Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter Topics in the Winter 2015 Newsletter: PHF and PHMC Identify Fundraising Priorities for 2015 The Giving Circle Trails of History Sites and Museums Winter Learning Opportunities PHF Elects New Officers Exploring the Records of the Fall Brook Coal Company and Fall Brook Railroad Coming Soon! Welcome New PHF Members Welcome New State Museum Affiliate Members Join the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation...
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2013 PHMC By the Numbers Infographic

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on 2013 PHMC By the Numbers Infographic Each year the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, co-publisher of Pennsylvania Heritage magazine with the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation, produces an annual report detailing its activities. In order to highlight some of our most interesting achievements and to quantify our successes we’ve put together a snapshot of these activities in the form of this infographic. Infographics are...
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The Ship Hotel: Afloat with the Lincoln Highway’s Most Unusual Landmark

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on The Ship Hotel: Afloat with the Lincoln Highway’s Most Unusual Landmark In 1931 the first and only baby was born at the Grand View Point Hotel, 18 miles west of Bedford, Bedford County. Little Clara was the pride of her grandfather Herbert J. Paulson (1874–1973), a Dutch immigrant who had built the hotel on the side of a mountain along the winding, two-lane Lincoln Highway. Clara grew up in the hotel, which “Captain” Paulson turned into the ship-shaped...
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Executive Director’s Letter

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Letter To this day I can distinctly remember the palpable excitement I felt as a child going up to the attic with my grandmother to explore all the wonderful old treasures secreted there. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) and The State Museum of Pennsylvania have recently initiated a project to rediscover and examine the Commonwealth’s hidden gems that have long been stored away....
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Somerset County: Paths through the Roof Garden

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Somerset County: Paths through the Roof Garden Referring to the high elevation and the scenic quality of the region, Gov. Martin G. Brumbaugh called Somerset County “the Roof Garden of Pennsylvania” at an annual Farmers’ Day picnic in 1916. Since then. the description has become a familiar and respected title; the words “Roof Garden” have been in­corporated in the names of various businesses, and the complete...
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Fulton County: Where Country is Still Country

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Fulton County: Where Country is Still Country When the first settlers wandered into the Great Cove – a deep basin formed by the southern ranges of the Kit­tochtinny and Tuscarora mountains – they discovered strikingly beautiful valleys, incised with sparkling streams, whose only intrusions were Indian trails and remote pack­ers’ paths. During the two centuries since its settlement, the picturesque mountain ridges and...
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Bedford County: From Indian Trails to Tourist Resorts

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bedford County: From Indian Trails to Tourist Resorts In the summer of 1728, thirteen brave pioneers made their way north through the wilderness from Virginia. The trail brought these Virginians into the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, where they set­tled, only returning to Virginia to bring their families north. The area was rich with game and several trapped along the streams. One built a gristmill and another a trading post. These members...
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Chester County Welcomes Thee

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Chester County Welcomes Thee The history of Chester County constitutes a significant part of the history of Pennsylvania, both province and commonwealth, and of the history of the United States of America. At the beginning of our nation’s Bicentennial and on the threshold of our state’s and our county’s tricentennial celebrations, Chester County looks proudly upon its past accomplishments and with...
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Lawrence County

Posted by on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lawrence County Bart Richards, the unofficial historian of Lawrence County, indicates that little of historical significance has occurred in the county. He points out that it has had no wars, Indian uprisings, or great discoveries to its credit. Very few of its citizens have qualified for the pages of Who’s Who. Therefore, this history is the story of average, ordinary people striving to make a better...
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America’s Dream Highway

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on America’s Dream Highway Almost no one could have foreseen, fifty years ago, that an experiment in trans­portation engineering mean­dering across the rugged southern Alleghenies could profoundly affect the way tens of millions of Americans tra­vel. But from the very day it opened on October 1, 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike did just that – despite the fact that its first section ran from nowhere to nowhere. The...
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