Finding a Light in the Forest: Conrad Weiser Homestead

More than any other, Conrad Weiser (1696-1760) captured the imagination of the Pennsylvania German community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when its leaders asserted its right to be considered a major participant in the building of America. The veneration he was accorded led to the creation in 1923 of the historic park bearing his name and interpreting his...
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Forts at the Forks: Frontier History Comes to Life at the Fort Pitt Museum

As the French moved south from Canada in the mid-eighteenth century, seeking new settlements in the vast Ohio Valley, Great Britain began to resist encroachment into regions its leaders long claimed. Taking action in 1753, Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie placed a letter into the hands of his young surveyor, George Washington, telling him to deliver it to the commander of Fort LeBoeuf (in...
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Advanced Technology “Rubs” the Ancient Past

With more than 400,000 visitors, the Pennsylvania Farm Show, held each January, is a terrific opportunity to highlight the best of Pennsylvania agriculture. It’s also an exciting venue to showcase Pennsylvania archaeology and remind the public that archaeological sites are important endangered resources that need protection. Since 1980, PHMC’s Bureau for Historic Preservation and The...
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Digging Fort Hunter’s History

Over the past five years, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) archaeologists conducted investigations at Fort Hunter, the site of a French and Indian War fortification located six miles north of Harrisburg. Hundreds of fort period (1756-1763) artifacts have been recovered along with the identification of a water well, bake oven, and the remains of a road or defensive ditch. In...
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