Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

  Abraham Wolfe, First “Keep” of the Sea Girt Lighthouse The keepers assigned to Sea Girt Lighthouse were a colorful and diverse group. Major Abraham Wolf, a former Union Army major, was Sea Girt’s first keeper, posted in 1896. With a military bearing and a striking impression in his sharp uniform, coupled with a no-nonsense approach toward his duties, he served as one of the finest in the Lighthouse service. Wolfe served seven years at Sea Girt Lighthouse and by the end of his tenure was in his early 70s, making him the oldest keeper on active duty. Sea Girt Lighthouse is the last live-in lighthouse built on the Atlantic Coast. Being a lighthouse keeper was not a 9-to-5 job. It was anything but. A typical tour of duty began before dusk and continued well past dawn. The keeper tended to routine but essential duties, made repairs as needed, and was always prepared to respond to any emergency, including shipwrecks. And at any time, “It shall be the duty of light keepers and their ass...

President Barack Obama next month will award the Medal of Honor to two Vietnam soldiers and a Union Army lieutenant for his heroics during the historic Pickett's Charge assault at the Battle of Gettysburg, the White House announced Tuesday. Read more here . Photo from Wikipedia The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

HARRISBURG – A Smethport bridge will be named in honor of the Bucktail Regiment under legislation sponsored by Rep. Martin Causer (R-Turtlepoint) and approved by the General Assembly. House Bill 1929 designates the Route 6 bridge over Marvin Creek as the Bucktail Regiment Memorial Bridge. “The members of the Bucktail Regiment saw it as their duty and responsibility to serve and protect their country,” Causer said. “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to honor their dedicated service, which helped to make our country what it is today.” The Bucktail Regiment was a group of young recruits from Cameron, Elk, McKean and Tioga counties that rose to the defense of the Union following the bombing of Fort Sumter in April 1861. It was so named because its members adopted the tail of the whitetail buck as their badge of honor and adorned their caps with it. The 700 troops were mostly young woodsmen, lumberjacks, raftsmen, hunters and farmers. As part of the federal army, ...

Civil War cannons are cool – but not when one of them is being fired at your home. But neighbors of 52-year-old Brian Malta in the Chautauqua County Town of Kiantone says that’s exactly what he was doing. Sheriff’s deputies got a search warrant and found the cannon. Malta was charged with menacing and harassment and was sent to jail on $2,500 bail. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has co-authored three new Civil War books published this month. Two of the books, “A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House” and “The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson,” are part of the Emerging Civil War Series. They follow Mackowski’s first book in the series, “Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg,” released last December. The third book released in May is a longer hardcover, “Chancellorsville’s Forgotten Front: The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church.” All three books, co-authored with Mackowski’s longtime writing partner, Kristopher White, are available from publisher Savas Beatie LLC. The books in the Emerging Civil War Series are designed to be reader-friendly overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important battles and stories, with a focus on storytelling, Mackowski says. “The Civil War is America’s great story,”...

The Friends of Hanley Library will host alumnus and author Chris Mackowski to speak about his new book “Chancellorsville: Crossroads of Fire” at 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The talk will take place in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons and is co-sponsored by the McKean County Historical Society/Old Jail Museum. “Crossroads” recounts the events of the Battle of Chancellorsville, a major battle in the American Civil War frequently cited as Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory because the Southern army overcame odds of nearly three to one. The book also serves as a tour guide for the battlefield and is the latest book in a Civil War series that will be authored by Mackowski. Mackowski is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., and also works as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, w...

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has published a new book on the Civil War battle of Chancellorsville. “Chancellorsville: Crossroads of Fire” recounts the events of the May 1863 battle, frequently cited as Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s “greatest victory” because the Southern army overcame odds of nearly three to one. The book also serves as a tour guide for the battlefield. “There’s a lot that’s been written about the battle over the years, but not much has been written about the battlefield,” Mackowski says. “It was really a treat to be able to take readers behind the scenes and recount the history of the battlefield.” The book is designed so that readers can get an overview of the battlefield in a quick, easy-to-understand narrative, Mackowski explains. The book contains dozens of historical and contemporary photos and several original maps. “The books is something someone can pick up and read in an eveni...

The 2011-12 Prism Series at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford promises its audiences a musical medley of North American heritage: from Native American and early settler beginnings to the Civil War to reality TV fame. The university’s premier arts series will open the season with the return of The Barter Theatre in its performance of “Civil War Voices,” at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 in the Bromeley Family Theater in Blaisdell Hall. In 2010, Prism audiences enjoyed The Barter Theatre’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Ticket prices for the public are $30 and $26; costs for faculty, staff and alumni are $26 and $22; students pay $13 and $11. James R. Harris based his musical on the diaries and other writings of his great-great-uncle, a young couple separated by the war, a young professor who became a lieutenant, and a freed slave working as Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. The music arrangements by Mark Hayes include period songs such as “Dixie,” “The Yello...

Chris Mackowski, an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has had an article accepted for the upcoming issue of Blue & Gray magazine. “The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery at Harris Farm: The Hometown Press Reports Their Baptism of Fire” tells the account of a Maine regiment that saw its first action during the Civil War at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in May of 1864. The First Maine Heavy Artillery earned a place of infamy in Civil War history during the early days of the siege of Petersburg, Va. On June 18, 1864, the 900-man regiment charged across an open field of fire and sustained 67 percent casualties: 115 men killed, 489 wounded, and 28 missing — the highest casualty rate sustained by any unit in the army during the entire war, Mackowski’s article points out. But it was just outside Spotsylvania Courthouse that the unit first saw combat, just one month before the men made their ill-fated charge outside Petersburg. According...

HARRISBURG – The state American Legion praised the Pennsylvania Gaming Board’s decision yesterday to “protect the sanctity of the Gettysburg National Military Park” by denying a developer’s bid for a nearby casino. By a 6-1, the Gaming Board decided to award the license to another location, the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, in the southwestern part of the state. “Many Legionnaires, veterans and concerned Americans across the country did not want to see a casino built so close to the final resting place of so many heroes,” said Pennsylvania American Legion Commander Pete Wasco. “While many local residents supported the project, the battlefield has national significance. At the same time, people are understandably concerned about unemployment and other economic issues. The American Legion supports development in Adams County and other areas that need it. We just do not support development that would encroach upon that honored ground. We are not anti-casino. We are pro-veteran.” The projec...

For more go to CNN.com .

Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today helped to launch Pennsylvania’s observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the four-year struggle between northern and southern states that forever ended slavery in the United States. “The Civil War left an indelible mark on Pennsylvania, and the war could not have been won without the many sacrifices and contributions of its people,” Corbett said. “Nearly 338,000 Pennsylvanians fought and 33,000 died in the Civil War – a staggering number, especially when you consider Pennsylvania had fewer than 3 million residents when the war began.” Waged from 1861-65, the Civil War resulted in more than 623,000 deaths and left hundreds of thousands of people injured. The war erupted on April 12, 1861 in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor at the contested federal Fort Sumter. President Abraham Lincoln’s refusal to abandon the fort goaded impatient Confederates to open fire. Fought in July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg was considered a major turnin...

Harrisburg - The Pennsylvania State Archives will host a public open house in its newly renovated search room from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, April 18. The State Archives, housed in the iconic 18-story tower at Third and Forster streets in Harrisburg, preserves many of the key documents which tell Pennsylvania’s history. A selection of records will be on display, and staff will be available to answer questions. In conjunction with the Civil War’s 150th anniversary and the April 15 release of a new movie on the trial of the Lincoln assassins, “The Conspirator,” the open house will feature the 1865 letter book of Gen. John F. Hartranft. He oversaw the imprisonment and treatment of the co-conspirators, including Mary Surrat, the first woman executed by the U.S. government and a key character in the new movie. Hartranft later served as Pennsylvania’s governor from 1872 to 1879. The State Archives, part of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, collects, preserves, and makes a...