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PA Activities and Attractions
The Hiking Trails and Fall Foliage Vistas at PA’s Rothrock State Forest
10/20/2019 - 11:15pmNamed in homage to Pennsylvania’s “Father of Forestry,” Joseph T. Rothrock, the Rothrock State Forest comprises a near-100,000 acre tract of ridges, forest, and marsh in Huntingdon, Centre, and Mifflin Counties. As clear-cutting rapidly deforested the state, once covered in 95% forest, Rothrock battled desperately to purchase land from lumber co...
Read MoreJoin the Celebration - Pine Grove Furnace State Park is 100 Years Old!
10/20/2019 - 11:14pmIn 1764, partners George Stevenson, Robert Thornburgh and John Arthur built an iron furnace along Mountain Creek named Pine Grove Iron Works. It manufactured ten plate stoves, fireplace backs, iron kettles and possibly munitions during the American Revolution. In 1913, the 17,000-acre Pine Grove Iron Works was sold to the Commonwealth of Pennsyl...
Read MoreThe Traveler's Guide to the Galaxy at Cherry Springs State Park
10/20/2019 - 11:13pmYou’ve never seen the sky like this before. Every generation preceding us always looked upwards in wonder at a night sky brimming with the beauty of stars and the glowing arms of the Milky Way. The widespread use of artificial light around the world now hides the sky from 80% of mankind on Earth. For the first time in human history, we cannot se...
Read MoreThe Core of the Apple: Biglerville and the Adams County Orchards
10/20/2019 - 11:13pmBelieve it or not, the history of apples is closely intertwined with that of mankind’s. Thousands of years ago, the goddess of chaos, Eris, started the famous Trojan War by tossing an apple into a private wedding. While never actually specified, the forbidden fruit in the biblical Garden of Eden was never specified until John Milton’s revolution...
Read MoreListen to the Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 National Memorial
10/20/2019 - 11:12pmLocated on the ridge above the Memorial Plaza at the crash site, the Visitor Center Complex hosts the exhibit area, Learning Center, Allee and Western Overlook trailheads, and Flight Path Walkway and Overlook. The Memorial Plaza nearby is a one-mile drive from the Visitor Center Complex; the two walking trails can also be used to visit the Memor...
Read MoreCelebrate the Star Spangled Banner with a visit to Independence Square
10/20/2019 - 11:11pmInspired by the sight of the American flag still waving in the early morning air following the relentless British assault on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, the poem that would later be known as the Star Spangled Banner actually did not become our official national anthem until 1931. Before that, we didn’t have a national anthem a...
Read MoreTerrifying 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 MoreWelcome to Winter in PA: We Call It Ski Season
10/20/2019 - 9:11pmWith ski season officially here, we’re getting ready for three months of snow, hot chocolate, and a cozy fire. But we’re also gearing up for the outdoors and hitting the slopes. With the Alleghenies to the west and Poconos to the northeast, PA is a winter adventurer’s wonderland. From cross-country skiing and snowshoeing to an Olympic-size half...
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...
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