[COMPLETE] A Guide Book of Art, Architecture, and Historic Interests in Pennsylvania, by A. Margaretta Archambault - dc

[tac107]

I have snuck Tioga County in here.

Pine Creek Gorge, mentioned in this section, is also known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. I have visited probably one million times and will visit one million more. I even hiked to the bottom once - but it's VERY HARD to get back out! https://www.visitpottertioga.com/explore/attractions/pine-creek-gorge/ Believe it or not, the sides of the gorge were once logged completely bare. No trees of any kind, and it was criss-crossed by logging railroads. If Wellsboro wasn't so far from everything else I would want to live there, it is so picturesque and beautiful. When I visit I like to eat in this diner that used to be a train car: https://www.visitpottertioga.com/member/wellsboro-diner/.

I strongly believe that the road he mentions starting in Williamsport (which we locals all pronounce as either Wame sport or Weems port so saying it the way it's spelled is killing me) is now a part of US 15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_15_in_Pennsylvania

[vviera]

Sue said she would say CAR-thus, with the "th" like the one in "thin."

She said her brother might know better, but I couldn't get ahold of him.

Does that pronunciation match one of the ones you've heard?

Sec. 45 (Tioga) added to my to-do list. Have had some health stuff going on. Keep doing as much as you want. I'll catch up.

[vviera]

Sec. 27 Delaware
2:26 text 1762, heard 1962; 13:34 text plan, heard plane
Sec. 28 Lycoming
2:09 "monument" unclear; 2:29 text east, heard "eeth"
Sec. 29 Somerset
5:09 silence too long – trim
Sec. 30 Greene
1:14 text, birthplace; heard, place
Sec. 31 Wayne
PL OK

Interestingly, the only one of these I had no comments on as I listened was Lycoming...then I went back and read what you said about it.

Delaware County
“Lord Baltimore” – I’ve never stopped to consider its namesake
I never knew what a clerestory window was until I shopped for a house here in New Mexico. They’re somewhat common, because it gives indirect light to a room where you really don’t want the NM sun blasting you.
Wonder how long Media’s “provision against sale of intoxicants” held up

Somerset County
“the famous Turkey Foot” with a river as the middle toe. so funny.
“every spot of earth that Washington trod in the line of duty is
sacred soil for all true Americans” – wow
Is the “National Turnpike, commenced in 1811” what became a great highway is now the famous Pennsylvania Turnpike? (Even more famous than Turkey Foot!) I assume so since you called it just “the turnpike”

Greene County
“There are a number of gas pumping stations within the county”!
Waynesburg names after Genl. Wayne who “proved most successful in ridding this section of the Indians” – ouch

Wayne County
also named after the general
re:modern creamery – I recently recorded an essay, “Progress in Dairy Farming” from the book Triumphs and Wonders of the 19th century. It used to be that each farm processed its own milk into cheese or butter. Prices were low, quality varied widely, and freshness was a challenge because people didn't take product to market very often. These first co-op creameries, where groups of farmers brought their milk together to all be processed in one place, then share the profits, were a big advance.
Love the one-trip train now at the Smithsonian! Sometimes you don’t have to be good, you just have to be first
Wish I could see the nonagonal schoolhouse!

[vviera]

Sec. 32 and 33
PL OK

Adams
I was unfamiliar with the word or concept of “cyclorama,” but it looks very cool. Also, when I was growing up, we had a “Bike-A-Rama,” a town festival of sorts that celebrated the nearby Sparta-Elroy Bike Trail. I got to ride in the parade with purple streamers and such on my bike. I was probably 10 or something. A good time was had by all! Pretty sure for the adults it was mostly attractive due to the beer tent. Wisconsin.
I went to Gettysburg on a sixth grade field trip to Washington D.C. My wife and I would like to go again. She doesn’t rise to the level of a buff, but she enjoys civil war history. She once visited the Florida grave of a great uncle of hers who died down there in the war.

Center
“several small towns named for women” but no mention of who they are or what they did. Or, were the towns just named Phyllis, Ida, Olive, etc., with random women’s names? Did you know there is a Martha, Washington? I had to go there for work once.
I was wondering if Penns Cave was still there! (I like to read your comments after I’ve already heard the text.) Seems like a must-see.

[tac107]

Sue said she would say CAR-thus, with the "th" like the one in "thin."

She said her brother might know better, but I couldn't get ahold of him.

Does that pronunciation match one of the ones you've heard?

Sec. 45 (Tioga) added to my to-do list. Have had some health stuff going on. Keep doing as much as you want. I'll catch up.

That is EXACTLY how my friends say Karthaus. Seems to be tracking with what's going on in the neighborhood.

And don't worry about me, my computer just died for five days, so I am now back on track.

[tac107]

I have reuploaded 9 with fixes since I have my old microphone back. I will be pausing this until I get my new computer (hopefully in the next day or two) as this one has started having huge memory spikes which makes me lose things I have recorded while working on them

[vviera]

I have reuploaded 9 with fixes since I have my old microphone back. I will be pausing this until I get my new computer (hopefully in the next day or two) as this one has started having huge memory spikes which makes me lose things I have recorded while working on them

Big thumbs down for losing work. Boo.

Have you upgraded Audacity to the most recent version? I have the most recent, which is 3.1.3. It's only crashed for memory problems once, but when I reopened it, it told me it had the most recent "snapshot" of what I was working on, like Word or Excel do if they get closed unexpectedly. I was happy to see that it was pretty close to everything I'd done. I had to go back a few paragraphs, at most.

Pardon me if I'm telling you stuff you already know:

In Audacity, choose Help at the end of the top menu. You should either see what version you're using, or "About Audacity," which will give a popup telling you the version. I don't know if the option has always been there, but there's also a "Check for Upgrades" selection in this version's Help menu. It may be completely your computer's fault, but it doesn't hurt to make sure you're up to date anyway.

I'm assuming all your drivers are up to date as well? And with a program as memory-heavy as Audacity, if you know you might have some issues, it also doesn't hurt to do a quick reboot of your computer before you open the program.

[vviera]

I have reuploaded 9 with fixes

Sec. 9 PL OK

Sec. 8 also PL OK. I had "spotted" that a long time ago and had it OK in my notes, but the MW still said See PL Notes. FYI.

[tac107]

I always say I'm going to give myself a break, but I never do. I also realized, after following your advice, that I haven't updated Audacity in approximately 100 million years and that seemed to help a lot. I have made adjustments to the four sections with PL comments (I did laugh when I heard myself say eeth of Williamsport) and posted Clearfield County as well. I was surprised they didn't mention any of the elk, especially when talking about Karthaus, so I wonder if most of the elk had been overhunted at this time.

[vviera]

Secs. 27-30 all PL OK.

Your other comment made me laugh - "Not only did he kill his wife, but he was a crummy dentist!"

[tac107]

Some more postings! I also saw you mentioned the towns named after women in the Center County section - https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=4db3503c-1148-44d9-ab98-72cc856dcec6&cp=40.606469~-78.349785&lvl=13&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027 here is a link to one of them. If you go up and down old 220, you will see Hannah, Port Matilda, Olivia, Julian, etc.

McKean County - I discussed the Kinzua Viaduct in another post which is weird because it's smack dab in the middle of this one. Oops. Fun fact - Wooly Willy was invented in Smethport https://www.playmonster.com/brands/wooly-willy/

Potter County - My god, what can I say about this place? A county so rural that the Aryan Brotherhood used to have a compound up here because there was literally no one around to bother them. I have actually camped in Walhalla (spelled Valhalla now) at Ole Bull State Park. By circumstances totally unrelated to Potter County it was the worst outdoor experience of my life. It was August and I had to drive 2,100 feet up the mountain the dark as the valleys filled with fog, while coming screaming down the other side at 55 mph as the road was so steep I could barely keep the car in control. That was up the Jersey Shore Turnpike that the mentioned - it's called the Coudersport Pike now and it has NOT been improved in any way. They also have this big thing where their slogan is "Potter County, God's Country" and it is absolutely everywhere, billboards, license plates, etc. It is a weird place. When I am up there in the woods I feel like things are watching me. Brrrrrrr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Pennsylvania) The Austin Dam failure mentioned in the book. Not so fun fact, they built another one in 1942 and it also failed. But you can go see the dam remains now and it's very cool. Also, Potter County is no longer the shape it is in this book - it's a square now. They cut that jutting triangle off the bottom.

Jefferson County - Nothing about Groundhog Day in here yet, I see. Brookville was always the halfway point between my home and college in Pittsburgh so I spent an outrageous amount of time at the Sheetz there. Beautiful county, wonderful to drive through.

Susquehanna County - This area is called the Endless Mountains region. Went up here twice for Airsoft events that I was talked into. Absolutely nothing but mountains and barns, don't let them fool you.

[tac107]

Just one posted tonight, as my neighbors began having a heated argument near the end of this one. Bradford County. Pitt has a branch campus there and everyone I know who went there absolutely adored the area. There are a few towns with Greek names up there - Troy, Athens, etc. The Troy pool was known for being completely green, and everyone used to joke that their high school had the best swim team because the kids wanted to get out of the water as quickly as possible.

[vviera]

Secs. 30-whatever to 40, all PL OK. You were really on a roll! I have enjoyed so much reading all your commentary! If the wife and I ever take a Pennsylvania road trip, I will be pulling up these forum posts as an updated version of Archambault's master work.

My few comments.
Erie Co. - 9 ft. tall Indian skeleton. Bullsh*t.
Venango - I did a double take when I saw "Chepultepec." Seems like the wrong language. There is a large and well known park in Mexico City named Chapultepec. The Olmecs are the earliest known major civilization in Mexico, and if I'm not mistaken, "ec" is a common ending.
Mercer - "Only one old man was left in town." Poor guy.

And again, how the heck did she compile all of this?!? Was this her life's work?

Hopefully I'll also be on a roll and catch up soon.

[vviera]

Sections 41, 43, and 45, PL OK

Sec. 42
2:07 text: seven companies against Indians, heard: seven companies of Indians (small word, bit difference!)
Sec. 44
1:42 text: counties, heard: countries

Sue grew up in the tiny borough of Troutville, outside Dubois. It was around 300 when she was growing up. Wikipedia says it was 240 at the 2010 census. Wouldn't be surprised if it had shrunk further in this recent decennial.

I was surprised Dubois wasn't even mentioned. It's the biggest town in the county now, I believe. Sue went to Luthersburg Elementary but the rest in Dubois.

Her dad was a coal miner but died of cancer around 1982 in his 50s (probably not from the coal - it was gastro, and he was a tobacco chewer). Something I learned from her -- back then, each man had a round disk with a number on it. When you went underground, you hung your little disk on a hook on a board, so that if there was a cave-in or something they would know for sure who all was down there. She still carries his disk on her keychain. The workers probably log in on an iPad or something now.

Sue is an IUP alum, so I've been to Indiana. The most salient thing to me is that they have the statue of Jimmy Stewart. For that matter, my sister used to live in Weatherford, TX. They have a statue of Mary Martin, the originator of the Peter Pan role on Broadway. That role, last I heard was being played by Jen Colella, originator of the pilot character in Come From Away. Not sure what's happening with the plague on Broadway these days. I've seen CFA twice, once in Seattle when it opened there (also opened in La Jolla, before it went to Broadway), and Sue and I actually flew to New York for the weekend to see it on Broadway. I felt very cosmopolitan, but really we had miles to fly and friends in Jersey City who lived not too far from the ferry. So we paid for theater tickets and meals, pretty much. Sue also saw CFA at Ford's Theater. If you haven't, you should.

I feel better now. I haven't had much to say lately, but this stream of consciousness makes me feel like a contributor.

[vviera]

Caught up on Margaretta for now, outside of spot PL coming back from you. Whew. Only 23 sections to go!

46, 48, 49, 50 PL OK

Section 47
1:25, 1:46, 3:24
Question: Have you actually heard Ole Bull pronounced that way? I see he's Norwegian, and this is a traditional Norwegian name pronounced like "holy" without the H. Uff da, dere was a lotta Norwegians where I grew up. There is a whole genre of mostly off-color Ole and Lena jokes (an old Norwegian married couple).

I could see "OHlee" ending up being pronounced "ohl," so let me know. That was the only thing in 47, so if that's correct then it's PL OK, too. It just struck me as kind of odd because this is in the context of a lot of Native American names. "Ohl" Bull sounds like "Ol' Bull," which brings to mind Sitting Bull, like maybe Ol' Bull was Cornplanter's cousin.

Comments:
I looked up Punxsutawney Phil and that started in 1887, according to Wikipedia. Sun Prairie, WI, my ex-husband's hometown (and birthplace of Georgia O'Keeffe, no statue that I know of), has Jimmy the Groundhog who fancies himself the real Groundhog Day groundhog, but I see from the city's own website that he had his 73rd anniversary in 2021, so he only goes back to the 1940s. Jimmy got so much press in Wisconsin that I never realized there was a Phil until much later, maybe even after I met my wife (age 36).

Sue always says Punxy. They and Dubois were archrivals in sports. One of Sue's fondest memories from high school is that one year they played Punxy for homecoming - a classmate of hers had a dad that was a butcher, and he gave them a roll of "Ground Chuck" stickers, which got plastered all over the school. She's told me the story a few times. Every time, I act like it's the first time, because it makes her so happy to tell it. But I always think, "But are a woodchuck and a groundhog really the same thing?" I've never gone to research that; it would seem unsporting because I'm definitely going to rain on her parade even if I found out they weren't.

I didn't remember what Wooly Willy was until I googled it, but I certainly had one when I was a kid!!!

Name observations:
I don't think of Wisconsin/Illinois having Six Nations names, but I wondered when I saw Wesauking. I might be wrong about that. My dad grew up in Waukegan (hometown of Ray Bradbury), north of Chicago near the Wisconsin border. There are some others in SE Wisconsin, like Waukesha, and northern Wisconsin, Wausaw. (In the same vein, Kenosha, Oshkosh, and Chicago, If you ignore the spellings and just listen to the sounds.)

Also surprised by Miantinomah and Owego in relation to the PNW. Portland, OR, is Multnomah County. Of course there's Tacoma, which is the Native American name for Mt. Rainier. Lake Oswego is a suburb of Portland. Most of the PNW native place names sound different from these.
***
Thanks for your patience. At the moment, I just have pending PL 3 sections of another project that came in over the weekend. And that's a duet where we're PLing each other, so it's a little different. I know you've said not to worry about it, but I really hate to get that far behind. New meds, not expecting further delays