Leaman Place Covered Bridge in Lancaster County, also known as Eshelman's Mill and the Paradise Covered Bridge is a scenic span in one of the counties with the most abundant selections of covered bridges within Pennsylvania. Lancaster County has one of the finest collections of covered bridges in the state. At 113 feet long, this would be a decently sized span anywhere else, but there are much longer bridges both in the county and in the immediate area around central PA.
This bridge crosses Pequea Creek and is a single-span burr-truss bridge. It was built by James Carpenter way back in 1845. It has been rehabilitated at numerous times, with its most thorough recent work being in 2004.
It is close to the eastern edge of Lancaster County, just off Route 30 and Lincoln Highway Corridor in a more rural part of the county, in the heart of its agrarian center. It is located just off the edge of the village of Intercourse.
As a covered bridge connoisseur, I am often most drawn to bridges with beautiful stone abutments like this. These approaches are so beautiful and are often more impressive to me than just the spans themselves.
Our 2025 Pennsylvania Wall Calendar features scenes from across the state, including views of:
-Knoebels Amusement Resort
-Center City Philadelphia
-Forksville Covered Bridge and Big Mike's Cheesesteaks near Worlds End State Park
-Ricketts Glen State Park
-Downtown Pittsburgh
-PA's Elk Herd
-Waldameer and Water World in Erie
-Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in Jim Thorpe, PA
-Linn Run State Park
-Kennerdell Overlook above the Allegheny River
-Ohiopyle State Park
-PA Grand Canyon
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. They are available through the dropdown menu at the top of the page
The Loyalhanna Gorge Greenway protects a nice section of the Loyalhanna Creek, just downstream from beautiful Idlewild Amusement Park and more and just upstream from where it heads into Latrobe. It is located in between the eastbound and westbound lanes of the beautiful Lincoln Highway/Route 30, at the point that the Lincoln Highway really starts to go wild into the mountains. The section we are covering today is called "Sleepy Hollow" and it is a pretty pleasant place to stop at.
It is a wonderful place to get out and stretch your legs and let the pups go in and wade for a minute. It looks like it is an excellent trout stream as well.
It is now owned by Westmoreland County and is preserved as a great green space. The Loyalhanna Watershed Association and Western Pennsylvania Conservancy have worked hard to make sure this land gets protected. I recall driving through this area for the first time a long time ago as we headed to Idlewild and just being so excited and astounded by the beauty of the wooded area through this portion of highway. I did not realize that this little park area was in between those lanes.
The Sleepy Hollow Causeway is a relic that should be preserved as well.
Definitely stop and take in the natural beauty of this spot if you are in the area. Well worth a short ride to stop and take in the beauty.
The Otto and Magdalene Ackermann Reserve is a beautifully forested tract that is maintained by the Westmoreland Land Trust. It is an unlikely forest hideaway that is located in the developed urban and suburban sprawl of North Huntingdon, North Versailles, Irwin, and Trafford, along the right-of-way of the old Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line in Westmoreland County.
It started out as plot of land that was owned by Otto and Magdalene Ackermann. They were German immigrants and emigrated to Western PA in the 1920s. Otto was a trained electrical engineer and worked at the legendary former Westinghouse Plant in East Pittsburgh. They initially lived in Wilkinsburg and moved out to Irwin. They slowly purchased the land that became the reserve and greatly appreciated its natural beauty. The land had a forested tract and a former quarry on it, and is immediately adjacent to the old Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line. The family of five kids preserved the refuge and added land to it, even after Otto passed in 1964 and Magdalene passed in 1991. The family treasured this parcel it and opened the land to the public in 1997. They donated the land to the Westmoreland Land Trust to continue this preservation.
The preserve is one of the most accessible places in the immediate Pittsburgh area to take in some short hikes of varying levels, to see a stunning display of spring wildflowers, and to see beautiful forest. It made our list of best hotspots to see wildflowers in Pennsylvania. In the spring, the wildflowers are so abundant that it almost looks like there's been a fresh coat of snowfall on the ground.
The hikes have some decent elevation change along a small tributary, with a small waterfall, that empties into Brush creek. At this point, the tributary is unnamed, but they filed to name it Blue Dell Run, after the old pool and drive in theatre complex that operated under that name up on the Lincoln Highway and Route 30 corridor. The small tributary was the water source for that locally famous former pool.
This is a lovely place to get a nice little hike within the Pittsburgh area off of Route 30/the Lincoln Highway. The coordinates take you to the parking area. It is very easy to miss the entry way into the property, because it is located in what is basically an empty lot between two homes. Once you get beyond the backyards of those homes, the preserve opens up.
Coordinates:
40.360944, -79.744291
For more information and background about this cool place, check out the website for the Westmoreland Land Trust.
The Wrightsville-Columbia Bridge/Veterans Memorial Bridge across the Susquehanna River is a historic part of the old Lincoln Highway. The first major transcontinental highway route, leading from New York City to San Francisco, crossed the mighty Susquehanna in this location. Upon initial construction, it carried the main routing of the Lincoln Highway/Route 30 in Pennsylvania. When the routing changed, the bridge was given PA Route 462 and is still designated as being a part of the old Lincoln Highway. It was dedicated as the Veterans Memorial Bridge when it was opened to the public on Armistice Day in 1930.
The size and scope of this bridge is thoroughly impressive. Measuring in at over a mile, at a whopping 6,657 feet with 48 different swooping concrete arch spans, this bridge is both functional and graceful. The longest span is 185 feet, and the bridge is 48 feet wide. It was designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a World Engineering Landmark, saying that it is "a splendid example of the graceful multiple-span, reinforced-concrete arched form popular in early 20th Century highway bridges in the United States."
After 90 years of service, this bridge is still considered to be the world's longest multi-span reinforced concrete arch bridge. The Wiley-Maxon Construction company designed and built the bridge in 1930 at a cost of $2,484,000, which in pure dollar inflation cost would be over 38 million today. Inflation cost though is not necessarily a good window into what the bridge would cost to build today for a river crossing up in Lewisburg on Route 15 is in the middle of construction and expected to cost 156 million, granted that modern bridge is set up to have much more clearance over the river and expected to handle more lanes of traffic.
The sheer elegance of this bridge makes it both noteworthy and historically significant. They paid great attention to making this bridge aesthetically pleasing with embellished concrete details in every way.
Note the adjacent bridge piers. They were used for three other different bridges. The second bridge crossing here was a covered bridge that was completed in 1834. In June of 1863, the Confederate Army had captured the city of York and planned to advance to Lancaster, Harrisburg, and further free points in the Northeast. Heroic Pennsylvania Militia Men attempted to blow up the covered bridge, but ended up being unsuccessful.
Painting by Bradley Schmehl
They then soaked the bridge in oil and lit it on fire. This heroic action kept the Confederates from advancing any further, setting them up for the Battle of Gettysburg and their retreat and ultimate defeat.
This Susquehanna River crossing is historically significant in so many ways, with perhaps the largest of which being the expansion of freedom and viability of our nation. The current ornate and beautiful bridge is a wonderful monument to this that will hopefully remain for all time.
It is easy to check out this bridge, with tremendous views at the Columbia River Park. We highly recommend checking out this stunning bridge along the historic Lincoln Highway Corridor.
Macy's Department Store in Center City Philadelphia in an absolute gem of a downtown department store that is just stunning to explore. It is home to world's largest playable musical instrument and is a destination that is well worth checking out.
The grand urban department store is a breed that is rapidly dwindling. First, changing retail tastes took a major chunk out of downtown department stores and shopping out to suburban malls in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Many department stores closed, but at least one or two others were still able to hang on in the major cities. Consolidation in the industry from the 90s through today brought in outside ownership to many of these department stores in which outside companies did not feel the same attachment to the often illustrious pasts of these old stores. Pittsburgh lost its last grand department store, Kaufmann's, a few years ago. In 2002, Cleveland lost its flagship department store, Higbee's, which was prominently featured in A Christmas Story. Philadelphia was once home to at least four major flagship department stores:
Lit Brothers, which closed in 1977
Gimbels, which created the first Thanksgiving Parade in the country, closed in 1993,
Strawbridge's was able to hold on until 2006,
Wanamaker's
The latter, and grandest, of those stores lives on to this day as Macy's. Both Strawbridge's and Wanamaker's were acquired by the May Company in the mid 90s. When Macy's purchased the May Company in 2006, they promptly closed the old Strawbridge's flagship in favor of retaining the Wanamaker's store. They have thankfully kept Wanamaker's and its illustrious history alive in Center City Philadelphia. Lots of the old Wanamaker's touch and old signage remains throughout the store.
The corner of Macy's/Wanamaker's, which has stood tall in Center City since 1902.
John Wanamaker set out to create a "new kind of store" and opened the world's first modern department store in 1876, in time for the centennial celebrations in the city. He expanded in 1902 with the construction of this opulent retail palace that was designed by legendary architect, Daniel Burnham.
Wannamaker's touch with retailing was in making shopping an extravagant experience for his customers, with the addition of many cutting edge technological innovations. Technologies that we take for granted today, including electrical lighting, and telephones, were quickly implemented by John Wanamaker. He even played a huge role in the creation of Mother's Day in 1908.
Additionally, and possibly most importantly, he appreciated the dignity of his workers. In a commercial sector not often known as being generous with its workers, Wanamaker offered his employees free healthcare, recreational opportunities, profit sharing, and pensions. He also demanded that his management treat every employee with respect. He was a religious man and believed that if "every man was equal in the eyes of God, then they all should pay the same price," which meant that he pioneered the concept of price tags. Prior to this, haggling was the norm in retailing.
John Wanamaker was a gilded age entrepreneur that did not let greed get in the way of treating his employees and customers with basic human dignity. He even dabbled in politics, serving as postmaster general under President Harrison and introducing the first commemorative stamp, though his record in that office was generally mixed. He advocated against unions because he believed that they were not necessary if a business were well managed. He never dealt with labor issues because he treated his workers well. He also was a firm believer in building community and opened the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, Philadelphia's largest homeless shelter and the third oldest remaining mission in the country, with the help of several other regional philanthropic entrepreneur's, including W. Atlee Burpee of Burpee Seeds, and John Stetson of Stetson Hats. Wanamaker was a different kind of Gilded Age industrialist whose benevolence was both outwardly visible in the community, and with his workers, in contrast to other gilded age industrialists that would put on a big show philanthropically, but then treat their workers without human dignity behind the scenes.
The classic cursive script initials of John Wanamaker, put into a mosaic in the entry way to the store.
By far though, the most famous and recognizable aspect of Wanamaker's is the organ. This is the largest operating musical instrument on the planet, with 28,500 pipes, six ivory keyboards, 729 color-coded stop tablets, 168 piston buttons (under the keyboards) and 42 foot controls. The largest pipe, made of three-inch-thick Oregon sugar pine, is more than 32 feet long and the smallest is a quarter-inch long. (Source: Friends of the Wanamaker Organ and Macy's)
The organ was built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It put the initial manufacturer out of business with an initial price tag of 105,000 dollars, an absolutely obscene amount of money in that time period. John Wanamaker got the organ for a bargain and loaded the organ onto 13 fright cars in 1909. It took two years to build it. It originally had 10,000 pipes, but John Wanamaker judged this to not be loud enough to fill the enormous Grand Court of his department store, so he created a private organ factory to add another 18,500 pipes to the organ up through 1930.
The keyboards for the organ. The organ is played every day of the week except Sundays. During the holidays, the Grand Court is lavishly decorated with a light show that accompanies the music that is played on the organ.
"Meet me at the Eagle" is a phrase that Philadelphians have said when it came to meeting in Center City at the Department Store. The eagle came from the German Pavilion at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It is perched right in the center of the elegant Grand Court at the department store. It weighs so much that the floor needed to be reinforced.
This elegant department store was also the primary filming location for Mannequin.
The bronze eagle is beautiful, along with the rest of the Macy's Department Store.
For a shopping experience from a day gone by, Center City Philly's historic Macy's is the place to go. For me to make a statement about going to a department store, and enjoying it, says a lot about the place. The organ, eagle, and architecture are not to be missed. With it being located right across the street from City Hall, and just a few blocks from Reading Terminal Market, One Liberty Place Observation Deck, the Franklin Institute, and so much more, you need to be sure to stop in and check it out, especially during the holidays.
Today we start some adventures through Philadelphia. We recently spent some time in this great city and had a great time. We start with the natural starting point for anyone approaching the city through Broad Street from the North, City Hall. We prefer to take this route in to the city because it remains generally traffic free and gives a dramatic entry into the city. The first Center City building that comes into view is the civic heart of the city, City Hall. This building is one of my overall favorite skyscrapers, with it being so dramatically different from pretty much any other building out there.
You are greeted with a view of City Hall pretty far north on Broad Street, which maintains a straight, 13 mile route through most of the city of Philadelphia.
Our first stop in the city took us to City Hall. It is incredible that this building serves as not just the government center for the city, but also as a lively recreational center, with a performance area, a splash park, and courtyards filled with singing street performers, and absolutely beautiful architecture.
It is the largest municipal building in the country and remains the tallest building in the world without a steel support system. It is 548 feet tall with a masonry structure and marble facade.
The first floor has granite and brick walls that are 22 feet wide in some places in order to support the weight of this elegant building.
This building is absolutely massive in scale and is thoroughly impressive. With a reservation, you can visit the observation deck of the tower and tour this impressive building.
William Penn initially planned for there to be a city hall on this plot of land in 1682. More than two hundred years later, this plan became a reality. It took 30 years to complete construction on this stunning building, which ended up being the tallest habitable building in the world from 1894 to 1908, and the first secular building in recorded human history to hold this title. It was the tallest in the state until 1932 when one of my other favorite skyscrapers was built, Pittsburgh's Art Deco Gulf Tower.
City Hall remained the tallest in Philadelphia for most of the 20th century, thanks to a gentleman's agreement that no building be taller than William Penn's statue at the top of the tower. The statue remains as the tallest atop any building in the world at 37 feet.
It is a superstition that the breaking of this agreement in the 1987 with the construction of One Liberty Place kept the Philly sports teams from winning championships. When the first Comcast Tower was constructed in 2007, a construction worker placed a figurine of William Penn atop the highest girder of the building and the "Curse of Billy Penn" was broken with the Phillies winning the World Series in 2008. When the second Comcast Tower was built, another William Penn figurine was placed on the highest girder, and the Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl. Additionally, the Philadelphia area team, the Villanova Wildcats, have won two of their three NCAA titles since the "curse" was broken.
It is great to see a civic building that also serves as a social gathering place for the people of the city.
The view from Ben Franklin Parkway
And the view from Logan Square.
Philadelphia City Hall is an absolute treasure of a building that serves as a the heart of the city in so many ways. Be sure to check out this stunning building.
There is nothing else quite like exploring the botanical gardens of Pittsburgh's Phipps Conservatory during the holiday season. This 125 year old Pittsburgh institution is always beautiful, but especially when it is decked out for the holidays. From the Christmas trees, to the lights, decorations, model railroad, and more, Phipps is filled with pure magic during the holidays.
Due to the popularity of their holiday event, you now have to reserve a time slot for entry into the gardens so the crowds are evenly dispersed at peak times. This system was successfully integrated a number of years ago at eastern PA's stunning Longwood Gardens.
We showed up early in order to grab a bite to eat at the delicious Cafe Phipps. I had the amazing Chicken Moambe Congo Stew, and Brit had the Pulled Pork Sliders. From the delicious foods, to the great drinks, including coffee, spiked coffee, fruit spritzers, and more, the food offerings at the Cafe are fantastic. We took our time and had a great meal while we waited for our scheduled time.
The Palm Court was recently restored closer to its original style, with the addition of stunning LED lighting into the new window panes. Ornamentation and architectural details that were lost over the years were restored, and the results look incredible. The glass is crystal clear again, and the building is even more stunning to see at night from the outside. For more details on the project, check out this article.
Aside from the stunning flora, Phipps is a destination for its collection of world class glass sculptures. Works from Chihuly, Fräbel, and Gamrath adorn the gardens. Shown here is Paint Brushes, by Chihuly.
There is something even more remarkable than usual about the way they decorated the trees this year. Adornments include the use of live amaryllis, succulents, bird feathers, and more.
The trees marking the way to this year's giant tree in the Victoria Room.
An entire Christmas Tree made of succulents.
Along with another made entirely of poinsettias.
The anthropomorphized displays of animals throughout the museum were really cute. This common theme throughout this year's display felt like Dogs Playing Poker coming to life in the form of penguins, rabbits, squirrels, bears, and more.
This year's giant tree, and its reflection in the Victoria Room
The stunning Broderie Room
The Desert Room cacti always look so exotic
The Garden Railroad looks especially great this year, with it celebrating scenes from the surrounding Schenley Park over the 125 years of Phipps Conservatory.
Now checking out the holiday lighting of the outdoor gardens. The newly restored Palm Court looks incredible from the outside.
The modern styling of their lights really provides a festive and non-traditional look to their displays. It really makes these displays a must-see for anyone who loves holiday displays.
I could watch the lighting of the Palm Court cycle for hours.
Notice the ornate decoration at the top of the roof. That decoration is referred to as the Ogee Crest, which was restored in the recent renovation after the original was torn off during a storm in 1937. The room was impressive before this renovation, but now it is nothing less than stunning and a fine example of an elegant greenhouse from the Victorian Era.
Phipps is a wonderland of light during the holidays.
Our favorite room in the conservatory is the Sarris Orchid Room. This room looks radically different depending upon the time of day that you visit. Certain aspects of the orchids are accentuated with daylight, and other aspects are highlighted with evening lighting. We highly recommend seeing them during the day and at night.
More of those anthropomorphized animals!
Some squirrels sitting down for tea and a pack of bears just hanging out.
A gingerbread house, with fresh fruit subbed in for candies.
Overall, the 2018 edition of the Winter Flower Show at Phipps Conservatory is absolutely phenomenal. It runs through January 6th. Reservation times will be needed through January 6th and you can get them through this link.
Looking for a decent and inexpensive gift, and looking to support our page? Check out our 2019 Pennsylvania Calendar, which is only $9.99, plus shipping, through the dropdown menu at the bottom of this article. More information is available at this link.
Also available is our book on Pennsylvania's historic amusement parks, Great Pennsylvania Amusement Parks Road Trip. It features Knoebels, Kennywood Park, Hersheypark, Dorsey Park, Waldameer, DelGrosso's, the currently idle Lakemont, Dutch Wonderland, Idlewild, and Conneaut Lake Park.
2019 Pennsylvania Calendar and PA Amusement Parks Book Options
