JEFFERSON CO., Pa. — You won’t find schools closing for the first day of buck season in Philadelphia, and people don’t consider spotlighting for deer a great date idea in D.C. Baltimore doesn’t have a weather-predicting groundhog, and Buffalo doesn’t hold weeklong festivals to celebrate peanut butter, mountain laurels, or a horse thief from 100 years ago.
Even in comparably rural parts of eastern Pennsylvania, fireflies don’t coordinate their flashes with each other, and elk don’t wander free in the wild. However, you’ll find all that and more in the Pennsylvania’s Great Outdoors region, which has developed a proud identity all its own. The area’s unique character has generated a number of quirky attractions, events, and phenomena, so no matter which corner of the region you explore, you’ll discover some eccentric and intriguing destinations.
Jefferson County, of course, is the mother of all offbeat tourist destinations, as it’s the home of Punxsutawney Phil, the world-famous weather-predicting groundhog. Since the late 1880s, people have flocked to Gobbler’s Knob from near and far to learn what a 20-pound woodchuck has to say about the end of winter.
If he sees his shadow on Groundhog Day, he predicts six more weeks of cold and snow. If not, an early spring is on its way. His top-hatted and tuxedo-clad Inner Circle is kind of like Punxsutawney’s version of the Illuminati or the Freemasons, and in addition to taking care of Phil and presenting him to the world for his prognostication each February 2, their other main job is gathering the ingredients for his secret elixir, which gives him seven more years of life with each sip.
It’s worth the effort, too; according to irrefutably verified legend, Phil today is the very same Phil who’s been making predictions for more than 130 years. These days, when he’s not making one of his many celebrity appearances, he lives in the town library with his little groundhog wife, Phyllis.
North of Punxsutawney, the Coolspring Power Museum regularly attracts visitors across the globe thanks to its unmatched collection of more than 275 historic internal combustion engines, including the operational 75-foot-long Snow engine. Many of the machines come to life one weekend a month from April to October as the museum opens to the public, and thousands of visitors come each year for the museum’s June and October Expo weekends.
Near the center of the county, the Victorian town of Brookville features a number of unusual attractions to intrigue fans of history. More than 100 years ago, a local religious zealot named Douglas Stahlman carved Bible verses and other messages into more than 160 large boulders north and east of town, with the largest concentration found in what is now Scripture Rocks Heritage Park.
Some of the 65-plus rocks found there feature religious scriptures that offer hope, while others convey Stahlman’s own sinister messages of death and damnation. Visitors can explore the park via more than 1.5 miles of gravel-covered pathways and enjoy a self-guided tour thanks to interesting interpretive signs along the way.
If you’ve ever been grateful for your car’s four-wheel drive capacities, you have a Brookville business to thank for developing this automotive technology. The Jefferson County History Museum on Brookville’s Main Street features a replica of a 1904 Twyford roadster, the first to offer this useful type of drivetrain, as well as the impressively large and detailed Bowdish Model Railroad.
Near Clear Creek State Park, the mysterious Slyhoff’s Grave continues to baffle visitors. Locally infamous Richard Slyhoff conceived a plan to protect his immortal soul from the Devil after living a life of unrestrained sin, and when he died in 1867, he had gravediggers bury him just downhill from a large, leaning boulder near his home.
He reasoned that the quakes and rumblings of Judgment Day would dislodge the rock and roll it to a stop atop his final resting place, but incredibly, the stone has rolled uphill in the past century and a half, and Slyhoff’s Grave is now completely exposed to the sky.
Elk County
Just south of the town of St. Mary’s alongside Route 255, the 12-by-18-foot Decker’s Chapel is so small you might not even notice it as you pass by. Some say it’s the smallest chapel in the country, which the church’s managers don’t claim, but it’s undoubtedly among the nation’s tiniest of temples. A deeply religious man named Michael Decker built the church in 1856 as an act of gratitude after recovering from a serious injury, and it has served as a place for quiet prayer and reflection ever since.
Another religious attraction in Elk County is the Cross on the Hill. This simple wooden edifice stands 13 feet high on a hill overlooking the Spring Run Valley, and the site also features several metal panels depicting different events from Jesus’ crucifixion.
Also, near Benezette is the Fred Bartholme Memorial Chapel. It is a beautiful 20 X 24 structure with 25 feet steeple, observation deck, stained-glass window, 11 feet wooden cross, and the historic Kincaid Family Cemetery.
