Settling into the New Year

Be sure to check out the January program listings for things to do this weekend. Also, please note that the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will be open on Monday, January 19, for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday; all other sites on the Trails of History will be closed.

The 99th Pennsylvania Farm Show is wrapping up, but there's still a little time to enjoy the best of the state's agriculture and food products (potato donuts - yum!). PHMC has several displays featuring the State Museum's Archaeology program, the historical marker program (complete with a scavenger hunt), and Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum's Heirloom Seed Project. Information specialist Sean Adkins live-tweeted his visit and collected the tweets on Storify. It's a nice tour of the show, especially if you can't get there on your own, but you'll have to supply your own milkshake or fried mushrooms.

Although they are normally closed on Tuesdays, the State Museum will be open on Jan. 20 as part of the inaugural festivities for the new governor. An exhibit of artworks from institutions around the Commonwealth will open (it will be on view through Feb. 15) and there will be activities for children.

The folks at Landis Valley are prepping for their 2015 exhibit, "1865: Lancaster County at the Close of the Civil War," which will open on Charter Day (March 8). Among the items featured is a piece of iron balustrade from Lancaster's Caldwell House hotel. The balustrade is from a balcony that at various times "hosted" Presidents James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt (read more about it at Lancaster Online). The piece was collected by museum co-founder Henry Landis, who was born in 1865 and is also a focus of the exhibit.

Wednesday, Jan. 21, is #MuseumSelfieDay. It's a chance to help promote your favorite museum or collection. PHMC social media will be sharing staff selfies and we'd love it if you'd add yours (especially if it's a Trails of History site). Watch for posts on Facebook or Twitter on the 21st.