$50 non-member/$45 museum member, scholarships available
Looking for a unique experience for your child this summer? The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is excited to present its hands-on History Camp. Children ages 10-18 will spend two full-days immersing themselves in the rough and tumble lifestyle of a 19-century woodhick. On day one, campers will try activities like using a crosscut saw, rolling a log, peeling bark, and cooking over a fire. They’ll play games like horseshoes, seed spitting, and model log raft racing. On the second day, participants will demonstrate their new-found skills at the Galeton Rotary’s Cherry Springs State Park Woodsmen Show.
Scholarships covering the $50 registration fee are available for a limited number of campers. Interested campers must submit a 200-250 word essay explaining “Why I want to go to History Camp,” to be judged by the museum’s Event Committee for content. Essays must be submitted by June 29 and can be emailed to palumbermuseum@gmail.com or mailed to: PA Lumber Museum PO Box 239 Galeton, PA 16922. Scholarship recipients will be notified by July 11.
Daily Schedule:
Friday, August 2: Camper should be dropped off promptly at 9am at the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum. Activities for the day will include a tour through the museum and training in the use of a crosscut saw, log rolling in the pond, log peeling, board drilling (the old fashion way), axe throwing, sunflower seed spitting contests, and model log raft racing. Campers will assist in the preparation of their own lunch just like woodhicks used to eat. Camp activities conclude at 5pm.
Saturday, August 3: Camper should be dropped off promptly at 9am at the Woodhick Grove at Cherry Springs State Park. Campers should bring/purchase a lunch and water. Campers will demonstrate their newly acquired skills to the public at the Woodhick Grove in the morning, then watch the semi-pro logger presentations in the arena. Camp activities conclude at 2pm.
What to bring and wear: Campers should dress comfortably. Hats, hiking boots, sunscreen, and insect repellent are highly recommended. To get into the immersive spirit, campers can choose to wear their own logger style clothing. Swimming gear and a towel are required for Friday.
Questions: Contact Jennifer Haines, Museum Educator, at jenhaines@pa.gov
Interested in getting out to see what remains of some real locations associated with Pennsylvania’s lumbering past? The museum has created two self-guided lumber history hiking brochures to encourage folks to lace up their hiking boots and explore the surrounding forests. Find beautiful vistas, lumber ghost towns, ruins, and remains of former Civilian Conservation Corps sites.
Select from Susquehannock State Forest or Tioga & Tiadaghton State Forests brochures. Below provides more information on each location highlighted in the brochures. Brochure directions are all based on the PA Lumber Museum as the starting point of the trip.
Some destinations will require you to drive on stretches of forest roads. These roads are narrow, unpaved, and not maintained during the winter. Proceed with caution in an appropriate vehicle.
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear such as hiking boots or athletic sneakers to protect your feet from rocks and roots along trails.
Take an adequate supply of water and food.
Take a map and know how to follow trail blazes.
Check the weather before you go.
Take a friend in case you need help. Cell service is very limited in the forest.
Watch your step and listen carefully—wild animals and rattlesnakes make their home in the forest.
Leave no trace, take nothing but pictures.
Removing historic artifacts is strictly forbidden.
Immerse your students in the history of Penn’s Woods with a visit to the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum!
Woodhick Day School Program—Friday, May 9, 9:30am-1:30pm
(Rain Date May 16)
Join us to explore the courageous yet reckless spirit of Pennsylvania’s lumbering pass at our Woodhick Day Education Program. Learning stations across the museum will give students the opportunity to watch demonstrations, try hands-on activities and talk with knowledgeable staff to discover what it was like to work in the woods.
Learning Stations Include:
Try your hand using woodhick tools like a cross-cut saw and auger
Visit the Pennsylvania WoodMobile
Watch the Shingle Mill in action
Talk to the Camp Cook to discover what it took to feed a logging camp
And so much more!
Admissions: K-12th grade: $3 per student. Teachers, chaperones & bus driver are free (so long as they don’t outnumber the students).
Space is limited and reservations are required. Contact Museum Educator Jennifer Haines at (814) 435-2652 or email jenhaines@pa.gov for more information.
Guided Tours
Book a guided tour and have our knowledgeable staff lead your students through the museum. Students will tour the Challenges and Choices exhibit to explore the interactive elements, historic tools, and life-size photographs that tell the story of how people utilized and interacted with Pennsylvania’s forests over time. Tours will also visit the museum’s outdoor exhibits, including our recreated 20th century logging camp, Shay locomotive, and circular sawmill.
Our Museum Educator will work with you to create a tour that is right for your students. Depending on your group’s interests, size, and time constraints, guided tours could include:
Demonstrations of the site’s Shingle Mill, Blacksmith, and Mess Hall kitchen
Wood You Believe Game
Hands-On Activities and Crafts
At your request, the museum will also coordinate with PA DCNR Susquehannock State Forest to schedule an educational forester (subject to DCNR staff availability) to lead your group on a guided hike along our Sustainable Forestry Trail, exploring forest management practices in our local forests.
Admission:
K-12th grade: $3 per student. Teachers, chaperones & bus driver are free (so long as they don’t outnumber the students).
College & Graduate Students: $5 per student. Professors & chaperones are free (so long as they don’t outnumber the students).
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts/etc.: $5 per scout. Leaders & chaperones are free (so long as they don’t outnumber the scouts).
The trailhead for our Sustainable Forestry Trail
Outreach Programs
Can’t visit the museum? Let us come to you! Our hands-on lessons are great for school, library, and community groups. Select from three different programs. Please contact museum for current pricing and availability.
What Trees Do for Me(grades Pre-K to 4th)–The important benefits trees provide both the environment and humans are explored with the reading of Why Would Anyone Cut a Tree Down. A discussion of the book is enhanced by seeing and manipulating objects featured in the Wood You Believe Game to discover how many items in our daily lives involve wood.
So You Want to be a Woodhick? (grades 4th-12th)–The lives of the men who worked in the woods of Pennsylvania in the past were hard, rough, and dangerous. A discussion of their work and living conditions is enhanced by students examining some of the tools used by the men and trying their hand at using a cross-cut saw. (An outdoor venue is needed for program to enable use of cross-cut saw)
Raftsmen & Log Drivers (grades 2nd-8th)–Explore the use of water transportation in the PA logging industry with a presentation of the historic tools used and methods employed by lumbermen to move logs. Students will design their own log stamp and work collaboratively to build a model raft.
To Make Reservations
Contact Museum Educator Jennifer Haines at (814) 435-2652 or email jenhaines@pa.gov to register for Woodhick Day, book a guided tour or schedule an outreach program.
It is winter in North-Central Pennsylvania; it is cold and the ground is covered in snow. The men of the Civilian Conservation Corps didn’t get snow days. They were out working year-round and needed winter clothes that kept them warm but also allowed them to perform their duties.
Ernest Wilson spent two winters in the CCC: the first at Camp S-133 Hammersley Fork where he was stationed from October 1934- June 1935, and the second at Camp S-122 Two Mile Run from July 1935- March 1936. His winter clothes are on display in the PA Lumber Museum’s main exhibit.
LM2010.7.4 Hat and LM2010.7.5A-B Coat and Pants
Similar clothing is depicted in the painting, “CCC Boy, Winter Costume” painted by Pennsylvania-born artist Sterling Smeltzer; currently in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
“CCC Boy, Winter Costume” by Sterling Smeltzer 1936, Smithsonian American Art Museum 1965.18.90
Sterling Smeltzer was born in Williamsburg, PA in 1908. He attended Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh where he studied engineering and structural design and art. He graduated in 1931- right into the Great Depression. The Roosevelt administration created several programs that commissioned public art to employ out-of-work artists during this time. The first, The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), was run by the US Treasury Department and was short-lived, lasting only from December 1933 to June 1934. Smeltzer was commissioned to paint a mural in the Altoona, PA post office for the PWAP, but this mural is currently unaccounted for. He was also commissioned to paint a post office mural in Willoughby, OH in 1938 that has also unfortunately been lost to time.
“CCC Boy, Winter Costume” was most likely painted by Smeltzer as part of the CCC Art Project that was operated by the US Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture, 1934-1937. As part of this program, artists were assigned to CCC camps to create art as a reflection of the life and accomplishments of CCC enrollees.
During his time in association with the CCC, Smeltzer was tasked with putting together an exhibit in a new museum located in a CCC-built structure situated in the CCC-developed Hawks Nest State Park in West Virginia. Smeltzer created several original paintings to help fill-out the exhibit. This small museum has been moved from the original CCC building, but reproductions of the paintings (displayed to preserve the originals) can be be viewed at the Ansted Culture and History Museum.
Sterling Smeltzer is listed on various websites as a “WPA” artist, but does not appear to have worked for the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It seems to be a common mistake to label any artist who made art for the Federal Government during the Depression as a “WPA” artist. After the Depression, Smeltzer went on to work for Curtiss Aircraft in it’s industrial arts section. He eventually retired from North American Aviation and passed away in 1982. He is buried in Altoona.
Painting depicting travel on the Midland Trail by Sterling Smeltzer on display at the Ansted Cultural and History Museum.
Here are some images of CCC enrollees from Camp S-87 Ole Bull preforming winter work in 1936. These men working in the snow made sure to bundle up in their CCC-issued winter clothing.
The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is please to provide our audience with the second installment of this new virtual exhibit. It centers around the museum’s extensive archive of historic photographs. Select archival images were paired with modern images of the same location, in many instances taken in nearly the exact spot as the historic image. It is truly amazing how the lumber industry transformed the landscape of Pennsylvania, and how things have changed in the intervening years.
Leetonia Tannery
The foundation on the right is some of what little remains of the sprawling tannery complex pictured on the left. Leetonia, Tioga County, was founded in 1879 and named after Creighton Lee who built the first tannery there, along Cedar Run. By the turn of the 20th century, the town had grown into a bustling community that included multiple sawmills, a railroad depot, over fifty homes, a store and a school that doubled as a church. Several tombstones from the church cemetery can still be seen today.
A railroad that employed an impressive array of switchbacks was constructed in 1899, traveling 7 miles from Leetonia to Tiadaghton at the bottom of Pine Creek Gorge. This allowed leather and lumber to be shipped to market by rail via the Penn Central line that followed Pine Creek. When timber resources were finally exhausted, the mills and tannery closed in 1921.
CCC Cabin #4
The photo on the left was taken in 1992, when a log cabin that was originally built by enrollees from Civilian Conservation Corps Camp S-135 (Dyer Farm) in 1936 was dismantled and moved to the PA Lumber Museum. The photo on the right was taken in 2020 in the spot where Cabin #4 once stood.
The CCC put millions of unemployed young men back to work during the Great Depression (c. 1933 – 1941). Cabin #4 was intended to be available for vacation rental at the never-completed Black Forest State Park. Museum volunteers raised over $30,000 to have the cabin relocated to the museum to save it from demolition. Of the eight cabins that were initially built in this complex, only five remain there today; Cabin #3, shown above, is one of them.
CCC Camp S-135 operated between 1933 and 1937. An interpretive trail located near the former location of the camp and the cabin colony marks its footprint and includes interpretive waysides with historic images of camp activities.
Entrance to Leonard Harrison State Park
The image on the left is a postcard from the late 1940s/ early 1950s that shows the concession building at Leonard Harrison State Park, serving as the entrance to the overlook at the “Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.” The image on the right was taken in 2020 and shows the current visitor center building, which contains restrooms, a gift shop and education center. Over 200,000 visitors will pass through this building on a yearly basis.
In 1922, local lumberman Leonard Harrison gave this land to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to operate as a public park. When Mr. Harrison donated the land it was already being used as a picnic grove and lookout area. The park was much improved in the 1930’s by the enrollees of Civilian Conservation Corps from Camp S-155, Darling Run.
Leonard Harrison State Park is popular year-round for its views of the Canyon, but it is especially popular as a place to view fall foliage in late September/ early October.
Pine Creek Valley at Babour Rock
Itinerant photographer William T. Clark took the photograph on the left around the turn of the 20th century. The photo on the right was taken in the early spring of 2020; a bit to the east of the original location.
Barbour Rock is purportedly named after Samuel Barbour, a log driver who died trying to break a jam on the Owassee Rapids at the bend in the river below. The PA Youth Conservation Corps established a 1-mile loop hiking trail to the overlook at the rocks in 1978. This trail links with other hiking trails in the vicinity of Colton Point State Park, located about 1 mile south of the overlook.
Published in 2016, the book Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers presents a comprehensive collection of the photography of William T. Clark along with a history of the regions in north-central Pennsylvania where he worked.
The Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad was established in 1893 as a conglomeration of multiple logging short lines built and operated by Charles and Frank Goodyear; owners of the Goodyear Lumber Company. A section of this railroad built to link the Goodyear lumber mills in Austin and Galeton needed to cross the Eastern Continental divide or “Hogsback” ridge. Railroad engineers briefly considered building a tunnel underneath the mountain before settling on a more cost-effective series of switchbacks.
The historic photo above depicts the lowest switchback lead on the east side of the mountain, near a small (historic) community of track workers and woodhicks called Van Heusen. Going left at the switch would take trains through the community of Corbett and then on to Galeton. The track on the right led to more switchbacks up and over what is today called Mt. Broadhead, and down the other side to the community of Hull. The modern photo on the right was taken in roughly the same spot during the summer of 2020.
Today, nothing remains of Van Heusen or Corbett. A portion of a stone and concrete footer is all that is left of the water tower in the historic photo. The Deck Lane and Burrous hiking trails interest near the point of the historic railroad switch.
The grade of the switchbacks is readily apparent on the modern mountainside. A bit higher up on the second switchback terrace hikers will cross a small clearing that marks the cleared corridor for a buried fiber-optic communication line. This was the former location of the Tidewater oil pipeline. The historic image here shows a view of the community of Corbett from the point where the pipeline and railroad grade cross.
Corbett was founded around the Hammond and Fish chemical wood factory in 1893. When the factory closed in 1910, the residents drifted away to other employment opportunities. A handful of hunting camps are all that remains today.
Main Street- Wellsboro, PA
The Image on the left is a postcard from the late 1940s/ early 1950s showing Main Street in, Wellsboro, PA. The Image on the right was taken near the same location in 2020. Today, Wellsboro is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to numerous state parks and other public lands (and the recreational opportunities they bring).
Wellsboro, PA was settled in 1806 and incorporated in 1830. The town is said to have been named after Mary Wells Morris, one of the original settlers. The town became seat of Tioga County in 1806, just two years after the county was founded; despite the fact that Benjamin Wistar Morris, along with his wife Mary Wells and their family, were the only residents of the town at the time.
Ole Bull “Castle” Vista
The Norwegian and United States flags depicted in the historic photo were erected by enrollees at CCC Camp S-87 in the 1930s. The men of this camp helped to create the trails, vistas and other recreational infrastructure that would become Ole Bull State Park. The modern image was taken at the overlook in September 2020, near the former location of the “castle” (actually a log cabin) built for pioneer Ole Bull.
Ole Bull was a world-famous violinist that bought land in southern Potter County, upon which he sought to establish a colony of immigrants he termed “New Norway.” The colonists started to arrive by 1852, but a series of unforeseen challenges led to the abandonment of the community not quite 2 years later. Today, this popular and beautiful State Park bears his name.
Brookville Locomotive, Model UD-18
This locomotive was manufactured in 1945 for the Keystone Tanning & Glue company in Wilcox, Elk County PA. It was used as a switch engine, transferring railcars of raw materials and finished product at the tannery railyard. When the Wilcox tannery closed in 1966, the engine was sold to Kovalchick Salvage in Sykesville, PA. The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum Associates purchased the locomotive in 2002 and began a multi-year restoration, partially funded by the PA Lumber Heritage Region. The Brookville is now part of an exhibit at the museum which discusses the story of the leather tanning industry in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is please to provide our audience with this new virtual exhibit. It centers around the museum’s extensive archive of historic photographs. Select archival images were paired with modern images of the same location, in many instances taken in nearly the exact same spot as the historic image. It is truly amazing how the lumber industry transformed the landscape of Pennsylvania, and how things have changed in the intervening years. Please enjoy, and look for Part 2 of this exhibit in the New Year.
Tom Fee’s Lumber Camp- Commissioner Run
These photographs were taken in roughly the same location, about 110 years apart. The image on the left shows the crew and camp established by Tom Fee, a jobber contracted to the Goodyear Lumber Company to cut the hemlock timber in the Commissioner Run valley. This camp lasted 2 seasons, from 1908 to 1910. The photo on the right shows the former camp location today. It is now a clearing in the forest with a number of gnarled old apple trees growing wherever the men of Fee’s camp discarded their apple cores. It is also a stop along the museum’s Sustainable Forestry Trail, which includes sixteen interpretive waysides, installed in 2000.
Hammersley Boarding House
Hammersley was a short-lived community that sprung-up around the cutting operations of the Goodyear Lumber Company, nestled along the Hammersley Fork of Kettle Creek on the boarder of Potter and Clinton Counties. Hammersley Village was a collection of about 60 worker’s homes, a store, boarding house, saloon and railroad terminal. Goodyear lumber operations at Hammersley lasted from 1906 to 1910. At that point, the town was largely abandoned with many workers moving on to the next Goodyear holding at Norwich in McKean County.
The modern photos here were taken by Rob Keith when he visited the former site of Hammersley in 2016. While the buildings and other man-made landscape features are long-gone, there is still ample evidence of the former occupation of the site strewn about the woods. This meat grinder was found in the vicinity of the location of the former boarding house above.
While the Hammersley Fork has meandered across the valley bottom in the modern image, the photographer is standing near the spot where the historic photographs (above and below) were taken.
This iron component of a railroad log car was discovered near the location of the former depot and repair shop buildings, as seen in the background of the historic images above.
Cherry Springs Fire Tower
As the photo caption indicates, this steel frame fire tower was constructed by the CCC in 1938. At a height of 80 ft, it replaced an earlier 65 ft tower from 1917. The structure still stands today, but it is no longer used for fire detection as the surrounding forest has grown to a height where it blocks the view of the tower.
The entrance to the fire tower complex is located along Route 44, approximately 2 miles south of Cherry Springs State Park. The sign there uses the same language as the sign erected by the CCC in the 1930s.
A stone cabin (also built by CCC enrollees from Camp S-136: Cherry Springs) stands near the tower. Local scout troops make use of the cabin, as does the Susquehannock Trail Club. The STC uses it to store equipment used in the maintenance of the 83-mile Susquehannock Trail System (follow the orange blazes near the tower).
Last Log Drive on Little Pine Creek
Little Pine Creek flows into Pine Creek-proper at the town of Waterville, approximately 13 miles north of the confluence of Pine Creek with the Susquehanna River. The West Branch of the Susquehanna and its major tributaries served as a convenient means for transporting timber from the forest to market. Logs floated down Little Pine Creek were destined for the Susquehanna Log Boom at Williamsport, PA. The historic photo is dated 1908; the Susquehanna Boom closed in 1909 because logging railroads had largely replaced waterways as the primary means of transporting timber.
The modern photo was taken on the man-made lake at Little Pine State Park. CCC Camp S-129 helped to establish the park between 1933 and 1937. The dam that creates the lake was built as a flood control measure in 1950. The park offers a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities in a beautiful setting.
CCC Camp NP-5, Rockwood
The photo on the left shows a group of buildings in CCC Camp NP-5 Rockwood in 1941. The image on the right was taken in 2019 and features some of those same buildings. Elements of CCC Camp NP-5 are now part of Group Camping Site #8 at Laurel Hill State Park, Somerset County, PA.
Camp NP-5 was established in 1935. CCC enrollees there were tasked with building the Laurel Hill Recreational Demonstration Area, as part of a program run by the National Park Service. (The NP in NP-5 stands for “National Park”). Together with the men of nearby CCC Camp SP-15, the men of NP-5 developed Laurel Hill as a model of a modern public park; complete with trails, group camping sites and cabins, roads, and other park infrastructure. The Recreational Demonstration Area program created 46 parks in 24 states, 5 of which were in Pennsylvania. CCC Camp NP-5 closed in 1941. By October 1945 the park was transferred to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and became Laurel Hill State Park.
Today, Laurel Hill State Park is home to 202 original buildings constructed by the CCC; the largest collection of such in Pennsylvania. This includes Camp NP-5, which is now Group Camp #8 and Camp SP-15, now Group Camp #5. The image above is of the interior of the NP-5 mess hall; below is the exterior of an SP-15 structure at Group Camp Site #5.
Main Street- Port Allegany, PA
A long line of horse teams marching down Main Street in Port Allegany during the winter of 1898 are bringing timber harvested from Campbell Hollow to the E. P. Dalrymple sawmill on Mill Street. Campbell Hollow is only about two miles outside of town, so transportation by sled was an acceptable alternative to building a logging railroad. Dalrymple did eventually build a logging railroad up Coleman Hollow, east of town.
Many of the buildings in the historic photo are still extant on Main Street today. However, the building on the corner of Main and Mill Streets has been transformed into the Serenity Glass Park. This artistic installation celebrates the town’s history of glass manufacturing. The Pittsburgh-Corning factory that made architectural glass blocks closed in 2016 after 79 years of operation, and the decorative blocks used in the park represent some of its final products.
Images printed on the glass blocks highlight the natural beauty and history of the region. Area attractions like the Kinzua Bridge, dark skies at Cherry Springs, and the PA Lumber Museum are featured on the blocks used in the exhibit.
CCC Camp S-135, Dyer Farm
Steve Laggle (the man on the right) and his unnamed fellow enrollee from CCC Camp S-135 at Dyer Farm helped to build this spring house around 1934. The modern photo at the springhouse features retired PA DCNR forester John Eastlake being interviewed by museum volunteer Lori Szymanik for a short video presentation (available on this website, under the ‘video’ tab).
The springhouse was located near to the physical location of Camp S-135, in the southeast corner of Potter County along what is today S.R. 44. The camp and the “lower” springhouse are downhill from the location of the recreational cabin colony which once included the cabin that is now an exhibit at the museum. The CCC built a smaller “upper” stone springhouse (pictured above) in the vicinity of the cabin colony.
The CCC camp and surrounding projects were built on the remnants of a working farm, property that was originally settled by William and Adell Dyer in 1880.
Austin Dam
The image on the left was taken shortly after the Bayless Pulp and Paper Company’s impoundment dam on Freeman Run, north of the town of Austin, failed on September 11, 1911. The image on the right was taken by museum board member and nature photographer Curt Weinhold in 2016, using his drone.
The dam failure was attributed to the negligence of the paper company, putting profits ahead of public safety. Even in the aftermath of the Johnstown Flood (another severe dam failure that happened in 1889), the PA legislature failed to pass any new safety laws or regulations. It took the Austin Dam disaster for changes to be made. Seventy-eight people lost their lives, and the towns of Austin and Costello were severely damaged.
Today, the ruins of the dam are the centerpiece of the Austin Dam Memorial Park. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The park plays host to a variety of special events throughout the year, including the Austin Dam Show in late August. The dam serves as a backdrop for animated projections that accompany live music.
PA Lumber Museum Visitor Center
The concept of a museum devoted to telling the story of Pennsylvania’s lumber industry was pioneered by the Penn-York Lumberman’s Club in the 1960’s. The PYLC, which organized the first Woodsmen’s Carnival in Galeton, PA, started as a professional forest products producers association working in northern Pennsylvania and southern New York. They advanced a proposal for the creation of a lumber museum to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, sparking broad interest and additional research on the part of the state’s official history agency. The Pennsylvania State Legislature was convinced of the merits of the project, and approved the construction of a museum in 1966. Groundbreaking began in March 1969, and the museum visitor center was dedicated on August 1, 1970. The lumber camp exhibit and other features were completed over the next two years, and a formal opening ceremony for the museum was held on August 4, 1972.
The museum visitor center and core exhibit underwent a major renovation between 2012 and 2015. The renovation added nearly 7,000 square feet of new space, roughly doubling the size of the previous building. The new core exhibit, “Challenges and Choices in Pennsylvania’s Forests,” explores the growth of Pennsylvania’s lumber industry, the devastation and revival of the state’s forests, and the current public and private efforts to maintain a “working forest.” The artifact-rich exhibit includes a significant section on the Civilian Conservation Corps, highlighting its impact on the state parks and forests of Pennsylvania and the personal stories of men whose lives were changed by their enrollment in the program. “Challenge Silhouettes” represent multiple perspectives from the past and present, inviting visitors to consider their own role in the ongoing story of PA’s forests.
Hail to the king, baby! Ashley “Ash” Williams, played by Bruce Campbell, has been battling ‘Deadites’ through three movies, a TV Series, and several video games for nearly 40 years. Ash’s weapon’s of choice are his 12-gauge Remington double-barreled “Boomstick” (Shop smart, shop S-Mart) and his iconic chainsaw hand.
Army of Darkness (1992) poster. The third movie in the series. Image from vintagemovieposters.com
The chainsaw makes it’s first appearance in the original 1981 Evil Dead movie. In this movie the chainsaw used is a Homelite XL-12. The XL-12 was introduced in 1963 and is credited with being the first “lightweight” chainsaw. The “12” in the model number indicates that the saw weighed 12 pounds. The Ash Williams character uses this chainsaw to great effect, and makes it through the movie with both of his hands in-tact.
Evil Dead (1981) poster. Image from marqueeposter.com
Shot of the chainsaw in the Evil Dead.
A Homelite XL-12 chainsaw at the Lumber Museum (non-collection) right side
A Homelite XL-12 chainsaw at the Lumber Museum (non-collection) left side
By the second movie, Evil Dead II (1987), the props master switched the chainsaw that Ash uses to a Homelite XL, a newer and lighter (at 8 pounds) model. After some heavy modification, this Homelite XL would literally become a part of Ash for the rest of the series. (Direct arm attachments for the Homelite XL were not factory issue.)
Ash Williams and his Homelite XL hand. Ash Vs. Evil Dead tv show promo photo.
Evil Dead 2 chainsaw (pre-hand attachment)
A standard Homelite XL
The Home Electric Lighting Company was founded by Charles Ferguson in Port Charles, NY in 1921. The name was later shortened to Homelite. The company initially manufactured small, gasoline-powered electric generators. After World War II, Homelite began manufacturing other small engine products, and introduced their first chainsaw in 1946. Fittingly, considering the company’s original name, the first Homelite chainsaw was an electric model.
The Lumber Museum has a Homelite Model 26LCS chainsaw in our collection (LM2015.10.1). This model, introduced in 1951, was the second gasoline-powered chainsaw Homelite made; the first being the model 20MC introduced the year before. The museum’s 26LCS has a history of use in the Southern Tier of NY and the Northern Tier of PA. The saw switched hands between five different owners and was generally used for clearing and firewood preparation. Seeing as this saw weighs approximately 27 pounds, it’s likely a good thing that Ash didn’t have to use a Model 26LCS for a hand.
Homelite Model 26LCS (LM2015.10.1)“Well Hello Mr. Fancy Pants”-Ash Williams Funko Pop figure (Private Collection)
PA History 2 Go is a series of short videos produced by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC), with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is featured in three of these videos, available on PHMC’s website and YouTube channel.
Be sure to subscribe to the channel to see our latest videos! These videos highlight some of the topics and demonstrations that can be found at the museum during the annual Bark Peelers’ Festival, along with other special events and activities.
After the end of World War One a custom arose in which communities chose to honor those who had given their lives in the conflict by dedicating memorial trees. The American Forestry Association wanted to promote and encourage this tree planting and created a National Honor Roll Memorial Tree Register. Communities that dedicated and planted Memorial Trees were able to register them on the honor roll, in turn The American Forestry Association would issue a dedication plague and registered trees were listed in the Association’s magazine, “American Forestry” .
One such community was the unincorporated community of Progress, PA. On May 12th, 1919 the Progress educational department of the Penbrook Community Civic Club dedicated a memorial tree to five local men who had lost their lives in the late war. Those men are: George Dewey Umholtz, James B. Martin, Ralph B. Kramer, Robert Heinly Hoke, and Oliver Zeiders.
The Progress tree was registered with the American Forestry Association. Notice of the registration appeared in the March 1920 issue of “American Forestry” and a plaque was created. That plaque is now in the collection of the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum (LM2016.5.1).
Progress Memorial Tree Plaque (LM2016.5.1)
Harrisburg Telegraph
American Forestry March 1920
In honor of Memorial Day I wanted to look into the names to whom the memorial tree was dedicated.
Private George Dewey Umholtz– Private Umholtz was a member of Company D, 304th Engineers, 79th Division. He was called up for service in May of 1918 and arrived in France after only six weeks in the Army. He died of pneumonia on September 2, 1918. He was 25 years old. “The History of the 304th Engineers”, published in 1920, tells of an epidemic of “Spanish Flu” breaking out among the Regiment, while they where in Maatz in late August/ early September, right before the were getting ready to move to the front. This flu outbreak caused the 304th Engineers their first casualties in France and Company D, Private Umholtz’s Company, was particularly hard hit.
Private Umholtz may be the reason that the plaque is in the collection of the museum and not still in place. The plaque incorrectly lists 1919 are the year of his death, not 1918. It is possible that this plaque was removed and or replaced because of this incorrect date.
George Dewey Unmholtz Reaches France, Harrisburg Telegraph July 27, 1918
James B. Martin– Officer Candidate Martin was still in Officer’s Tranning School at Camp Taylor in Kentucky, when he died from the flu. Camp Taylor was an Army training camp that had opened in 1917. It was the largest such camp with approximately 400,000 to 60,000 troops living there. Camp Taylor also found itself as a hot bed for the flu epidemic of 1918-1919. According to the Explore Kentucky History website the first flu cases emerged in September 1918 and more than 10,000 men would be hospitalized at the camp with over 1,500 deaths. The article in the Lousiville Courier Journal that list James Martin’s death on Oct 11, 1918 also lists 59 other deaths from the flu at Camp Taylor that day.
Harrisburg Telegraph Oct. 11, 1918 (James Martin has two listings)
Ralph B. Kramer- Private Kramer arrived in France in in late October or Early November 1918 after having been sent to Camp Greenleaf in Georgia. Camp Greenleaf was the home of the Army’s medical training operations. An article from the “Harrisburg Telegraph” mentions that Private Kramer was part of a medical detachment but does list his unit. He died of disease (most likely the flu) on April 7, 1919. Despite having died after the end of the war Private Kramer is still considered a casualty of WWI.
Harrisburg Telegraph November 5, 1918
Robert Heinly Hoke- Corporal Hoke (born March 8th, 1892) was a member of Company I, 316th Infantry, 79th Division. Originally listed as Missing in Action Corporal Hoke was killed in action on September 28th, 1918 while fighting North of Montfaucon, France during the Muse-Argonne Offensive. His body was later identified by a cousin, Lt. Smith of the 29th division, and his brother, Lt. Frank Hoke, of the 79th division. Corporal Hoke was initially buried by the Germans and it was said that “his grave marked the extreme advance of the 79th Division.” He was later buried by his brother at the American Cemetery in Montfaucon. In 1921 his body was returned to the United States and he is buried at Shoops Cemetery in Harrisburg. The American Legion Post 272 in Linglestown, PA is named after him.
Photo by Joel Gilfert on Find A Grave
Harrisburg Telegraph April 1, 1919
Oliver Zeiders- Private Zeiders, like Private Umholtz, was a member of Company D, 30th Engineers, 79th Division. He was killed in action on October 31, 1918 fighting in France during the Muse-Argonne Offensive. His wife, Edna, had died only days before news of his death reached home.
Or, check out this historic film of crews from the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Co. working in the woods near Sheffield, Warren County, PA in 1926. The amazing music is provided by friend of the museum, Van Wagner. A link to his web site accompanies the YouTube video.
Fred Newell was a farmer and carpenter from Tioga Co. Pa. He worked in the Lumber Camps and was killed by a falling tree while working in Corbett, Pa (Potter Co.) in 1900.
Newell Family Farm
Written on the back: “Corbett, Potter Co.:
The back of the previous photo. This appears to have been sent from William Baldwin to his wife, Lydia in 1913. Lydia was Fred Newell’s widow.
Caption: “Hosband’s camp 1913” It is possible that the photos which postdate Fred Newell’s dead belonged to William Baldwin.
Lumber Camp photos from the museum’s collection.
Lick Island Run, First Fork, Potter Co. Late 19th Century (7.70.1.72)
Sullivan Co. Late 19th/ Early 20th Century (7.70.1.75)
Forksville, Sullivan Co., 1923 (7.70.1.76)
Forksville, Sullivan Co., 1923 (7.70.1.77)
Hammersley, Clinton Co. Late 19th/ Early 20th Century. (7.70.1.135)
Hammersley, Clinton Co. Late 19th/ Early 20th Century (7.70.1.136)
Mess Hall, Late 19th/ Early 20th Century (7.70.1.116)
Feeding the Camp Hogs, Nine Mile, Potter Co. Late 19th/ Early 20th Century (7.70.1.126)
Early 20th Century (7.70.1.130)
Mobile Lumber Camp, Hammersley, Clinton Co. Late 19th/ Early 20th Century. (7.70.1.133)
Mess Hall, Hammersley, Clinton Co. Late 19th/ Early 20th Century (7.70.1.134)
Lyman Run, Potter County, PA, Late 19th/ Early 20th Century
Unknown Location, Late 19th/ Early 20th Century
Teamsters showing off their horses. Unknown Location, Late 19th/ Early 20th Century.
Bunting Lumber- Hulmeville, PA. John Bunting and his father, Fred, founded Bunting Lumber in the 1950’s and operated until the early 1970s. The business was staffed by the two Buntings and as many as a dozen other employees. The business was strictly a wholesale operation, selling lumber to pallet companies and construction businesses. It was all rough-cut, construction grade material. (LM2018.10)
Sawmill, Bunting Lumber 1954
Sawmill, Bunting Lumber c1950s
Sawmill and Lumber Carriage c1950s/ 1960s
Sawdust Truck c1960s
Emptying the Sawdust Truck c1960s
Lumber Truck c1960s
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The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is supported by the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum Associates.
The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Josh Shapiro, Governor. Haley Haldeman, Chair. Andrea Lowery, Executive Director.
Curator’s Corner A recent addition to the museum’s collection is the group of objects related to Fred Newell. Fred was a farmer and a carpenter who lived on his family farm in Newelltown, PA in Tioga County. During the winter months he would find work in lumber camps. It was not uncommon for farmers to supplement their income by working in the lumber camps during the winter when there was not as much work to be done on the farm. In 1900 at the age of 34 he was killed when he was struck on the head by a falling tree limb, while working at a lumber camp near Corbett, PA.
Donald Newell, Fred’s grandson, donated a collection of photographs to the museum on behalf of the Newell Family (in addition to a wood beam boring machine). The photographs are of Fred, the Newell Family at the farm as well as several photos of lumber camps. These photos were passed down through the Newell family. Unfortunately not much is known about them other than one photo that identifies the camp location as Corbett, PA. These photos are however a very exciting addition to the collection. Not only is there a connection though a specific individual but they also provide a good visual of camps at the time. In addition a couple of photos show women and children who were known to occasionally be at the lumber camps but are underrepresented in the museum collection. One of the photos is particularly interesting as it shows an African-American gentleman front and center in a group shop. As far as we can tell this is the only image in the museum’s collection that shows an African-American at a lumber camp of this time period.
