The Delaware Museum of Natural History is a great place to take youngsters any time, but the often-stifling days of August might be the best time of all. Between computers, television and air conditioning, August outings can provide a challenge to parents attempting to interest their offspring ......

In 1681, when William Penn received a charter for the land that would become Pennsylvania, he began what he called a holy experiment to see if people of different faiths and traditions could live together peacefully. The Theater of the Seventh Sister is trying its own theatrical experiment by b......

Leon H. Martin's 18-foot-long replica of Hunsecker's Mill Covered Bridge will soon be heading to what he hopes is "its final resting place."The massive model will be transported Saturday morning from Martin's home in Leola to the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society......

In 1710, Pittsburgh was an uninhabited wilderness at the forks of the Ohio River. Kansas City was an uninhabited bend along the Missouri. Las Vegas was an uninhabited oasis in the Mojave Desert. Lancaster County, in 1710, was patented for its first permanent European settlement. ......

Honeybees have a friend in Christina Seldomridge.The Leola resident is an avid beekeeper who removes accessible swarms within Lancaster County — free of charge."Because some honeybee colonies have been dying off, people are encouraged to call in a beekeeper to safely remo......

A penny a post bought an awful lot of Lancaster County history. In their heyday, beginning around 1907, postcards cost about a cent to send. Who would've dreamed then that so many "wish you were here" messages to loved ones would someday become part of a window into the past?...

The North Museum of Natural History & Science will hold an open forum Saturday to discuss the possibility of creating an astronomy club for children.The museum is inviting parents and their children to attend the meeting at 9 a.m."Right now it's really open, and that......

Eric Claypoole has been around hex signs since he was 5 years old, but there's one question he still can't answer: Why do the Pennsylvania Dutch paint hex signs on their barns? Claypoole, 47, a Lenhartsville artist who paints hex signs, raised the question recently, when he spoke to the......

Have a question about Lancaster County history? Jack Loose has an answer. Any time period, any subject. And if he doesn't know the answer, he'll find out and get back to you. "Jack's the county historian," says Tom Ryan, the executive director of the Lancast......

During World War II, women's roles in the country changed dramatically, from Rosie the Riveter to the Donut Dollies. You've probably heard of Rosie, who represented the women who worked in factories, helping American industry gear up for the war that would consume the country for fou......

Welcome to the East Side. Sixteen stops will be featured on the Lancaster Township Historical Commission's East Side Tour, beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday. The 30-minute motorized tour, sponsored by the Lancaster Township supervisors, is free. Donations will be accepted at the Almshouse, 90......

Kids in the kitchen
Looking for something fun to do this summer? Try cooking. Essen Kinder Camps offer opportunities to learn about food sources, kitchen safety and table manners, while acquiring basic cooking skills. Camps, for kids ages 10 to 14, are $225 per sessio......

While many Lancaster County residents enjoyed the horn-blaring, diesel-engine-roaring Make-A-Wish truck convoy that snaked its way north from the city suburbs to Ephrata and back, a few found a more peaceful way to spend Mother's Day in the Sunday quiet of historic downtown Lancaster.T......

If the 1971 ceremony to dedicate Lancaster Square had been held 20 years later, actor Kevin Costner could have delivered the keynote address. Its title? "If you build it, they will come." That haunting mantra coaxed Costner's character in the movie "Field of Dreams"......

Whether or not Thaddeus Stevens' property on South Queen Street served as a safe house for runaway slaves on the underground railroad is, for some, open to debate. What is not debatable, said Gail Tomlinson, director of the Stevens -Smith Historic Site (a project operated under the auspices......

It started with an unanswered question. That's what prompted Darlene Colon to research her family tree, a decades-long journey that has produced many unexpected — and fascinating — revelations. "When my grandmother died, my mother was wondering out loud about the origi......

Cheryl Heck is an anachronism. In spite of her thoroughly modern minivan and cell phone, when she retires to her home, you'll likely find her by the wood-burning stove, spinning wool into yarn, throwing pots or tending to the small flock of chickens in her backyard. "I've alwa......

Two Lancaster County historic railroad sites will be featured on national television Monday.The Strasburg Rail Road will be highlighted on History's "Modern Marvels" at 8 p.m., followed at 9 p.m. by The Learning Channel's "Jon and Kate + 8," in which the stars v......

To Sir Jonathan Miller, God isn't dead — God just isn't.And this message, delivered not militantly but matter-of-factly, surprisingly didn't result in the spontaneous combustion of its Tuesday night venue, Franklin & Marshall College's Hensel Hall.If one we......

In Columbia one recent morning, Noel Poirier pulled on white cotton gloves and picked up George Washington's watch. The stately, bewigged Father of Our Country was said to be uncommonly intent on the passing hours. Many times during the Revolution, Washington must have fished this piec......

First-class stamps cost 5 cents, Allentown had two daily mail deliveries and the post office at Fifth and Hamilton streets served customers around the clock when Edward A. Schmidt Jr. started working there in February 1966. But Schmidt — Ed or "Schmitty" to friends and colleague......

Young people at Crispus Attucks Community Center in Lancaster took time Thursday to pay homage to their African-American heritage during the center's annual Black History Month celebration."We've been working with the kids on the program for three weeks," June Wilson-Moor......

Owners of The Carpenters' former home aren't feeling on top of the world about the legions of fans who keep stopping by to pay tribute. The five-bedroom tract house, where siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter lived and penned some of their greatest hits, was featured on the cover of the......

Justin Yurchak was bouncing with excitement at the prospect of demonstrating the monthly phases of the moon.Maybe it was because the 9-year-old Landisville student likes science. And maybe it was because he was using the creamy inner layer of an Oreo cookie as his model.The cookie, ......

It's an industry that employs about 36,000 people in Lancaster County and one the state ranks as its second-leading industry after health care.According to Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitor's Bureau, it's not agriculture — it's tourism.And thanks to a new effort by Lan......

"Forty acres and a mule" is the rallying cry of disenfranchised blacks who are still waiting for compensation for the horrors of slavery.But for many, the "slave reparations movement" is not just about a paycheck and an apology — it's about the acquisition of real power to make Ameri......

Darlene Colon has been researching her family's roots for decades, and what she's discovered only keeps her digging deeper. "There's a myth that African-American history is too difficult because of slavery," said Colon. "It's difficult but not impossible.&quo......

Todd Mealy probably wouldn't describe himself as a Renaissance man, but for a 28-year-old he's got a pretty impressive résumé. A social studies teacher at Penn Manor High School, where he just completed his first season as head football coach, Mealy also does political con......

More than two centuries ago, a black charcoal burner named Governor Dick blazed the land with his axe — and his name. The sturdy woodsman's legacy lives on in the namesake Lebanon County park created in 1953. But human memory is less robust. Some visitors to the park think it com......

Local author Todd Mealy has written a new biography. But it's not about the life of a person, but a city."Biography of an Antislavery City: Antislavery Advocates, Abolitionists, and Underground Railroad Activists in Harrisburg, Pa." is the story of the coming of age of a city......

It's a pesky little article shared by only The Hague in the Netherlands, The Bronx in New York and, of course, the Buck, which straddles the border between Drumore and East Drumore townships in southern Lancaster County.The answer to how the Buck got its "the" seems to raise ......

When Christmas Day is over, avoid the inevitable letdown.Join the spirits of Christmases past at Rock Ford Plantation for some yuletide frolicking, 18th-century style."There's such a huge buildup to Christmas Day that there's a letdown when it's over," said Sam......

The spirit of Christmases long past will be present at Wheatland this holiday season, as Santa Claus — Civil War style — takes up residence for the annual Christmas Candlelight Tours. Portrayed by Civil War re-enactor Walter Bosch, Santa looks like a cross between Father Christmas a......

Who is this bearded, jolly man toting a bagful of toys in place of his usual .44-caliber Remington sidearm? It's Walter Bosch, that's who. "I'm Civil War Santa," the retired Lancaster resident matter-of-factly tells people taken aback by his getup. His breed is r......

The man stopped at Bob Thomas' office out of the blue. His father had run the Bob Hess Inc. car dealership in the old Eastern Market building years ago, and the visitor had photos. Would Tabor Community Services like to have them? That's how Tabor got the black-and-white glossies, ......

The Preserve America program funnels millions of dollars to places that preserve their heritage and encourage history-based tourism. Backers say it would give preservationists a tool to compete with developers here.
Lancaster County takes pride in its history. Individuals and orga......

After six months of renovations, two historic town clocks are back and looking better than ever.The clocks, one in Landisville and the other at Hempfield Fire Department Community Park in Salunga, were re-erected in their original locations last week.Installed in 1946, the clocks ar......

Long before the Vietnam War turned ugly for many Americans, young sailors off the Vietnam coast conducted one of the largest humanitarian efforts in U.S. history. Just after the Korean War ended and the French were pulling out of Indochina, more than 810,000 people were relocated from the north......

If you know who Buffy, Jody, Sissy, Uncle Bill and Mr. French are, the new lunch box exhibit at the Lancaster Museum of Art is right up your alley. So when you take your annual trek to Trees Galore! and shop in the expanded Holiday store on the first floor of the museum, make sure to go up......

The history of warfare is linked indelibly to transportation.From aircraft and naval vessels to jeeps and motorbikes, the military always has had to find better ways to get where it needs to go. That's where the histories of trains and troops overlap."Railroads really were ......

A Penn Manor High School teacher recently used music as a catalyst for critical thinking in her American history class. But her use of music is nowhere near the likes of "Schoolhouse Rock!" or "The Alphabet Song." "This is more profound thinking," Lara Paparo ......

Kids on a slope near Rock Ford Plantation picked grass and passed the time uninterested in anything around them.Then came a marching drum beat.The high-pitch, catchy cadence of a fife followed.Men in American Revolutionary War uniforms carrying muskets and rifles marched out ......

Ann LeTort was something of a firecracker. After fleeing from persecution in France for being a Huguenot, the name given to French Protestants, she and her husband, James, settled upon the banks of the Conestoga in Lancaster County around 1690. Letort Elementary School in the Penn Manor ......

Libraries are seen as places where minds expand and history comes alive.To emphasize the important role libraries play on college campuses and in the community, Millersville University's Ganser Library is exhibiting historic books and papers and photographs of the school, some that dat......

Rabbit meat cooked over a campfire is social studies teacher Robert Slamp's specialty.Every year since 2001, he has donned a Union soldier's uniform and set up camp on one of the most unlikely spots in Lancaster County — the grounds of Carter & MacRae Elementary School on......

Chris and Pascale Herzog love old homes. That's an understatement. "Every time we move, it has to be an old house," says Pascale Herzog, who relocated with her family to Maytown from New York in 2004. "There's a sense of continuity in an old house that you do......

(Editor's note: Books presents the third in a series of profiles of local authors. This feature runs occasionally and focuses on writers who have succeeded in the world of commercial publishing.)

Today's writer: Two years ago Hatfield native E......

The mystery of a cast-iron coffin found by utility workers in Washington, D.C., has followed a meandering path to Lancaster County.Forensic researchers at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History announced Thursday that the remains of a 15-year-old boy unearthed in 20......

When the school bell rang, they practiced their penmanship, learned geography, went to recess and drank from the water crock. They ate peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and apples from their lunch pails. One student even had to spend time on the dunce stool. It was back-to-school Mon......

Lancaster County commissioners Wednesday awarded $2.6 million to 27 projects under the county's 2007 urban enhancement fund program.The goal of the projects is to improve facilities in the county's more densely populated areas.Funding comes from a $25 million bond issue approved by ......

It's a good time for the history of President James Buchanan. Four personal letters bought at auction in 1991 were given to the James Buchanan Foundation in Lancaster this month, and a television documentary about his presidency will be filmed here this week. Many scholars consider Buc......

Donnie Brooks has a quote he likes to use about his favorite sport: "The family that plays together, stays together." Brooks, of Strasburg, is a self-described "discaholic" — an advocate of disc golf, a sport that combines disc-throwing (think Frisbees, the trademarked......

For a fun-filled day with your family, try something a little corny. Head to Cherry Crest Farm, a 15-acre spread of "agri-tainment" that features a five-acre corn maze, among other attractions. This is the 12th year the farm, located in Ronks, has welcomed visitors, general manag......

It was a casual business luncheon, so there were bound to be plenty of handshakes and niceties.But when Jim Nagle stepped to the podium during a July 19 press conference at Lancaster Country Club, there was no mistaking the seriousness in his voice."In my opinion, there's n......

An few years ago, an odd fact in the memoirs of a Civil War general caught the eye of Elizabethtown College English professor David Downing.Among the topics Maj. Gen. Grenville Mellen Dodge wrote about was his time as commander of the XVI Corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman during the......

Want to keep current on genealogy news and/or share your genealogy research with others? Consider blogging. The popularity of blogging has recently expanded into the world of genealogy. To understand how blogs can work for you, having a working definition is helpful. Blogs are online journals o......

Heading to the beach this summer can be as easy as hopping in your car and driving to Mount Gretna. Just over the Lancaster County line in Lebanon, families can experience a sandy beach, coupled with a 10-acre lake that's perfect for swimming, diving and floating your cares away. "......

In the middle of a hazy, hot and humid day, you can escape to air-conditioned bliss while your little ones burn off energy at the same time. Just head to Kidz Escape, an indoor playground in New Holland. "We're a great place to come in, play for an hour or all day and have fun,&qu......

Susan Traverso, a former dean at the University of Redlands in southern California, has joined Elizabethtown College as the school's provost and senior vice president.Traverso said she is proud to be an academic leader at the college."I am very impressed with Elizabethtown ......

The North and the South will meet in Elizabethtown this weekend, clad in itchy wool uniforms in blue and gray, performing unit drills and cooking camp food in the late-July heat. And while only peaceful activities are on the schedule, one can't rule out a skirmish or two. "You can't put......

German Panzer spearheads will be attacking the French countryside once again this weekend. The Battle for France in 1940 will be one of the many battles re-enacted through toy models and battlefields at the Historicon Convention from today until Sunday at the Lancaster Host Resort.  ...

The Cocalico school board at its July 16 meeting approved a revamped job-description manual which reflects the recently adopted Act 114.Act 114, which went into effect in Pennsylvania on April 1, requires that all prospective school district employees including administrators, teachers, su......

Lurking among the trees and bushes along Lancaster's Marietta Avenue are some of the most exotic creatures around. Look closely and you can find a dragon, a life-size rabbit, a flamingo and a giant dragonfly. These are just some of the topiaries that bring gardening to life during......

If you want to be entertained this summer, take it outside. Catch a flick alfresco in Lancaster's Buchanan Park, as part of the Lancaster Recreation Commission's Summer Family Film Series. The series is in its 19th year, says Jill Diller, Rec Commission director of special events....

While the rest of Lancaster County celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and picnics, Strasburg Railroad engineer Steve Weaver was getting ready for a moment he had been anticipating for nearly a year: flipping the main electrical switch in the newly refurbished Reading Car No. 10.&......

Residents of Lancaster County, come and meet your old neighbors. Six actors from the Pennsylvania Past Players will walk around downtown Columbia Friday from noon to 4 p.m. The actors will be in costume as social activists, Civil War doctors, and other figures from the region's Civil War-er......

If you want to feel like a kid again, take your children to the National Toy Train Museum. Featuring five interactive, operating train layouts and housed in a building modeled after a Victorian-era train station, the museum brings the hobby of toy-train collecting to life. The museum, loca......

The Ressler Mill Foundation recently announced the recipients of its 10th annual grants program. This year, 27 local organizations will share $48,380.Topping the list is a $6,306 gift to Factory Youth Center in Paradise."They want to establish a computer center for teens,&......

Going over the river and through the woods used to lead to Grandmother's house — at least in the song — but at Tucquan Glen in Martic Township, it leads to an opportunity to experience some of the most beautiful land in Lancaster County. With hiking trails that run alongside &md......

Patrick Clarke has talked with enough historians to know that when it comes to discussing American presidents, there is bound to be debate."If you want an argument, put two historians in a room. If you want a brawl, you just put a few more in there," said Clarke, executive direct......

Want your children to eat more fruit? Let them pick their own. Bring the family to Cherry Hill Orchards, where your kids can pluck buckets full of sweet cherries — and sample a few along the way. Cherry Hill, located in New Danville, has offered pick-your-own cherries for clo......

The best way to learn about history is firsthand, and that's what visitors to Ephrata Cloister got to do Saturday and Sunday through a special program entitled "Building History: Making and Saving Historic Architecture."The idea behind the program, said Michael Showalter, the......

BY DRIVING TO Kissel Hill Road in Lancaster, you can step back in time to 19th-century Lancaster County. At Landis Valley Museum, history comes alive, with demonstrations, tours and hands-on activities that highlight life for the Pennsylvania Dutch in the late 1800s. The museum began as......

For years, the historians and guides at the Ephrata Cloister have been telling visitors exactly who lived in those austere, Gothic buildings — and why. But this weekend, they will tell visitors how those buildings came to be, as the Cloister presents "Building History: Making and Savin......

Howard Peterman's hobby is a historian's dream.Peterman — who is celebrating his 100th birthday today in Elizabethtown, where he lives — has written columns for several small-town, northcentral Pennsylvania newspapers throughout his life.As late as age 95, Peterm......

The Memorial Day holiday is over, and while it was certainly a nice three-day weekend, I still didn't have time to do all the things I had hoped to do. For example, I never had the chance to fire up my grill.Barbecuing is a male rite of passage older even than Mike Wallace. It began eons a......

Donegal High School students received a history lesson Tuesday without ever opening a textbook. Instead, they learned about the Great Depression, the New Deal and early 20th century family life from residents of Hearthstone Manor of Mount Joy, an independent and assisted living community. ......

Lancaster Catholic High School sophomore Maggie Larkin took top honors at the state level of the National History Day competition. She will advance to the national competition in June. Larkin, 16, of Lancaster, earned Best Local History Entry in the senior division for her project titled &......

Lancaster Catholic High School sophomore Maggie Larkin has competed in National History Day competitions on the state level for the past four years.Last week, however, she scored her first win, which means she will advance to the national competition in June.Maggie, 16, of Lancaster......

First, it was the Wax Museum of Lancaster County History, built by the late Earl Clark as part of his 65-acre Route 30 East amusement park, Dutch Wonderland. Then, it was the Discover Lancaster County History Museum, part of the Dutch Wonderland Family Entertainment Complex, a subsidiary of Her......

Any chance you need a reproduction-quality cannon, a full-size stagecoach or wax figures?You're in luck.These are among the items being put up for auction starting at 11 a.m. this morning at Continental Inn. Jennings Auction Group LLC will auction the contents of the former Disc......

They're not the Greatest Generation, but they are an incredible simulation.The Lancaster County Historical Society will host its annual World War II encampment this weekend.More than 75 re-enactors representing both Allied and Axis soldiers and civilians will set up canvas tents and......

Consider city streets are like stars: Only imagination limits your sense of their farthest destination and the stops at several points along the way.A small booklet issued by the City of Lancaster provides a walking tour and description of little towns of the 18th century when the city'......

My daughter is a college student majoring in history, and she's taking a course on the Renaissance. The class has proven difficult.I had warned Sarah about this. As a college-trained historian myself, I knew the Renaissance was about as exciting as watching mud harden.Such courses h......

Kids can travel along the Pennsylvania Trail of History for free today.To raise awareness of the newly expanded Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, all historic sites administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission will admit two children free with the purchase ......

A retired United Methodist Church official who served at two county churches has been chosen as speaker for the 54th annual Good Friday Breakfast on Friday, April 6. Charles Yrigoyen Jr., retired general secretary of the United Methodist Church's General Commission on Archives and History, ......

Crispus Attucks Community Center sought to drum up interest among young people in African-American culture during Black History Month.And, on Friday, it was mainly children keeping the beat as the center hosted a program of African dance and drumming.The children, all participants i......

Leroy Hopkins "got tired of not seeing any brown or black faces" in historical photos printed in a Lancaster newspaper. So the Millersville University German professor and freelance historical researcher decided to describe some of those faces himself Tuesday at Thaddeus Stevens Colle......

If they kept pressuring, kept knocking on the door, they figured they would eventually break through. That’s what happened. Nikki Auker’s goal 1:24 into the first overtime lifted Warwick to a 2-1 win over Hempfield in the Lancaster-Lebanon League semifinals in Manheim Wednesday night. The d......

“We want to give the glory right back to God — that’s why we’re here today,” he told a crowd of thousands in Quarryville before launching into the song “Falling.”The applause for Unsearchable Riches was nice, but lead singer Jeremy Sorensen wasn’t hanging on to it.The applause for
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