My wife and I visit Pennsbury Manor with some frequency. We find this reconstructed Summer estate of William Penn to be a wonderful way to spend a few hours. The Manor hosts several programs throughout the year, and we try to attend as many as we can. On these tours we’ve gotten to explore how…
Tag: History
Lady Liberty
I have long wanted to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Yesterday, I did. Ellis Island, in particular, fascinates me. The factory-like way between 5 and 10 thousand immigrants a day 1 seems rather dehumanizing. People were checked for anything which might cause them to become a public burden. As unsettling as the…
Princeton Battlefield
Princeton Battlefield park is a relatively small area commemorating the Continental Army’s bold decision to secretly move around a British column of 8000 Regulars and attack their rear. The battle was relatively short, but fierce, and the Continental victory forced the British to cede the bulk of The Jersey’s to the Patriots. It’s a key…
Independence Day
Today in the United States we celebrate Independence Day, the day we mark our declared Independence from the British Empire. In actuality, our day of celebration is actually slated two days after the initial vote for independence. Some folks even enjoy poking fun at John Adams who, in a letter to his wife penned on July 3,…
Context is key
I didn’t get a chance to do so, but I wanted to take one of the police officers aside yesterday and ask how weird to felt to sit back and allow people to have a firefight1 right in front of them. They were good folks, and managed the crowd well, even when they had to…
Nerding, historically
Today my wife volunteered to help host the open house at the Indian King Tavern. It’s an important site for New Jersey history in Haddonfield. When the Patriot legislature fled Northern Jersey for the South, it met in it’s long room. In that space it adopted the seal for the newly organized state and formally…
