Category: Quality of Life (Page 5 of 5)

Good to Know: The Bungalow – Cozy and Charming, America’s Early 20th Century Dream Home

August 5, 2015 / Pamela Reilly / 4 Comments

Bungalow in State College, Centre County. Photo by Bryan Van Sweden, PHMC.

Who doesn’t love a Bungalow? This charming cottage-like dwelling was America’s favorite small house at the turn of the 20^th century and was most popular between 1900 and 1930. Some view Bungalows as the embodiment of “home” — intentionally designed as a cozy and welcoming house form with a prominent front porch and chimney. It was even romanticized in songs of that period by Irving Berlin and others. In his 1925 lyrics Berlin described “A little bungalow, an hour or so from anywhere. A little cozy nest, the kind that’s best for two. Among the shady trees, with birds and bees and lots of air.” No wonder the popularity of Bungalows spread quickly across the country. What exactly is a Bungalow house and where did the design come from? Continue reading

Shippensburg Corn Festival, 1982, by Edward Sheaffer, Courtesy of Shippensburg Historical Society.

Shippensburg’s Corn Festival: Thirty-Five Years of Corn, Fun, and Historic Preservation

July 29, 2015 / Guest Contributor / 5 Comments

By Steven Burg

Shippensburg Corn Festival, 2006. Photo by Peter Linehan, Flickr Commons, Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

On the last Saturday in August for the last three and a half decades, tens of thousands of visitors have descended on downtown Shippensburg to enjoy the crafts, music, entertainment, and food of the Shippensburg Corn Festival. Despite the continued success of the event, many people know little about its origins as a fundraiser created to protect and preserve the community’s historic buildings. Continue reading

Ridgway Armory. Photo Courtesy of Pennsylvania DMVA.

UPDATE: Local Landmarks For Sale

March 25, 2015 / Barbara Frederick / 0 Comments

In our June 2013 post, we featured the upcoming sale of National Register listed state armories located in historic communities throughout the Commonwealth. To date, eight of the armories marketed for adaptive reuse by the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs have been sold to buyers who have agreed to purchase the buildings with a historic preservation covenant. The covenants will help to ensure future improvements to the buildings will be carried out in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. Continue reading

Mt. Carmel Borough, Northumberland County. Photo by Dave Maher.

Preservation in a Changing Economic Climate

January 21, 2015 / Pamela Reilly / 5 Comments

Many of Pennsylvania’s communities face the challenging task of adapting to a vastly different economic climate than the one that led to their historic growth and development. This new economic reality of dramatically reduced population, deindustrialization and loss of tax base has resulted in historic downtowns and residential neighborhoods pockmarked by disinvestment and vacant properties. Abandoned, demolished or marginally repurposed historic churches, schools and factories are especially vivid reminders of changing times and the large social and economic forces at work. Continue reading

Offbeat Outings: Vandergrift

February 19, 2014 / Tom Held / 6 Comments

Offbeat Outings is a bi-monthly series that highlights the travels of BHP staff as they experience history first-hand throughout Pennsylvania.

When some people plan to go on an historic vacation they think of places to visit like the Egyptian pyramids at Giza, Colonial Williamsburg, Stonehenge, or even Gettysburg. When I think of an historic vacation, I think about going home. Continue reading

Farmstead in the Oley Valley. Credit: Zachary Pyle.

Preserving the Oley Valley Rural Historic District in Pennsylvania

July 17, 2013 / Guest Contributor / 0 Comments

by Brenda Barrett

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in the Living Landscape Observer and appears here with the permission of the author and founder of that publication, Brenda Barrett. We appreciate Brenda’s contributions and reporting on this subject.

Oley Valley gristmill. Credit: Zachary Pyle.

Even in a state famous for its agricultural landscapes, the Oley Valley in southeast Pennsylvania is an exceptional place. Located in a in a bowl-shaped valley flanked by the forested hills of the Reading Prong and underlain by limestone, the region is drained by two small creeks, the Manataway and the smaller Monocacy. English Quakers, French Huguenots, and Palatine farmers from Switzerland and Germany settled in the valley as early as 1725 in search of religious freedom and good farmland. They found both, producing an 18th-century pattern of farmsteads, fields, and villages that has marked the landscape ever since. Continue reading

Jean Cutler: A 21st-Century Leader’s Definition of Retirement

May 29, 2013 / Andrea L. MacDonald / 5 Comments

The April 2013 edition of The Burg featured an article about a coalition of dedicated volunteers with a mission to preserve Harrisburg’s historic black churches. The author attended a local training program led by Partners for Sacred Places where he learned how these historically significant buildings can serve a larger role in neighborhood revitalization.

PHMC Executive Director Jim Vaughan and Teresa Mandic, Vice President of Programs, Pearl S. Buck International at the Keystone Awards Ceremony. Photo Courtesy of Mindy Crawford, Preservation Pennsylvania.

Keystone Fund Projects Receive Awards

March 27, 2013 / Cory Kegerise / 1 Comment

Since its creation in 1993, the Keystone Recreation, Park & Conservation Fund has supported thousands of projects in countless Pennsylvania communities, including more than 500 historic preservation projects. So, on March 18, 2013, on the occasion of the Fund’s 20^th Anniversary, the Keystone Partners took a moment to pause and reflect on the Keystone Fund’s impact and honor some of its success stories. Gathered under the dome of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building representatives from several nonprofit fund partners, current and former state legislators, and agency directors presented awards to projects from across the Commonwealth that exemplify the intent and impact of the Keystone Fund. Continue reading

Sharing What Pennsylvanians Love About Pennsylvania!

January 2, 2013 / Jean Cutler / 0 Comments

Dale Engle Walker House Buffalo Township Union County

As the Commonwealth’s State Historic Preservation Office, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP) is responsible for partnering with all the citizens of Pennsylvania to advocate for the protection of the Commonwealth’s natural and cultural heritage. To do this, the Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP) develops a statewide strategic plan every five years that lays out goals and actions steps that will guide our priorities over the next five years. It’s a big job to develop and implement this plan, because, as you know, Pennsylvania is a very big and historic place. To preserve and protect our important history, we need everyone to pitch in. And, this is why I’m sending you this inaugural message about BHP’s latest effort to improve our communication with all of you! I’m hoping that you will be receptive to our messages and that we will hear back from you!