Marching into April

Spring is officially here, and all sites on the Trails of History that were closed for the winter will be back to their spring/summer schedules by the end of April (with a couple of additional schedule expansions in May). Most sites will be closed on April 8 for Easter, but the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (noon-5 p.m.) and the Pennsylvania Military Museum (noon -4 p.m.) will be open for visitors.

Conrad Weiser Homestead
April 1: the site will be open from noon to 4 p.m.
April 15: Weiser Interpretive Sunday—Friends of Conrad Weiser Homestead will offer a living history program from noon to 4 p.m.

Award patch for Cornwall Walk via Penn Dutch Pacers

Cornwall Iron Furnace
April 10: “History in Cast Iron – The Town Name Signs of Pennsylvania”—speaker is Jack Graham. This program is part of the Friends Lecture Series held at the Freeman Auditorium of Cornwall Manor retirement community.
April 21: Cornwall Walk—The Penn Dutch Pacers Volksmarch Club will start its 10K walk at the Furnace and continue along rural roadways and the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail. Participants must register at the start point sometime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and finish the walk by 4 p.m. Go here for more info.

Daniel Boone Homestead
April 1: Pennsylvania German Easter and Spring Nature Program—children and their families will explore the site’s historic buildings as they hunt for Easter eggs and learn about PA German Easter traditions; there will be an egg dyeing activity using colonial-era techniques (bring your own egg if you want to make and take); and a volunteer from Penn State Master Gardeners of Berks County will present a program on landscaping with native plants.

Drake Well Museum
April 28: Blacksmithing demonstration—demonstrations take place on the grounds of the museum and are scheduled for the last Saturday of each month through October.

John Mitchell
Library of  Congress via ExplorePAHistory

Eckley Miners’ Village
April 15: Spring Lecture—Bobby Maso and the Eckley Players will present an afternoon with John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers from 1898 to 1908.

Ephrata Cloister
April 14: Spring Search—Young visitors follow clues that lead them in and out of Ephrata’s historic buildings. Find the right place, get a stamp in your Heritage Passport. Get all the stamps and you can trade your passport for a prize and a treat. The program runs from 1 to 4 p.m. and is designed for students 11 and younger (check the website for info on admission fees).
April 27: Community Days School Program—students and their teachers/parents explore many aspects of life at Ephrata Cloister by visiting learning stations at their own pace; registration is strongly encouraged for this very popular program.

Fort Pitt Museum
April 22: Walk MS—Reenactors from the Museum will fire the starting guns (10 a.m.) to kick off the western Pennsylvania chapter of the National MS Society’s annual fundraising walk in Point State Park. Go here for more info about the walk.
April 28-29: Eastern American Indian History Conference—this two-day conference explores the lives and material culture of original inhabitants of the land east of Mississippi River in the 17th through early 19th centuries. For full program and registration info go here.

Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum
April 21: Spring Benefit Auction—this popular annual event raises funds to support site programs and educational activities. Silent auction bidding starts at 4:30 p.m., live auction starts at 5:30 p.m. (and there’s food, too).

Old Economy Village via Facebook

Old Economy Village
April 14: Spring Garden Workshop—this year’s keynote speaker is Keith Kaiser, horticulture director at Mill Creek MetroParks in Canfield, Ohio. OEV’s horticulturalist Dean Sylvester is also a speaker, and participants will have a chance to visit the site’s historic gardens and greenhouse. Reservations are required (by April 6); contact c-evoss@pa.gov or 412/266-4500 x101.

Pennsbury Manor
April 1: Historic Trades—the joyner and blacksmith will be demonstrating their skills.
April 15: Open-Hearth Cooking, Spring in the 17th Century—most of us think of our basic foodstuffs as year-round commodities, but that hasn’t always been the case. Pennsbury’s cooks will share how their 17th-century counterparts welcomed the coming of spring and the availability of greens, eggs, and milk that they’d done without over the winter.
April 22: Garden Highlights—explore the kitchen garden and see what’s available in the early spring.
April 29: Animals at Pennsbury—on a farm, every animal has a role to play; learn about the animals at Pennsbury today and yesterday and what their jobs are and were.

Pennsylvania Lumber Museum
April 14: Spring Antiques and Collectibles Show and Sale—the event will be held at Pine Creek Inn (not far from the museum); consignment items are welcome, contact Pete Folk at 814/435-8216. (Note—I listed this incorrectly in the Trailheads feature in the spring issue of Pennsylvania Heritage magazine.)

Pennsylvania Military Museum
April through November: additional exhibit labels and cases draw attention to combat rations and feeding the troops, connecting to PHMC’s 2012 theme, “The Land of Penn and Plenty.”
April 3: “The Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas”—speaker Dick Simpson recounts this two-day battle (March 7-8, 1862) between the Union Army of the Southwest and the Confederate Army of the West; part of the Central Pennsylvania Civil War Roundtable lecture series (personal note: my great great grandfather was a member of the 18th Indiana Infantry and took part in the Battle of Pea Ridge, and I’m really sorry I won’t make it to the lecture).
April 4: “Army Operations”—speaker is Michail S. Huerter, LTC, USArmy, from the USArmy War College Speakers Bureau; part of the Friends of the PA Military Museum lecture series.
April 14-15: Battery B Drill Weekend—Civil War reenactment unit will conduct its annual safety training and recruitment drive on museum grounds from noon to 4 each day.

Battery B artillery drill at Pennsylvania Military Museum

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
April 21: “Role of Railroads in Pennsylvania during the Civil War”—a new temporary exhibit using photographs, documents, and artifacts to tell the story of the impact of railroads on both sides of the conflict; the exhibit runs through Dec. 30 and is included in regular museum admission.

Somerset Historical Center
April 2: Annual Meeting and Program—guest speaker is Mark Miner, author of “Well at this Time,” which uses the Civil War diaries of Ephraim Miner of Somerset County to chronicle his lengthy recovery in the Union Army’s health care and convalescent system.

State Museum of Pennsylvania
April 20: 3rd in the Burg—"Be There and Be Square" features a square dancing program in conjunction with the traveling exhibit “Making it Better: Folk Arts in Pennsylvania Today,” which closes April 29. Callers are Natalie Phelps and Harry Erhard.
April 22: “The Titanic and its Pennsylvania Passengers”— a presentation and panel discussion marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the unsinkable on April 15, 1912. Dr. William V. Lewis, Jr., PHMC Commissioner and author of a new pamphlet on the Titanic disaster, will be joined by two descendants of Titanic passengers and a journalist who has profiled Pennsylvania’s connections to the ill-fated voyage.

Washington Crossing Historic Site
April 27: Sheep Shearing Day—this program takes place at the Thompson Neely House (Upper Park); it is open to the public, with lots of kid-friendly activities exploring 18th-century wool processing starting with the sheep. Admission is $8 for anyone age 6 and up; reservations are required for groups of 10 or more (go here for details).

Catching Up

Now that I’ve thoroughly milked this year’s Charter Day for blog material, it’s time to scan the horizon for other items of interest on the Trails of History. These are in no particular order, and I’ve undoubtedly missed things that might be just what you’re looking for. But I hope it will inspire you to visit your favorite site or explore one you’ve never been to. There are some advantages to an early spring.

First, a couple of events coming up this weekend and next that didn’t get included in the March program preview.

Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m., Conrad Weiser Homestead will host a free lecture, “The Tulpehocken Confusion, Conrad Weiser and Ephrata,” by Kerry Mohn, curator at Ephrata Cloister and formerly on staff at the Weiser Homestead. The lecture is based on diaries that Conrad Weiser kept during time he spent at Ephrata Cloister that provide insight into a time (1730s and 1740s) of religious fervor and upheaval in the Tulpehocken region of Pennsylvania (and yes, I had to look that up).

Saturday, March 31, is the spring kickoff of blacksmith demonstrations at Drake Well Museum, which take place the last Saturday of each month through October. You can find footage of a past demo here on YouTube.

PHMC/Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, photo by Cindy Kirby-Reedy

And there are some items I’ve been meaning to include in Trailheads but just haven’t fitted them in before now (you know how tightly structured these posts usually are—ahem).

Flagship Niagara’s educational voyages, offered in partnership with various schools, colleges, and universities, are becoming an increasingly important part of the sailing program. One of this summer’s adventures for college students will focus on environmental science, studying ecosystems in all five of the Great Lakes. The application deadline has just passed but if you go to the program flyer (here), you can find out more about the program. (By the beginning of summer, Niagara will have undergone a major repair job involving replacement of wooden framing below the water line.)

Between now and the end of December, you can visit a new temporary exhibit at Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, “The Golden Age of an American Art Form: The Lancaster Long Rifle.” The exhibit draws from Landis Valley’s collections as well as those of other museums and individuals. The exhibit opened on Charter Day (just can’t help getting in a mention of Charter Day) and has garnered a good bit of coverage near and far (including in Wyoming, which prompted a couple of visitors from The Equality State to stop in).

Changing exhibits are slated to open in April at Pennsylvania Military Museum and Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, so I’ll keep you posted on those.

"It's Not Xbox Day, It's Charter Day"

I love this quote. It comes from a LancasterOnline article about the combined effects of brilliant spring weather and free admission at Trails of History sites in Lancaster County. According to the article, it’s what Kitty Lafferty said to her son and his friends before they all headed out to Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, where they were part of a crowd of some 2,000 people on Sunday, March 11. Thank you, Kitty, for sharing your love of history with your kids.

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s mascot, Catcher, was on-hand to greet visitors, and there was Turkey Hill ice cream, too. (I don’t have the numbers for overall attendance for Charter Day, but our three Lancaster County sites combined had at least 5,000 visitors in the space of the afternoon.)

Pennsbury Manor gathered nearly 300 pounds of nonperishable food items for the Penndel Food Pantry on Charter Day.

You can find photos of the Charter Day activities at Daniel Boone Homestead here or at Drake Well here.

The Anthracite Heritage Museum’s Charter Day event was featured in the Scranton Times-Tribune, which regularly includes articles about local history, coal mining, and the Museum and Iron Furnaces.

And you can see news footage of Conrad Weiser Homestead’s Charter Day spring kickoff on WFMZ-TV here.

All in all, a great day for Pennsylvania history and the people who love it. Thanks to all of you who support us on Charter Day and every day. If you visited one of our sites and want to share your photos, you can upload them to the PA Trails of History Flickr photostream or to the specific site’s Facebook page. We’d love to see them.

Charter Day is Here Again

Charter Day is now upon us, and I hope that many of you will be able to visit this Sunday, March 11. In addition to free admission, some sites will be offering special activities as a celebration of Pennsylvania's birthday (see listings below). I'll also say that we appreciate your visits throughout the year, and I know that I'm preaching to the choir when I say that your admission fees (and program fees and museum store purchases) support the work our Trails of History sites do to preserve and share our Pennsylvania heritage (here endeth the lesson). Also, don't forget to turn your clocks ahead or you'll miss an hour of the fun (and yes, I know that a lot of clocks take care of it themselves these days, but I like to cling to the past).

Charter granted by King Charles II to William Penn in 1681

Anthracite Heritage Museum
“Neighborhood Women: Medical Caregivers in the Anthracite Region”—speaker is Karol Weaver, associate professor of history at Susquehanna University.

Brandywine Battlefield
The site will be open from noon to 4 p.m. and will feature a program (demos, lectures, book-signing) on Ferguson's Ordnance Rifle.

Conrad Weiser Homestead
Living History Program—members of the 1st and 3rd Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment and Regiment de la Reine will demonstrate French and Indian war period arms, uniforms, and equipment.

Cornwall Iron Furnace
The museum will be open free of charge from noon to 5 p.m.

Daniel Boone Homestead
Charter Day Open House and 1st PA Regiment Flintlock Shoot—there will be a full slate of activities, including open hearth cooking, blacksmithing demos, colonial dancers, stories of Native American heritage and culture, leatherworking and textile processing. Reenactors from the 1st PA Regiment will be on the rifle range to demonstrate flintlock shooting. Light refreshments will be served; admission is free for Charter Day, but donations are graciously accepted.

Drake Well Museum
The site will be open free of charge from 2-4 p.m. and will feature a temporary exhibit on archaeology. The first 100 visitors through the door win fabulous Charter Day prizes!

Eckley Miners’ Village
Bob Vybrenner will present a program on the Wyoming Valley and Sugarloaf Massacres, two Revolutionary War clashes involving British loyalists and Native Americans on one side and American militia and civilians on the other.

PHMC/Ephrata Cloister

Ephrata Cloister
The Ephrata Cloister Chorus will perform in the Saal at 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 p.m., and there will be a bake sale to benefit the student historians program.

Erie Maritime Museum and US Brig Niagara
The museum will be open free of charge from noon to 5 p.m. (the ship will be in Cleveland for repairs).

Graeme Park
The site will be open free of charge from noon to 4 p.m.

Joseph Priestley House
Charter Day and Dr. Priestley’s Birthday—the site reopens for the season and will feature chemistry demonstrations by “Dr. Priestley” at 1:30 and 2:30.

Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum
Charter Day and exhibit opening—be on hand for the unveiling of a new changing exhibit, “The Golden Age of an American Art Form: The Lancaster Long Rifle.” The exhibit brings together rifles and other firearms from the museum’s collection as well as a number of private collections and will be on view through Dec. 31. (Go here for an article on the exhibit.)

PHMC/Pennsbury Manor
Pennsbury Manor
Craft demonstrations and Manor House tours are planned at the home of Pennsylvania’s founder (and the reason we celebrate Charter Day); admission is free but please bring a non-perishable food item to benefit Bucks County Housing Group’s Penndel Food Pantry.

Pennsylvania Military Museum
The museum reopens for the season with free admission.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
The museum will be open free of charge from noon to 5 p.m.

State Museum of Pennsylvania
1681 Charter Exhibit—each year we display the original charter of Pennsylvania (which normally lives in the State Archives) along with special “guest” documents. This year’s special guests are historical maps of Pennsylvania, complementing the National Geographic Giant Map of North America (on display from Feb. 18-March 15). Winners of the 2011 National History Day in Pennsylvania contest will be recognized and some will be displaying their work (through June 17); local genealogical and historical societies will be on hand to talk about their programs and services; students from Harrisburg Sci-Tech High School will serve as docents for the Giant Map; and there will be storytelling and William Penn himself.

PHMC/Washington Crossing Historic Park
Washington Crossing Historic Park
The site will be open free of charge from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the blacksmith shop will be open and re-enactors will teach children how drills were conducted. Come see what type of foods William Penn ate, what types of items he may have ordered from the blacksmith, and commemorate Charter Day!

March Madness?

There are lots of items here, Trailheads, so I’ll spare you my dazzling wit for this week. Remember that we’ll be celebrating Charter Day on March 11 with free admission to most sites on the Trails of History (specific listings are below). Several sites will be reopening after their winter hiatus or expanding their hours (as always, it’s best to check ahead if you can). Enjoy!

William Penn (Bill Kashatus) discusses Pennsylvania history
with State Museum visitors on Charter Day 2010

Anthracite Heritage Museum
March 11: “Neighborhood Women: Medical Caregivers in the Anthracite Region”—speaker is Karol Weaver, associate professor of history at Susquehanna University.
March 18: Lackawanna Audubon Society Program—Bill Speare, President of LAS, will present highlights of his recent trip to Alaska.
March 25: Making Maple Syrup—AHM curator and maple syrup maker John Fielding will talk about the art of turning tree sap into a delicious golden treat (sorry, John, I got a little carried away); snow date is April 1.

Brandywine Battlefield
March 11: Charter Day—The site will be open from noon to 4 p.m. and will feature a program (demos, lectures, book-signing) on Ferguson's Ordnance Rifle.

Bushy Run Battlefield
March 24-25: 16th Annual Ohio Country Conference—sessions the first day explore various topics around the French and Indian War and are held at Westmoreland County Community College; second day is a field trip to historic sites in southwestern PA. More details and a registration form here and here.

Conrad Weiser Homestead
March 11: Living History Program—members of the 1st and 3rd Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment and Regiment de la Reine will demonstrate French and Indian war period arms, uniforms, and equipment.
March 25: Spring Lecture—check the website for more information.

Cornwall Iron Furnace
March 11: Charter Day—the museum will be open free of charge from noon to 5 p.m.
March 13: “Thomas Rutter and the Founding of the Pennsylvania Iron Industry”—speaker Dan Graham will explore the origins of an industry that has become synonymous with American industrial history; part of the Friends of Cornwall Iron Furnace lecture series (lectures are free of charge and are held in Freeman Auditorium at Cornwall Manor retirement community).

Daniel Boone Homestead
March 4: Fireside Tales—this storytelling program is geared to children ages 4-8 and their families; enjoy a seat near the fireplace in the Wayside Lodge (it can still be chilly so you may want to bring a cozy blanket or two). Suggested donation, $2 per child.
March 11: Charter Day Open House and 1st PA Regiment Flintlock Shoot—there will be a full slate of activities, including open hearth cooking, blacksmithing demos, colonial dancers, stories of Native American heritage and culture, leatherworking and textile processing. Reenactors from the 1st PA Regiment will be on the rifle range to demonstrate flintlock shooting. Light refreshments will be served; admission is free for Charter Day, but donations are graciously accepted.
March 25: “Women’s Work on Pennsylvania Farms in the Colonial Period”—in honor of Women’s History Month, Dr. Barbara Corson will present a program focused on the types of work farm women were typically responsible for, including dairying, tending to poultry, and helping with field work and haymaking. Suggested donation, $2 per person (plus site admission fee if you wish to take a guided or self-guided tour of the Boone House and historic area).

PHMC/Drake Well Museum via Facebook

Drake Well Museum
March 11: Charter Day—site will be open free of charge from 2-4 p.m. and will feature a temporary exhibit on archaeology. The first 100 visitors through the door win fabulous Charter Day prizes!
March 29: Heritage Lecture Series—this evening program will celebrate Col. Edwin Drake’s 193rd birthday with cake and ice cream and feature a slide show by Earl Yingling; $2 per person (free to Friends of Drake Well members).

Eckley Miners’ Village
March 11: Charter Day—Bob Vybrenner will present a program on the Wyoming Valley and Sugarloaf Massacres, two Revolutionary War clashes involving British loyalists and Native Americans on one side and American militia and civilians on the other.

Ephrata Cloister
March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29: Winter History Class—sessions take place each Thursday morning, with March 29 as a day-long field trip to the Philadelphia area; call 717/733-6600 for class information and to see if space is still available.
March 11: Charter Day—The Ephrata Cloister Chorus will perform in the Saal at 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 p.m., and there will be a bake sale to benefit the student historians program.

Erie Maritime Museum and US Brig Niagara
March 11: Charter Day—the museum will be open free of charge from noon to 5 p.m. (the ship will be in Cleveland for repairs).

Graeme Park
March 11: Charter Day—the site will be open free of charge from noon to 4 p.m.

Joseph Priestley House
March 11: Charter Day and Dr. Priestley’s Birthday—the site reopens for the season and will feature chemistry demonstrations by “Dr. Priestley” at 1:30 and 2:30.

PHMC/Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum

Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum
March 7, 14: Homeschool Classes—designed for students ages 6-17; call 717/569-0401 x228 or email Sheri Brown for details. 
March 10, 17, 24: Folk Art and Friendship Classes—the Weathervane Museum Store hosts this series of hands-on workshops (go here for individual class info). March 17 is also the Weathervane’s spring open house.
March 11: Charter Day and exhibit opening—be on hand for the unveiling of a new changing exhibit, “The Golden Age of an American Art Form: The Lancaster Long Rifle.” The exhibit brings together rifles and other firearms from the museum’s collection as well as a number of private collections and will be on view through Dec. 31.
March 24: Heirloom Seed Program Grafting Workshop—offered in partnership with Backyard Fruit Growers, this workshop is designed for novices to learn how to graft an applewood “scion” onto rootstock. Advance registration is required; call 717/569-0401 x204 or email Beth Leensvaart.

Old Economy Village
March 17: Opening Day—the site reopens for the season. Admission is free but please bring a non-perishable food item to benefit Center of Hope in Ambridge.

Pennsbury Manor
March 11: Charter Day—crafts demonstrations and Manor House tours are planned at the home of Pennsylvania’s founder (and the reason we celebrate Charter Day); admission is free but please bring a non-perishable food item to benefit Bucks County Housing Group’s Penndel Food Pantry.

Pennsylvania Military Museum
March 6: “Fort Sumter – First Blood in South Carolina”—Central PA Civil War Roundtable presents Joe Mieczkowski exploring the events of April 12, 1861.
March 7: “FDR-Dewey: The 1944 Wartime Presidential Campaign”—Dr. Stanley Weintraub, Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus at Penn State, will discuss his forthcoming book (due out this summer); part of the Friends of PMM Speaker Series.
March 11: Charter Day—the museum reopens for the season.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
March 11: Charter Day—the museum will be open free of charge from noon to 5 p.m.

Somerset Historical Center
March 30-April 1: Annual School of Coopering—learn traditional coopering skills in this intensive workshop. Advance registration is required; an information flyer is here.

PHMC/State Museum of PA via Facebook

State Museum of Pennsylvania
March 3-11: 1681 Charter Exhibit—each year we display the original charter of Pennsylvania (which normally lives in the State Archives) along with special “guest” documents. This year’s special guests are historical maps of Pennsylvania, complementing the National Geographic Giant Map of North America (on display from Feb. 18-March 15).
March 11: Charter Day—in addition to the exhibit of important documents and the Giant Map, there will be numerous activities. Winners of the 2011 National History Day in Pennsylvania contest will be recognized and some will be displaying their work (through June 17); local genealogical and historical societies will be on hand to talk about their programs and services; students from Harrisburg Sci-Tech High School will serve as docents for the Giant Map; and there will be storytelling and William Penn himself.
March 16: 3rd in the Burg—this month’s program features a celebration of Women’s History Month.
March 17: Free admission day and Lights, Camera, Take Action! event—Harrisburg’s Parks and Recreation Dept. and 3Atrical Productions host a seminar on careers in the entertainment industry.

Washington Crossing Historic Park
March 11: Charter Day—the site will be open free of charge from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.