Bellefonte, PA with its Victorian charm

Bellefonte, PA is proud to be an integral part of Penn State history. When John Dunlop arrived in the Bellefonte area in 1794, in conjunction with his iron works he brought with him many prominent attorneys - future judges and governors of Pennsylvania. These men and their successors were paramount to the founding of the Farmer High School which later became Penn State University.

These men and their families built fabulous mansions in Bellefonte which gives us a glimpse of their lifestyle in the 1800's.

John Curtin served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1861 until 1867. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Governor Curtin was the principal force behind the establishment of the National Cemetery there. Through his agent, David Wills, Curtin procured the attendance of President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the cemetery. Governor Curtin was sitting with Lincoln on the platform on November 19, 1863 when Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address. Curtin was born in Bellefonte, PA.

Bellefonte, PA is a throwback to the 1800’s. We walked passed blocks of Bellefonte's charming Victorian mansions framed by shade trees; we were astonished at the architecture. A few of the Victorians have been converted to serene bed & breakfasts featuring casual or fine dining. Here is a tiny town, tucked into a valley almost exactly in the center of rural Pennsylvania, which seems strikingly out of place amid the surrounding farm villages and mining towns. The downtown streetscapes are primarily Victorian, the buildings immense, and all of them are adorned with filigree and cornices and pilasters from another era.

Bellefonte, PA was established in 1795, home to five Pennsylvania governors, wealthy business and civic leaders.

The iron industry in the region was booming for much of the nineteenth century. In 1836, there were twelve furnaces, six forges, and five rolling mills in operation. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, most of its ironwork had Bellefonte origins. The wealth of the community was evident in it's lavish mansions and commercial buildings, many of which survive today.

Around 1880, Thomas Edison came to town and set up a display in a small shop, demonstrating his "talking machine" to the amazed citizens. He visited several times, eventually broaching the idea of starting a plant to generate electricity for the town. On July 25, 1883, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company was chartered in Bellefonte and began generating electricity within seven months.

Note the outside fire escape down the side of the house from the third story

Have you ever looked closely at a leaf?

The veins are made up of: Xylem: tubes that brings water and minerals from the roots into the leaf;
Phloem: tubes that usually move sap, with dissolved sucrose, produced by photosynthesis in the leaf, out of the leaf.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

"Aren't some of God's creations a thing of wonderment and beauty?"

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