The Benjamin Franklin Firefighter Memorial

It took ten years of fundraising to pay for it, but this past week on May 7th, 2011, the Benjamin Franklin firefighter Memorial was officially unveiled in front of the Scranton firehouse.

Hungry Hill Iroquois Chief

The Indian Chief statue at the Hungry Hill monument is a mystery.  The monument recognizes revolutionary soldiers that were clearing a road for Sullivan's army to march against the Iroquois nations that had sided with the English in the war.  The spot marks the grave of a revolutionary soldier.  The small statue is free-standing and appears to have been left as an unofficial part of the monument.  Some individual may have felt the Iroquois also need to be remembered when remembering  General John Sullivan and his army.  George Washington gave General Sullivan the order to carry out the scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois, and the surviving Iroquois gave him the nickname  "Town Destroyer".

Phillip H. Sheridan Monument Mystery

This monument to General Phillip H. Sheridan at the Lackawanna County Courthouse Square is a puzzle to me.  What connection might General Sheridan have with Scranton?  I don't think he ever lived here or had family from the area, and I don't know that he ever even passed through.  An internet search of numerous historical sites did not provide me with an answer.

The Perpetual Paper Peruser #2

It just seems right to photograph a statue of a newspaper editor and publisher in grainy black and white.  

The Perpetual Paper Peruser

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Located in front of the Scranton Times-Tribune building, this statue depicts editor and publisher Edward J. Lynett perpetually perusing the paper.  

Festival of Ice 2011

A moment frozen in time.

Icing wings alert!

Icequestrian Statue

Statue of Dante at the University of Scranton

Looking for a good intellectual Halloween read?  You might want to try this fella's classic The Divine Comedy,  particulary the Inferno section.  If you are not familiar with the fourteenth century Italian writer and poet Dante Allighieri, the Inferno section of the book refers to Hell.   If you find fourteenth century literature somewhat tedious reading,  Inferno by acclaimed science fiction writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is a creepy and quite entertaining read, with the setting based on Dante's description.