Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office
One of PA SHPO’s core missions is to educate the commonwealth’s citizens about state and federal historic preservation programs. We can’t do it alone, so we do our best to provide interested citizens, advocates, and partners with the tools to help communicate what historic preservation is and why it matters.
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The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike is the oldest paved highway in America. It was chartered in 1792 and opened in 1795, connecting farmers in Lancaster County with markets in Philadelphia via a state-of-the-art crushed gravel (or “macadamized”) surface pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon Macadam to prevent the wheels of wagons and carriages from sinking into the notorious mud of standard dirt roads.
Continue readingIn the second installment of this two-part interview with Pennsylvania Historic Preservation blog, Mod Betty discusses her research methods, her main influences, and “the ones that got away.” Missed Part 1? Read it here!
Continue readingCue those spotlights! Load those confetti cannons! Each year, the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards celebrate remarkable preservation work across the state. In a field where the losses are so permanent and can feel so personal, it’s important to take the opportunity to applaud these success stories! Continue reading
After a chaotic winter where one of the federal government’s most successful historic preservation programs over the past 40 years – the Historic Preservation Tax Credit – was almost eliminated during federal tax reform, there is a lot to catch up on relating to both the federal and Pennsylvania historic tax credit programs. Continue reading
Your State Historic Preservation Office has been hard at work since our last Just Listed column appeared on this blog. Since that post , the National Park Service has approved over 30 Pennsylvania listings (!) for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Continue reading
You win the prize if you said, “They will all have historical markers in PA!”. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recently approved 16 new historical markers! This year’s selections deliver another eclectic mix of pop culture, military, African American, film, and medical subjects. Continue reading
It’s that time again!
As some of you may know, the National Park Service highlighted Pennsylvania in their #50for50 social media campaign earlier this month. This initiative is part of their broader effort to celebrate and recognize the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act this year. Each week, NPS has been promoting the interesting, meaningful, and successful historic preservation work being done in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. (FYI, this week is South Carolina’s turn!)
Here at PHMC, we participated by adding the #50for50 and #Preservation50 hashtags to all of the preservation-related posts on the Pennsylvania Trails of History Facebook page and @PHMC Twitter feed. I think NPS could have featured Pennsylvania’s successes for a year and still not have gotten through them all, but alas, we need to share the limelight. So, I thought it would be a great idea to share with you some of the stories that didn’t get aired that week and that we haven’t covered in previous posts and Shout-Outs.
Just Listed is a semi-annual feature of Pennsylvania’s cultural resources that were recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Since our last Just Listed post, 27 resources from all corners of the Commonwealth have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. You can explore these and other historic properties in Pennsylvania via CRGIS, our online map and database. Continue reading
Wheatland, the home of James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, BHP Key No. 001061
I realize that when it is cold outside, it might be more comfortable to hibernate on the couch watching television, but this is a great time of year to visit the Commonwealth’s museums and historical sites. Always in need a last-minute hostess gift for a party, I often pop into the Landis Valley Museum Shop for a unique gift or just take respite in exploring the material cultural of our great Commonwealth. One of my favorite historic houses to visit this time year is President James Buchanan’s Wheatland in Lancaster. Constructed in 1828 for William Jenkins, the president of Farmer’s Bank of Lancaster, the Federal-style brick house and surrounding 24 acres were purchased by retiring U.S. Secretary of State, James Buchanan, in 1848. Wheatland remained Buchanan’s home during his presidency until his death on June 1, 1868. The Mansion was sold in 1935 to the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland to develop a Presidential House Museum. Continue reading
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