On Saturday, July 17th, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., Picture Rocks native David Richards will be giving a presentation at the Lycoming County Fair on what life in Hughesville was like 150 years ago. The presentation will be at the Red Dog Mobile Storage Stage.

I first met David Richards during a class field trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park. I had always had an interest in history in school, and that trip was a transformative experience. Being able to walk on the battlefield and listen to David Richards made history come alive.

David was seven when a similar visit to Gettysburg in 1964 would help to chart his professional career. He graduated from East Lycoming School District in 1974. Attending Lycoming College, he graduated in 1985 with a B.A. in History.

In 1984, after a rigorous examination, Richards qualified as a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park, scoring fourth among over 100 applicants.

Richards has given tours for or been a guest lecturer at the Muncy, East Lycoming, Montgomery, and Lycoming County Historical societies, and many other prestigious organizations. He is considered an authority on Pennsylvania Civil War units and soldiers, with decades of research on the subject.

Many years after my own trip to Gettysburg, David would release his first book, Priceless Treasures, in 2001, published by the Muncy Historical Society. This book details the Muncy Soldier’s Memorial and the seventy-one patriots it commemorates. I also remember listening to his talk that he gave in Muncy, which detailed names of soldiers not found on the Muncy Soldier’s Monument.

In 2007, he contributed a series of biographies for the then 200th-anniversary history of Williamsport Lodge #106 Free & Accepted Masons.

The East Lycoming School District recognized Mr. Richards’ life’s work in 2008 with his induction into their Academic Hall of Fame.

In 2016, David established his own publishing company Chamouni Grove Press. He has co-authored three books with Matt Stackhouse on North Central Pennsylvania history.
– From a Bygone Era: Views of the Muncy Valley – Then & Now (Muncy, Hughesville & Vicinity)
– From a Bygone Era: Views of the Muncy Valley – Then & Now (Picture Rocks & Points North including Sullivan Co.)
– Ghost on the Allegheny: The Hotel Essick – Essick Heights Lycoming County, PA 1889-1916

In 2019, David released his 5th book Civil War Tales: From Lycoming County and North-Central Pennsylvania, which is a compilation of nearly 200 human interest stories. Among them is a bit of info about the “Muncy Rifles,” a unit whose muster roll includes names like Baker, Ball, Bitler, Chapman, Sones, DeWald, Flack, Hunsinger, Kleese, McCarty, Miller, Opp, Peterman, Rooker, Rupert, Shoemaker and others, which are still found in the area today 150 years later.

An upcoming sixth book entitled Masten, Lumber Giant chronicles the ghost town of Masten, which existed from 1905-1930. Masten played a crucial part in the rise of the lumber industry within Central PA, which would also see Williamsport become “The Lumber Capital of the World.”

Mr. Richards has two other projects in the works. A compilation of Civil War dead from Lycoming County and an eventual publication of the history of the 84th PA regiment during the Civil War, 1861-1865.

David is descended from a Hessian turncoat who was captured at Trenton, then served with the Continental Army. He also had two ancestors at the battle of Gettysburg serving with the 42nd regiment, the Pennsylvania Bucktails.

Mr. Richards currently resides in Gettysburg, PA, near the National Park with his wife Teresa of 35 years and has two adult children. David continues to work as a Licensed Battlefield Guide.

David will be available at the fairgrounds on the 17th to sign and purchase books from at the Gazebo across from the Fair office.