Community Initiative Award Recipients Featured in PA SHPO Videos

A core mission of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) is to educate the public regarding state and federal preservation programs. The production of testimonial videos is one way in which PA SHPO shares preservation’s positive outcomes and its importance for Pennsylvania’s many diverse communities.

In 2018 PA SHPO honored three organizations with Community Initiative Awards, recognizing that their work exemplifies preservation happening everywhere across Pennsylvania (also the theme of PA SHPO’s preservation plan #PreservAtionhappenshere). The three video clips on the organizations listed below are part of a larger library of testimonials found on PHMC’s YouTube channel that illustrate preservation success stories in the commonwealth.

Jefferson County History Center executive director Ken Burkett and archaeologist Brian Fritz at Scripture Rocks.
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Jefferson County History Center

In 2009, with help from the Society of Pennsylvania Archaeology, the center launched a project to document and map the Scripture Rocks in Pine Grove Township, Jefferson County. This research effort, funded in part by a Keystone Historic Preservation grant, led to the opening of Scripture Rocks Heritage Park, a free outdoor archaeology museum. The park tells the story of Douglas Monroe Stahlman, who in the early 1900s embarked on a quest to carve biblical verse and personal impressions into large rocks at the site. “My goal was to move the museum outside of the museum and the park did that for us,” said Ken Burkett, the center’s executive director. “The full development of the park has enhanced our local tourism industry. We’ve had 19,000 visitors to the park in 18 months.”

Redbank Valley Trails Association (RVTA)

Climax Tunnel, Redbank Valley Trail.
Photo, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

This all-volunteer organization developed and maintains a 51-mile trail that follows Redbank Creek through Clarion and Jefferson counties, originally laid out as a rail corridor in the 1870s by the Allegheny Valley Rail Road. Since 2010 the association’s band of volunteers have resurfaced most of the trail, improved 17 of its 19 bridges, and installed education panels that tell the story about sites along the way. In 2011 RVTA and its partners started planning for repairs to the trail’s Climax Tunnel. The five phases of construction lasted from 2013 to 2018. The goal was to repair the tunnel and connect two completed sections of trail. “This trail is a great economic and recreational opportunity for the community,” said Sandy Mateer, president of RVTA. “Schools use the trail in their sporting events . . . fundraisers in the form of 5K races and walks.”

Walk In Art Center in Schuykill Haven.
Photo, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Walk In Art Center (WIAC)

Located two blocks from the Schuylkill River, the center is housed in the former Walkin Shoe Co., a three-story children’s shoe factory built in 1887 in Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill County. In 2008 the borough launched a planning process to revitalize the community. The following year, Bert Evans, owner of the building, and his team hired a Pottsville firm to devise a master plan for the center’s development. Today, the Walk In Art Center is a creative incubator with 16 working studios, office and classroom space, and three art galleries. “There was a fair amount of skepticism when we first got started,” said Lorraine Felker, a WIAC studio artist. “There were a lot of people who questioned why we would put an arts center in the middle of the coal region. I think people are surprised and proud of what we are able to do.”

Sean Adkins is digital director for PHMC. Look for his updates at Pennsylvania Trails of History on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.