is, and I didn't know it when I started the article, the location of the convention is actually a little bit relevant to today's post.

Virtual Quests

I hope that all of my readers are staying safe and healthy during this incredibly weird period of history.

As you may have seen, I recently curated a post in which I tried to keep track of which historical attractions in Pennsylvania were changing their operations due to the COVID-19 situation. This became obsolete after a few days because, well, pretty much everything closed. With most of the people I know (including myself) out of work for a little while, and with the schools closed and kids at home, I thought maybe it would help if I offered some diversion.

Diversion in keeping with the theme of the blog, of course. Turns out that a lot of places offer virtual programming and online activities to keep people interested even when they can't be there in person. So I'm putting together a list, and if you have any suggestions for additions, please comment here or on Facebook to give me the link so I can check it out. Please feel free to share this post with anyone who loves history, or who has kids home from school (or are homeschooling) and want something educational to entertain them. Everything on this list is free for everyone to enjoy.

Under the cut you'll find links to online offerings both in Pennsylvania and outside of it, so even if you don't live here I hope you'll take a look at what we have. In the meantime, please do keep yourselves well, and look for my regularly scheduled quest update next Wednesday.

Last updated: March 20th, 11:30 a.m.

The COVID-19 Report

This isn't something I would normally do, but let's face it: right now we are living in some interesting times. Like the rest of the United States (and indeed, the world), Pennsylvania is experiencing difficulties related to COVID-19, or the Coronavirus, and a lot of places are closing or changing plans.

I can't really do much to help with the situation at all, obviously, although doing so is my natural inclination. What I can do, at least, is compile what I know about programming changes in order to keep you, my readers, updated on the situation at any places you intended to visit. I mostly track such stuff in my own native eastern Pennsylvania, so I don't have much information about anything very far to the west - if you know of something which should be on this list, by all means leave a comment here or on the blog's Facebook page. I'll update this post periodically with new information as I receive it; if a particular historic site interests you, I encourage you to keep an eye on its website and/or social media so you have the latest details. And you can always visit some of them by rereading posts here on MarkerQuest!

It's worth mentioning that many of these organizations are non-profits which rely on public contributions (like entrance fees) in order to keep their programs operational. If you're in a position to donate to any of them which are especially dear to you, please consider doing so. Many donations are tax-deductible, and you'll make it possible for them to continue to do what they do once the pandemic is no longer a threat. Some of these organizations also have virtual gift shops, which is another way in which you can support them during this difficult time.

Please remember to wash your hands often, don't hoard the toilet paper, and look out for your neighbors - especially if they're elderly or immunocompromised. (And believe me, you know more immunocompromised people than you think.) Thank you to the social media team at Discover Lehigh Valley for some of this information!

Last update: March 16, 2020, at 3:00 p.m.: All nonessential businesses across Pennsylvania have been ordered to close by the Office of the Governor. Trash collection will continue; essential businesses such as medical services, grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations will remain open. Restaurants may offer takeout or drive-thru service only. Basically, this list is now somewhat obsolete, because pretty much everything is closed. But I'll keep it up because the links may be of use to people.