Model of USS Michigan at Erie Maritime Museum

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Model of USS Michigan at Erie Maritime Museum While she was being constructed, beginning in July 1842, the vessel known at her December 5, 1843 launch as USS Michigan (in honor of the Union’s newest state) and later as USS Wolverine (renamed in 1905 for Michgan’s state animal so the state name could be used for a new dreadnought battleship) was simply called “Lake Steamer” or “Iron Steamer.” Two decades...
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Civil War Frying Pan at Drake Well Museum

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on Civil War Frying Pan at Drake Well Museum The Reverend Darius S. Steadman (1831–1907), born in Columbus, Warren County, along U.S. Route 6 in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, was licensed to preach in 1857. He served congregations in Clarion County before being commissioned, on October 7, 1861, a captain and chaplain of the 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (PVI) known as the Wild Cat Regiment. The unit was raised in Jefferson, Clarion...
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McClintock Well No. 1 at Drake Well Museum

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on McClintock Well No. 1 at Drake Well Museum McClintock Well Number 1 – the world’s oldest continuously producing oil well – was recently acquired by the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, Venango County. Drilled near Oil Creek in August 1861, the well produced fifty barrels of oil a day. The Quaker State Oil Corporation purchased the McClintock Well in 1952 and nominated it for the nearby state historical marker four years...
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Glass Trumpet at Ephrata Cloister

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Glass Trumpet at Ephrata Cloister It’s not often that an archaeological find is classified as “one of a kind.” However, a glass trumpet discovered in Pennsylvania merits such a distinction. Archaeological investigations have been conducted at Ephrata Cloister, an unusual German religious commune founded in 1732 in Lancaster County, since 1993. In 1995, this unique artifact was unearthed from a deep refuse layer in an abandoned...
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Percheron Filly at Landis Valley Museum

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Percheron Filly at Landis Valley Museum Museum visitors do expect to see objects, artifacts, documents and, with growing frequency, interactive kiosks. Living history sites, such as Landis Valley Museum in Lancaster County, offer visitors a firsthand look at living – and growing – collections, among them trees, gardens, and landscape plantings, as well as historical breeds of animals, such as draft horses, once so vital to...
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Tin Toy Fire Pumper at State Museum of Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Tin Toy Fire Pumper at State Museum of Pennsylvania The earliest known manufactured American toy, a tin fire pumper, circa 1840, attributed to Francis, Field and Francis, of Philadelphia, was recently acquired by The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Historians believe the company, also known as the Philadelphia Tin Toy Manufactory, was the first toy manufacturer of record in the United States. Francis, Field and Francis made toy...
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Coal Breaker Model at Museum of Anthracite Mining

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Coal Breaker Model at Museum of Anthracite Mining Once a familiar sight in the Commonwealth’s northeastern counties, a breaker, a plant which processed raw anthracite, was the heart of a colliery, usually an expansive complex of various buildings and structures surrounding a deep mine or surface stripping operation. A wooden model of a breaker, crafted by Calvin Boyer, a plasterer and cement finisher who lived in Ashland, Schuylkill...
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The Tahoe at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Tahoe at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania The Tahoe, marking its one hundred and twenty-fifth birthday in 2000, will serve as the centerpiece for the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, Lancaster County. The famous Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, the world’s largest steam engine manufacturer, built the engine in 1875 for Nevada’s Virginia and Truckee Railroad. The...
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18th Century Cannon at Cornwall Iron Furnace

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on 18th Century Cannon at Cornwall Iron Furnace Iron was in great demand during the Revolutionary War, and brothers Curtis and Peter Grubb, proprietors of Cornwall Iron Furnace in Lebanon County, aided the American cause by casting cannon, shot, and various wares. (Because labor was in short supply, the Grubbs were permitted to use Hessian prisoners of war as workers.) Each cannon produced by Cornwall Iron Furnace was tested locally. If a...
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18th Century Clock at Joseph Priestley House

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on 18th Century Clock at Joseph Priestley House An exuberantly styled marble mantle clock, decorated with ormolu and capped by a figural grouping of nesting birds, once belonged to scientist, theologian, and natural philosopher Joseph Priestley (1733-1804). According to the donor, the clock, made by Guy d’Amour, Paris, was given to Priestley by the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) in appreciation of his support of the French Revolution....
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