Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: Counties (Page 2 of 43)

Pennsylvania’s First Metropolitan State Park: A Brief History of Gifford Pinchot State Park

A couple times each summer in the 1990’s my dad would pack us three kids into his truck and hook up the pop-up camper and head on over to ‘Pinchot’.  Arrival was a ton of work which often included setting up the camper, unloading the canoe, getting a fire set to light, and finding the nearest bathhouse.

But it was the anticipation of what was to come that kept us motivated. Riding bikes through the campground, swimming in the lake, fishing until dusk, spending time with each other and taking advantage of all the possible activities before us. Our imaginations in this place were limitless. What we always just simply called ‘Pinchot’ as many locals do, this place and all those who made it possible, shaped the principles of how my siblings and I understood the natural world around us.

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Pithole or Bust!

Last month, PA SHPO staff and interns enjoyed a two-day educational team meeting in Venango County to learn more about archaeology, northwest Pennsylvania, and the area’s fascinating history. We were fortunate enough to have some beautiful weather and the help of our local partners and colleagues from the Jefferson County History Center, Drake Well, PHMC Sites and Museums, and the State Museum.

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Mitigation Spotlight: Section 106 Agreements, January – June 2024

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 January 1 and June 30, 2024, PA SHPO has been a signatory to approximately ten (10) Section 106 agreement documents with five different federal agencies as part of consultation for the resolution of adverse effects to historic properties.

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Quarrying our Data for Quarry Districts Part 2: The Updated Hardyston Jasper District

Back in October 2023, we shared a blog highlighting the updates to the Hardyston Jasper District that PA SHPO archaeologists were working on. These updates included reevaluating our PASS data to create and formally designate the NPS/Keeper Eligible Hardyston Jasper District, refine the district’s boundaries from the boundary established in the 1988 report by Anthony and Roberts, and identifying and evaluating sites for inclusion in the Hardyston Jasper District.

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PHMC Announces the 2023-2024 Keystone Grant Awardees

Many of the PA-SHPO’s partners shared my enthusiasm for the 30th anniversary of the Keystone Grant program and submitted a proposal to the grant program in March.

This year’s awardees include 44 projects that showcase the breadth of preservation happening across the Commonwealth. From historic barns and park pavilions to historic theaters and county courthouses, the selected projects highlight the varied historic resources to preserve for future generations.

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The Hawk Falls Bridge in Carbon County, PA

“This bridge will triumphantly typify the trail-blazing strategy…” so said Pennsylvania Governor John S. Fine in 1954 about the soon to be constructed Hawk Falls Bridge, finishing with “that took the Pennsylvania Turnpike System across streams of great width and turbulence…and through the rocky cores of mighty mountains.”

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Celebrating the Slate Hill Cemetery

This week’s 2023 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on the Slate Hill Cemetery in Lower Makefield Township, Bucks County.

Lower Makefield’s Slate Hill Cemetery is an intact Colonial-era graveyard that was established in 1690 as a Quaker burial ground and was later expanded to include the township’s first public cemetery. It contains about 580 burials, including veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops who served in the Civil War. The earliest known burial dates to 1698 and the last known burial was in 1918.

Recently, the Township – which is one of Pennsylvania’s Certified Local Governments (CLG) – began an ambitious project to document, preserve, and promote the history of the cemetery.  I asked some of the folks from the Historical Commission, which is spearheading the effort, to share the story with us.

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