Driving around the country, you may have seen something rising from a field that resembles a large bowling pin. Or, more likely, you have driven past these without a second glance. This was my experience with the East Texas VOR/DME. As part of my job as a cultural resource specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), I determine if properties around projects are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. I have driven the State Route 78 corridor through the Lehigh Valley an uncountable number of times but never noticed this particular building. The property is adjacent to the highway where we were proposing work, so I decided to find out more about it.
Category: Counties (Page 1 of 47)
In the late 1980s, the City of Harrisburg began to experience economic rejuvenation under the driving force of the newly elected mayor, Stephen Reed. One of his projects was the revitalization of City Island, situated in the middle of the Susquehanna River.
We are officially into 2026 and the beginning celebrations of America250! The Historical Marker Program continues Marking the Journey with our second trail: Power of Place. These trails highlight both familiar and lesser-known stories, encouraging visitors to build a deeper and more meaningful connection to the past.
There are lots of things I look forward to in March as spring nears, like melting snow, daffodils, warmer sunny days, and… the PA SHPO Annual Report!
The Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) is the Commonwealth’s inventory of recorded archaeological sites. The program officially started in the late 1970s—when site files held by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History were combined with those kept by the State Museum of Pennsylvania—but it was built on a foundation of nearly 100 years of site recording by numerous institutions and individuals across the state. Since that time, the PASS files have been kept in a centralized repository at the SHPO, where they are now submitted, archived digitally, and made available to qualified archaeologists and researchers through PA-SHARE.
In this edition of Just Listed! we are celebrating Black History Month by highlighting Lincoln Cemetery (PA-SHARE RE #1999RE00677) which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in September 2025.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) recently approved an additional 9 new historical markers, to the previously approved 47 markers in September. Many of these markers will contribute to Pennsylvania’s celebration of America250, while others contribute to Native American history and religious tolerance.
I’ll start by offering an apology to anyone who now has this holiday classic from the Sound of Music running on a loop in their head. I was looking for a new twist on our traditional end-of-year blog highlights and the “My Favorite Things” song kept popping up in my mind.
During the week of June 15. 2009, archaeologists from the State Museum of Pennsylvania and Temple University tested a pre-contact Native American site along the Lehigh River in Lehigh Gorge State Park, Carbon County. The site (designated 36CR0142 in the Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey files) was brought to our attention by local amateur archaeologists who were alarmed that it was being looted and valuable archaeological information was being lost.
I fondly remember my evening outings to my downtown movie theater as a child, especially waiting in a long queue at the Eric Pacific to secure coveted tickets to see the Empire Strikes Back in 1980. While the theaters opened in Lancaster City in the 1980s were modern replacements of the landmark movie houses of the early twentieth century, the excitement of a day out at the movies was always a special memory.
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