All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 3

Photography pioneer William Rau was tapped to be a photographer for the 1874 worldwide evaluation of the Transit of Venus, but most people involved in that venture would admit that photography was useless in capturing new information. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 2

Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson was a popular author whose work “Familiar Astronomy” was the best-selling astronomy textbook in the 19th century. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 1

One of America’s Founding Fathers David Rittenhouse was recognized in the colonies as being not only the finest astronomer in the land, but the finest builder of delicate, accurate astronomical equipment. 

Man has been fascinated by the sky for as long as he has walked on earth.  Star gazing has been the hobby – and the profession – of millions of people from around the world. 

• One of America’s Founding Fathers David Rittenhouse was recognized in the colonies as being not only the finest astronomer in the land, but the finest builder of delicate, accurate astronomical equipment.

Biographical Bytes from Bala #021

The first American railroads were built with the blood, tears and sweat of Irish immigrants.  An estimated 50,000 died in the process. 

In the 3-mph world of 1832, 57 fresh-off-the-boat Irishmen were hired by their countryman Philip Duffy.  They were taken to live in a shantytown and work at mile 59 of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, which is now part of SEPTA’s R5 Main Line.  Cholera arrived a short time later and within a few weeks all of Duffy’s workers were dead and secretly buried near the Main Line, although ghostly sightings were reported by locals. 

180 years later, through the tenacity of two brothers, some of their remains were recovered and identified and relocated to a plot near the gate at Laurel Hill West.  Some of the recovered skulls showed evidence of severe trauma.  What happened to the Duffy’s Cut 57? 

ABC #051 - Part 4

LT James Hansell French was killed in the San Mateo Mountains of New Mexico territory in 1880 as the Buffalo Soldier troops under his command pursued the great Apache chief Victorio and his warriors. 

ABC #051 - Part 5

Jonathan Williams Biddle, whose father Henry Biddle had been killed in the Civil War, lost his life in the Battle of Bear Paw, also in Montana, in 1877 against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. 

ABC #051 - Part 3

Benjamin Hubert Hodgson was killed during the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana against Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors – historian and fellow Laurel Hill tour guide Thomas Keels tells his story. 

ABC #051 - Part 2

George Montgomery Harris died of wounds that he received in the Lava Beds of northern California while battling Captain Jack and the Modoc tribe in 1873. 

ABC #051 - Part 1

Indigenous peoples had been part of the Philadelphia landscape since the pre-Colonial days.  Their dealings with William Penn and his family left them wondering.