Skip to main content

Where was this old sign photo taken?


A reader sent me the photograph above trying to locate where in Pennsylvania it would have been taken.  The photo was on the William Penn Highway (today's US 22), along the Allegheny Mountains at an elevation of 2430 feet.  The question is, what is the name of the summit, it is "(blank)N RIDGE SUMMIT".

I know of two major summits along the Alleghenies - Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge.  A look at the DeLorme Pennsylvania Atlas & Gazetteer doesn't show any ridges in the Alleghenies ending in 'N'.  So what ridge is it, and where along the William Penn Highway would this have been shot at.

Also, is there a modern version of this same highway sign standing today?

Comments

Brian said…
Wikipedia lists a Penn Ridge (no article) with a ZIP code of 15235 (a Pittsburgh ZIP) in Allegheny County, but I wouldn't have any idea if that's anywhere close to where the photo was taken.
Adam said…
Brian,

Penn Ridge would not be at an elevation of 2430' if it was with a Pittsburgh zip code. I think the highest point in Allegheny County is just over 1400' near where I grew up.

Penn Ridge and 15235 is in the Penn Hills area of Allegheny County.
Froggie said…
Cresson Ridge (naturally in Cresson Township), just east of the US 22 freeway, and just west of the Cambria/Blair County line. There is a modern version there, lacking the keystone shape and the "William Penn Highway", of course. Don't have a photo of it, but that's the one.
Larry G said…
well, I had no luck but another interesting thing about this locale is that it is near a place called Portage and Hollidaysburg which were the connect points for the Rail Portage for the Pennsylvania Canal that was supposed to connect eastern and western PA and compete with the Erie Canal in NY.

The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site is accessed from U.S. 22 by the Admiral Peary Hwy out of Cresson.
NateOMatic said…
You can see it on Street View; here's a link showing the modern sign and even the same high-tension line tower in the background. (Take one step to the west to actually read the sign!)

Link: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Pittsburgh,+Allegheny,+Pennsylvania&ll=40.456091,-78.559885&spn=0,359.89048&z=14&layer=c&cbll=40.456101,-78.559779&panoid=lSor0LYW0NuzPBrrB7wcpA&cbp=12,322.7,,0,-3.53
Doug said…
Cresson Ridge sounds right in this case, considering that there is a ridge to climb to get to Cresson from the Altoona area.
Unknown said…
Looks like the Wm Penn Highway used to take that older route over the ridge before the freeway was put in, then. But forget that... what's with calling William Penn Highway the "Admiral Peary Highway?!?"
mike said…
Can someone around Charlotte help me out? Got an old postcard of a "Mary Lynn Motel" on Hwy US 601 and US 74 in Monroe, NC. It also showed a diner in the pic. Could someone see if the motel and diner are still there on your next drive through Monroe?

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

Interstate 210 the Foothill Freeway

The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles.  The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County.  Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57.  California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10.  Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10.  The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of

White Rock Road; the historic highway corridor serving Mariposa County since the 1850s

White Rock Road is a twenty-eight-mile-long highway corridor which begins at the Chowchilla River in Merced County and ends at Old Highway 18 in Mariposa County near the town site of Bridgeport.  The portion of White Rock Road between the Merced County and Mariposa County line to Bridgeport (via the town site of White Rock) is one of the oldest continuously used highway corridors in California.  Once known as the "Mariposa River Road" the corridor was developed in the 1850s as one of the two primary highways to the mining communities of Mariposa County.   White Rock Road was bypassed in 1918 when Legislative Route Number 18 was completed between Merced and Mariposa.  The corridor was for time known as Mariposa and Le Grand Road prior to the construction of Mariposa Creek Dam (formerly Mariposa River) in 1948.  Following construction of the dam the roadway took the name it has now and was extended through Merced County to the Chowchilla River.  Much of modern White Rock Road i