Category: Cemeteries

Just Listed! January through June 2023

July 5, 2023 / Ben Harvey / 0 Comments

The first half of 2022 was a busy one for National Register listings, with 13 new properties listed in the National Register from Pennsylvania! They include a diverse range of institutional, ecclesiastical, commercial, educational, and industrial properties across 9 counties.

#PreservAtionHappens at the Local Level with CLG Grants

June 21, 2023 / mmcnish / 0 Comments

Each year, the PA SHPO awards grants to the Commonwealth’s Certified Local Governments (CLG) for the purpose of advancing local historic preservation activities.

Man talks to group of seated audience. — Township Council member manager John Gillespie speaks about the history of the building and project. Photo courtesy of Ted Goldman.

Celebrating Concord Township and the Spring Valley AME Church

May 24, 2023 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 2 Comments

This week’s 2022 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on Concord Township’s preservation of the Spring Valley AME Church in Delaware County.

This project in Delaware County caught the eagle eye of one of my colleagues last year from some press reporting and I’m glad it did. She just happened to be the SHPO’s reviewer for most projects that were undertaken with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), particularly using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money.

Using CDBG funds for historic preservation – like Concord Township did – is a great way for communities to invest in the older and historic places that matter to them and that tell their full stories.

Celebrating Preservation Month with the 2022 Community Initiative Award Winners

May 3, 2023 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 1 Comment

What better time of year than National Historic Preservation Month to announce the latest round of PA SHPO’s Community Initiative Award winners! The four recipients and their projects showcase a range of preservation success stories, demonstrating the value of volunteers, creativity, and community engagement.

Saints Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church, Berwick, Columbia County.

Reflecting on Year One of the Pennsylvania Baseline Survey

June 29, 2022 / Guest Contributor / 3 Comments

In late 2020, PA SHPO launched an ambitious, large-scale architectural survey called the Pennsylvania Baseline Survey, with a goal of adding approximately 27,000 new resources in 52 different counties over three years. In Year One, over 7,000 new records were added to PA-SHARE – just from Baseline Survey! Read on to learn about a few of the interesting finds…

Low wood shelter over gravestones in wood. — View of monument in 2021, facing north. Photograph by PA SHPO.

Reinterpreting the Underground Railroad: The Sherman’s Dale Discharge Former Slaves’ Graves Site

February 2, 2022 / Casey Hanson / 12 Comments

In my short time as an archaeologist working in southeast Pennsylvania, I’ve learned that every basement, crawl space, and root cellar older than 1860 was at one time, a stop on the Underground Railroad (UGRR). This of course is not true, but the mythologies of the UGRR are born out of the fact that the region played an important role in the network as the first free state north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Antol’s Drive In, Montrose, Susquehanna County. Photo by Markosky Engineering Group, October 2021.

Baseline Survey: An Essential Ingredient in Our Preservation Pantry

December 22, 2021 / Andrea L. MacDonald / 0 Comments

There are some time-honored recipes in the historic preservation cookbook. The most successful, and dare I say scrumptious, preservation medleys include an essential ingredient – survey. Survey in the historic preservation profession is like the flour in your favorite holiday desserts.

Without survey, many preservation projects are challenged to rise to a superior outcome, just like a cake. My mind just might be overflowing with visions of sugar plums and cookies this holiday season, so I’ll do my best to refrain from too many more baking similes while I share initial Year 1 outcomes from the PA SHPO’s Baseline Survey effort. I think you’ll be as excited about the results as we are!

Pennsylvania Veterans’ Memorial, Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. Photograph by April Frantz, September 2021.

The National Cemetery at Indiantown Gap

November 10, 2021 / April Frantz / 4 Comments

According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs website, nearly 4.9 million individuals—including Veterans of every conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—are honored by burial in our national cemeteries.

Each year about 15 percent of all eligible Veterans are interred in a national cemetery, while about 5 percent opt for a State, Territorial or Tribal Veterans Cemetery. The national cemeteries’ memorial landscapes convey critical stories about American history and reflect the evolution of our care and commemoration of our military veterans.

Paved path through cemetery with grass, trees, and stone markers of various shapes and sizes. — Path through Harrisburg Cemetery, April 2021.

Exploring the Harrisburg Cemetery

April 14, 2021 / Elizabeth Rairigh / 8 Comments

Spring has sprung in Harrisburg! So when I was deciding what National Register resource to focus on for this week’s blog post, my office mate/dining room table neighbor/husband suggested we take a walk through Harrisburg Cemetery, listed in the National Register in 1985.