Susquehanna FootprintsStories from the Susquehanna Valley
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News and Notes

From January of 1828 through December 1835, Samuel Hazard edited a weekly edition of his Register of Pennsylvania, devoted to the preservation of facts and documents, and every kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania. Here is a sampling of stories from that publication.

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May 22, 2024 · Terry Diener

1833 Meteor Shower in Pennsylvania

Some people in Pennsylvania thought the world was coming to an end when hundreds of thousands of meteors were seen in the night sky in November of 1833. A woman from Lock Haven Pennsylvania remembered the initial fear and then the wonderment of the heavenly display.

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May 18, 2024 · Terry Diener

The Passing of the Boats

In the summer of 1899, a newspaper reporter from the Baltimore Sun, Charles Weathers Bump, took a trip down the Susquehanna River from Otsego New York, to the Chesapeake Bay. During the twenty-eight-day journey from mid-August to mid-September Bump compiled stories for the newspaper’s readers. In one of his articles in early September, Bump shared his thoughts on a stop in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and the demise of the Pennsylvania Canal.

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May 17, 2024 · Terry Diener

Early Pioneer Farming in Northern Pennsylvania

Early settlers in northern Pennsylvania used clumsy axes and hoes to clear land and prepare the soil for farming. Thrashing was done with a flail or trampled by oxen or horses. Men usually worked at lumbering, clearing land, building fence[s], and raising field crops, while women and children tended livestock, made dairy products, and preserved food.

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May 09, 2024 · Terry Diener

Fanny Heddens Hotel

In his book, Pennsylvania Mountain Stories, Henry Wharton Shoemaker shares a trip he made to Fanny Heddens Hotel in Washingtonville, Montour County in the early 1900's.

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May 05, 2024 · Terry Diener

Fort Antes

In 1893, Pennsylvania Governor Robert E. Pattison appointed a commission to come up with a report on the forts erected throughout Pennsylvania to protect early settlers from the Indians prior to the year 1873. Here is a brief story on Fort Antes, in Lycoming County

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May 02, 2024 · Terry Diener