In 1977, a group of Forest County enthusiasts gathered to organize a Forest County Historical Society "to collect and preserve all materials about the history of Forest County and to preserve historical buildings and structures within the County."
In the early 1980s, the group published the "Forest County Pennsylvania Pictorial History" under the auspices of then-President Donald Taft. Its pages included Place Names and Post Office listings compiled by Alex Badenoch.
The problem of storing the collected artifacts and written records eventually led to the purchase 1997 of the George W. and Martha Bonner Robinson home, built on Elm Street in Tionesta in 1872. This house (architecture Pre-Victorian East Lake Stick Style) is now the home of the Forest County Historical Society and is known as the Forest County History Center.
On several levels, the museum houses displays of printing presses, a cobbler, a blacksmith, a butcher, general farming, and domestic tools. The lumbering endeavors of the past are well represented. War relics and Indian arrowheads, as well as historical paintings and quilts from the county, are also on display. A library of historical books, photographs, pamphlets, and documents is growing.
They continue to modify the house by adding a storage room and a Genealogy Room to browse archival material. On the grounds, a replica of a 19th-century lumberman's dwelling, Camp 7, and the actual West Hickory Bridge tollbooth have been added.
The Historical Society has been instrumental in registering the Tionesta Creek Timber Crib Dam in the State and Federal Historical Registers. It is possibly the only dam of its kind left in the United States. The US Army built it in 1872 as part of a national effort to improve river navigation.
Museums or Landmarks
