Book excerpt: With grit and gumption, the residents of Germantown propelled their community from a sleepy backwater to a thriving urban neighborhood. Through charming first-person accounts and fascinating narratives culled from sixty years of the Germantown Crier, readers may catch a glimpse of the feisty Germantowners who proudly honor their past without ceasing to move forward. Meet cantankerous Ann Shermer, a nineteenth-century Bethlehem Pike tollkeeper who enforced the fare with the help of her trusty flintlock pistol, and the towns enforcer of morality, civilizer Samuel Harvey. Whether a tale from the storied King of Prussia Inn, which housed greats like George Washington and Gilbert Stuart, or a memory of a childhood encounter with Louisa May Alcott, each vignette in this collection crafts a poignant portrait.