Pennsylvania

Top 10 Places

(Pictures and places in bold are places I have been to.)

Ohiopyle Falls, Ohiopyle State Park
Ohiopyle Falls, Ohiopyle State Park

10. Borough of Ohiopyle and Ohiopyle State Park

Fort Necessity National Battlefield
Fort Necessity National Battlefield

9. Fort Necessity National Battlefield

8. Moravian Church Settlements in the Moravian Bethlehem district of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – World Heritage Tentative List

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

7. Pocono Mountains and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (NPS) (shared with New Jersey), plus Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River (shared with New Jersey), and Upper Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River (shared with New York)

6. Pittsburgh

      • Point State Park
      • Carnegie Institute and Library
      • Andy Warhol Museum
      • Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – Heinz History Center
      • Meadowcroft Rock Shelter
      • Duquesne and Monongahela Inclines up Mount Washington

5. Gettysburg National Military Park, and the nearby Eisenhower National Historic Site – also not too far off is the Pennsylvania part of the Appalachian Trail

4. Valley Forge National Historical Park and the Schuylkill River Valley National Heritage Area

3. Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish Country

      • Fort Zeller in Newmanstown
      • Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stouchsburg
      • Ephrata Cloister
      • Lancaster Central Market
      • Strasburg & Intercourse
      • Lititz Moravian Church Square
      • Hans Herr House and Eastern Woodland Longhouse
      • Daniel Boone Homestead
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site; in the Laurel Highlands

1. Philadelphia

      • Independence National Historical Park and the Liberty Bell (Independence Hall – a World Heritage Site)
      • Chemical Heritage Foundation
      • Philadelphia Museum of Art
      • City Hall tour and Love Park
      • Reading Terminal Market
      • Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks

State Info

A) State Nicknames+

      • The Keystone State
      • The Independence State
      • The Quaker State
      • “Virtue, Liberty, and Independence”

B) State Symbols

      • Game Bird: Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus)
      • Tree: Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
      • Flower: Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
      • Animal: Whitetail Deer (Odocoileus virginanus)
      • Dog: Great Dane (Canis familiaris)
      • Fish: Brook Trout (Salvelinius fontinalis)
      • Insect: Firefly (Photuris pennsylvanica)
      • Beautification and Conservation Plant: Penngift crownvetch (Coronilla varia)

C) Major Metros

      1. Philadelphia
      2. Pittsburgh
      3. Harrisburg (state capital)

D) Honorable Mentions

      • Allegheny National Forest and Allegheny National Recreation Area
      • Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site
      • Steamtown National Historic Site
      • Friendship Hill National Historic Site
      • Oil Region National Heritage Area
      • Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
      • French Creek State Park

E) Just for Fun

      • Hershey’s Chocolate World

F) Iconic Foods

      • Philly Cheesesteak
        1. Pat’s King of Steaks
        2. Geno’s Steaks
      • Scrapple
      • Stromboli (1950)
      • Lebanon Bologna
      • Pennsylvania Dutch Pot Pie
      • Molasses Shoofly Pie
      • Hershey’s Chocolate
      • Pretzels
      • Hires Root Beer (1876)
      • Birch Beer

G) Science Fun

      • Town of Centralia
      • Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland

H) Honored Memory

      • Flight 93 National Memorial
      • Johnstown Flood National Memorial