Ingram-Richardson Manufacturing Co., Beaver Falls, Beaver County

As of this writing, there's a distinct possibility that we could see our first snowfall in the next several days. Other parts of the state have already seen snow. (Ever notice that snow is a four-letter word? I kind of want to censor it.) I'm not a Game of Thrones fan, but even I know that winter is coming, and I'm trying to prepare - in between retail shifts, of course.

This week's quest was supposed to have been Lehigh County, but I realized as I was preparing it that I was missing a necessary component. So I'm jumping ahead to the next one on my schedule.

John Nelson, Lawrence Park, Erie County

This week is Veterans' Day, so I just want to briefly express my appreciation for all the members of our Armed Forces, past and present! Thank you for your service and courage.

This week's quest is brought to us thanks to another contribution from my distant cousin, Ron Bauerle, who kindly sent me the marker we're examining. Thanks once again, Ron! We're going to take a look at a union struggle in the McCarthy era and the way it impacted one man in particular.

Wilkes-Barre Fort, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

I can't believe it's already November! Only a handful more blog posts before I do my annual retrospective post and look ahead to 2022. Hopefully I have enough material to get me through the winter months, especially if the snow is heavy and I can't go looking for more, although it would be nice if I can manage one more marker collecting quest before the days get too cold.

This blog is sort of a cross between a hobby and a job. It's both and it's neither all at once. I take it very seriously, because much of my personal identity is bound up in being a writer; but at the same time, I can't take it too seriously or I'll never have any fun with it, and life has enough things in it that aren't fun without volunteering for more. 

(On that note, thank you for the kind remarks I received following last week's post, with regards to the passing of my dear friend Jessica. I am very appreciative of all my readers who reached out to offer their condolences; it meant a lot.)

Today's post is one of those with which I've had a bit of fun. The subject itself isn't particularly amusing or anything, but the wording of the marker kind of is. See, almost without fail, the wording of the historical markers is sensible and easy to understand; this is a good thing, because otherwise most people would ignore them more than they already do. But today's marker is a little different - I kept reading the text and just sort of blinking at it. Why would Pennsylvania have had a fort which protected the courthouse of a county in Connecticut? On what map does that make any kind of sense?

Well, as it turns out, there was once a series of minor wars between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. If this is the first you're hearing of such a thing, don't feel bad, because I never heard about it either.

Gen. James M. Gavin, Mount Carmel, Northumberland County

I hate to open a blog post on a down note, but here we are. This bit has nothing to do with Pennsylvania history, although it's tangentially related to my writing. Shortly after last week's blog post went live, I received the devastating news that my dear friend Jessica had died unexpectedly. We had been friends for more than twenty years; she was one of my most supportive readers of nearly anything I wrote, and also one of my most honest and trustworthy critics. I valued her opinion deeply. She was much too young and it was a terrible shock. It feels strange to be writing something that, for the first time ever, I know she won't read.

But I know she's still making music where she is now, and I also know she'd want me to keep making words. So this is for you, Jess, with thanks for all the love and encouragement.

This week the blog makes its first visit to Northumberland County. I managed to snag this on the way home from a recent trip to Knoebels Amusement Park with husband Kevin, who deliberately veered off course in order to venture into the borough of Mount Carmel so we could all learn about "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin.

Fort Hamilton, Stroudsburg, Monroe County

First, hello to anyone who is finding their way here for the first time after my book signing this past Saturday! Thank you very much to everyone who turned out to see me. I had a really good time and they're hoping I'll come back again - maybe with a new book. We'll see what shakes out in the coming months.

I'm trying to get a little ahead of myself (instead of constantly feeling like I'm running behind) because the winter holidays are approaching, and since I'm in retail, you can imagine that my free time tends to be at a bit of a premium. So I'm doing my best to create a little bit of wiggle room in terms of having blog posts ready to fire up on a Wednesday. For this week's quest, we're heading back up to lovely Monroe County to have a look at a colonial fort which isn't there anymore.

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.