'The history of this area is insanely important'

Ryan Evans, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·3 min read

Sep. 4—WILKES-BARRE — With so many open and willing businesses and individuals dedicated to downtown, it should be no surprise that there's yet another collaborative project in the works.

Originally announced back in April, the historic homes picture-book project is a joint effort between the Times Leader Media Group, the Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society, and the NEPA Camera Club.

NEPA Camera Club Facebook Group Moderator, Jonathan Edwards, took some time to chat with a reporter about the forth coming coffee table book, that will feature over 100 historic Wilkes-Barre homes.

The idea was generated by Times Leader Media Group Publisher Kerry Miscavage and Preservation Society Executive Director Tony Brooks. It was a natural fit: Brooks, in Edwards' words "is literally obsessed with history, and rightfully so. The history of this area is insanely important ..."

Edwards himself is a worldly man, having been born in Madrid, Spain, and has since traveled far and wide. "I'm an implant, you know, I've only been here for 12 years ... I grew up in New York, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Alaska ... I've literally been everywhere. And you know, I say this all the time and people laugh at me, but we have the best sunsets in the world," he said of NEPA.

Edwards is also familiar with Brooks, having worked on projects in the past such as the Diamond City: Trail of History YouTube channel. Of their relationship, Edwards remarked it's a "good professional and personal relationship. I consider him a friend."

Brooks responded in kind, saying, "It's great to work with Jonathan Edwards. He has a great eye for architecture and his drone videos of Wilkes-Barre are well-known and received by those who appreciate our beautiful architecture."

And that is, after all, the name of the game: to appreciate the history and beautiful architecture of the area.

"I hope every coffee table in Northeastern Pennsylvania has this book sitting on it," Edwards said of his hopes for the book's reception. "We live in an incredibly beautiful area with an astonishing history and these homes are a present example of that history here."

Edwards pointed to Gettysburg as an example, noting that while it's an area of the utmost importance pertaining to state and national history, it's mostly just fields. While Wilkes-Barre, on the other hand, is lucky to have these living examples to tell the area's story.

As of this writing, the NEPA Camera Club's Facebook page has 879 members, all of whom are welcome to contribute to the project. A submission, however, is not guaranteed to make it. Photos will be sifted through and selected for publication, though it's not necessarily a task to be envious of. Edwards mentioned how some homes have multiple submissions, meaning various photographs of the same location. It'll be interesting to see what shots make the final cut.

Edwards will be holding an NEPA Camera Club Architectural Photography Workshop on Sept. 11. He described the workshop as, "a real-estate slash architectural focus workshop where we're gonna use many of these houses as examples and we're gonna go and take photos of them." Edwards will lead the workshop along with one or two other people with experience in the field.

To join the NEPA Camera Club, as it stands right now, Edwards said that the only prerequisite is to live in the area and to have joined the Facebook group @ NEPA Camera Club. There are plans to establish it as an official entity, however, it remains informal for the time being. That said, the aforementioned workshop is only open to members of the club.

The current list of homes can be viewed at https://www.timesleader.com/greathistorichouses#/.

If interested in becoming a sponsor for the project, visit https://www.wbpreservation.org/great-historic-houses-of-wilkesbarre. To be put on the list to purchase the finished product, email kmiscavage@timesleader.com.