When I discovered the fabulously whimsical and colorful mosaic murals along the 1000 block of South Street in Philadelphia, I had no idea this outpouring of creativity was actually part of a fascinating preservation story. Visually, the neighborhood is delightful surprise, a colorful, mysterious and enigmatic world of unexpected images, embedded in the physical structure of the buildings. While the artwork is fun and engaging, it is also much more. It is physical evidence of the power of people to reclaim and reinvent their communities and redirect the forces of change that threaten them. Continue reading
Category: Transportation (Page 6 of 6)
Happy Birthday, Pennsylvania Turnpike!
The Pennsylvania Turnpike turned 75 on October 1, and groups throughout the state have already started their tributes to this engineering marvel and cultural icon. On October 2, the State Museum opened a new permanent exhibit about the Turnpike in its Industry and Transportation gallery, and the recent issue of the Pennsylvania Heritage magazine featured a great piece on the Turnpike written by the exhibit’s curator, Curt Miner. Earlier this year, staff from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and PHMC and Gerry Kuncio, senior historian for Skelly and Loy, Inc., gave a presentation about “America’s First Superhighway” at the Statewide Conference on Heritage. We wanted to send out our own birthday greeting and share with our readers some amazing historical facts about our beloved Turnpike.
Over the past several years the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has developed an innovative partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs) with free technical assistance to help them develop their Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTP). Supported by funding from FHWA, the goal is to encourage these planning organizations to integrate cultural resources and historic preservation issues into their transportation planning. Continue reading
In my position here at BHP, I am involved in a wide variety of activities, in addition to my primary job duty, review of compliance projects in the Western Region for archaeology. Most of these activities center on keeping all the internal bits and parts of BHP moving, including processing archaeological reports for final storage in our archive, collaborating on updating our Guidelines for Archaeological Investigation, or chairing the committee on addressing our bureau storage and archive issues. All of these activities keep me entirely within my Historic Preservation, Cultural Resource Management comfort zone. Like all comfort zones, though, it can sometimes get, well, a little too comfortable. Back in the summer of 2011, looking for a change of pace, I volunteered to manage a PennDOT/Federal Highways (FHWA) mitigation project: a short film about historic bridges aimed at inspiring public interest in bridge advocacy. Did I know anything about historic bridges? Nope. Did I know anything about producing films? Nope. Did I know a great deal about public advocacy? Nope. Piece of cake, right? Continue reading
The Past, Present and Future of the Transportation Enhancement Programs, MAP-21 and Transportation Alternatives Program.
On July 17, 2014, at the Forum 2014 Statewide Conference on Heritage Byways to the Past in Philadelphia, the Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP) will be part of the panel for the session “The Past, Present and Future of the Transportation Enhancement Programs, MAP-21 and Transportation Alternatives Program.” Continue reading
2022 Update: The short video, Pennsylvania’s Historic Bridges: Connecting Our Past and Future, is available for viewing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Kf8f8ee5E.
Almost every archaeologist I know has heard this question from somebody from the general public: “How do you know where to dig?” Although it used to give me a facial tic after hearing it over and over, it’s actually not a bad question.
New Uses for Old Bridges
Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, federal agencies must consider the effect of their projects on historic properties which are defined as resources listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. It is the role of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office to participate in consultation with the federal agency to seek ways to avoid or minimize adverse effects of projects on historic properties.
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