It’s Good to Come Home….

The laundry is done, house cleaned, yard fertilized, dogs bathed, and children fed. In other words, life is back to normal. It is good to be home. 
Arriving home was a daunting task at best. We descended upon the cheerful and clean Philadelphia Airport around 2:00, experienced three hours’ wait on the runway, and finally touched [...]

Gettysburg

The final day of the trip was to Gettysburg, PA. Our first stop was to the farmhouse of the 
author of Gettysburg Gospel, Gabor Boritt. He was such an interesting person to listen to as we sat under the lush trees near his peaceful pond. Boritt immigrated to the United States from Hungary when he was [...]

Winterthur, Delaware

Today we took a drive to the beautiful grounds of Winterthur Estate in Delaware. It was the 125 room mansion on 2,500 acres of Henry Francis du Pont who was a collector of American material arts pieces. Today the grounds comprise 982 acres full of amazingly gorgeous gardens. We had a lecture this morning on the [...]

Speakers and Tours

This morning we had presentations by two esteemed speakers at College Hall here on the campus of Penn. The first was a “lively” speaker who spoke about Benjamin Franklin and his attitudes/behaviors towards slavery. I found it interesting that he pointed out that Franklin was a runaway indentured servant. I knew he ran away, but [...]

Artifact Day!

Today we visited the American Philosophical Society which is a scholarly organization of over 900 members who own three buildings. The society was founded by Benjamin Franklin, and holds many of his personal items. They also have a “mammoth” library collection encompassing American history and physical and natural history. Just the lobby area of the building [...]

Amish Country

What a wonderful, fabulous day I had today! I was in total culture shock today and loved the learning!
I must admit that before our visit today I had no idea what to expect in Lancaster County, PA. I think the picture in my mind was like a little Disneyized version of an Amish village set [...]

Philadelphia Museum of Art

 
 
Thank the holy lord above that today was better! We had a late start and then off to the museum. Because of the late start I got to sleep in and do laundry – the whole world looked better because of this. This day was waaaaaaaay better than I had anticipated. Last year in Boston we [...]

Ticks, heat and humidity. Yipee-dee…..

It was so hot today. Like Raiders of the Lost Ark face melting scene hot. Like wicked witch shrieking, “I’m melting, I’m melting!” Like Fools Rush In “The white people are melting.” Like grabbing a gun and tempting, “Go ahead. Make my day.” because I’m so crabby from the heat. I hated it. I’m at [...]

Fun Friday with Franklin

There is only one subject that I like as much as history, and that’s science. Today’s visit to the Franklin Institute was the perfect combination of my two favorite subjects.
Today’s historical highlights were the exhibit of the inventions of Benjamin Franklin from a scientific background and the behind-the-scenes presentation. Later in the day we got a [...]

The Amazing Constitution Center

We had a fabulous day at the National Constitution Center located adjacent to the Liberty Bell and Independence Park. This is a wonderful private facility located on public land which commemorates the creation of the Constitution, but also examines the ways in which this is a fluid, changing document.
The bulk of our morning was spent [...]

Wet, Wet Wednesday

We traveled to Princeton, New Jersey today in the warm, thick East Coast rain. This area was a lush green and very beautiful. The thick fog and drizzle really added to the atmosphere even if it was uncomfortable during parts of the day.
Our first destination was the 85 acre Princeton Battlefield State Park where Washington won [...]

History Nerds on the Move….

Today we visited what is perhaps the most famous military encampment area in the United States, Valley Forge. This was the location that Washington’s Army spent the winter at in 1777. Washington chose this location because it was close enough to observe the British troops in Philadelphia, but far away enough to prevent a surprise [...]

Holy cow, am I ever tired!!!

Today was our first day of touring, and boy was it packed. I woke up at 4:45 (I get way too excited).
We began at Independence Square. As far as I am concerned Independence Hall is THE landmark sight to see regarding Revolutionary America. In this building the Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution [...]

Some musings on grant classes

As I sat in the colloquium this weekend I began to think what an amazing amount of knowledge I’ve gained over the last couple of years while participating in the grant classes. When I began taking these classes I knew relatively little about early American History. Boy, has that ever changed!
I know that the goal [...]