I have been getting a lot of comments on my recent blog posts and York Sunday News column on the serious business of growing potatoes in York County. There was some glamour involved too, as shown in these two original press photos from the Gazette and Daily, now part of
Map courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society. I will be doing a PowerPoint presentation this Saturday, April 12 on Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s wonderful map of a portion of our section of the Susquehanna River, as part of the York County Heritage Trust Second Saturday free lecture series. It will be
It is always enlightening to see other people’s impressions of us. Just recently, we were pleased when the respected Travel and Leisure magazine named York to its list of America’s Greatest Main Streets, citing a turnaround and our historic architecture. George Washington is quoted as saying he wasn’t in danger
What makes historical research so interesting, as well as frustrating, is that what you find usually leads to a lot more questions. Some time ago, at the Library Company of Philadelphia, I came across the ad above from the Pennsylvania Packet newspaper, published in Philadelphia. I made a copy of
You may have read my recent York Sunday News column on the fifteen ferries that connected York County with Lancaster and Dauphin counties across the Susquehanna River. There were so many that I didn’t have room in my column to share details on each ferry, gleaned from the York County
I’ve been getting good responses on my recent York Sunday News column on the fifteen or more separate ferries that crossed the river between York County and Lancaster County or Dauphin County. Perhaps that should be too surprising, since the earliest of these ferries date back to the 1730s and
I’m deeply into ferries–the subject of my upcoming York Sunday News column. Did you know there were at least 15 ferries crossing the Susquehanna from the over 50 miles of York County shore, stretching from the Yellow Breeches Creek on the north to the Mason-Dixon Line on the south? If
U.S. Capitol White House interiors, furniture Dickinson College Main Hall Bank of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) Philadelphia Water Works St. Johns, Lafayette Square, D.C. Baltimore Cathedral Ringgold Mansion, St. James, Md. State Petitionary, Richmond, Va. Exchange and Custom House, Baltimore Nassau Hall, Princeton (redid) What do the buildings above have in common?
A few months ago I did a post on Henry Smeych, who claimed to have captured John Wilkes Booth’s horse on which Booth escaped after assassinating President Lincoln. At 87, Smeych, born in Chanceford Township in October 1837, talked at length about his adventurous life in a lengthy piece in
I enjoyed an interesting talk this evening at the Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area Zimmerman Center. Lancaster County journalist Jack Brubaker talked about his recent book Massacre of the Conestogas: On the Trail of the Paxton Boys in Lancaster County. I have done some reading on the massacre of the 20