Understand what life was like on the edge of English settlement in America by visiting Hanna’s Town, a reconstructed Revolutionary War-era fort and a reconstructed frontier tavern.
Laurel Highlands
West Overton Industrial Village Reveals the Humble Beginnings of American Industrialist Henry Clay Frick
Learn about the humble beginnings of a famous American industrialist, financier and art patron.
Exploring Pennsylvania’s Main Street Across America and Lincoln Highway Experience
The Lincoln Highway is one of the earliest transcontinental highway routes for automobiles across the United States of America. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway runs coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City west to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The Lincoln […]
Spoil Yourself with a Weekend Stay at Thistledown at Seger House
I was delighted with a recent stay in the Thistledown at Seger House, a renovated 103-year-old Victorian mansion that is now a luxurious boutique hotel in Ligonier. Like this gorgeous mansion, Ligonier itself is one of those timeless American towns that get portrayed as such in movies — it’s the place everyone wants to live […]
The Best Kept Secrets of Laurel Hill State Park
Like its sister park, Linn Run State Park, one county to the west, Laurel Hill State Park area was a desolate mess a hundred years ago. The lumber boom that swept through the hills and forests of Pennsylvania missed Laurel Hill Valley until 1886. But the lumber industry came for the old-growth forests of hemlock and […]
Remembering American Heroes at the Flight 93 National Memorial
The Flight 93 National Memorial commemorates the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was one of four aircraft hijacked in the September 11 attacks. The Memorial is the nation’s permanent memorial to the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93. It’s their final resting place and their remains are still present — this is […]
Two Hikes You Shouldn’t Miss at Linn Run State Park
Once an ecological disaster — as with many areas of the East Coast that were clear cut by the lumber industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries — Linn Run State Park is now a thriving second growth forest. Mountain laurel and native rhododendron cover the slopes — we caught the tail end […]
Unique Barns in the Laurel Highlands: “Just for Pretty”
This lovely old red barn, #4 on the Somerset Barn Tour, is adorned by a medallion star, serving as ventilation. I’m never not on a barn tour — as I’m out and about, if I see a picturesque barn, I’ll pull over and photograph it. A close up of the barn star medallion. Note the little […]
Wagner Ritter House and Garden
Part of understanding the Johnstown flood disaster is understanding how working-class families lived in and around Johnstown, PA in the late 1800s. Although many homes of the time were destroyed by the flood, what weren’t destroyed then, re-development since has destroyed. Even if you’re not interested in the Johnstown disaster, this home is fascinating because […]
Hunting Ghosts at the Famous Nemacolin Castle with Ghosts N’at!
This lovely old mansion started life in 1780s as a modest trading post, with a single room on top, at the end of the Nemacolin Trail, a trading route frequently used by Native Americans. The trading post was near the site of Fort Burd, built by British colonists during the French and Indian War. Construction […]