KINGSLEY – Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor today, along with United States Senator Bob Casey and Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, joined the Pennsylvania Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial (America250PA) in Susquehanna County to dedicate the first permanent Semiquincentennial Bell at historic Dennis Farm.
“Dennis Farm began when Prince Perkins, a free black man, moved his family from Connecticut to what is now a 153-acre farm in northeastern Pennsylvania,” Auditor General DeFoor said. “The farm served as a station on the Underground railroad, and the Perkins-Dennis Cemetery on the farm is the final resting place for escaped slaves who died along the journey, as well as African American veterans of the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. There is a lot of history at the Dennis Farm and by sharing that history through these events, we are bringing Pennsylvania together in ways we never could before.”
America250PA is dedicating its first bronze, permanent Semiquincentennial Bell at the Dennis Farm– a 200-year-old farm originally settled by the family of Prince Perkins, free African Americans who moved to Northeastern Pennsylvania from Connecticut in 1793, and later expanded by their descendants, the Dennis family. The America250PA Semiquincentennial Bells will lift up the stories of communities that have been untold or not widely known, yet shaped the Commonwealth’s history.
“To me, black history is always personal,” Auditor General DeFoor continued. “People like Prince Perkins had to not only survive, but they had to thrive. Through America250PA, we are sharing, sometimes for the first time, our personal histories and celebrating our cultural experiences. And, we are teaching our children that learning happens inside and outside the classroom—and there is so much to learn about Pennsylvania and our contribution to history.”
For more information about America250PA, please visit: https://america250pa.org/. For more information about the Dennis Farm, please visit: https://thedennisfarm.org/.
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