History Endangered: Can the Shrine Be Saved?

This isn't the blog post I had intended to write today, but it's the one that I'm writing because... well, to put it bluntly, I'm upset.

A while back, my friend John, who lives in Allentown, contacted me to say that the Liberty Bell Shrine on Hamilton Street was in trouble. My regular readers may recall that the old Zion's Reformed Church is where the Liberty Bell was concealed for safekeeping during the American Revolution; for sixty years, a museum has been maintained in the church basement to celebrate this fact. Last summer they got a PHMC marker and I attended the dedication ceremony. At the time, attendance in the church was dwindling, due to an aging congregation, and they were expecting to sell the building.

John was letting me know that the museum was in danger of not surviving the forthcoming transition. As a member of the museum, I was concerned; however, due to various schedule conflicts I didn't have a chance to follow up on his tip, and what I had heard from other sources was that the buyers of the church were interested in maintaining the museum's presence, so I thought it was one of those things that would work itself out.

I have always been a little too optimistic.

Pennsylvania Match Factory, Bellefonte, Centre County

We've had suspiciously decent weather in recent days. February feels more like early April. I'm not sure I trust it, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

For this week's quest, we're heading back to beautiful Centre County, which I visited with husband Kevin last summer on his birthday trip. The weather was much more predictable on that occasion, since one generally knows what to expect from July, and we were charmed by the county seat of Bellefonte. The community has a lot of markers, including one for what I hadn't realized was once a major industry in central Pennsylvania.

Harold L. Ickes, Altoona, Blair County

Back in the saddle this week - I ended up having to take last week off from blogging, as my Facebook followers know, because I was hit with a sudden and unpleasant stomach bug. I did manage to get the February newsletter out at least, though, so if you didn't get your copy of that you can find it here.

So let's get into what would have been last week's post if I'd felt well enough to pull it together! The gentleman being profiled today was a key member of Franklin Roosevelt's cabinet and a fierce defender of the great outdoors. He also has a fictional claim to fame that I think might be unique to him among all Pennsylvanians, although I could be wrong.

Old Courthouse, Gettysburg, Adams County

It's a snowy day here, so I hope everyone reading this is safe and warm. As usual with this kind of weather, I'm not feeling my best, so the result is kind of a quiet post this week. To be fair, there's only so much to be said about the subject, which no longer exists, but I will tell you what I can.

John F. Reynolds, Lancaster, Lancaster County

A quick congratulatory shout-out to my pal the Hometown Historian, who just reached 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. So proud of you, Jon, keep up the great work!

As I write this, there's just a little more than two months separating me from Zenkaikon, my annual gift to myself. Each year (except when things like a global pandemic prevent it) I travel to beautiful downtown Lancaster to join my fellow nerds from all over in a long weekend of costumes, pageantry, and general mayhem as we celebrate all the different forms of media we love. It's very important to me.

This year, I'm deeply gratified to be able to say that I've become kind of an official and permanent part of the convention, in my own way. At last year's closing ceremony, during the feedback session, an out-of-town participant suggested that the con staff create a sort of primer about Lancaster's history. And since they already have someone right in their midst who will take any opportunity to ramble about history in Pennsylvania, they knew just who to call. About Lancaster City went live on the convention website earlier this week and I'm so happy that they welcomed my unique contribution to the program. Many thanks to the con staff, and especially vice-chair Adam, for giving me this opportunity.

Well, since I was already immersed in the history of the Red Rose City, it seemed only natural that this week's post should continue in that direction. The story of this gentleman begins in Lancaster and ends in Gettysburg, but there are some who claim that his story still continues to this day. 

Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran Church, Freeland, Luzerne County

It's very cold today, though at least it's not as gloomy as it was yesterday or is expected to be tomorrow. It has me thinking back to the much sunnier and more temperate day I enjoyed when I was last in Luzerne County. 

I had a great time on my visit to Eckley Miners' Village, except for one tiny thing: by the time I had finished walking the length of the little patch town, I was very hungry, and the souvenir shop only sold things like candy bars and bags of chips. I asked our tour guide if he could recommend a place for me to get lunch once I left the village, but before he could answer, another gentleman on the tour piped up and encouraged me to drive roughly three miles to the community of Freeland, and eat at the Freeland Diner.

This turned out to be a great tip and I again thank the gentleman for his recommendation. Not only was the food there very good and quite reasonably priced, but Freeland is home to one of my markers, so I was going to have to go there at some point anyway. (Also, if you visit the diner's website, you can actually see a picture of the booth where I was seated, which amuses me more than it probably should.)

Interestingly, not only did I conduct both the Eckley quest and this one on the same day, but they're actually related.

Goshenhoppen, Bally, Berks County

Happy New Year! It felt so strange not to be updating this blog throughout the past month, but I definitely am glad that I took the time off. It's great to be back in the saddle, though, and we're just going to dive right in with a visit to Berks County.

When I visited the Indian Jasper Quarries marker last fall, I had a little extra time following the event, so I took a drive down the local highway to collect a few additional markers. This one was my actual objective, though I was pleased to grab two others along the way. As of this writing, it's the only historical marker in the borough of Bally, and it all has to do with the origins of that municipality.