Culture
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The Revolutionary War’s Tide Turned in Bucks County. Washington’s Crossing Changed Everything
By the last week of December 1776, a full year before the winter encampment in Valley Forge, the fields and riverbanks of Bucks County felt as cold and uncertain as the fate of the Revolution itself. After defeats in New York City and a desperate retreat across New Jersey, George Washington and the Continental Army…
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Exton Man, Gene Delaplane, Digs Up the Past at the Oldest Home Still Standing in Berks County
Exton resident Gene Delaplane, a former history teacher and the president of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology’s local chapter, is among a group of volunteers who are working at the oldest house in Berks County to uncover remnants of everyday life in the 1700s, writes Susan Miers Smith for the Daily Local News. Sewing pins…
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Lancaster Art Vault: A Vibrant Creative Hub Breathing More Life Into Downtown
Just steps from Lancaster’s Gallery Row and the convention center, a once-quiet corner at Orange and Queen Streets now pulses with creativity. The Lancaster Art Vault, a 15,000-square-foot gallery and artist studio collective located at 100 North Queen Street in the heart of downtown Lancaster, has rapidly become one of the city’s standout arts destinations…
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Was The Revolutionary War America’s First Civil War? You Decide
When Ken Burns sat down with Joe Rogan last month and called the American Revolution “our first civil war,” it caught a lot of people off-guard. The phrase stopped Rogan cold, and it’s been bouncing around ever since. Was Burns exaggerating for dramatic effect, or was he pointing out something we’ve missed all along about…
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Ridley Creek State Park Street Named for Revolutionary War Traitor
A street in Ridley Creek State Park is named for a controversial Revolutionary War figure who was later hanged as a traitor, reports Joseph A. Gambardello for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sandy Flash Drive in Ridley Creek State Park is named for James Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick, from a farm in Marlborough Township, joined a Pennsylvania militia after…
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Valley Forge Explained So a Fifth-Grader Could Understand: Cold, Courage, and a Comeback
Most of us have heard of Valley Forge, but not many people really understand what happened there, or why it mattered so much. It wasn’t a battle, and no famous victory was won in the snow. But the winter encampment at Valley Forge was one of the most important turning points of the American Revolution.…
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This Philly Rapper Term, Turned Viral By Gen Alpha, is Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year
Dictionary.com has announced its 2025 word of the year and it’s a slang term that has become popularized by the youngest generation, writes Ella Feldman for Smithsonian Magazine. The term “67,” or “six-seven,” is the 2025 word of the year. The slang term, which has become popularized by children and teenagers, is quite an interesting…
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Ken Burns’ Delaware Valley Roots: How His Mother’s Battle with Cancer Forged a Passion for Storytelling
Before Ken Burns became the United States’ most admired documentary filmmaker, he was a quiet boy growing up in Newark, Delaware, the son of a University of Delaware professor and a mother whose long struggle with breast cancer defined his childhood. Long before The Civil War, Brooklyn Bridge, Vietnam War, or Mark Twain cemented his…
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For 33 Years, He’s Crossed the Delaware With George Washington
John B. Kelly of Drexel Hill likes to time travel back to Colonial America for Christmas. A 1776 Christmas, to be specific, writes Maria Pownall for the Daily Times. The 71-year-old has joined an annual tradition in the reenactment of George Washington’s Revolutionary War crossing of the Delaware River. Kelly is a historical actor who…
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Newly Discovered Original of Betsy Ross’s Husband’s Diary Confirms ‘Profound Sacrifices’ Flagmaker and Her Family Made to Create United States
The original diary of John Claypoole, the third husband of Betsy Ross, the seamstress often credited as the maker of the first American flag, has recently been found, writes Natalie Pompilio for The Washington Post. The 240-year-old record details the John Claypoole capture by the British as a prisoner of war and being charged with…
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Untangling a Revolution: How Ken Burns and His Team Brought America’s Revolution to Life
Everyone thinks they know the story of the American Revolution including the midnight rides, the musket smoke, George Washington at Valley Forge. But filmmaker Ken Burns saw something deeper waiting beneath the marble myths. In his new documentary series The American Revolution, premiering this month on WHYY, Burns and longtime collaborators Sarah Botstein and David…
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This Couple Has Biked Through 49 States but Always Returns to Greater Philadelphia’s Circuit Trails Network
Fresh off a 622-mile cycling trip through Portugal, Manny and Marsha Menendez are already back riding on the trails — this time, their route is much closer to home. Having pedaled through 49 of the 50 states, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand, they have logged thousands of miles, yet they remain loyal riders of our…
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The Revolution Happened Here: 10 Philadelphia Area Battles That Shaped the Fight for Independence
Before the world called it the American Revolution, it began right here along the Delaware River, across the rolling farms of Chester County, and in the cobblestoned streets of Philadelphia. From Brandywine River to Germantown, the British Army and General Washington’s American forces fought for control of a region that would determine the fate of…
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Ardmore’s Raab Collection Selling George Washington’s 1777 Letter
The Raab Collection in Ardmore is offering a 1777 letter written by George Washington in Morristown, New Jersey, for $150,000, writes Rob Jennings for Military.com. Despite a recent defeat, the commander of the Continental Army penned an optimistic letter on the possibility of winning the Revolutionary War. Washington wrote that the strong resistance during the…
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Roundhouse Reimagined Offers Ideas on Repurposing Former Police Administration Building
The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and Docomomo US/Greater Philadelphia recently partnered to host Roundhouse Reimagined, a half-day symposium showcasing responses to a call for concepts for the former Police Administration Building, known as the Roundhouse, writes Kimberly Haas for Hidden City. “The idea of the symposium is to shine a spotlight on the building,…
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The Overriding Importance of the Battle of Brandywine Is the Marquis Lafayette
By Bruce Mowday The Sept. 11, 1777, Battle of Brandywine is a historic event of enormous importance to the United States that has been ignored or at least overlooked, for many years. For sure, from a military standpoint, the battle was a total disaster for the rebel army of George Washington. There is little wonder…
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Across All 6 Episodes, Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Take Center Stage in Ken Burns’ The American Revolution
The Revolution that changed the world was born right here in the Delaware Valley, in the muddy crossroads of Chester County, the meeting houses of Germantown, and the narrow streets of Philadelphia. This month, PBS premieres The American Revolution, a sweeping six-part, 12-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, and written…
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Revolutionary November: PBS Docuseries Brings The Revolution Home to Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley
Before the world called it the American Revolution, the fight for independence began right here, in the fields, taverns, meeting houses, and muddy crossroads of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. The ideas that lit the world on fire were born on our streets, debated in our pubs, and signed in our halls. This month, as…
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