BOARD OF ASSISTANTS:  Please join your fellow Board of Assistants and Committee officers at this shortened, in-person meeting.  We will start promptly at 11:00 a.m.  Please register your RSVP with our Secretary ([email protected]) for quorum purposes.  Thank you!

SMDPA MEMBERS AND GUESTS:  Please join your SMDPA cousins for a gourmet luncheon at the historic Corinthian Yacht Club, 300 W 2nd. St., Essington, PA 19029.  It is located along the Delaware River, adjacent to Governor Printz Park.  This park is the site of New Sweden (ca 1643), the first European settlement in Pennsylvania.  There you will see re-created several log cabins, which these Swedish immigrants introduced to America. 

Our venue is just one mile east of I-95, Exit 9.  It is handicapped accessible with ample parking.

Starting at 12:00 p.m., a cash bar will be available for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages.  At 12:30 p.m., we will enjoy a house salad with balsamic vinaigrette; and then your choice of:

Entrées will be served with roasted potatoes and seasonal mixed vegetables.  Chocolate layer cake will follow for dessert.  Included are coffee, hot tea, lemonade and iced tea. 

**A third vegetarian option Pasta Primavera is now available, however, you must purchase one of the meal tickets and in the optional question write "Vegetarian Meal".  

Pricing is $50 per adult, $25 for Juniors or children.  All are welcome!

To register and pay online, click here.  Or complete and return the attached RSVP form per instructions, enclosing your check.  Registration deadline is Fri., Mar. 27.  For questions, please contact James Campbell, SMDPA Deputy Governor, [email protected].

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER:

Rod Gragg is the award-winning author of more than 20 books for major American publishers, such as HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, Chronicle Books, Regnery History, Readers Digest Press, Thomas Nelson, and Time-Life Books.  A former journalist, Gragg is the Director of the Center for Military and Veterans Studies at Coastal Carolina University, where he serves as adjunct professor of history.  His works have earned the Fletcher Pratt Award, the James I. Robertson Award and other honors, and have been selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club, the History Book Club, and the Military History Book Club. 

Gragg will be speaking on his book, The Pilgrim Chronicles:  An Eyewitness History of the Pilgrims and the Founding of Plymouth Colony (Regnery History, Reissue Edition 2023).  He brings the Pilgrims to life in this lavishly illustrated guide, filled with moving, eyewitness narratives.  From their persecution in England and painful exile in Holland to their voyage across the Atlantic and their struggle to survive among the Indians in an untamed wilderness, Gragg takes you on the harrowing and inspiring journey of a people seeking religious freedom, and in the process founding a great nation.

ABOUT THE CORINTHIAN YACHT CLUB:

Click here for a full history: “https://www.cycop.com/club-history”

ABOUT GOVERNOR PRINTZ PARK AND NEW SWEDEN:

Click here for a full history: “https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php%3FmarkerId=1-A-1F.html”