Reformed Church Archives - Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine

Serious Nonsense by William W. Donner

Posted by Kerry Mohn on Sep 9, 2016 in | Comments Off Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage by William W. Donner Penn State University Press, 208 pp., paper $29.95 Serious Nonsense looks at the origin and development of the Pennsylvania Dutch versammlinge, a type of meeting in which the order of business and program are conducted solely in the Pennsylvania Dutch language, often referred to as “the...
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Pennsylvania’s Architectural Heritage: Representative Styles as Seen in Lancaster County

Posted by John Snyder on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off At the time of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Tercentenary, it is appropriate that architecture receive special attention. Of all the arts, architecture is most closely related to life itself: whether a barn or a cathedral, a building satisfies a human need. Thus, buildings are a mirror of a given epoch’s ideals and functions. 1n this light, Pennsylvania’s architectural...
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Religious Freedom: Key to Diversity

Posted by John Frantz on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off “There can be no reason to persecute any man in this world about anything that belongs to the next.” – William Penn To describe Pennsylvania’s religious diversity is to present the history of its religious development. Although many other states became religiously heterogeneous during the nineteenth century, Pennsylvania was pluralistic even as a colony within...
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Montgomery County: Cultural Microcosm of the Commonwealth

Posted by Judith Meier on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off The third most populous county in Pennsylvania, with approximately 480 square miles of rolling hills criss-crossed by rivers, streams and superhighways, Montgomery County is a microcosm of the Commonwealth, a reflection of its cultural development. Pan of Philadelphia County until 1784, Montgomery County served as a sanctuary for numerous ethnic and religious groups seeking the freedom...
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Pennsylvania’s Gift: The Decorated Tree

Posted by Nada Gray on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Tall, nearly touching the ceiling, its branches pungently spicing the room, the stately tree awaits its final array – twinkling lights, shiny ornaments, sparkling tinsel, as well as a few precious treasures from years gone by. The Christmas tree is Pennsylvania’s gift to the nation, and the story of its arrival, the struggle for its acceptance and the development of its decorations...
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Adams County: Tranquility Regained

Posted by Robert Bloom on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off One of Pennsylvania’s smaller counties, both in size and population, Adams County developed much the same as similar settlements along the Atlantic Seaboard. Its growth during the past two and a half centuries has been governed by its own particular circumstances, including location, terrain, soil, climate, vegetation, mineral resources and the accomplishments of the immigrants and...
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An Evil and a Remedy: The Lottery in Pennsylvania

Posted by Trina Vaux on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Jackpot! For thousands of years the lottery has offered mankind the opportunity to accrue something for nothing-or at least a lot for a little. Usually in fact, it returns nothing. But the potential exists, and for many the dream of winning is irresistible. As most know, a lottery is any contest based on chance, which offers a prize, and which requires participants to pay a fee or buy something....
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“Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution

Posted by John Frantz on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Religion in the colony of Pennsylvania was distinctive. In contrast to most areas of the western world, this province practiced freedom of religion. It never had an established church. Friends who controlled the first legislative assembly, meeting in Upland, now Chester, in 1682, specified that no one was “at any time [to] be compelled to frequent or Maintain anie religious worship, place...
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Lehigh County: The Land and Its People

Posted by Daniel Gilbert on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Lehigh County encompasses the western half of the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. Bounded on the east by the Lehigh River, the main geographical feature of the larger valley, and on the north by the Blue Mountain range, the land is a mosaic of limestone plain, sinks and rolling hills. While the southern region of the county lies astride the so-called South Mountain and the hills of the...
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Religion on a Moving Frontier: The Berks County Area, 1700-1748

Posted by William Hummel on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off Because of the tolerant policy of the Penns, thousands of people of various ethnic backgrounds and religious faiths poured into the colony of Pennsylvania, many of them moving directly to the frontier. Within fifteen years after the founding of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania frontier had moved more than fifty miles north and west of the city. By 1700 the area comprising the southeastern part of...
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