Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

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Category: Dauphin (Page 1 of 4)

Mitigation Spotlight: Section 106 Agreements, July 2022 – December 2022

February 8, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is part of a biannual blog series highlighting the agreement documents executed by PA SHPO in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations.

Between July 1 and December 31 of 2022, PA SHPO has been a signatory to approximately nine (9) Section 106 agreement documents with four different federal agencies as part of consultation for the resolution of adverse effects to historic properties. 

Below illustrates a selection of the agreement documents executed within the past six months.

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Group of nine people standing in a cemetery.
Meeting at Midland Cemetery, August 2022. From left to right (Dr. Steve Burg (PAHG, Shippensburg University), Erin Emerick (Shippensburg University), Sarah Hoffeditz (Shippensburg University), Ira Beckerman (PAC), Dr. Ben Ford (Indiana University of PA), Barbara Barksdale, Janet Johnson (State Museum), Kim Sebestyen (State Museum), Taylor Napoleon (PA SHPO).

Community Archaeology at Midland Cemetery

October 19, 2022 / / 2 Comments

Last fall the State Museum of Pennsylvania hosted their annual workshop in archaeology entitled Hidden Stories: Uncovering African American History through Archaeology and Community Engagement. The theme was born out of the acknowledgement that African Americans are vastly underrepresented in the historic record and the representations that are present are typically unfairly biased.

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Man standing outside next to a machine removing soil.
The Paleo-Digger. Here, the auger, is being lowered into the test unit. Photograph by Barry Fritz, Quemahoning Cultural Resource Management Services.

Meet the Paleo-Digger

October 5, 2022 / / 1 Comment

October is Archaeology Month! Today’s post by Guest Contributor PennDOT archaeologist Steve McDougal covers using a non-traditional method for field tests: the Paleo-Digger.

Every archaeological survey poses different conditions and challenges. For PennDOT’s SR 22/322 safety improvement project in Northern Dauphin County, one of the big challenges is the depth of soils involved. Past excavation in the 1990s for this area showed us that the soil column with archaeological potential could extend 3.5 to 4.5 meters (11.5 to 14.75 feet) in depth below current ground surface.

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Bishop Boyle High School, Homestead, Allegheny County. Photograph by Sarah Medwig.

Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit At Work: SFY2021-2022 Update

August 3, 2022 / / 2 Comments

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (PA DCED) recently announced that it has awarded $5 million in Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Tax Credits (PA HPTC) to 25 projects across the commonwealth through the FY 2021-2022 PA HPTC Allocation. The next round will open on October 1.

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View looing across the Susquehanna River showing river and bordering woods.
PARW017 (36DA0283) as seen from a bridge over the Susquehanna River during an October sunrise. Three Mile Island is visible in the background. Photograph by Frederick Mayhew, 2021.

A Look at the PASS Year: The 2021 Annual PASS Report

February 9, 2022 / / 0 Comments

It’s that time of the year again! Time to report and reflect on another successful year of archaeological site recording efforts throughout Pennsylvania. In 2021, over 300 new archaeological sites were recorded by cultural resource management (CRM) projects, independent and university research projects, Society of Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA) members, and long-time avocational archaeologist.

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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 / / 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. 

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