Month: July 2015

Shippensburg Corn Festival, 1982, by Edward Sheaffer, Courtesy of Shippensburg Historical Society.

Shippensburg’s Corn Festival: Thirty-Five Years of Corn, Fun, and Historic Preservation

July 29, 2015 / Guest Contributor / 5 Comments

By Steven Burg

Shippensburg Corn Festival, 2006. Photo by Peter Linehan, Flickr Commons, Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

On the last Saturday in August for the last three and a half decades, tens of thousands of visitors have descended on downtown Shippensburg to enjoy the crafts, music, entertainment, and food of the Shippensburg Corn Festival. Despite the continued success of the event, many people know little about its origins as a fundraiser created to protect and preserve the community’s historic buildings. Continue reading

Conference goers gathered on the Plaza for this great photo. Image courtesy of Preservation Pennsylvania.

In Case You Missed It… the 2015 Statewide Conference on Heritage

July 22, 2015 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 0 Comments

Conference goers gathered on the Plaza for this great photo. Image courtesy of Preservation Pennsylvania.

We all know that summer is a great time to kick back and relax, and it’s even better when you can do so while hanging out at the State Museum of Pennsylvania with your friends and learning some interesting stuff at the 2015 Statewide Conference on Heritage. There was so much going on, and so much to see and do, that I thought perhaps our readers would like a recap of the conference highlights. Continue reading

Just Listed: Historic Breweries of Pennsylvania Edition

July 15, 2015 / Andrea L. MacDonald / 16 Comments

Just Listed is a semi-annual feature of Pennsylvania’s cultural resources that were recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Since our last Just Listed post, four properties from across the Commonwealth have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. You can explore these National Register nominations and other historic properties in Pennsylvania via CRGIS, our online map and database.

The History of Pennsylvania Breweries

Pennsylvania may be the home to Yuengling, known as “America’s oldest brewery,” however the Commonwealth has yet to officially declare a craft beer month. However the ‘Official Tourism Website of the State of Pennsylvania’ dedicated a page to Pennsylvania Craft Brews, where Pennsylvania’s beer culture is significantly truncated…

The German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1700s and 1800s brought many of their old-world traditions with them, including the love of great beer.

This particular blog post isn’t going to detail Pennsylvania’s brewing history (but maybe we’ll mull over the idea of a beer blog for a future post). And we’re a little late to honor American Craft Beer Week (which was mid-May this year). Regardless of any future beer narrations, resolutions or festivals, Pennsylvania indisputably has a rich brewing history and those buildings where brewing happened have been recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. Continue reading

Apprentices learning the basics of mortar removal and pointing from James Houston the Preservation Field Services Supervisor at the apprentice training workshop at Daniel Boone Homestead (PHMC staff)

Hands On: The PHMC Preservation Trades Apprenticeship Program

July 8, 2015 / Guest Contributor / 3 Comments

by Joe Lauver

(Above: Apprentices learning the basics of mortar removal and pointing from James Houston, the Preservation Field Services Supervisor at the apprentice training workshop at Daniel Boone Homestead (PHMC staff)

Just as rust (and rot) never sleeps, historic buildings rarely let those who are responsible for their preservation rest. The ultimate goal of preservation is to maintain a structure in such a way that only sacrificial elements (i.e. exterior paint, roofing, and mortar) ever get replaced. The ongoing task of performing this level of maintenance, and the additional work often necessary when it isn’t routinely done, requires special skills that are becoming harder to find in the general construction industry. In an effort to bolster the pool of preservation trades practitioners the PHMC started the Preservation Trades Apprenticeship Program in 2006. The program is a partnership between the PHMC, non-profit organizations that perform preservation trades, and private contractors from across the Commonwealth. Continue reading

Do you know what HPF Stands For?

July 1, 2015 / Cory Kegerise / 0 Comments

Q: What do the National Register of Historic Places, Section 106 consultation, Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credits, Certified Local Government grants, Tribal preservation activities, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities have in common?

A: All of these programs (and more) are supported by the Historic Preservation Fund. Continue reading