Historic
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Historic 70-Foot Ferris Wheel Returns Home to Phoenixville
A historic 78-foot Ferris wheel, dubbed the Phoenix Wheel, is set to return home to Phoenixville next spring, reports the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce. The historic Phoenix Bridge Company, a subsidiary of Phoenix Iron Works, originally built the iron components to the wheel over a century ago. The wheel served as a popular attraction…
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Where the Revolution Lives Today: 5 Philadelphia Area Revolutionary War Sites to Visit This Winter (Plus a Bonus)
After spending a month living inside the stories and settings of the American Revolution and riding the excitement around Ken Burns’ new series (Now streaming for free for the next three weeks on PBS), it feels right to shift from watching history to walking through it. One of the remarkable things about living in Southeast…
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WSJ: Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia is America’s Smallest National Park
The Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia carries the often mispronounced name of the Polish-born Revolutionary War hero and military engineer and is also the nation’s tiniest national park, writes Scott Calvert for The Wall Street Journal. The onetime boarding house set on 0.2 acres belongs to a network of over 400 units in the…
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The Philadelphia Fort That Bought Washington’s Army Precious Time: The Heroic Stand at Fort Mifflin
If you’ve ever flown into Philadelphia from the New Jersey side, you’ve passed right over one of the most dramatic and least-known battles of the American Revolution. Fort Mifflin, now sitting directly beneath the landing pattern of jets heading into Philadelphia International Airport, looks quiet today. But in the fall of 1777, this muddy island…
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Mr. Bready Goes to Washington: How a 19th Century Bucks County Resident Is Remembered by a D.C. Suburb
Twenty-five miles west of downtown Washington D.C. sits small-town Herndon, Virginia. Within it is Bready Park, a recreational area with a surprising Bucks County tie. Barbara Glakas reported the connection for MSN. The park is named for Isaiah Bready (1830-1913), Herndon’s first politician. Bready was born in Bucks County, the grandson of a Revolutionary War…
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Why Benjamin Franklin Chose Philadelphia: How a Boston Childhood Led Him to America’s Greatest Colonial City
Benjamin Franklin’s story usually begins with the famous scenes: the lightning rod, the Pennsylvania Gazette, the founding of the American Philosophical Society, or the long table at the Second Continental Congress where he sparred with John Adams and later helped shape the Declaration of Independence. But the story really starts much earlier, in a cramped…
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Bristol Museum Reopens Victorian Holiday House with a New Theme
The Grundy Museum in Bristol is reopening the Victorian Holiday House on Friday, Nov. 21 with a “Toys & Tinsel” theme, reports PhillyVoice Media Events. Guests will be able to stroll through seven Christmas displays in the 19th-century home, complete with decor inspired by the Victorian Era. Antique toys from Troy Chinnici-Bianchi, a collector in Philadelphia, will be featured throughout the displays. …
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Bucks250PA Wins Grant to Develop Revolutionary Trail Across the County
To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, plans have been made to develop a Revolutionary Trail across Bucks County, which received a grant of $5,000 from America250PA, writes Jeff Werner for Patch. Bucks250PA will be using the funds to form a digital and printed map experience listing the county’s historical sites and sharing untold stories from the Revolution, while supporting heritage tourism. “Throughout 2026, Bucks250PA aspires to…
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Earlier Sunsets, Cooling Temperatures, Lengthening Shadows: It’s Time to Explore Haunted Bucks County
The Haunted Places website positions itself as a collection spot for creepy destinations across the nation. Given its history and storied background, it’s not surprising to find a few entries here in Bucks County. While most of these sites are commercial entities, one is a cemetery. So, a general reminder about respectful behavior — even…
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Washington Crossing Historic Park Celebrates Black Revolutionary War Reenactors
One of Bucks County’s most historically-significant areas is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting local actors they work with. Washington Crossing Historic Park, located in the namesake area of Washington Crossing, has become known in and out of the area for regularly hosting reenactments of famous battles related to the Revolutionary War. Recently, the park…
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Most Illustrations of Ben Franklin’s Philadelphia Kite Experiment Filled with Historical Inaccuracies
Most of the illustrations of Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment on the outskirts of Philadelphia are riddled with historical inaccuracies, writes Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica. According to a new report published in the journal Science and Education, those images are heavily influenced by Joseph Priestley’s 1767 account of the event, which is likely not the…
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WSJ: Bucks County American Revolutionary War Reenactor Shares Thoughts on the ‘Vibrant’ Movement
The numbers of American Revolutionary War reenactors have been dropping nationwide, as an older generation retires or dies out, writes Ken Wells for The Wall Street Journal. Younger recruits have been hard to come by due to endless distractions in the time of social media along with the cost since a full Revolutionary War soldier’s…
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Fort Mifflin is Being Threatened By Extreme Rain and Rising Tides
The survival of Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, which played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War and our nation’s founding, is now being threatened by climate change, writes Sophia Schmidt for WHYY. The military installation on the Delaware River was one of the local strongholds during the Revolutionary War. “Fort Mifflin was instrumental in forcing…
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George Washington’s Former Headquarters in Fort Washington Hits Market for $3.295M
A historic home in Fort Washington that was George Washington’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War has hit the market for $3.295 million, writes Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal. The residence, named Emlen House after the Quaker family that built it in 1717, spans almost 8,000 square feet and has recently undergone extensive renovations.…
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New Hope Home of Famed Woodworker and Architect in Need of Repairs
George Nakashima, the renowned woodworker and architect, relocated to New Hope from Washington after being held in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, writes JD Mullane for the Bucks County Courier Times. In the 1940s, Nakashima was hired by a fellow architect and friend, performing intense labor in exchange for a piece…
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How Philadelphia Became the Birthplace of American Independence
Why Philadelphia? When most people picture the American Revolution, they see muskets flashing in Boston, redcoats marching through New York, or Washington’s army crossing the Delaware River on that frozen Christmas night. But the true heart of the struggle, where ideas turned into action and independence took root, was right here in Philadelphia, a city…
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Was The Revolutionary War America’s First Civil War? You Decide
When Ken Burns sat down with Joe Rogan last month and called the American Revolution “our first civil war,” it caught a lot of people off-guard. The phrase stopped Rogan cold, and it’s been bouncing around ever since. Was Burns exaggerating for dramatic effect, or was he pointing out something we’ve missed all along about…
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Valley Forge Explained So a Fifth-Grader Could Understand: Cold, Courage, and a Comeback
Most of us have heard of Valley Forge, but not many people really understand what happened there, or why it mattered so much. It wasn’t a battle, and no famous victory was won in the snow. But the winter encampment at Valley Forge was one of the most important turning points of the American Revolution.…
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