Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania was one of the original thirteen colonies and became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution on December 12, 1787. Known as the Keystone State, it has Harrisburg as its capital and Philadelphia as its largest city. Its geography includes the Delaware River Valley, the Appalachian and Allegheny mountains, extensive farmland, and a short shoreline along Lake Erie.
Founded by William Penn in 1681, Pennsylvania became known for religious tolerance and representative government. Philadelphia served as the meeting place of the Continental Congress, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 and the United States Constitution was written in 1787. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, coal, iron, steel, railroads, and manufacturing made Pennsylvania one of the nation’s most important industrial states.
Recent Articles
The Assembly Room at Independence Hall
Inside Independence Hall, green-covered tables and wooden chairs mark the setting where delegates debated two defining documents of American history: the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. The Assembly Room began as a meeting place for Pennsylvania’s colonial legislature before becoming a center of revolutionary government. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress gathered […]
The National Memorial Arch
At Valley Forge, a monumental stone arch honors George Washington and the Continental Army during the winter encampment of 1777–1778. Its scale gives a lasting public presence to an experience remembered for hardship, endurance, and the work of sustaining an army through the struggle for independence. Washington’s troops arrived at Valley Forge on December 19, […]
The Liberty Bell
During our family visit to Philadelphia, we stopped to see the Liberty Bell, one of the most recognizable symbols of American freedom. For Erin, it was an opportunity to encounter an actual object connected with the history she was learning. Its size, inscription, and distinctive crack gave us a starting point for exploring how an […]
Leaman’s Place Covered Bridge
Leaman’s Place Covered Bridge carries a narrow country road across Pequea Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Officially designated Pequea Bridge No. 4, it is also known as Eshelman’s Mill Covered Bridge and Paradise Bridge. Its location near farmland and small rural communities reflects the transportation network that once connected farms, mills and markets throughout the […]
Alexander Johnston Cassatt
Among the objects preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a bronze statue of Alexander Johnston Cassatt, the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Cassatt led the company from 1899 until his death in 1906, during a period when the railroad was one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the United States. […]
Arch Street Friends Meeting House
While visiting Philadelphia, I toured the Arch Street Friends Meeting House at Fourth and Arch Streets. It is one of the city’s most important surviving Quaker landmarks and remains an active place of worship more than two centuries after it was constructed. Quaker history is deeply connected to both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. William Penn, who […]
Benjamin Franklin, Craftsman
I like to think of Benjamin Franklin as a Bostonian. He was born in Boston in 1706, attended Boston Latin School and learned the printing trade in his brother’s shop. Yet it was Philadelphia, the city to which he moved as a young man, that became his adopted home and the place where he is […]
Odd Fellows
As we traveled through Lancaster County, PA, a simple bench caught my attention. I took this photo to remind myself to explore the Odd Fellows. Who were the Odd Fellows, why such an unusual name? My curiosity led me to explore more. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is one of the oldest fraternal benefit […]
The Good Humor Truck
During our trip to Lancaster County Pennsylvania this summer, we rode the historic train in Strasburg. As part of their railroad grounds exhibition, was a Good Humor ice cream truck. It stood there as if it had rolled out of our 1950s neighborhood. The story of the Good Humor truck begins in Youngstown, Ohio […]
Leaded Gasoline
Curiosity is what drives exploration and it’s the spark that makes me stop, look around, and ask questions. If you’ve ever wondered about something as ordinary as the leaded gas pump, you’re touching on a fascinating (and troubling) piece of 20th-century history. In 1921, General Motors discovered adding lead to gasoline eliminated “knocking” and by […]
