LancasterHistory

What a wonderful day for a stroll through the Tanger Arboretum!

Our groundskeepers have helped usher in a new season of beauty and blooms, and our campus is looking especially vibrant. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and honeybees are flitting about blooming lilacs and along the shaded pathways. Across the Wheatland lawn, towering trees echo with the songs of cardinals and the steady drumming of woodpeckers.

The Tanger Arboretum is free to visit and open daily from dawn until dusk. Leashed dogs are welcome! Come take a walk, enjoy the season, and experience another side of LancasterHistory

On Thursday, May 28, LancasterHistory will welcome Penn State University Professor Dr. John R. Haddad to discuss "Thrill Ride: The Transformation of Hersheypark." Dr. Haddad will explore how Hersheypark transformed from an old-fashioned amusement park into a modern entertainment complex modeled after Disneyland, answering the question of when and how the park discovered its magic formula of thrill rides and chocolate theming.

A reception will precede the lecture at 5pm, followed by the main event at 5:30pm. The lecture will be available via livestream but will not be publicly available after the event concludes. This lecture is free and open to the public. In-person attendance requires advance registration in order to guarantee a seat. Virtual attendance requires advance registration in order to receive the Zoom link. To register for this event, please click the link in our bio, or call 717.392.4633 to register over the phone.

Have you taken a DNA test and want to use it to grow your family tree? This is the workshop for you! Join genealogist Donna Backus on Saturday, May 23, 10am–12pm at LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center for "Make Sense of Your DNA Matches: A Genealogy Workshop." Participants will learn to identify unknown matches, recognize matches already in their tree, add matches to their family tree, and sort and group DNA results. Register here https://buff.ly/oaXtj4j or call 717-392-4633. Please have already taken a DNA test, preferably through Ancestry.com.

Join LancasterHistory for the special guided tour, Harriet Lane: America's Fair First Lady of the Land, on Saturday, May 9, with tours from 10am-3pm. Harriet Lane was the first hostess of the White House to be publicly referred to as the “First Lady.” Although she was not the president's wife, she flourished in the role and helped define it for future First Ladies. In celebration of Harriet Lane's 196th birthday, visitors will explore Harriet Lane’s life from her childhood with her uncle James Buchanan and her role in the White House, to the personal losses she endured and the legacy she left behind. To register, please visit https://buff.ly/Ayu41ds

We are thrilled to welcome award-winning poet Evita Colon as a featured performer for the Stevens & Smith Center Grand Opening Weekend! Evita will be performing her music and spoken-word poetry throughout this exciting weekend. Also known as PoeticSoulQueen, Evita is a published poet, recording artist, playwright, director, and founder of Speak to My Soul LLC

She is a Grammy-nominated spoken-word artist, Recording Academy member, International FLO Poet, Baldwin Cohort Leader, and Lancaster City's first Poet Laureate, who fuses poetry and music into powerful anthems of healing and transformation. We can't wait to see her light up the stage this Friday and Saturday!