Historic
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Chester County Reenactors Ready Their for Busiest Year Yet as America250 Kicks Into High Gear
When Randell Spackman steps onto his Thornbury Township farm, he’s standing on hallowed ground. The Battle of Brandywine was fought largely in what is now his backyard, and 249 years later, that history is anything but distant. As America250 celebrations ramp up across the region, Spackman is among the Revolutionary War reenactors preparing for one of their busiest years ever, writes…
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How Levittown’s Home Construction Method Transformed Homeownership After World War II
A simple slab of concrete helped reshape the American Dream, and its origins trace back to Bucks County, writes staff for PhillyBurbs. After World War II, millions of veterans came home to a country without enough housing. Levittown planner and builder Bill Levitt had a solution, and it started from the ground up. Rather than…
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How New Hope Became, and Stayed, One of America’s Greatest Art Towns
Walk through New Hope on any weekend and you feel it before you can explain it. Something about the place hums. Galleries tucked into 18th-century storefronts. Live music spilling out of open doors. Theater companies, sculptors, photographers, and painters all sharing the same few walkable blocks along the Delaware. What most visitors do not know…
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Bucks County is Home to Five Castles. Read to Learn Where They Are and How to Enjoy Your Visit
Bucks County is home to five castles, with a sixth one just outside of the county, and locals and visitors can now learn where they all are. Staff writers from Visit Bucks County wrote about the local castles. Fonthill Castle in Doylestown is Henry Chapman Mercer’s former home. It features 44 rooms, over 6,000 books,…
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Paranormal Playthings: Levittown Supernatural Expert Curates Haunted Doll Collection
Mary Jo Chudley a Levittown paranormal expert has strong connections to the spirit world, including in playthings of the past. James McGinnis, of the Bucks County Courier Times, reported her ownership of haunted dolls. Chudley purchased one doll and brought it home. Soon after, lights inexplicably flickered, doors slammed, and she felt ill, leading her…
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How Philadelphia’s John Fitch Launched America’s First Steamboat on the Delaware River in 1787
Long before Robert Fulton became a household name, a lesser-known inventor was already churning up the Delaware River. In 1787, John Fitch launched what is widely recognized as America’s first functioning passenger and freight steamboat right here in Philadelphia, writes Violet Comber-Wilen for Billy Penn at WHYY. His original 45-foot vessel was a radical idea…
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“Make a Left at the Airplane”: The Story Behind Penndel’s Most Iconic Landmark
For decades, one phrase instantly told people they were in Lower Bucks County: “Make a left at the airplane.” Long before GPS, nearly everybody knew exactly what that meant. The Airplane Family Restaurant and Diner in Penndel was one of Bucks County’s most unforgettable landmarks. Sitting at the corner of Route 1 and Durham Road,…
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Bucks County Hotel, in Operation for Over 300 Years, Hits the Market
One of Bucks County’s most well-known hotels has hit the market, and sellers are asking a hefty price for the old estate. JD Mullane wrote about the estate for Yahoo! Sports. The Langhorne Hotel, one of the oldest continuously operated inns in Bucks County, has hit the market for $2.5 million, This historic inn has…
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Pennsylvania’s Other 250-Year-Old Document Deserves Its Own Celebration
As we reach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is natural to focus on that world-changing document. However, the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, written in that same era, deserves just as much attention. While the U.S. Constitution is more famous, Pennsylvania’s original state constitution was actually older and, in several key ways,…
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Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition 1876: The World’s Fair That Changed Everything
Philadelphia played a defining role in the history of world fairs by hosting the Centennial Exposition, the first official world’s fair in the United States, writes Heidi Mitchell for The Wall Street Journal. Held in 1876 in Fairmount Park to celebrate the nation’s 100th anniversary, the exposition introduced millions of visitors to emerging technologies and…
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Philadelphia Historic Register Eyes Chinatown Factory That Revolutionized American Cosmetics
The former Tetlow Manufacturing Company building in Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood could soon earn a place on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, writes Aaron Moselle for WHYY. Located at 10th and Cherry streets, the five-story factory became home to the cosmetics company in the 1880s and is now being considered for historic designation because of…
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Newtown Man Who Wrote Hundreds of Pen-Pal Letters to WWII Soldiers Honored 75 Years Later
More than 75 years after his death, a Newtown resident who quietly kept hundreds of soldiers connected to home during World War II was honored at his graveside, finally recognized as the “home front hero” he always was, reports Siafa Lewis for CBS Philadelphia. John Janney never wore a uniform or carried a rifle. Instead,…
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New Interactive Map Puts Bucks County’s Revolutionary War History on the Trail
Bucks County has launched a new interactive map showcasing the region’s deep ties to the Revolutionary War, just as the nation gears up for America’s 250th anniversary, writes Emily Neil for WHYY. The Revolutionary War Trail map pinpoints more than a dozen historic sites across the county connected to the founding of the United States,…
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This Covered Bridge in Solebury Township Is One of Bucks County’s Most Photographed and Most Haunted Spots
Not every landmark in Bucks County comes with a ghost story. The Van Sandt Covered Bridge does. Built in 1875 in Solebury Township, the bridge spans Pidcock Creek using a Town truss design, the signature lattice framework that made Pennsylvania’s covered bridges both sturdy and distinctive. At roughly 86 feet long, it was built for…
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Historic Rock Ford Leads Lancaster’s Role as an America250 Epicenter
As the nation gears up to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, one historic site in Lancaster is stepping into the spotlight as a key “epicenter” of the celebration: Historic Rock Ford. Tucked just beyond downtown and surrounded by the natural beauty of Lancaster County Central Park, Historic Rock Ford is more than a…
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Rare Ben Franklin Memorabilia, Recently Displayed At Library Company of Philadelphia, To Be Auctioned in June
Dozens of memorabilia that once belonged to Benjamin Franklin are soon going up for auction, writes Earl Hopkins for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Franklin memorabilia belongs to former Philadelphia Flyers president Jay T. Snider, who purchased them nearly a decade ago. Among the items being put up for auction is a letter Franklin wrote in…
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This Montgomery County Home Watched the Revolution Unfold. Now It’s Inviting You Inside.
One of Montgomery County’s most storied landmarks is open and waiting to take you back in time. Historic Hope Lodge in Fort Washington has been welcoming visitors to its colonial-era halls for years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Built between 1743 and 1748, the home was originally the residence of Quaker Samuel…
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Mother’s Day Has Local Roots. Get to Know the Woman Who Invented It, and Why She Hated It
Historian Taylor Schmalz is reminding all of us this Mother’s Day of the woman who started the holiday over a century ago and later despised what it became. But she’s painting its founder in a brighter light, writes Elizabeth Wellington for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Schmalz is a director at Historic St. George’s Museum and Archives,…
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