Local Reads Book Club will meet with Kasey Owens from T102 Radio to discuss A Hidden Time, by Mark J Purcell.

This event is free to the public, books are available to purchase in the SCHS gift shop.

A Hidden Time

As this title suggests, this book was written to expose a time in American history that has been hidden and overlooked. Specifically, this manuscript describes the life and folklore events that surrounded the Schuylkill River Canal (located in Southeastern Pennsylvania) back in the mid 1800s. 

The book opens with a brief introduction to this period of time before the growth of railroads. In many ways it was a simple time, heavily manual in nature, entrenched in diverse ethnic groups trying to “make their way” in the early stages of the American Industrial Revolution.

This thirteen chapter document starts with an explanation of a “day in the life” of a canalman and his family and some of the dynamics centering on floating a huge canal boat the 108 miles from Pottsville, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. The accompanying chapters reveal what it was like to live a challenging life that was directly attached to a waterway system that was full of adventure. Real experiences that was sometimes dangerous in nature with flashes of humor and local history. My year-long (or better) research at various historical societies dotted along the Schuylkill River provided me with an abundance of actual events, as well as, a mixture of old fashion folklore. These historical records became the background for the characters and events that fill these chapters depicting this Hidden Time.