Interesting Pennsylvania and Beyond: December 2023

Purchases of our 2024 PA Calendar and PA Amusement Parks Book

12.17.2023

Martin Hill Road and Blankley Hill Road Overlooks: Spectacular Views in Buchanan State Forest

There are a number of pretty roadside overlooks in Buchanan State Forest, several of the prettiest and easiest to find ones are located on Martin Hill Rd and Blankley Hill Rd. They are both essentially the same road and if you follow them you will see at least 3 scenic overlooks looking on either direction of the ridge.

The Sweet Root Gap Vista is at the top of the gap in which the Sweet Root Natural Area and trail are based. The Mid-State Trail goes through this spot. If you are headed from Maryland's Rocky Gap State Park, a popular destination for Pennsylvanians, it is great to watch the geology unfold by routing yourself through this area.

The three named vistas in this spot are the Martin Hill Firetower View, Sweet Root Gap Vista, and Rainsburg View.

You can't miss these overlooks if you follow Martin Hill Road and Blankley Hill Rd. I love state forest roads like this that lead towards successions of scenic overlooks like this. Put Martin Hill Rd into your navigation app and you should not have any trouble finding these spots.

Thank you so much for your support over these many years with these calendars. The proceeds help to keep the lights on here. The 2024 edition is available now!

Our 2024 Pennsylvania Wall Calendar features scenes from across the state, including views of:

-The old growth forests in Cook Forest State Park

-Center City Philadelphia

-Knoebels Amusement Resort

-Gettysburg Battlefield in the snow

-Sailing in Erie

-PA's Elk Herd

-Canyon Vista at Worlds End State Park

-Kinzua Bridge

-Cowan's Gap State Park

-Downtown Pittsburgh

-A vista on the PA 144 Scenic Byway -A holiday scene from Sunbury PA.

The calendars open up to be 17 inches tall by 11 inches wide (8.5 by 11 pages) and all photos have been taken by us, and the calendars are produced in the USA. The proceeds help us to continue what we do to highlight and bring attention to the many great adventures that this state has to offer.

It makes for a great gift for someone or for yourself. It is available for purchase through the PayPal dropdown menus at the top of the page and the bottom of this article.

Also available is our book on Pennsylvania's historic amusement parks, Great Pennsylvania Amusement Parks Road Trip. It features Knoebels, Kennywood Park, Hersheypark, Dorney Park, Waldameer, DelGrosso's, Lakemont, Dutch Wonderland, Idlewild, and the sadly former Conneaut Lake Park.

12.10.2023

Ligonier Valley Railroad Remnants along the Lincoln Highway

The Ligonier Valley Train Station is a former depot and headquarters for the 10 mile long shortline railroad that ran from Ligonier to Latrobe with perhaps the most notable contribution of the rail line still remaining, beautiful Idlewild and Soak Zone Amusement Park. This building in Ligonier is beautifully intact. The line itself is gone, with most of the right-of-way being in the beautiful westbound section of Route 30/Lincoln Highway along Loyalhanna Creek. A few stations remain beautifully intact though, including this one, the stations within Idlewild Park, and Darlington, which is adjacent to Idlewild and serves as a museum. Idlewild Park was created as a way to boost ridership on slower days, and it was wildly successful. The success continues today with people driving out to this Family

What is odd about this short line railroad is just how many of the contributing structures of the railroad remain, even though the line is completely gone, with the last trains running over the bulk of the line in 1952. The right of way is easily distinguishable as well, which is neat because the line has been abandoned for more that 70 years, which is almost as long as the line was operational. The legacy of what was brought to the region by the rail line has far outlived the rail line and will certainly benefit the region long into the future with the creation of Idlewild Park and the scenic right-of-way being used for this section of Route 30/Lincoln Highway, not to mention the remaining buildings, which have all found adaptive reuse for the needs of the region. Many lines of this era that have been removed have not retained their legacy as well as this one has as the anchor and foundation of this community and the region as a whole.

It is definitely worth checking this stuff out if you are in the area.