Culture

July 17, 2024

Get the picture? Outdoor photo advice from the PA Wilds’ photo pros

You gotta love Facebook and Instagram for the endless supply of picture-perfect photos of the vast Pennsylvania Wilds. Opening my phone or laptop every morning provides a daily diet of beautiful pictures from all over the Wilds. Some images come from the pros, while most others come from amateur photographers like you and me. 

July 2, 2024

A Watershed Moment: How The Watershed Journal uplifts and empowers local literary arts

The Watershed Journal Literary Group is an autonomous, grassroots, charitable nonprofit literary organization located in the I-80 Frontier Landscape of the PA Wilds serving storytellers in western Pennsylvania. On the first Tuesday of each month, the Wilds Are Calling blog on PAWilds.com will feature one story and its related image from an edition of The Watershed Journal. This once-a-month feature is called A Watershed Moment, highlighting the talented writers and artisans in our rural PA Wilds region.

June 19, 2024

More than a market – An inside look at buying local food at farmers markets

With the idea of summertime fresh on our minds, many of us find ourselves daydreaming of the glorious days ahead. For some this might mean trips to greenhouses, maybe planting a garden or getting some of those renovations knocked off of that to-do list. For many, this is market season. Weekly farmers markets have forever served as the direct connection between producer and consumer.

May 17, 2024

Fire tower preserved for visitors in McKean County, thanks to Lumber Heritage Region

After serving for 49 years in fire detection and forest preservation efforts, a portion of the iconic Prospect Hill Fire Tower is now on display at the McKean County Historical Society, welcoming visitors to experience its rich history. The McKean County Historical Society and the Prospect Hill Fire Tower are in Smethport, at the edge of the Allegheny National Forest and Surrounds landscape and the Dark Skies landscape of the PA Wilds region, as well as along the Scenic Route 6 journey.

May 16, 2024

A win as rare as Bigfoot: Cafe offers food challenge

I personally love the idea of Bigfoot. Is he real? I don’t care about the science. I love the stories. The rumors are that you can challenge the legendary cryptid, Bigfoot. Was I up for the challenge? For my birthday, my wife took me out to breakfast at Conspiracy Coffee Co. in Mansfield where I could partake in "The Bigfoot Challenge."

April 15, 2024

Elliott’s Park in Clearfield: John Crissman’s love for his dog and his community

Along River Road in Clearfield, within the I-80 Frontier landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds, sits a narrow park that overlooks the West Branch Susquehanna River. Decorated with a Bigfoot statue, a totem pole, wooden carvings, a stone Ford truck, a cabin used for storage and lots of images of a labrador, the park is one man’s testament of his love for his dog and his community.

March 21, 2024

The Once-and-Future “Johnsonburg Press”

For sale—130-year-old, independent newspaper, in a historic, PA Wilds, Boomtown Borough. Everything is on the table—the name and mailing list; the spacious, 1901 office building and upstairs apartment with nice woodwork; antique-and-recent office machinery and furniture; archived local, regional, national, and world news stories (microfilmed and digitized from 1897 to present day); and, on-site printing contracts for booklets, tickets, membership cards, and the like.

March 14, 2024

Discover public art and murals along Scenic Route 6

Tucked away among the beautiful scenery of the PA Route 6 corridor is a vast collection of creativity and imagination. Sometimes “hidden” in plain sight, other times camouflaged as parts of larger works, dozens of murals and public art pieces are waiting to be discovered. Now the PA Route 6 Alliance has made it even easier for you to locate and appreciate these many exquisite works of art with the PA Route 6 Public Art & Mural Trail.

March 11, 2024

Apply for the Artist-in-Residence Program at the Allegheny National Forest

The USDA Forest Service is once again accepting applications for the Artist-in-Residence Program at the Allegheny National Forest. Applications for the 2024 summer and fall residencies will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Artist-in-Residence Program provides artists of all mediums the opportunity to pursue their craft outside of their normal environments, with free housing in the ANF and a stipend for those three weeks.

March 4, 2024

Flagstone from the PA Wilds graces the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

“Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God.” These hallowed words are emblazoned on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for America’s unidentified service members, providing a place for reflection on those who have served our military and made the “ultimate sacrifice.” The Tomb is one of the most recognized in the United States, up on a hillside overlooking Washington D.C. But 250 miles away on a hillside in Cameron County in the PA Wilds is a quarry where flagstone for the paved walkway of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was mined.