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Visit Pennsylvania's Historic Places
More than 1,000 museums and hundreds of historical sites tell of the Commonwealth’s rich, storied, and important past. Gettysburg and Philadelphia are best known, but the entire state is rich with historic preservation—as well as the kind of living history you can only find in a place that treasures its streetscapes and architecture. Pennsylvania boasts 30 National Park Service parks, trails, and landmarks.
And when you’re finished touring, great antique shops and local merchants offer unique, historic, and local merchandise. There are more than 130 farmers and artisans markets in Pennsylvania.
So when you get off the highway in Pennsylvania, you can truly take a trip to Unique!
History & Heritage Blog
Terrifying Tourism: Explore Philly’s Eastern State Penitentiary
10/20/2019 - 11:10pmOpened nearly two hundred years ago, the world’s most expensive prison is now one of the scariest themed attractions around. The stone gothic structure, originally designed in Benjamin Franklin’s home and built with soaring 30-foot high fortress walls, was built with the intention to terrify those that entered its boundaries. Its dark past alone...
Read MoreDiscover 16,000 Years of History at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter
10/20/2019 - 11:10pmTravel back 16,000 years to western Pennsylvania this spring with a visit to the Meadowcroft Rockshelter. Sixty years ago, a Washington County, PA farmer struck something a little more valuable than gold: a soon-to-be major archaeological site that would yield over two million artifacts from the oldest site of human habitation ever discovered on...
Read MoreSteel Away to Pittsburgh for a look at Industrial Heritage
10/20/2019 - 9:07pmFounded on March 18, 1816, the City of Pittsburgh is celebrating its 201st birthday. The city forged its history at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers. In the early 1800s, the city garnered a reputation for its dramatic industrial development, boasting glass factories, breweries, iron mills and a steam engine factory. E...
Read MoreFebruary in Philadelphia: Visit The National Constitution Center
10/20/2019 - 9:02pmSpend February in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center, where America’s most treasured document is celebrated, shared, and discussed with all kinds of people. It is here that the coastal colonies of North America finally changed the course of history, making the daring decision to take their ruling into their own hands. Nicknamed the...
Read MoreHistoric Ghost Walks and Haunts
09/15/2019 - 3:01pmTrick or treat yourself to one of Pennsylvania’s haunted attractions and historic ghost tours this October. Whether you genuinely enjoy being scared out of your wits or you just like learning about an area’s history, Pennsylvania’s storied past is the perfect setting for a supernatural experience that will send a chill up your spine. F...
Read MoreSteamtown Railfest
08/30/2019 - 10:37amLocated on a working railroad yard in Scranton, Steamtown USA is one of the country’s most unique National Historic Sites and one of the few that dedicates itself to the story of industrialization in the United States. The museum at Steamtown’s 40-acre site details the history and technology of locomotives in America and Pennsylvania,...
Read MoreThe Keystone State & The National Park Service
06/18/2019 - 9:14amWhile the Keystone State boasts no official National Parks, we make up for it national battlefields, heritage areas, historic parks, forests, and trails that are all managed by the National Park Service. Exploring these locations and landmarks is a great way to experience both the natural landscape of PA and its rich history and herita...
Read MoreVisit the Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 National Memorial
04/29/2019 - 9:05amAlmost twenty years ago, four commercial airliners were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. While two crashed into the World Trade Center towers and a third into the Pentagon, the fourth, United Flight 93, crashed into a common field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It wasn’t until later that the complete and heroic story of Flight 93’s fi...
Read MoreExperience 16,000 Years of History at Meadowcroft
04/14/2019 - 9:24amExperience thousands of years of history in a single day at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village. Dig into the archaeological evidence that led scientists to conclude the rockshelter had been continuously inhabited for 16,000 years and then experience rural life in the carefully recreated 19th century village of Meadowcroft...
Read MoreCelebrate PA's 338th Birthday!
02/10/2019 - 3:09pmPennsylvania residents and visitors are invited to celebrate the commonwealth's 338th birthday on Charter Day, Sunday, March 10 with free admission to many historic sites and museums along the Pennsylvania Trails of History. Charter Day celebrates the founding of Pennsylvania and visitors have a rare opportunity to see the origi...
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