Quintessential Pennsylvania

Situated just south of the state border with New York, Sayre, Pennsylvania is located along the Susquehanna River in the scenic Penn-York Valley that contains Sayre and neighboring towns, or just simply, The Valley. Borne of an idea of a Waverly, New York bank president by the name of Howard Elmer, in 1869, Sayre was built on farmland in an area that was once called Pine Plains. Sayre blossomed with the arrival of the Lehigh Valley Railroad to the area, and you can still see vestiges of the town's railroading history today. Owing to the connection with the railroad, Sayre was even named after a railroad president and superintendent by the name of Robert H. Sayre. Today, Sayre is a charming town worth exploring. With this in mind, I explored the town by foot and got to see some neat things around Sayre. Sayre Historical Society Museum, which was once the Lehigh Valley Railroad Passenger Station, designed and built in a Queen Anne Victorian style. Some buildings on West Desm

If you are native to the Pittsburgh area, the phrase "Meet Me Under the Kaufmann's Clock" will most likely resonate with you. The clock that is located outside the former Pittsburgh department store chain's "Big Store" has been a downtown Pittsburgh landmark for over a century.   Overlooking the corner of Smithfield Street and Fifth Avenue, the 2500 lb clock is an iconic Pittsburgh mainstay. The clock is actually the second clock to stand at the corner of Fifth and Smithfield.  The first Kaufmann's Clock stood on a post and was installed in 1887 when Jacob and Issac Kaufmann opened their new flagship store at 400 Fifth Avenue.  When Kaufmann's expanded "The Big Store" in 1913, the beloved landmark was installed. For over 125 years, the Kaufmann's name was well known throughout the Pittsburgh region as the area's main department store.  The chain grew into the suburbs and via acquisition - yet the 13 story downtown store stil

Cole Run Falls is a gem of a waterfall found in the Forbes State Forest near Rockwood, Pennsylvania , in Somerset County. While it is not a tall waterfall at 15 feet in height, it is one of the nicer waterfalls in southwestern Pennsylvania. Fed by Cole Run, the Cole Run Falls has a nice overhang and has an upper tier and lower tier (I focused on the upper tier of the waterfall for my photos). It is a really beautiful waterfall at any angle you view it at. I found it easy to get to (as long as I followed the directions, as there isn't much signage leading you to the parking area near the waterfall. Other places to check out nearby to incorporate into your visit around Cole Run Falls are the Blue Hole , Barronvale Covered Bridge and Kings Covered Bridge . How to Get There: Sources and Links: Rusty Glessner Photography - Visiting Cole Run Falls Uncovering PA - Pennsylvania Waterfalls: Visiting Cole Run Falls and the Barronvale Covered Bridge Interestin

  Located at the confluence of the western and northern branches of the mighty Susquehanna River, Shikellamy State Park's overlook makes up part of Shikellamy State Park, which opened in 1960. While the marina section of the state park is at the southern tip of Packers Island in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the  Shikellamy Overlook is on the western shore of the Susquehanna River in nearby Union County. One of many fine vistas dotted throughout the Keystone State, the overlook features a 360 foot cliff that overlooks the confluence of the branches of the Susquehanna River. The Shikellamy State Park was named in honor of Chief Shikellamy of the Oneida Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. A friend of both the colonists and American Indian tribes, Chief Shikellamy played a prominent role in the development of the Pennsylvania frontier in the early and middle 18th century. While the access road up to the overlook is closed from October to April, there is an one mile long nature

The Lehigh Valley has a long history of producing industrial products that help make Pennsylvania and the world a stronger place. For instance, Bethlehem Steel was once the second largest producer of steel in the United States, and they were based out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The old steel plant in Bethlehem has been transformed to SteelStacks , an arts and entertainment center. In Allentown, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs minor league baseball team is named after pig iron, a byproduct of smelting iron ore. However, the Lehigh Valley is also a leading producer of Portland cement. Invented in England in the first half of the 19th Century, Portland cement has a long history of its own in the Lehigh Valley borough of Coplay. Portland cement was first successfully manufactured in the United States in 1871 by David Saylor in Coplay. Also in Coplay, the first successful use of the rotary kiln for making Portland cement took place in 1889. Even today, the rotary kiln is used in mak