Huntingdon County: Molding Character and Countians

Posted by Nancy Shedd on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Huntingdon County: Molding Character and Countians When Philadelphia land speculator William Smith laid out the town of Huntingdon in 1767, it is possible that even then he saw its potential as a county seat. On the one hand, the idea seems preposterous: the area surrounding his prospective town was a wilderness accessi­ble only by a scanty network of undeveloped Indian paths. This unsettled part of Pennsyl­vania had been included in a vast...
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Giving a New Shine to an Old Boot and Shoe Factory

Posted by Bonnie Mark on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Giving a New Shine to an Old Boot and Shoe Factory Named for Tahkamochk (or Tam-a-kwah), a Tuscarora Indian chief of the Turkey Clan, Tamaqua, in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill County, was known as the “the land where the beaver dwells in the water” and “the valley among four mountains.” It began as an anthracite (hard coal) mining town with related manufacturing interests. Tamaqua’s first settler, Burkhart Moser, is credited with...
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