The view of Chestnut Ridge was taken in October of 2013. Morning fog shrouds the valley where the Conemaugh River flows. The Chestnut Ridge and its companion ridge to the east, Laurel Ridge, were imposing landscape features that early settlers had difficulty penetrating. If you travel Route 22 in the winter time you may have the same experience - this is the snowiest and windiest part of Indiana County.
One of the prettiest spots in our park system is Pine Lodge, located at Pine Ridge Park near Blairsville. The 2-acre pond was once operated as a 'pay fishing lake' when a family lived here in the early 1960s. The building that the family lived in was torn down in the early 1970s when the park property was acquired.
This historic photo depicts the engineering crew of the Vinton Colliery Company that operated several mines in Vintondale, PA and surrounding areas. In the early 1900s this crew was very busy surveying new mines, mine facilities, new towns and other properties for the booming coal industry in the Blacklick Creek Valley, today home of the Ghost Town Trail. The photo comes to us courtesy of the Denise Dusza Weber Collection.
