Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Amish Houses and Barns by Stephen Scott Good Books, 1992 (158 pages, paper, $5.95) Home is the center of Amish life, and most – if not all – major life events occur within its walls: birth, mar­riage, visiting, worship, recreation, and death. Amish Houses and Barns is a carefully researched “behind-the­-scenes” look at these events on three farms in particular, as well as...
read more

Introducing… Team Heritage

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Introducing… Team Heritage Behind every successful maga­zine, there’s a hard-working, dedicated staff – a team, really. All good publications demand teamwork, and Pennsylvania Heritage is no exception. There’s a deadline on every horizon, editorial calendars that seem to project endlessly into the future, and production schedules that resemble a multi-dimensional Rube Goldberg device. The individuals who...
read more

Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Famous Faces John W. Mosley (1907-1969), characterized by an admirer as “our most magnificent and beloved photographer,” was Philadelphia’s leading black photographer, whose images appeared in nearly every African American newspaper on the East Coast (see “His Eye Was On The Positive” by Richard D. Beards in the winter 1990 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage)....
read more

Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Officers and Gentlemen Brevet Major General John Frederick Hartranft and General Winfield Scott Hancock, of Montgomery County, and Brevet Brigadier-General Galusha Pennypacker and Private Samuel W. Pennypacker, of Chester County, were among the many local servicemen and heroes who served during the Civil War. Galusha Pennypacker (1842-1916), hero of Fort Fisher, off Cape Fear, North Carolina,...
read more

A Kentucky Frontiersman’s Pennsylvania Roots: The Daniel Boone Homestead

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Kentucky Frontiersman’s Pennsylvania Roots: The Daniel Boone Homestead Mere mention of the name Daniel Boone conjures images of an American icon: trailblazer of the Wilderness Road, preeminent Kentucky frontiersman, defender of early settlements, a crack shot with a long rifle. Boone’s real and folkloric exploits are so well-known that his character is often overlooked, as is the fact that his personality took shape during a boyhood not spent in...
read more

Franklinia Alatamaha by John and William Bartram

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Franklinia Alatamaha by John and William Bartram To commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Bartram (1699-1777), Historic Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia launched a national survey of the Franklinia alatamaha, the most famous discovery made by the famous naturalist and his son, William Bartram (1739-1823). The census drew the participation of both botanical gardens and home gardeners while it recorded the...
read more

The Value of Pennsylvania History

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Value of Pennsylvania History George W. Bush won the presidential election of 2000 because the fifty states cast more electoral votes for him, even though more people actually voted for his opponent, Albert A. Gore Jr. The election reminded Americans about a curious institution called the Electoral College, and an equally peculiar system known as federalism in which each state conducts elections according to distinct laws...
read more

Strolling Through History at Hopewell Village

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Strolling Through History at Hopewell Village For more than a century, Hopewell Furnace in southeastern Pennsylvania had exemplified the technological growing pains of a nation initially built on agriculture but destined to become the industrial titan of the western hemisphere. Between 1771, when Mark Bird (1739-1816) established his furnace at the headwaters of French Creek in Berks County, and 1883, when the­ fires finally cooled,...
read more

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...
read more

News

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on News Rare Discovery After their September 11, 1777, victory in the Battle of Brandywine, British General Sir William Howe and his troops captured and occupied Philadelphia. It was not long, however, before General Howe realized he faced a challenging supply problem. He was surrounded by General George Washington’s Continental Army and, more importantly, the Royal British Navy could not bring...
read more