#windber

[unteriors]

Luther Street, Windber, Pennsylvania.

[zombilenium]

Windber Trolley Graveyard, Windber, Pennsylvania:, USA,

Photo by: @frantastic420

[someenchantedcentury]

A route 50 trolley in Philadelphia. June, 1962.

PCC 2258 was built by the St. Louis Car Company and delivered to the Kansas City Railway where it began its life as car 761. In 1954 it was sold to the forerunner of Philadelphia”s SEPTA where it was renumbered #2258 and served until 1985. Today #2258 sits in Windber, PA, along with a large number of other retired PCCs and rail vehicles. It sits, slowly yielding its parts to other operable PCCs around the country, and waiting for the slim chance that some transit agency may rescue and restore it to operation.

[matthew-hunt]

[npsparkclp]

Inspire Preservation: Roberta Young

Roberta's seed of cultural resource stewardship was planted and nurtured at her family’s rural New Jersey property, where everything was old and the stories of past occupants were told through the site’s over grown vegetation, gardens, various buildings, roads, and trails.

Inspirational places for imaginary adventures included an old home site with a cabin and outdoor fire oven, a sea of forest with rock islands, and a secret hideout under the graceful arch of a giant forsythia.  However, it was the field trips with family and friends during her early years that introduced her to historic sites, where cultural resources were preserved for everyone to experience.    

Field Trip Memorabilia – Note Liberty Bell photo from 1976! (R. Young)

Eventually, Roberta found herself at Penn State University enrolled in the Landscape Architecture Program. This is where new growth and appreciation for cultural resources and history flourished and every project assigned was guided by a site’s past and an abundance of analysis. 

Roberta’s first “real” opportunity to work with a cultural landscape was as an intern with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission. Tasked with designing the first walking tour for the Eureka Coal Heritage Foundation in Windber, Pennsylvania, she was fascinated by the history represented in the landscape and architecture, the pride associated with the hard working miners who shaped the town, and a desire on the part of the town’s people to preserve and interpret the resources before they disappeared. Wanting to work with cultural landscapes in a professional capacity, Roberta accepted a position with the Midwest Regional Office Cultural Landscapes Inventory Program, where her career in cultural resource stewardship firmly took root.  

Roberta’s interest in Cultural Resources Stewardship has since continued to branch out.  She continues to find working with historic landscapes and structures as inspiring as her first day on the job. 

“Cultural Resources under the stewardship of dedicated NPS employees connect people to places of historic significance in tangible and experiential ways.  

When NPS professionals do their job well, they plant new seeds of cultural resources stewardship that have the potential to grow in the next generation of professionals – just as it did for a little girl from New Jersey who “found all of her parks” in the Midwest Region Cultural Landscape Program.”

Discover National Parks of the Midwest Region

Find out more about cultural landscape preservation 

A handful of cultural landscape profiles in Midwest Region national parks - more to come!

As 2017 begins, we are featuring a series of landscape preservation inspiration posts from members of the program. Missed anything? Check out the series here.

[unteriors]

Luther Street, Windber, Pennsylvania.

[matthew-hunt]

Absolutely No Chickens Accepted As Payment

[matthew-hunt]

Streamlined