Gen. John Armstrong, Carlisle, Cumberland County

Happy Memorial Day! Take that however you like - either belated (for Memorial Day observed) or early (for the actual holiday).

This past weekend, husband Kevin and I went to Cumberland County for a meeting of the White Rose Irregulars of York. The weather throughout May has been rather hit or miss this year, but we had a beautiful day on Saturday, so after the literary gathering we wandered off in search of history. After studying my list of which markers are where, we decided to travel just a bit more westward and visit the community of Carlisle.

I mostly know Carlisle as being the home of Jim Cheney, my fellow Keystone State enthusiast who runs UncoveringPA.com. I'm pretty sure I've passed through the outskirts at least once or twice, but I have never (as far as I can remember) actually gone there until now. Carlisle dates its founding to 1751, so it's not surprising that it's home to a fairly large number of PHMC markers, most of which are related to the American Revolution. I believe we collected about half of the markers to be found there, and only gave up the hunt because we wanted to be home for supper. 

I have since been pondering the question of which one I wanted to use for this week's post, and it hasn't been an easy decision. Literally every marker we collected is fascinating. I finally settled on today's subject because it answered a question I didn't realize I had never asked, which is this: who is the eponym of Pennsylvania's Armstrong County?

Special Edition: Your Favorite Markers

Well, friends, today the blog is seven years old exactly! Time flies when you're having fun. Fruit flies like a banana. Anyway, I had seven responses to my inquiry about your favorite historical markers on the PHMC Trails of History, so that's what we're going to discuss in this week's post. Thanks once again to longtime reader (and retired PHMC employee) John Robinson for suggesting this.

The split is roughly even between markers I've already covered and markers that I haven't. So this will be an image-free post (that should be pleasant for those of you on mobile) - if I've already covered the marker, I'll link to my post, and if I haven't, I'll link to my friends at the Historical Marker Database. Either way, you can see the markers and learn a little more about them by following the relevant link.

What I had asked, if anyone missed it, was for my readers to tell me which of the historical markers is their particular favorite and why. I got some very interesting and varied answers. Possibly my favorite submission came from Debbie Shankar, who championed the marker for the founding of Mother's Day. The marker is in Philadelphia, since the holiday was originated by Philadelphia resident Anna Jarvis. This submission didn't come with an explanation for why the marker is her favorite - but seeing as how Debbie happens to be my mother, I think we can call it self-explanatory.

Shawnee-Minisink Archaeological Site, Smithfield Township, Monroe County

One last reminder - you've got a few more days to email me (markerquestblog@gmail.com) and tell me about your favorite PHMC historical marker! Next week I'll be sharing the submissions I've received. 

This week's subject took me by surprise. I collected the marker quite some time ago - I'm not even sure how long it's been, but it was the last time my bff Andrea and I went on a drive through Monroe County. The part that surprised me was the fact that I hadn't written about it yet, because for some reason I thought I had. Don't ask me why. As I've become fond of saying, my brain has too many tabs open at any given moment. 

So we'll take a look at the subject today, and it's the first time this blog is going back to prehistoric days. I don't mean back when I was walking my pet dinosaur after school, either; I mean back when we actually had mastodons roaming around Pennsylvania. Everybody into the time machine, and set the dial for several thousand years ago.

Charles Sheeler, Doylestown, Bucks County

I thought the showers were supposed to be in April. Around here, it's May which has been rainy this year - and more than rainy at that. Yesterday we had a tornado confirmed about twelve miles from my house, with hail falling in other places. My longtime readers know that I'm a walking barometer, so this hasn't been exactly fun for me.

I'm doing my best to keep up with the blog, though, and I did finally get files transferred from my less cooperative laptop to the one that my husband has essentially given me. (It's his, but he prefers his desktop computer and his iPad, so he gave me unrestricted access to this one. I like to use a laptop for writing purposes, because then I can work in bed and adjust my position as needed for pain.) So with any luck, sharing Pennsylvania history with all of you will be a bit easier now, and we have some possible trips coming up that will let me collect more markers.

For today, we'll take this year's first trip down to Bucks County, and learn about an artist who used to live in Doylestown. In fact, today is the 60th anniversary of his passing. (P.S. Don't forget, you have until May 18th to send me pictures of your favorite historical markers! See my previous post for details.)

Provincial Courthouse, York, York County

I'm going to start this week's post with something special. I had an email from John Robinson, longtime reader and occasional guest photographer of the blog, and he had a wonderful idea for something fun for my readers to do. Since I presume most of you are here because you enjoy and care about the PHMC marker program, I'd love to hear about your personal favorites! 

Take a picture of your favorite marker, or one of your favorites if you just can't decide, and email it to me at markerquestblog@gmail.com along with a short explanation of why it's important to you. Maybe you had something to do with getting it added to the Pennsylvania Trails of History, or maybe it's related to your own family tree, or maybe it's a subject that's dear to your heart for some reason. Tell me about it, and for the blog's seventh birthday in May, I'll do a post sharing the stories I receive. I'll accept submissions until Sunday, May 18th (the blog's actual birthday) and put them in the post for Wednesday, May 21st. Let me hear from you! And thanks again, John, for the great idea!

Meanwhile, I have another bit of guest photography from Kaylee Lindenmuth of the Shenandoah Sentinel, since she managed to get out to York County and collect one of the markers I was missing. So let's dive in.

McCoy Home, Lewistown, Mifflin County

As promised in last week's post, this week I'll be taking my first shot at Mifflin County! It's always exciting when I get to do the first post from a county on this blog. The photos in this post all come courtesy of Kaylee Lindenmuth, the driving force behind the Shenandoah Sentinel. She's got to be one of the hardest-working young people in modern media and I genuinely do not know when she finds the time to sleep, much less send me pictures. But she had to take a road trip recently and was kind enough to provide me with some fodder for blog posts, so thank you, Kaylee!

This one's for all my readers who are fans of military history, since the family who lived in this house had not one but two generations of high-ranking soldiers. And yes, they were the real McCoys! (Probably not related to the one who started that expression though. But maybe?)

News and Notes as April Begins

Welcome to April! Hopefully the cold weather is soon behind us, but for now there's still some chill in the air. I'll be back with a regular post next week, but I wanted to cover a few pieces of news, and it just seemed to make sense to compile them all into a single post and then go back to blogging as usual. Nothing earth-shattering, but some very interesting bits and pieces all the same.