Back to Pennsylvania

Cruising eastbound through Ohio we stumbled on a National Historic Site that we did not know was there, and we had not been to. The William McKinley Birthplace HS is in Niles Ohio. While we got a chance to drive by it, it turns out that it was closed the day we went by. We will consider it a find, but will keep it on the bucket list so we can tour it if we ever make it back.

We also happened upon the infamous General Motors plant in Lordstown Ohio. This is one of the GM plants that have been in the news recently due to the strike by the United Auto Workers. All GM's plants have seen activity organized by the UAW, but the Lordstown plant has received special attention because it was closed by GM. Since 2018 GM has been steadily reduceng the workforce at the Lordstown plant laying off entire shifts as GM continues to change its focus to electric vehicles rather than small fossil fuel vehicles like the Cruze, which is one of the vehicles manufactured here. The last day of production in Lordstown was March 6, 2019, and it has been one of the poster children for the UAW's negotiations with GM which eventually resulted in the current strike.

On the way to Brooksville Pennsylvania, we stopped on the border with Ohio near Sharon PA. There we found Seneca, the 6^th Whispering Giant carved by Peter Wolf Toth. Carved in February of 1973, it looked surprisingly well, despite 46 years of weathering in the harsh norther climates. We were pleased not to be shut out as we were in Akron.

Other than being on our route and allowing us to visit Seneca, Brooksville had no particular draw for us other than it was on our route. We did visit the historic downtown and the river walk, and also discovered the Sculpture Rocks Heritage Park. In 1912 Douglas Stahlman began inscribing rock surfaces around Brookside with inscriptions from the bible. By 1913 he had hand chipped more than 540 biblical inscriptions in various locations around Brooksville, and held religious meetings at the sites. While impressive, the locals found it creepy, and eventually committed Stahlman as insane.

About a half hour from Brooksville was Punxsutawney PA. Since I had many times in my life tried to find out whether Punxsutawney Phil had seen his shadow, I couldn’t be that close to the town where he lives and not stop by. Sadly, we were there on a Sunday, to the Punxsutawney Weather Discover Center wasn’t open to visit – on these steps each year we find out just how many more weeks of winter there may be.

We moved on to Williamsport PA, where we found the wealthiest communities in the US in the 1800’s. Because of the lumber resources in the area, the 1800’s found Williamsport having the most millionaires per capita of any community in the United States. We strolled Millionaires Row where most of these lumber barons chose to build their mansions. While locals attempt to make it vibrant with B&B’s and restaurants, it still looks like none of those 1800’s era lumber barons would choose to live here now.

In Williamsport, Chief Woapalanne was the 65^th Whispering Giant carved in October 1989. Woapalanne was originally placed at the at the entrance of Brandon Park in central Willaimsport for all to see and enjoy. Sadly, like many other we are searching for, time took its toll, and the base of Woapalanne was severely damaged by termites. Woapalanne was originally 28 feet tall, and looked like this.

Thanks to the citizens of Williamsport and their politicians’ will, Woapalanne was removed from Brandon Park and refurbished. Sadly, the base of Woapalanne could not be refurbished, the deterioration was too complete. But the now 24-foot-tall Woapalanne proudly stands next to the Williamsport transit depot. I could only find references to the Brandon Park location, but thanks to the Woman’s excellent Google search work, we managed to score this one – bonus!

Talk to you soon.