Around the Farm Museum

Some views of the details around the Bradford County Farm Museum.

The Farm Museum Buildings

The Sugar Shack was originally operated on a family farm. Inside you can see the original items used for gathering sap and making it into syrup, including wooden buckets, tapping equipment, and a large vat for boiling down the sap.

The Gregory Inn was build in 1822 to serve as a stopping place for stagecoach travelers between Williamsport, Pa and Elmira, NY, or from Athens, PA to Wellsboro, PA. It displays a number of women's items from the 1800's including sewing machines, and clothing and quilts. It served as a stop on the Underground Railroad in the mid 1800's. The nearby herb garden represents the herbs used for cooking and dyes.

The Carriage House was moved from the Troy Fairgrounds, where it sat for many years as a gathering spot and housed displays inside. Currently the Carriage House is home to over 50 carriages, sleighs, and wagons.

The  Little Children's Church was transformed from a chicken coop into a church by a group of children in the 1930's. It  contains many of the original furnishings.

Visit the Bradford County Heritage Association for more information about these unique building.

A Closer Look...

The oxen drawn sled with a huge vat for collecting sap in the winter...

 

A silhouette of the bell on top of the School House....

 

And the benches on the front porch of the Gregory Inn....


....Some details from the buildings at the Troy Farm Museum.

Troy Farm Museum and Historic Village

The Troy Farm Museum is part of the Bradford County Heritage Association. It is located on Route 14, just north of Troy and adjacent to Alaparon Park. The Troy Farm Museum is comprised of a recreated village that includes many historic buildings. The Farm Museum itself has  an extensive collection of rare farm implements, tools and artifacts reflecting 200 years of the local agricultural heritage. It is open from May through October.

On September 15 and 16, The Farm Museum will host the Pennsylvania Heritage Festival. Perfomances and reenactments of times gone by will be held, as well as fine arts and crafts, food, and farm products.

This is a little gem of a museum that is put together by a strong group of volunteers. When you are travelling historic Route 6, the museum is just a short distance and well worth the time to visit!

Penn State Lion Shrine

The Penn State Nittany Lion Shrine is said to be the most photographed spot on campus. It is also believed to be the second most photographed object in Pennsylvania, following the Liberty Bell. Numerous graduates and bridal parties have been photographed near the Lion. It was donated by the class of 1940, and is located near Rec Hall.  Rec Hall is one of the most recognizable buildings on the Penn State Campus, and is home to  to Penn State Men’s & Women’s Gymnastics, National Champion Men’s & National Champion Women’s Volleyball, Men's and Women's Soccer and Men’s Wrestling. 

In 1966 Sue Paterno (wife of football coach Joe Paterno), and a friend secretly splashed water-soluble orange paint on the Nittany Lion statue the week of the Syracuse game in an effort to raise some school spirit for the game. It rained, and the small amount of paint they had splattered on the lion washed off. But the Syracuse fans were still blamed for the incident.  The following year in an effort to get even, the Syracuse fans covered the statue in oil-based paint, which was tougher to remove. Since then, Students and Alumni, led by the Lion Ambassadors, guard the Lion Shrine every homecoming.

I was on the Penn State Campus earlier this week for a training program. My travelling companions and I were not sure exactly where to find the shrine, and drove around the campus (mis)guided by gps looking in vain for the statue. We finally stopped among the many students milling about the campus, and unfortunately stopped in front of a group of foreign students, who thought we were looking for the recently removed Joe Paterno statue. The young man adamantly informed us that there was "No more statue...statue gone!" We repeated again that we were looking for the lion statue, and he struck the famous Joe Paterno pose with his finger in the air indicating Number 1, and said, "You mean this statue?". Being teachers (in fact 2/3's of us were teachers of middle school and high school students) we managed to keep a straight face until we pulled away, still unsure of where to find the lion!

Marie Antoinette Lookout

A few miles west of the Wyalusing Rocks on Route 6 sits the Marie Antoinette Lookout. It provides a scenic look at "French Azilum" along the Susquehanna River. French Azilum was intended as asylum for loyalist refugees of the French Revolution. The French Azilum Historic Site interprets the history of the late 1790's settlement. It was hoped that it would provide a safe haven for Marie Antoinette, but it is unknown whether she ever knew about it. About fifty houses were built along the horseshoe curve in the river.

The lookout itself was built in the 1930s on Historic Route 6 as a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project. It was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, which provided jobs for unskilled workers following the Great Depression. Much of the original stone walkways and gazebos still exist at the site, which shares its parking lot with a small bar/restaurant.