Happy Anniversary, Trailheads!

Note: The National Park Service has announced the 2010 National Historic Landmarks photo contest, open to amateur and professional photographers. For a list of NHLs in Pennsylvania, go here.

Although it seems like only yesterday (okay, a couple of days before yesterday, but you know what I mean), Trailheads hit the blogosphere one year ago on August 1. It’s been quite a year. Change came to the Trails of History (I keep typing “trials of history”) by the truckload. Within weeks of our intro post, the first round of furloughs and site closures began, followed a couple of months later by another round. I won’t rehash it again—we’ve covered that ground enough for the moment.

Our friends and supporters were mobilized by the severity of last year’s budget cuts and we’re all trying to get better at articulating the value of history in general and PHMC’s sites and programs in particular. I would like to thank all of you who read Trailheads, who support our efforts, and who tell other people why. Cautious optimism seems to be in order, for the coming fiscal year at any rate, but we need you all to help us keep up the good fight.

Courtesy Historical & Genealogical Society of Somerset County

One way to support us, of course, is by visiting your favorite sites on the Trails of History (or by visiting one that’s new to you). August program offerings are listed below (there are still a few summer camps in August—check our June 11 post for details).

Anthracite Heritage Museum
Month of August: Coal Country Summer Holiday Tours (contact museum for details and reservations)
August 1: Lithuanian Heritage Day and opening of exhibit, “Just Married: 70 Years of Weddings in Coal Country, 1880-1950”
August 11: Digital Day, workshop for teachers (registration required)

Bushy Run Battlefield
August 7-8: 247th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Bushy Run

Conrad Weiser Homestead
August 8: Weiser Interpretive Sunday
August 21: Evening Tours with Living History Vignettes

Daniel Boone Homestead
August 8: First Pennsylvania Regiment Flintlock Shoot

PHMC/Drake Well Museum

Drake Well Museum

August 7: Blacksmithing Workshop (2 half-day sessions, 4 students each—contact site to register)

Eckley Miners’ Village
August 14-15: Living History Weekend and Civil War Encampment

PHMC/Eckley Miners' Village

Ephrata Cloister
August 21: Family Day

Graeme Park
August 7, 14, 21, 28: Farm and Flea Market (flea market once a month, check with site for date)
August 22: Living History Sunday

Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum
August 3: Hands-on History Day

August 14: Storytelling Day

August 28: Artisan demonstrations at the Weathervane

PHMC/Old Economy Village

Old Economy Village
August 7: An Evening in the Historic Gardens of Old Economy Village (reservations required)
August 29: Celebrate Gertrude Rapp’s 202nd Birthday

Pennsbury Manor
August 1: Historic Trades
August 8: Living History Theater—the 1686 trial of Quaker James Wills on charges of beating his slave to death
August 15: Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration: The Receipts (recipes) of Gulielma Penn
August 22: Garden Highlights
August 29: Animals at Pennsbury

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
August 13-14: Hogwarts Express Parties (registration is required and is on a first come first served basis)

Washington Crossing Historic Park
August 15: A Midsummer’s Evening of Music