St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Shenandoah

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Shenandoah Since 1884 the onion domes of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on West Oak Street in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, as seen in this circa 1914 postcard, have marked the presence of Eastern Europeans in this anthracite coal mining community. St. Michael the Archangel in Shenandoah was the first Greek Orthodox Catholic church built in the United States. Ukrainian families raised money to...
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Carved in Stone, Revealed in New Light: Early Gravestone Carvers and Funerary Folk Culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on Carved in Stone, Revealed in New Light: Early Gravestone Carvers and Funerary Folk Culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch In the winter of 1747, tragedy struck in the Tulpehocken Valley. Leonard Rieth (1691–1747) — among the first German-speaking settlers to journey into the valley from Schoharie, New York, in 1723 — was crushed by two cogs in his gristmill along the Mill Creek. Rieth’s untimely death also coincided with a schism that divided the Lutheran congregation that bore his family name: Rieth’s (later...
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Little Lithuania USA

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on Little Lithuania USA Shenandoah is a prime example of a “coal rush” boomtown where immigrants flocked in the second half of the 19th century to find jobs and a better way of life. The first wave of immgrants in this Schuylkill County borough were mostly Welsh, Irish, Scottish and German. They were soon followed by Eastern and Southern Europeans, including a large influx of Lithuanians. The first wave of Lithuanian...
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More Than Decoration: Barn Stars Sustain the Spirit of Folk Tradition

Posted by on Mar 22, 2021 in | Comments Off on More Than Decoration: Barn Stars Sustain the Spirit of Folk Tradition The rungs of the extension ladder echoed across the hollow as the barn star painters prepared to ascend the facade of the barn to begin their third and final day of work. Carefully selecting their brushes and colors, the painters took their places 20 feet above the barnyard where they worked their magic. With rapid and calculated movements, they began applying the paint to the rough contours of...
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The Spirited History of Pennsylvania Saloons

Posted by on Feb 17, 2021 in | Comments Off on The Spirited History of Pennsylvania Saloons In 1905 and 1906 Charles and Linnie Ross of Stroudsburg traveled throughout Pennsylvania, photographing residents and buildings in communities they passed. Hoping to sell their prints for a handsome profit, they made sure to shoot the most popular spots in each town. Unsurprisingly, the Rosses photographed dozens of saloons in their travels, including this one in Williamsport. By 1851 saloons...
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Fighter’s Heaven: Muhammad Ali’s Training Camp in the Pennsylvania Wilderness

Posted by on Dec 28, 2020 in | Comments Off on Fighter’s Heaven: Muhammad Ali’s Training Camp in the Pennsylvania Wilderness On a mountainside overlooking Deer Lake, in Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill County, is a restored boxers’ training camp called Fighter’s Heaven, originally built by Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) in 1972. The Champ, as he boastfully called himself, designed the boxing haven during the early phase of his post-three-year-suspension comeback tour in order to escape the hullabaloo of civilization as he trained...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Dec 24, 2020 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter In 2016 the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) presented its first Community Initiative Awards to recognize organizations, agencies, municipalities and individuals throughout the commonwealth for their historic preservation successes. The program has become a key component of PA SHPO’s statewide historic preservation plan, #PreservationHappensHere, encouraging...
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The Easter Egg: A Flourishing Tradition in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Oct 9, 2020 in | Comments Off on The Easter Egg: A Flourishing Tradition in Pennsylvania The hen cackled in the early morning light as the door of the chicken coup opened and the boy walked in with his basket. He had risen before dawn to help with the farmwork as usual. But on this most suspicious of days, Karfreidaag, or Good Friday, gathering the eggs was no mere ordinary task. As on all other mornings, the boy deftly reached under the clucking hens, soothing the birds with a few...
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Butter v. Margarine

Posted by on Oct 8, 2020 in | Comments Off on Butter v. Margarine Butter and margarine have been at war since the latter was invented in France in 1869. Made from beef tallow, “oleomargarine,” as it was originally called, arrived in the United States in the 1870s. It was marketed as a cheaper and less perishable alternative to butter. This threat to butter sales led many American dairy farmers to wage campaigns against the new product in legislatures and...
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Community Initiative Award Recipients Featured in PA SHPO Videos

Posted by on Feb 25, 2020 in | Comments Off on Community Initiative Award Recipients Featured in PA SHPO Videos A core mission of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) is to educate the public regarding state and federal preservation programs. The production of testimonial videos is one way in which PA SHPO shares preservation’s positive outcomes and its importance for Pennsylvania’s many diverse communities. In 2018 PA SHPO honored three organizations with Community Initiative...
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