Keeping warm - colonial style
January 01 , 2015 Filed in: Business | Stroud Mansion
Nowadays, when one walks into a chilly room, it’s easy to take for granted that with a simple push of a button or a turn of a dial on the thermostat, the room will warm in a matter of moments. Prior to 20th and 21st Century conveniences, all homes were kept warm by burning wood (or maybe coal) in fireplaces. Chopped and seasoned logs placed on a burning fire were the only source of heat for our ancestors. If you’ve ever cut firewood with a chainsaw and split it with a gas-powered splitter, you know how much work preparing for winter can be. Needless to say, it took quite a bit more time and energy to prepare firewood to heat a room 200+ years ago when hand saws and axes were an individual’s only tools. Read More...
Fort Penn played important role in local history
February 02 , 2013 Filed in: Forts | Native Americans | The Strouds | Stroudsburg | Revolutionary War
In 1775, Jacob Stroud, a military veteran of the French and Indian War, was placed in charge of the Lower Smithfield Military Company. He began this post at the rank of captain and was ultimately promoted to colonel. One year later, Stroud was ordered by the executive council to build a stockade around his stone home. This fortified structure, which became part of Jacob Stroud’s command, was called Fort Penn. Read More...
Monroe County’s frontier forts: Fort Norris
Fort Norris was located in the western reaches of what is now Monroe County, and was named for Isaac Norris, a prominent Philadelphia Quaker who served as speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and was later known as the man who commissioned the Liberty Bell. Read More...
Benjamin Franklin and his tie to Monroe County’s frontier forts
In 1755, the Pennsylvania Assembly put Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton in charge of creating a chain of forts along the Blue Mountains to protect citizens against attacks from native Americans. Franklin traveled to Bethlehem on December 18, 1755, to oversee the creation of these forts. The first to be built in the area now known as Monroe County was Fort Hamilton. Read More...