The Isle of Que near Selinsgrove
Historians report Conrad Weiser, who acted as an interpreter between the Indians and whites, was envious of the beautiful “island” and traded his gun to Chief Shikellamy in exchange for the Isle of Que.
Podcast
Hear Their Footprints
Jerry Church, The Eccentric Founder of Lock Haven
Known by others for having an eccentric personality, it was a characterization Jerry Church enjoyed. Church became an opportunistic land developer who turned a small village into the successful town of Lock Haven, in what became Clinton County.
Early Recollections of Danville
An 1881 history of Danville and Montour County included the recollections of a man who lived in the community fifty years earlier. People in the community appreciated shoemakers, tailors, and women who went from house to house spinning yarn.
The Observance of Goose Day in One Region of Pennsylvania
Goose Day, September 29th of each year, is a time of celebration in the Juniata River Valley. It brings with it both religious and folkloric connections, as well as some romanticism.
The Great Bloomsburg Fair
What began as a one-day event in 1855, the Bloomsburg Fair enters its 171st year, connected by an enduring thread that drew those first visitors: a chance for neighbors to bring what they have raised, made, and learned for the rest of the county to see.
Daniel Karstetter and the Silent Horseman of the Seven Mountains
For generations, the mountains of Central Pennsylvania were filled not only with trails and hunting camps, but with stories. Stories told beside fires. Stories passed from one hunter to another. Such was the case with noted hunter Daniel Karstetter and the silent horseman of the Seven Mountains.
Harvesttime Often Involved a Neighborhood Gathering
Harvesting had a social character. Men moved from farm to farm, helping one another. And harvest wasn't really finished when the grain left the field. There was cutting, binding, shocking, hauling, threshing, winnowing, transporting it to the mill, grinding it, and finally baking it.
A Railroad Construction Curiosity in Lycoming County
Construction on the “Deep Cut” west of Antes Fort/Jersey Shore Station on the Sunbury and Erie Railroad proved to be a major obstacle. It required a steam shovel to dig 300,000 cubic feet of dirt and was a curiosity that attracted onlookers from the surrounding area.
The Potter Behind the Pantry
A fresh look at the German inscriptions on some thirty pieces of redware pottery, and a newly discovered jar with provenance to the original owner, suggest that this group should be attributed to an unknown potter in Union or Northumberland County, rather than a Berks County potter, as previously thought.
Two Sunbury Men Blaze First White Man’s Trail in What is Now Jefferson County
The increasingly attractive reputation of the country around French Creek, in today's Venango and Crawford Counties, prompted two men from Northumberland County to blaze the first white man's trail westward into what is now Jefferson County.