Golden Plough Tavern and Gen. Horatio Gates, York, York County

In a couple of days I'll be having my book signing at the local Barnes & Noble! I have no words for how I'm feeling, but it's kind of a combination of excitement, bewilderment, and nausea. There are a lot of things I still need to do before Saturday, so I'm trying to focus on those in order to keep any nervousness at bay. Like this post.

So in the name of personal distraction, let's head down to beautiful York for this week's quest. This one's a double post, due to the fact that the buildings associated with the markers are connected and it was sort of impossible to separate them. Both markers are situated on West Market Street, directly in front of the two buildings.

Ashland Boys' Association, Ashland, Schuylkill County

Today I'm a bit distracted by the fact that it's my grandfather's birthday. He would have been 91 today, and I miss him a lot. He would, I think, really have loved what I'm doing with this blog; he was fascinated by history (that's probably where I get it) and I'm sure that he would have been bugging me to go on marker-hunting road trips with him. But he's the one who taught me to drive, so in a sense he always goes with me.

Of course, I'm not always the driver. On a recent road trip, my husband Kevin was driving; we missed a turn and were in the process of correcting the course when he asked, "Hey, are we near any of your markers?" We were in a Schuylkill County community called Ashland, and I remembered there was one. Much to my surprise, I turned my head to glance up a side street and there it was. So this week's post is a little bit of serendipity.

Wills House, Gettysburg, Adams County

As some of my readers may remember, September is my birthday month. I was the unlucky kid who would start school every year during the week of her birthday. As an adult this hasn't been a problem, though, and I usually take some kind of a day trip to mark the occasion. This year was a minor milestone, so my husband Kevin and I fulfilled a standing wish of mine to visit Gettysburg. After all, what kind of a Pennsylvania historian doesn't make at least one pilgrimage to the site of one of the biggest battles of the Civil War? 

I will admit that, growing up, I never quite grasped the full significance of Gettysburg. I know we covered it in school, but my memories of the lessons have mostly faded; but I stuffed my brain with all kinds of interesting discoveries during this trip and I truly enjoyed myself. Much like Brother Genitivi in the Dragon Age games, I don't know how to take a vacation without learning as much as I can about wherever I am. 

A quick shout-out to Larry at the For The Historian bookshop on York Street! Larry was kind enough to express interest in my blog as I was buying research materials and even accepted a small pile of my business cards to give to his regulars. If you're in Gettysburg, definitely drop in on the store.

Of course, the big thing that everyone in this country remembers about Gettysburg is a little two-minute speech known as the Gettysburg Address. It has its own marker, which I photographed and will be covering on another occasion, but today I'm going to tell you about a related location. Abraham Lincoln slept here.

Henry Chapman Mercer, Doylestown, Bucks County

Back in June, on a much finer day than what my area is experiencing currently, my best friend Andrea and I took a ride down to visit Doylestown, in Bucks County. I can't tell you why I'd never been there, although I'd driven through it a number of times - usually on the way to Peddler's Village. Anyway, as it turns out, Doylestown is adorable and very... I think the word I want to use is quaint. We had a really delicious meal at La Dolce Vita da Franco, where we sat outside in a little walled dining area; highly recommend, would eat there again. But our primary objective was to acquaint ourselves with a length of Doylestown colloquially known as the Mercer Mile.

The Mercer Mile gets its name from a man who designed three very distinct buildings. I think I would have liked this guy, because we seem to have a lot in common. This includes, but is by no means limited to, a love of dogs (my "little brother" is sitting beside me as I write, because I'm dogsitting for my parents) and a love of castles (I don't have one of those, but he did).

Oley Moravians, Oley, Berks County

Before we get into this week's quest, I want to give an update on a situation I had mentioned to my readers six months ago. Back in March, when we visited the Christ Little Tulpehocken Church, I shared the news of a Berks County family cemetery which was under threat from a warehouse developer. I'm pleased to tell you that as of last week, the Historic Kemp Burial Ground has been saved! The developer will still build their warehouse, but the cemetery is not to be moved. Not only that, but the agreement states that the developer will make some improvements to the burial ground, such as replacing the worn-out gate and providing an American flag. This is a tremendous victory and very exciting! Our local news has the details here. Congratulations to everyone involved!

(Edited to add: I am not one of the people involved. I do not have any further information than what has been shared publicly. If you want to know more, please check out the Facebook group; you can find a link at the website.)

One more quick shout-out before we get started; I collected this marker last month, while on the way home from a Sherlockian gathering in Reading. I've mentioned in other posts that I belong to the White Rose Irregulars, which meets (in non-pandemic times) four times a year to discuss the Great Detective, and our coordinator is Denny Dobry, who has a magnificent recreation of Sherlock's apartment in his basement. My stepdad Ravi and I were out to attend his wonderful open house in August; I hadn't seen it in several years, and Ravi had never seen it at all, so this was a great experience for us both. (If you're curious, check out this blog post from a couple years ago, made in preparation of another open house.)

Now, as to today's subject matter, it was a tiny bit confusing to me at first, but it's a good example of why the PHMC's current project to update certain markers is so important. This one is, unfortunately, just a little bit behind the times.

Wheatland, Lancaster, Lancaster County

It's been quite a hectic opening to September here. Between heavy rainfalls and my regular job being very busy, I was really worried that I wasn't going to be able to take my planned birthday trip to Gettysburg this past weekend. I'm happy to report, however, that the trip did indeed happen - my husband Kevin and I had a great time, we learned a lot, and I collected a bunch of markers in Adams County. Gettysburg is something I feel every American should see at least once; I don't have words for the experience, though I'll try to find some for a post later this month. 

Meanwhile, this is the blog post I had planned for the last week of August, but schedule conflicts just kept cropping up - as they did this past week too. It's taken me a lot of effort to finally get this thing posted! It's a bit more image-heavy than most of my posts, because there was just so much to see. These are pictures from Kevin's birthday trip back in July, when we visited Lancaster and took a tour of President James Buchanan's beloved home at Wheatland.

The Lehigh Canal, Easton, Northampton County

I found myself unable to update last week because of schedule conflicts, as you may have seen on Facebook. I intended to simply delay the post a day or two, but things just kept getting in the way, so I ultimately decided to delay last week's post until next week. Right now I'm sitting in the house listening to tropical whatever-it-is Ida drop a bunch of rain on my area. The worst weather is expected this afternoon, so it's currently a toss-up as to whether or not I'm going to be able to get to work. But at least I'm doing this work, and once this is live I'll be sending out the monthly email too. If you don't already receive that, please consider signing up with the form on this page! I only bother you once a month and it's free.

Since I'm already waterlogged anyway, let's take a ride over to Northampton County and visit the Lehigh Canal.