Charter Day is Here Again (Again)

This Sunday, March 10, sites on the Pennsylvania Trails of History will be open free of charge in honor of Pennsylvania’s 332nd birthday. (To be all technical about it, it’s the 332nd anniversary of King Charles II’s charter giving William Penn the land we know as Pennsylvania.) A couple of sites are still on winter schedules and won’t be open, but you can find a list of participating sites here.

Last week’s post included info on special events and activities going on (besides the being open free of charge), so I won’t repeat that. But I can add a bit.

In addition to the activities listed last week, Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum’s celebration of Charter Day will also include a book signing featuring Dr. Irwin Richman, co-author (with Oscar Beisert) of The Photography of Henry K. Landis: Pennsylvania and New York, 1886-1955. Henry, with his brother George, started the museum and amassed much of the early collection of Pennsylvania German artifacts. Having studied photography in college, he documented life close to home but also in and around New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island), where he spent several decades as an editor and photographer. You can read more about the book, published by Stackpole Books, here.

Book cover, via Stackpole Books

In recognition of PHMC’s 2013 theme, a costumed guide in Civil War era US Navy uniform will welcome Charter Day visitors to the USS Michigan/Wolverine exhibit on the mezzanine level of the Erie Maritime Museum. According to the folks at the museum, “During the course of the Civil War, the Michigan recruited over four thousand men from the Great Lakes region to serve in the Union Navy. Four of these men, including one from Michigan’s home port Erie, earned our nation’s Medal of Honor for their service and will be featured in a display at the Museum. Michigan's presence on the Great Lakes was so significant, she became the object of a Confederate plot in 1864. Southern sympathizers under the command of John Y. Beall seized the steamer Philo Parsons, intending to use it to capture the USS Michigan, which was then guarding Johnson’s Island on Sandusky Bay. The prison there held more than 3,000 captured Confederate officers. Beall’s men mutinied at the critical moment, within earshot of the voices of sailors upon Michigan's deck, and the rebels dispersed and retreated to the safety of Canada.”

I neglected to mention in last week’s post that Charter Day visitors to Pennsbury Manor are asked to bring a nonperishable food item for The Penndel Food Pantry. (And if you enjoy watching other people clean as much as I do, you can check out photos of Pennsbury's annual spring cleaning here.)

Charter Day 2012 Food Drive via Pennsbury's Facebook page

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night (or early Sunday morning)!