The Forest County Historical Society once again held Trick or Treat at the museum on October 31, 2023. Seven Board members or friends chose a character from Forest County History to portray as they passed out their treats. We served 85 children, most with parents coming through the museum as well.

This year characters portrayed were:

Frank Faulkner who was the first “tail twister” for the Tionesta Lions when they began in 1939. He was portrayed by Jim Knauff

Sallie Carlson born in Sweeden, then in 1900, at age 20 she worked as a servant for the Robinsons, the first owners of the house that became the History Museum. She was portrayed by Mary Alyce Knauff

Rachel Carson – Although not from Forest County, she had a profound effect on us. Rachel is considered perhaps the finest nature writer of the Twentieth Century, Rachel Carson is remembered more today as the woman who challenged the notion that humans could obtain mastery over nature by chemicals, bombs and space travel than for her studies of ocean life. Her sensational book Silent Spring (1962) warned of the dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT, and questioned the scope and direction of modern science, initiating the contemporary environmental movement. She is portrayed by Nancy Sweda.

Emily Daubenspeck– She lost both of her parents when she was very young. She was raised by an aunt. She was an accomplished seamstress. She taught High School up on the hill and Sunday School at the Methodist Church. She was portrayed by Jackie Kuhn

Becky Pilsbury portrayed a lumber camp cook whose job was the most important and the highest paying job. He had to feed all the wood hicks, who ate 8,000 calories a day. There were always three things on the fire at the lumber camp, a kettle of coffee, a pot of water for tea and a pot of beans.

Ray McKee – portrayed himself as one of our very active Board members and wanted to hand out candy.

Robert Guiton –was considered according to Beers History of Forest County the “Daniel Boone” of Forest County. He was an old trapper and hunter. They say he killed more deer and bear than any other white man. He averaged 50 a year. Guitonville is named after him. He is portrayed by Ashley Sweda

The Forest County Historical Society has a mission to preserve and present items of historical significance from Forest County. We have set education as a priority, and we try to educate as much as we can about Forest County and its people. If you would like to become a member of the Historical Society, please visit us at www.forestcountypahistory.org. We are closed now for the season except for special events but will reopen next Memorial Day weekend. See you then.

The Forest County Historical Society has set education as a priority in serving our Forest County community. We have finalized our schedule for our Tuesday lecture series called Tuesday Talks at the Museum.  These talks all start at 7:00 at the museum.  Speakers will talk for half of an hour and then stay around until 8:00 for any questions from the audience.  This event is free for all museum members and cost $5.00 for nonmembers.  We hope we have an interesting line up for you this summer and you will come and join us.    

June7- We will watch a video recording of a Wood Hick and a Roustabout of the Oil Industry. This is a project of the Lumber Heritage Region of which the Forest County Historical Society is a member. The two men in the video portray men in their respective fields. This is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

June 14 – FCHS Board member, Janet Fennel will talk about Cyrus Blood who founded Forest County and Marienville.

June21 – SFC Steven G. Appleby US Army Retired, Curator Education & Programs,
Eldred WWII Museum . SFC Steven will join us and talk about WWII as well as his museum. His museum houses models built by former Tionesta resident, Dr. William Fleming.

June 28 – Amanda Hetrick, Elisha Pospisal will play and sing songs for us.

July 5 – Denny Lamb will speak about Admiral Davis, of Tionesta.

July 12 – Matt Savinda, of the Pa. Game Commission-will be with us once again and this year he will speak about Eagles.

July 19 – Terry Janosik, is the President at Townline Lumber and Excavation. Terry also has a hobby of videotaping and has some beautiful video of Forest County spots I would like to do a program on the Cross Iron Furnace located on Little Hickory.

July 26 – Morgan Silvis, Natural Resources Specialist, US Army Corps of Engineers will speak on Invasive Species.

August 2 – FCHS Board member, Rodney Daum will speak on D.W. Clark, from Tionesta who served in the Civil War.

August 9 – E.G. Bell – Tribute to Bert Nemcick. Ed and Bert were both writers for the Forest Press. Bert passed away this year and Ed will pay tribute to his life and legacy.

August 16 – Butch Johnson to talk about Jack McMichael. Jack is an original founder of the Tionesta Indian Festival. He was inducted into the Turtle Clan.

August 23 – Leonard Nicklas- although he has yet to finalize his subject, it will be on the Marienville area.

August 30 – Brian Hale – Tionesta Centennial Celebration 1956.

The Forest County Historical Society is seeking a high school or college student to be an intern at the History Museum in Tionesta during the summer of 2022. The intern will help us organize our resource room, improve our displays, create activities for school children and generally help us run the museum during the summer. This position is 20 hours per week at $10.00 per hour for 10 weeks. The intern will be given an educational stipend at the end of the summer. Applications should be submitted by April 15.

Information about the Historical Society can be found at this website: http://ForestCountyPAHistory.org

If you’re interested in this position please complete this brief application form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FCHSIntern2022

If you’d like more information please contact us at ForestCountyPAHistory@gmail.com

The Forest County Historical Society would like all seasonal and full-time residents of Forest County to complete a survey for us. This will help us plan programs to better meet your needs.
The survey may be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FCHS2022

The Forest County Historical Society is saddened to announce the unexpected passing of Ryan Burke Beach.  Ryan has been on our Board of Directors for many years.  He has always taken an interest in history especially Forest County history.  Burke often talked about the importance of handing on our heritage to our future.  Serving on the Buildings and Grounds Committee, he took great care in making sure the grounds were well cared for and in good shape.  Some of his more recent contributions to the society are his interest in and care of the Model T, the new roof, organizing the basement and the attic, updating the electricity, Civil War presentations at both Tuesday Talks and most recently at our Fall Dinner, the new sign which is in the works to better identify the building as a museum.

Our Board has now met once without Burke and each of us discussed the things we will miss about this simple but honorable man.