In Like a Lion

Well, it's March and this week still felt like winter with a vengeance. Luckily, the forecast for the weekend is a bit brighter, or at least warmer. Charter Day is Sunday (March 8), and we will be celebrating Pennsylvania's birthday by offering free admission on the PA Trails of History. Not all sites are open for the season, however, so please be sure to check the list to make sure the site you want to visit will be open. (Please note that Eckley Miners' Village has had to close due to a broken water main; they were listed in an earlier post and press release as being open.) Last week's post had the March program listings, so you can check that for more info on site activities on Charter Day and beyond (I've added some updates and links since last week).

Ephrata Cloister Chorus via Facebook

The Ephrata Cloister Chorus performed Monday night at the Free Library of Philadelphia as part of the opening ceremony for "Framing Fraktur," a multi-institution effort that includes a conference and several exhibits featuring historic fraktur and contemporary art. The conference, "Everyday Lives of Germans in Pennsylvania and the Atlantic World, 1683-1850," continues this weekend under the auspices of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. The exhibitions will continue into the summer. Ephrata Cloister has participated in this major project through the loan of fraktur as well as scholarly papers (and the Chorus performance).

While we're on the subject of history (we do get to talk about history sometimes), Old Economy Village was featured in two recent articles exploring the economic history of western Pennsylvania, specifically Beaver County. One article looked at religious groups in general and mentions Old Economy. The other explored the significant role of the Harmony Society's activities in driving the regional economy.

And speaking of history and economics (I'm on a roll, now!), Drake Well Museum and curator Sue Beates were part of a recent NPR story about pipelines that looked at the early oil industry of northwestern Pennsylvania. Sue talked about Pithole, our favorite oil boom town, and the network of oil pipelines found there and the surrounding area. You can listen to it here or read a transcript.

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead this Sunday (or Saturday night) or bad things will happen. That punk-su-tawney Phil will see his shadow and we'll have 10 more weeks of winter. Or something like that.