From Pittsburgh to Philly and in between, the Young Preservationist movement is changing the way we approach historic resources, leaving many of us scratching our heads as to what the real deal is.
Author: Guest Contributor (Page 13 of 17)
The Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office occassionally asks our partners to share their news, successes, challenges, and perspectives on historic preservation matters in Pennsylvania.
Marketing Archaeology: A Non-Scientific Survey about Public Outreach Tools
Fostering a public appreciation for historic resources and archaeology is one of the most important keys to protecting our history.
Unfortunately, many cultural resources professionals struggle with how to make their work accessible and interesting to the general public. In this blog post, we take on this challenge and announce the launch of a non-scientific, but very intriguing experiment to explore how the public responds to different avenues of communication – brochures, social media and web tools. Continue reading
Highway Planning on a Landscape Scale: The Next Generation
by Brenda Barrett, Living Landscape Observer
What happens when a highway project long planned to improve the functionality of the overall transportation system runs up against newer approaches of planning on a landscape scale? Continue reading
Community Landmarks in the City of Neighborhoods
By Samantha Kuntz
Philadelphia has managed to accrue some significant historic resources over the past, oh, 300 years or so. It is home to no fewer than 550 resources (including districts) listed on National Register of Historic Places, and it holds over 11,087 resources (including districts) on the local Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Philadelphia possesses relics of our nascent nation (the U.S. Constitution, the Liberty Bell), contains a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Independence Hall), and boasts an impressive new heritage association (full membership in the Organization of World Heritage Cities).
In other words, there must be something in the (Schuylkill and Delaware) water here.
by Abigail Watson-Popescu
As a child growing up in Titusville the first thing you are taught about your hometown is that Edwin Drake struck oil here on August 27, 1859. The thing you notice, though, is that your town feels very different from other towns. With wrought iron fences lining slate sidewalks, horse hitching posts and carriage mounting blocks dotting the streets, and gigantic Victorian houses abounding there is a feeling of actually living in another time.
Disaster Planning for Historic Properties in a World Heritage City
by Emily Paulus Everett, AECOM Technical Services
On November 6, 2015, the City of Philadelphia became the first United States city to join the Organization of World Heritage Cities – a prestigious designation that recognizes, among other things, its vast and significant collection of well-preserved historic resources. That same week, representatives from the PA SHPO, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, and AECOM Technical Services, Inc. gathered in Center City, Philadelphia to kick off Phase 1 of a two-phase effort to protect those historic resources before, during, and in the aftermath of, future flooding events. As part of the PA SHPO’s Disaster Planning for Historic Properties Initiative, Philadelphia County joins Monroe, Bedford, and Cameron as one of four pilot counties to take into account the impact of future flooding events on historic properties. Continue reading
by Vanessa Zeoli, AECOM Technical Services
A potentially trendsetting countywide survey has just been completed in the floodplains of Monroe County, in the heart of the Pocono Mountains region of northeastern Pennsylvania, identifying all flood-prone historic properties there and laying the groundwork for the development of strategies to better protect the county’s historic built environment from future flood damage. Continue reading
Preservation Pennsylvania has announced the addition of 8 properties to Pennsylvania At Risk, the list of sites determined to be among the most endangered historic resources in the Commonwealth. The sites were selected from nominations submitted by the public in 2015 and will become Preservation Pennsylvania’s work priorities in 2016. Continue reading
Heart + Soul + Humanities: Stronger Civic Engagement in PA!
by Mimi Ijima, Pennsylvania Humanities Council
In 2015, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council launched a partnership with the Orton Family Foundation to help Pennsylvania communities engage in meaningful civic and engagement and community planning using the Foundation’s successful Community Heart & Soul™ planning method. Community Heart & Soul is a tried and tested process that empowers people to shape the future of their communities. The “heart and soul” of this process are the humanities which unearths vital values and concerns and brings people together to create a shared sense of belonging. Key to the process is learning what matters most to the community through gathering stories from and engaging as many residents as possible, including those who don’t typically participate in public processes. Stories are data with soul! With storytelling at the heart of planning and development, local values and voices become the foundation for building communities that are connected, innovative, competitive, and strong. Continue reading
What is your most amazing discovery?
by Christine Davis, Christine Davis Consultants, Inc.
After 30 years of excavating archaeological sites in Pennsylvania, I’m often asked about my most amazing discovery. I would not hesitate for a moment to say it was our large-scale excavation of the Freeport Site in Freeport Township, Greene County, which revealed an extraordinary Native American archaeological site dispersed across 11 acres of land above the Monongahela River.
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