Indian trails Archives - Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine

Somerset County: Paths through the Roof Garden

Posted by William Gross on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off 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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Fayette at the Crossroads

Posted by Walter Storey on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off Fayette County has always been at the crossroads, both literally and figuratively, its destiny shaped by its location, the incredible riches of its natural resources and the vitality of a people descended from almost every nation of Europe. It has a son of dual personality, geographically divided between mountains and lowlands, historically divided into two almost equal eras of economic...
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McKean County: Where the Gold is Green

Posted by Terry Hess on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off The great gold and silver rushes of the late nineteenth century to places such as the Black Hills, Colorado, Arizona, California and Alaska have long been hailed in story and song for their excitement, riches and heartbreak. But, the rush for “green gold” to McKean County during the same century was equally or more exciting. First, there were the forests – immense forests of...
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Schuylkill County: Built on Coal

Posted by Joseph Hanney on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off The history of Schuylkill County is inextricably bound to the story – and drama – of the great anthracite industry in the United States. Despite nearly two centuries of active mining, the county’s 783 square miles still boast the largest accessible reserves of hard coal known in the world. Its lives and lifestyles have been quasi-fictionalized by two of the county’s best...
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Bedford County: From Indian Trails to Tourist Resorts

Posted by William Clark on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off 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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Cambria County: Coming Full Circle

Posted by John Coleman on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Located in the highlands of west-central Pennsylvania and amidst forbidding mountains – the Allegheny escarpment and the Laurel Ridge standing sentinel on its eastern and western borders – the territory that would become Cambria County was not easily accessible to early Pennsylvanians. Migrants bound westward during the second half of the eighteenth century avoided its...
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Bookshelf

Posted by PA Heritage Staff on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Barns of Chester County Pennsylvania: A Bicentennial Overview: “So Your Children Can Tell Their Children” by Berenice M. Ball published by the Women’s Auxiliary to Chester County Hospital, 1974, contains 256 pages with 378 illustrations including original art and photographs The book’s profit will also benefit Chester County Historical Society. The author, Mrs. Bell,...
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Lehigh County: The Land and Its People

Posted by Daniel Gilbert on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off Lehigh County encompasses the western half of the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. Bounded on the east by the Lehigh River, the main geographical feature of the larger valley, and on the north by the Blue Mountain range, the land is a mosaic of limestone plain, sinks and rolling hills. While the southern region of the county lies astride the so-called South Mountain and the hills of the...
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Lawrence County

Posted by Samuel Farmerie on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off 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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Pike County: A Peak of Natural Perfection

Posted by George Fluhr on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off “I went through a constant succession of scenery that would have been famous had it existed anywhere in Europe.” – Washington Irving Shaped roughly like a diamond, Pike County is situated in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, bordering the Delaware River on the cast across from the states of New York and New Jersey. The northwestern side of the diamond lies in Lake...
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