Virtual Hike to Eldersville, Pennsylvania

Posted on June 10, 2023 by vanbraman

The next destination on my Virtual Hike was Eldersville, Pennsylvania.

Eldersville Pennsylvania, Cross Creek, Joseph Smith, Samuel LeeperThe previous destination on my virtual hike was Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Eldersville Pennsylvania, Cross Creek, Joseph Smith, Samuel LeeperThe virtual hike route from Canonsburg went through rural areas and rolling hills.

Eldersville Pennsylvania, Cross Creek, Joseph Smith, Samuel LeeperThe route crossed over small creeks in the valleys.

Eldersville Pennsylvania, Cross Creek, Joseph Smith, Samuel LeeperThe hike passed through Cross Creek as it neared Eldersville. This is a historic spot where one of the first Presbyterian churches in Western Pennsylvania was located. It was here where in 1782 a document know as “A Religious Agreement” was signed by about 100 people including my 6th Great Grandfather Samuel Leeper. He is buried in the cemetery shown above.

It is also here where Joseph Smith formed a log cabin school in 1785 which included James McGready as a student. McGready later had a big influence on Barton W. Stone in North Carolina and Kentucky.

There are many things that could be written about this area, but for now I am going to continue on to Eldersville.

Eldersville Pennsylvania, Cross Creek, Joseph Smith, Samuel LeeperEldersville today is still just a small community. It was the town where the post office was for many that lived in the area. Samuel Leeper lived about a mile west of the town on the border of what is now West Virginia. The surrounding area is alternately known as Eldersville or Cross Creek depending on the source.

My 4th Great Grandfather Absalom Leeper was born in Eldersville in 1798 and later was one of the first Reformation Movement preachers in Iowa.

The next destination on my Virtual Hike is another location with a family connection.

I have been setting shorter distances between destinations for better motivation for my daily walking and so far it has been working. I have been walking more each day and have made good progress on my Virtual Hike. I am still a few stops behind on my posts.

I am now heading west and have some interesting stops planned that are family or history related.

Steven

Images in this post are from Google Maps and Street View

WWRI – Written With Real Intelligence

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Five Year Agapanthus Comparison

Posted on June 9, 2023 by vanbraman

Tonight I decided to compare my agapanthus to where it was at the same date for the last several years.

My agapanthus is a bit behind where it was last year, so I decided to look a bit further back.

agapanthus, progress, scapes, growing progress, backyardHere is my agapanthus from this week. You can see that there are five scapes and that they are slowly reaching toward the sky. They still have a bit of time before they start to open.

agapanthus, progress, scapes, growing progress, backyardLast year I only had one scape, but it had already started to open at the same date.

agapanthus, progress, scapes, growing progress, backyardTwo years ago I had eleven scapes and two of them had started to open. You can see why I was a bit disappointed last year to have only one scape.

agapanthus, progress, scapes, growing progress, backyardThree years ago I only had four scapes, but one had started to open.

agapanthus, progress, scapes, growing progress, backyardFour years ago it was at about the same state as this year, but there were ten scapes. One of them is just starting to show, so perhaps there is still a chance that I will see a few more this year.

I decided to only show pictures of five years as my usual post formula is to use five pictures. However, I looked back another year and in 2018 I only had one scape.

It is interesting to see how the number of scapes and progress has varied over the years.

It will be interesting to watch over the next couple of weeks as the scapes start to open up.

Steven

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