Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Author: Guest Contributor (Page 14 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.

Workers at the Harrisburg Nail Works. Used by Permission of the East Pennsboro Historical Society.

Clouds by Day and Fire by Night: Industrial Archaeology at the Harrisburg Nail Works

October 21, 2015 / / 0 Comments

by Jonathan Libbon, RPA

Perhaps no other theme in Pennsylvania’s history is more important than industry. With October being National Archaeology Month, it’s a great opportunity to highlight industrial archaeology in Pennsylvania. The archaeology of industrial sites focuses on the industrial process, the history of labor and management, and the artifacts and features that remain. Understanding the industrial past allows us to understand not only Pennsylvania’s past, but often our very own. Continue reading

Andrew Hoff NHS Office 2015 Harrisburg

PA Modern: Discovering Pennsylvania’s Midcentury Architectural Legacy

October 14, 2015 / / 0 Comments

by Beth Hager

JuriedExhibit_logo_colorEloquence in word and in visual expression – this is the exciting outcome of the new juried exhibit opening at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg on Sunday, October 25:  “PA Modern:  A Photography Exhibit of Midcentury Architecture.”  Featuring 98 photographs by 44 photographers, the exhibit displays a wonderful array of some of the most iconic Modernist structures found throughout Pennsylvania. Continue reading

Courtesy of Preservation Pennsylvania.

People Power at the 2015 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards

September 2, 2015 / / 2 Comments

by Sabra Smith, Preservation Pennsylvania

What is the preservation community’s most important asset? It’s the people! Those passionate, creative, place-loving, story-telling folks who wear invisible super hero capes and do their best work so that a beloved landmark is restored, or a neighborhood story is discovered, or a community of advocates is activated. Continue reading

Kiefel Bridge, taken by Nathaniel Holth. Courtesy of historicbridges.com. 2013. Used by permission of Nathaniel Holth.

Intern Introspect: 10 Historic Bridges in Pennsylvania to Paddle Under Before the Temperature Plummets

August 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

by Elizabeth Shultz

Nestled between the peak heat of July and the crispness of October’s flaming foliage is that special span of outdoor living in Pennsylvania that is the perfect time to hoist your kayaks and canoes onto your shoulders, strap your sturdiest water shoes to your feet, and set out to feast your eyes on some of the architectural and engineering gems that crisscross Pennsylvania’s diverse bodies of water. In the true Commonwealth spirit of discovery, before our rivers turn to frozen slush and our streams start to crunch, let your paddles guide you under some of Pennsylvania’s treasured pieces of transportation history – starting with those listed below! Continue reading

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 / / 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.

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

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 / / 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

2015: The Year of the Pennsylvania Barn

June 10, 2015 / / 6 Comments

by Curt Musselman

YearOfPAlogo

Official Year of the Pennsylvania Barn logo designed by Bob McIlhenny, 2014, using barn woodcut by Annie Rubel, 2013

Ten years ago,  Historic Gettysburg Adams County (HGAC) received a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) to help establish a barn preservation program within Adams County. One of our first steps was to begin a survey of the historic barns in the county so that we would know more about the resources we were trying to save. Teams of HGAC volunteers photographed, measured and made observations about the style and construction techniques used on each barn. One of the first things that we learned was that 80 percent of the barns in Adams County are of an architectural type known as the Pennsylvania Barn. This type of barn has two distinctive characteristics; entrance to the second floor by means of a bridge or a built-up ramp, and an overhang or cantilevered forebay on the front of the barn. Within Pennsylvania, these bank barns evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries to their ultimate form, which was influenced by traditional designs brought to America by immigrants coming from Switzerland through Germany. Continue reading

Ceramic figurine uncovered along I-95 in Fishtown. Courtesy of PennDOT.

Digging Deep: Pennsylvania and the Making Archaeology Public Initiative

May 20, 2015 / / 2 Comments

by Joe Baker, PennDOT Cultural Resources Program

Dr. Frank Vento along the banks of the Susquehanna River. Photo by Joe Baker.

Dr. Frank Vento along the banks of the Susquehanna River. Photo by Joe Baker.

On a lovely morning in early autumn, I arrive at an old farm along the Susquehanna River to find Dr Frank Vento in his natural element. That is to say, he is squatting down at the bottom of backhoe trench some eight feet deep, carefully examining the many layers of flood-deposited sediment left behind by the great river. Frank is a geomorphologist: a geologist and archaeologist whose specialty is the formation of floodplains, terraces, and other kinds of landforms created by the interaction of climate, gravity, water, wind, and sometimes, humans. Frank is down there looking for something, and as I walk up to the edge of the trench, he finds it.

“Hah! I knew it!” Continue reading

Join us in July for a party at the PA Statewide Conference on Heritage

May 6, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Along with the many insightful training sessions, in-the-field workshops, and engaging panel discussions offered at this year’s Pennsylvania Statewide Conference on Heritage (July 8-10th), we’ll blow out some candles honoring the 50th birthday of the State Museum & Archives complex in Harrisburg and discuss the challenges of restoring and advocating for modern architecture.

The 2015 conference is sponsored by Preservation Pennsylvania along with PHMC, PennDOT, DCNR, and local partners and is widely attended by heritage enthusiasts, students, and professionals in the fields of planning, preservation, transportation, community development, public history, heritage consulting, architecture, archaeology, real estate, and more.  With dozens of sessions, workshops, tours, and social events, plus the hall of exhibitors, the Statewide Conference on Heritage is a don’t-miss opportunity for education, inspiration, experience and networking. The general registration rate is set at $150.  (Some events may have associated fees.) Continue reading

The Battle of Brandywine Revisited

February 25, 2015 / / 0 Comments

By Jill Hall and Karen Marshall

Brinton 1704 House and the surrounding lands were the location of core combat actions in the final phase of the Battle, Chadds Ford, Delaware County

Brinton 1704 House and the surrounding lands were the location of core combat actions in the final phase of the Battle, Chadds Ford, Delaware County

On September 11, 1777, British General William Howe and his professional army engaged General George Washington and his citizen soldiers along the banks of the Brandywine River about 30 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Part of a larger strategy known as the Philadelphia Campaign, the Battle of Brandywine was one of the earliest and largest battles of the American Revolution, encompassing some 30,000 British and American soldiers. The Battle lasted from sunup to sundown, instantly changing the character of a quiet farming community that consisted predominately of Quakers. Although the Battle of Brandywine was a loss for the Americans, they proved that they had the resiliency to withstand the British, increasing French support of the American cause.  Continue reading

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