The Pennsylvania countryside In my personal collection of books, there are numerous works of fiction involving alternative histories of the country with many of them set around a different outcome of Pennsylvania’s most famous battle – Gettysburg. What would have happened if the Confederacy would have won at Gettysburg is a subject numerous authors have … Continue reading The Pennsylvania That Could Have Been
Grave of Conrad Richter Passing through the gap in the Blue Mountain, the GPS informed me I was arriving at my exit. Happy to be off the busy interstate 81, I drove southward into the community of Pine Grove. The overwhelming feeling of small-town America filled me with a sense of pride as flags fluttered … Continue reading Conrad Richter
Marker near intersection of Marinnier Street and Lincoln Drive, Hometown I arrived in Hometown – yes, the name of the community is Hometown – in search of a simple marker telling of an event that happened there in the summer of 1938. After making a couple of wrong turns and detours, I finally saw the … Continue reading Unsolved: The Amber Lantern Massacre
Grave of James "Jimmy" Dorsey A trip through Pennsylvania’s coal country found me in the small community of Shenandoah Heights, on the northern edge the town of Shenandoah. The narrow street was lined with row houses and I definitely felt like an outsider as every person seemed to turn and watch as I passed. As … Continue reading The Big Band Sound of Jimmy Dorsey
Fog covered the mountaintops as Mike and I made our way southward towards the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in northern Berks County. Although we both knew finding any birds, raptors or otherwise, was nearly impossible due to the fog and rain, we were not about to let the bad weather keep us from our goal. Between … Continue reading Unsolved: The Ghost of Gordon Mountain
It was almost the perfect day to remember someone whose life was brutally cut down by an assassin's bullet. Though the sun was shining, it did little to warm the coldness lingering in the air as I pulled my jacket tighter, wishing I had worn a heavier coat on this walk. The silence was broken … Continue reading The Peddler’s Grave
The Pennsylvania Rambler 