Teedyuscung

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Teedyuscung Among Native Americans immortalized by Pennsylvania’s state historical marker program is Teedyuscung (circa 1700-1763), born near what is present-day Trenton, New Jersey. He was of the Unami, or Turtle (Pakoango) Clan, one of three subtribes associated with the Lenape, known through history as the Lenni-Lenape, or Delaware Indians. For early settlers, ownership of land was a key to...
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The Pennsylvania Dugout Canoe Project

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Pennsylvania Dugout Canoe Project Then: Imagine the sight of individuals clad only in loincloths, furiously chipping at a large felled log, slivers of wood flying high above them, and smoke curling upward from sections of the burning tree as they carve out a dugout canoe. Now: In painstakingly precise recreations, archaeologists of the Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP) of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission...
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Forty Fort Meeting House: The Architecture of a Union

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Forty Fort Meeting House: The Architecture of a Union The Forty Fort Meeting House Meeting stands on the edge of the sprawling Forty Fort Cemetery, just northwest of the Luzerne County seat of Wilkes-Barre, among of a Union the graves of colonial setters and the recently interred. Despite the building’s historical, religious, and architectural significance to northeastern Pennsylvania, it remains largely unnoticed by area residents. Yet, this...
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“In Immortal Splendor”: Wilkes-Barre’s Fugitive Slave Case of 1853

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on “In Immortal Splendor”: Wilkes-Barre’s Fugitive Slave Case of 1853 On Saturday morning, September 3, 1853, U.S. Federal Marshal George Wynkoop of Philadelphia and two deputies, John Jenkins and James Crossen, sat down to breakfast in the dining room of the Phoenix Hotel on River Street in the Luzerne County seat of Wilkes-Barre. At the far end of the room was a handsome, powerfully built mulatto named Bill (or, according to various newspaper accounts, known as...
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Can It Already Be Fall?

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Can It Already Be Fall? New Exhibits An exciting new long-term exhibit recently opened at Drake Well Museum and Park at Titusville, Venango County. In the Summer 2011 issue of Pennsylvania Heritage, I profiled the building renovation project at Drake Well, including plans for a geothermal climate control system and a new comprehensive exhibit. There’s a Drop of Oil and Gas in Your Life Every Day, which made its...
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Stegmaier Brewed Beer and a Regional History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Stegmaier Brewed Beer and a Regional History “Ring-A-Ding-Ding! Do the Stegmaier Thing, In the Summertime. It’s Cold and It’s Gold like a Pocono Spring, In the Summertime. So, Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Do the Stegmaier Thing, Any Time At All!” Pennsylvanians may recall the infectious jingle advertising Stegmaier beer on WFIL radio and television in Philadelphia and shouted across billboards in the Pocono Mountains and the...
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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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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Pivotal Pennsylvania: Presidential Politics from FDR to the Twenty-First Century by G. Terry Madonna published by the Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2008; 126 pages, paper, $14.95 Pivotal Pennsylvania: Presidential Politics from FDR to the Twenty-First Century by G. Terry Madonna, one of Pennsylvania’s foremost political analysts, opens with an explanation of how the Democratic Party...
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Peter F. Rothermel

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Peter F. Rothermel Best known — in Pennsylvania at least — as the artist of the colossal painting depicting Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863, the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Peter Frederick Rothermel (1817–1895) was born and raised in Nescopeck, Luzerne County. Following a public school education he moved to Philadelphia where he worked as a sign painter. He briefly studied drawing before...
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Celebrating Volunteers on the Pennsylvania Trails of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Celebrating Volunteers on the Pennsylvania Trails of History Every spring we honor those who contribute their experience and expertise to support the mission and work of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). In 2011–2012 volunteers donated approximately 117,000 hours at historic sites and museums along the Pennsylvania Trails of History®. This impressive collective donation is valued at nearly $2.5 million, based on data provided by...
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