On my recent trip to Pennsylvania, I also visited two sites in the Allentown area. The first was Trout Hall, the city’s oldest house, built in 1770 as a summer home for James Allen, son of Allentown’s founder, William Allen. Allen was a loyalist during the Revolutionary War, which led to a lot of trouble for him, as you can imagine. There’s a pdf document online with more info about the house. On the tour, visitors can hear all about Allen and his travails and also visit the modern Lehigh County Historical Society museum next door. The house had to be restored because it was later part of Muhlenberg College and got attached to other structures that were later demolished. › Continue reading…
After visiting Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh, I went down to see the nearby headquarters, used during the same period by General Henry Knox, Washington’s Chief of Artillery. Like Washington’s HQ, it’s also a state historic site, located in New Windsor/Vails Gate. Due to limited time and an arrival off the regular tour time, I had a quick walkthrough tour of the house, which like Washington’s Headquarters, is arranged as it would have been when the general was there, including quarters where his staff would have stayed. In addition to Knox, the house was also used earlier during the Revolutionary War by Generals Nathanael Greene and Horatio Gates. The house was built in 1754 by John Ellison, who was involved in the milling trade. The Ellison House is interesting for having two facades, one side (above) being English Georgian style, the other (below, after the jump) being Dutch colonial. › Continue reading…
After the Battle of Yorktown, Washington spent over sixteen months (April 1, 1782 to August 19, 1783) at his headquarters in Newburgh, NY. He was even joined there by his wife Martha. The house he used had been built by Jonathan Hasbrouck in 1750 and had two enlargements before it was completed in 1770. The house was also altered inside in preparation for Washington’s arrival. The property is the earliest publicly operated historic site in the United States, having been acquired by the State of New York in 1850. I went on a tour of this house while on my way to my most recent trip to Pennsylvania. I was interested to see that the home, as a colonial Dutch farmhouse, had three “Dutch Jambless” (sideless) fireplaces. Although the major fighting of the Revolutionary War had ended with the Yorktown victory, many momentous events occurred while Washington was based in Newburgh, until the war officially ended in 1783. The Hasbrouck House has Washington’s original desk, on which he wrote several important letters and addresses. I also learned that the house in New Windsor that Washington used before Yorktown (and from which he left to meet Rochambeau at the Webb House in Wethersfield, CT) no longer exists. Also on the property is a museum (1910) and a monument called the Tower of Victory (1890). The site has great views of the Hudson River. › Continue reading…
On my most recent trip to Pennsylvania, I visited several historic places, including the town of Jim Thorpe. Originally called Mauch Chunk, the borough became a railroad and coal-shipping center in the nineteenth century and is notable for its many Victorian-era buildings. The boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged in 1953, hoping top attract tourism by taking the name of the Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe. I toured the Asa Packer Mansion and took pictures in town. › Continue reading…
St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church (1932), N Nicholas St.
My great-grandparents came from the Carpatho-Rusyn area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Ukraine) and came to St Clair, Pennsylvania. Carpatho-Rusyns are generally Eastern Catholics whose churches use the Byzantine Rite. Yesterday, I took pictures of five Byzantine Rite parish churches in St Clair. Some of these are Eastern Orthodox churches and others are Greek Catholic churches.
St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church (1932), N Nicholas St.