Looking Back at 2023

Posted by on Dec 1, 2023 in | Comments Off on Looking Back at 2023 As we do every year in these pages (for the last dozen years or so, anyway), it’s time to take a look at highlights of the year that was.   Art of the State 2023 The State Museum of Pennsylvania’s annual juried art exhibition, Art of the State, opened on September 10. This year 559 artists submitted 1,915 entries. Selection jurors Deborah Pinter (Cleveland Institute of Art), Kyle Hackett...
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2022 Trails

Posted by on Dec 16, 2022 in | Comments Off on 2022 Trails With what feels like record speed, it’s once again time for our look back at the past year. Our steady rebound from 2020’s COVID-19–related site closures and event cancellations continued into 2022, with ongoing efforts to balance staff and visitor safety with everyone’s desire to get back out onto the Pennsylvania Trails of History. Visitation levels that started to increase in 2021 have...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2022

Posted by on May 13, 2022 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2022 Topics in the Summer 2022 Newsletter: PHMC Curators Highlight Objects from Collections Rachel Yerger on Sugar Tongs from Cornwall Iron Furnace Jennifer Royer on the Undertaker’s Sleigh at Landis Valley PHF Announces New Board Members   PHF-newsletter...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2022

Posted by on Dec 1, 2021 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2022 Topics in the Winter 2022 Newsletter: Hidden Gems at Pennsylvania Trails of History Sites Daniel Boone Homestead Ephrata Cloister Cornwall Iron Furnace Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum   winter-2022-phf-newsletter...
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Trailheads

Posted by on Dec 1, 2021 in | Comments Off on Trailheads When we rang in 2021, Pennsylvania’s Trails of History sites had been closed to the public for nine months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maintenance and security staff had continued to report to sites to perform their duties, while others of us had adapted to telework. The new year dawned with hope of spring reopenings, and on April 30 sites implemented new public schedules designed to ease...
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Trailheads

Posted by on Feb 10, 2021 in | Comments Off on Trailheads What is there left to say about 2020? In previous issues, we’ve chronicled the response of PHMC’s Trails of History sites to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of early October, it looked unlikely that sites would reopen by the end of the year. The uncertainty surrounding reopening sites and welcoming visitors in person has caused a great deal of frustration on all fronts. Nevertheless, our staff and...
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Trailheads

Posted by on Dec 30, 2020 in | Comments Off on Trailheads Here we are again. As of mid-July, PHMC’s Trails of History sites and museums remain closed to the public amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Special events and programs, including Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum’s Herb & Garden Faire, the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum’s Bark Peelers’ Festival, and Somerset Historical Center’s Mountain Craft Days, have been canceled. Grounds reopened with...
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From the Executive Director

Posted by on Apr 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on From the Executive Director People often think of history as events in the distant past, so it’s perhaps natural that visitors to our PHMC sites look for objects from Pennsylvania’s earliest historic periods. Our collections do not disappoint. If you wander through The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, you’ll find fluted projectile points from the Shoop archaeological site in Dauphin County that date to the last...
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Trailheads

Posted by on Feb 25, 2020 in | Comments Off on Trailheads History never truly sleeps on the Pennsylvania Trails of History, but winter is generally a slower season with reduced schedules and fewer programs and events. Charter Day, the celebration of Pennsylvania’s founding (the second Sunday in March), is the traditional start to our spring season. As the weather warms, activity increases at the sites and museums. The landscape loses its dull winter...
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Mount Gretna’s Spirit Lives On

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Mount Gretna’s Spirit Lives On Mount Gretna in Lebanon County is an enduring gem of a historic village that offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience an unembellished, Victorian-era lifestyle that shuffles on in similar fashion today. Cloistered within a 16-mile slice of forested rocky hills surrounded by a patchwork expanse of farmland between Lancaster and Hershey, Mount Gretna came to life in 1892 as a village (now...
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