A Little Hometown History

[KG_Panzerschreck]

Ever since i got my new digital camera, ive been dying to drive around my hometown and take pics of some of the local historic sites to show you guys. This morning was absolutely beautiful out, 82 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

The Pennsylvania canal ran up from Harrisburg through my hometown. The old canal boats were pulled up river and into locks by teams of mules. In the early 1800's, if you wanted to get to the frontier in Pa. and travel in relative comfort, you definately would of taken a canal boat. My hometown of Williamsburg{Founded in 1790, but people were living in the surrounding country side trading with Indians{and being massacred by them} and farming since about 1710} was the next to the last stop before the higher sections of the Appilacian Mts. where the boats were actually pulled out of the water and up over the Mt. on specially built tracks by mules. On the other side of the Mt. the boats were put back into another river system and you could then travel on as far as Fort Pitt{Pittsburgh} if you wanted to. These pictures are of Buildings, all built in 1820, that were part of the Canal system. These first two are of a huge 5 story Stone Barn that was used to hold feed and mules. This one of several buildings that formed a stopping station about 5 miles northeast of my hometown.






This is a picture of a stone rowhouse, also apart of above mentioned stopping station. A crew that took care of the mules and stores in the barn and also travelers could stay here overnight.




This is a picture of Etna Furnace. These types of Iron Smelting furnaces were one of the 4 big industries that helped our little town grow{at the highest population we had was when the canal was in its heyday, the 1840's and 50's, although parts of the canal still operated til the early 1870's} in its infancy. This is one of 3 that are around our hometown. This particular furnace is about a 1/4 mile down the road from the Stone Rowhouse of above. The Iron Was also shipped on the Canal. Btw, the steel cable and wooden frame around the top are there to keep it from falling apart. The other 2 furnaces around town are almost gone.



This is a pic of the 3 Mt. Etna {one is behind tree on the left hand side of the pic} log cabins that were built near the Barn and Furnace area, but these are much older, having been built in the 1740's. A family in town still takes care of them and uses them for hunting and fishing camps.




This last pic is of Ganister Quarry{one of 5 quarries around town, all but one got filled up with water!}. Another of the early industries that helped our town grow, it was in use til they struck ground water and it filled up with water, all the equipment and steam shovels are still down there, it filled up too fast to get the stuff out in time. Ganister is a type of very high grade Limestone that is excellent for making Lime and later Cement. FYI, that water covered area is bigger than it looks, the water covered area stretches out there for almost a quarter of a mile! The quarry was started in the 1840's and the water shut it down in the 1920's. BTW, the biggest small mouth and trout i have ever seen swim around in there and it has been the towns own giant swimming hole since it filled up.




I hope to take more pics of the other historic areas around town in the future and i will post what i shoot. I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my historic tour, more to come soon!