Gettysburg, PA – Mid-afternoon on July 1, 1863, a young seamstress named Virginia Mary “Jennie” Wade, along with her mother and two younger brothers, left her home in the center of Gettysburg to be with her oldest sister, who earlier that day endured a horrific childbirth, as Confederate soldiers marched on the 2,400-resident town.
The Confederacy’s push into Union territory was the first salvo of what would later be seen as the most decisive battle of America’s Civil War. For three days Gettysburg shook as nearly 94,000 Union and 72,000 Confederate troops slaughtered each other with bayonets and close-range… Continue Reading Tag Archives: Museums
The Unlucky Civilian
Gettysburg, PA – Mid-afternoon on July 1, 1863, a young seamstress named Virginia Mary “Jennie” Wade, along with her mother and two younger brothers, left her home in the center of Gettysburg to be with her oldest sister, who earlier that day endured a horrific childbirth, as Confederate soldiers marched on the 2,400-resident town.
The Confederacy’s push into Union territory was the first salvo of what would later be seen as the most decisive battle of America’s Civil War. For three days Gettysburg shook as nearly 94,000 Union and 72,000 Confederate troops slaughtered each other with bayonets and close-range… Continue Reading The World’s First Modern Prison
Fairmount, Philadelphia – Eastern State Penitentiary was conceived in 1787, in the living room of Benjamin Franklin, a leading member of the Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. The reformist group was appalled by conditions at the recently opened Walnut Street Jail, located behind Independence Hall, where guards sold liquor to inmates and often made women available. The reformers believed that a policy of strict solitary confinement would better encourage spiritual development.
In 1790, the society convinced Pennsylvania’s legislature to pass a series of prison reforms, including the construction of Eastern State Penitentiary. The prison opened in 1826.… Continue Reading Final Days in Philly
At last, April is here, which, for me, means shoring up life’s odds and ends in preparation for another journey around America. Namely, this entails getting Purple Thunder, my trusty Ford E-150 Conversion Van, in proper working order. Those that follow this blog regularly will recall the electrical mishaps that put a wrinkly in an otherwise spectacular adventure last summer. While that issue is resolved, Purple Thunder is currently experiencing what I think is an air flow or timing problem. No biggie. I’m taking her in next week for routine maintenance and will have Ernie look into it. Not long… Continue Reading
Turning Bones into Art
A few Sundays ago, I was at Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum viewing the Hyrtl Skull Collection, an ensemble of multi-ethnic craniums collected from throughout Central and Eastern Europe by Dr. Josef Hyrtl during the early 1800s. Hyrtl, a professor of anatomy at the University of Prague, believed that racial and intellectual traits could be determined by studying the cranial bone structures of various groups. The museum acquired Hyrtl’s 139 skulls, along with thirty-six placentas and six sets of genitals, in 1875.
Beneath each skull is a brief bio of its time as a living thing, including name, country, profession and… Continue Reading 
Nebraska Gothic