Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: Environmental Review (Page 10 of 13)

This photograph shows four students clearing dirt from an archaeological site.
Students excavate the Hatch site in Centre County, PA.

Centre County’s Hatch Site

November 22, 2017 / / 3 Comments

This past summer I had the opportunity, along with other members of the PA SHPO, to visit an archaeological field school underway in State College. It’s not often I get away from my desk, so it was a nice chance to get out in the field and get my hands dirty helping to screen soil, even if just for a day or two. The field school was run as a coordinated effort by the Juniata College Cultural Resource Institute and the PennDOT Highway Archaeological Survey Team (PHAST) at the James W. Hatch Site (36Ce544). Continue reading

1803 George Armstrong house, approximately 17 x 17 feet, now at Depreciation Lands Museum. Photograph by Charles Richmond, 2013.

Listening to the Public: Results of the Marketing Archaeology Survey

September 20, 2017 / / 1 Comment

In the previous Marketing Archaeology blog post, we introduced you to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-eligible Armstrong Site and the associated current Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) road reconstruction and widening project . Continue reading

The Belle Vernon bridge carries I-70 over the Monongahela River, railroads, and roads in Washington County. At least three different bridges can be seen in this photo and illustrates the diversity of bridge types in Pennsylvania. Nathan Holth, photographer, Courtesy of HistoricBridges.org., August 2010.

Guidance for the Treatment of Historic Bridges

June 7, 2017 / / 1 Comment

Wherever you travel in Pennsylvania, you are likely to cross a historic bridge. These bridges are an important part of the cultural landscape and a link to Pennsylvania’s transportation and engineering history. Eventually these bridges need some level of work to continue providing a safe passage, but what is the best way to execute this work without diminishing the bridges’ historic character? By consulting and applying the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (the Standards) for guidance.

Continue reading

Wiley’s Bridge is located along Bowers Road in Berks County. Public interest has spurred talks of preservation for this rare Whipple Through Truss bridge. Courtesy of historicbridges.org. Used by permission of Nathan Holth.

Bridge to the Past: PennDOT’s Historic Metal Truss Bridge Management Plan

March 15, 2017 / / 7 Comments

In June 2016, I was hired as the Transportation Special Initiatives Coordinator in the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).  This new position was created through a special funding agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and was developed to assist them in marketing the state’s historic metal truss bridges. My position has evolved over the last 9 months and I see my purpose as helping both PennDOT and the SHPO preserve the remaining population of historic metal truss bridges by either marketing them for an adaptive reuse at a new location or helping to develop and implement a management plan to rehabilitate these bridges as part of the transportation system. Continue reading

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