Historic Districts in Pennsylvania: An Evolving Sense of Place

Posted by on Jun 6, 2016 in | Comments Off on Historic Districts in Pennsylvania: An Evolving Sense of Place Jim Thorpe, originally named Mauch Chunk, is a small and picturesque borough of well-preserved 19th-century buildings perched on the side of a mountain along the Lehigh River in Carbon County. It once served as an important railroad and coal shipping center. As these industries waned in the 20th century, the town sought new economic purpose by marketing its scenic appeal as the “Switzerland of...
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Remembering the Fishing Creek Confederacy

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Remembering the Fishing Creek Confederacy During the summer of 1864 rumors began to circulate that Columbia County had become a place of refuge for hundreds of deserters from the Union army. The federal government promised a reward of $30 for every deserter captured. So on the night of July 31, 1864, eight men left neighboring Luzerne County hoping to track down some deserters around Benton. They cornered a house in Raven Creek Valley,...
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Columbia County is Diversity

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Columbia County is Diversity From the time of the earliest settlements during the Revolu­tionary War era to the present day, Columbia County has been three sepa­rate neighborhoods-the southern re­gion (Catawissa and Centralia); the northern area (Benton and Millville) and the north bank of the Susquehanna River (Bloomsburg and Berwick). They are distinguishable by varied physical environments, ethnic origins and social...
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The State Normal Schools: Teaching Teachers and Others

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The State Normal Schools: Teaching Teachers and Others In view of their complex, if not complicated, information systems, computers and advanced technology seemingly snatched from the next century, Pennsylvania’s “modern” state universities evolved from what were originally called “normal” schools. During the last century, both educational and social traditions have changed drastically; in fact, nineteenth century...
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Of Piety and Pleasure: The Mountain Grove Camp Meeting

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Of Piety and Pleasure: The Mountain Grove Camp Meeting Scrub and sump holes mark its site today, but a century ago the cacophony of a typical nineteenth century camp meeting reverberated through­out the valley each August at Mountain Grove. Between 1872 and 1901 thousands of people came each summer to this idyllic spot in western Luzerne County for recreation and religion offered by the Danville District of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Home Again Like many others who grew up in the hard coal region in the 1950s, I couldn’t wait to finish high school and leave the area. When I went away to college, I vowed never to return. Yes, I did go back for funerals and weddings and the like, but I couldn’t wait to leave again, to get as far away as possible from the giant culm banks and the coal dust. I devoted myself to my...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Wrecks and Rescues In the early nineteenth century, the shore posed great danger to sailing ships seeking to reach port. The long and lonely approaches to coastal cities, such as Philadelphia, were poorly marked stretches of sand dunes and salt marshes with a few isolated settlements. Unexpected storms with winds blowing from the northeast could suddenly force a ship onto perilous sandbars...
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Building a Brand for Pennsylvania Products

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Building a Brand for Pennsylvania Products Over the centuries most Pennsylvanians have traded their team of horses for cars, their work boots for street shoes, and their plows for computers. yet we still hanker for a taste of our rural roots. While many of us may be weekend gardeners, farmers are lifetime gardeners, producing a quality, diverse food supply for the world year-round. What better way to support local farmers than by...
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Rediscovering the People’s Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Rediscovering the People’s Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices On a February morning in 1937, artist George Warren Rickey (1907-2002) and a group of four men met at the post office in Selinsgrove, Snyder County. Armed with cloth-covered rolling pins, the men attached Rickey’s mural entitled Susquehanna Trail to one of the lobby’s end walls. After six hours, they transformed the entire blank white wall, from marble wainscoting to ceiling, into a...
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Carpet Mill, Bloomsburg, Pa.

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Carpet Mill, Bloomsburg, Pa. The Magee Carpet Company in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, was an outgrowth of James Magee and Company, a small factory of twenty-five looms founded in Philadelphia by James Magee at the close of the American Civil War. Magee’s son and namesake, James Magee II, began working in his father’s mill by sweeping floors. He eventually worked in a number of departments and earned the position of plant...
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