Independent researcher and historian Deborah Peterson will present a free public lecture, “When Soldiers Come to Your House” at the park on May 20 at 2 PM. The lecture will discuss the practice of quartering soldiers, which occurred in December 1776 at the Thompson-Neely House and Farmstead.

Peterson has enjoyed 34 years of  practice-based research into the material culture, economics and social aspects of the people of the 18th century, primarily those of English descent in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  Her focus is colonial English foodways and clothing of the common sort. For 15 years, she served as editor of Past Masters News, a quarterly publication of PAST MASTERS in Early American Domestic Arts, a research group operating from 1983-2012.  She was a founding member of that organization.