U.S. Reservation 196

L'Enfant Plan for the Federal City

"No nation perhaps had ever before the opportunity offer'd them of deliberately deciding on the spot where their Capital city should be fixed..."

- Peter C. L'Enfant to George Washington, September 11, 1789

A ...

Halehurst

An Englishman's country estate known previously as Moshannon Hall, built in 1813 by Hardman Philips, brother of Henry Philipsburg's founder in 1797. The house includes 25 rooms and 13 fireplaces.

Marker is at the intersection of East Presqueisle Street and Sixth ...

This Tablet Marks The Site of Fort Bedford

This tablet erected by Bedford Penn'a Chapter D.A.R.

May 30, 1925

Marks the site of Fort Bedford

One of the Frontier Forts

Built by the British in 1758

The stockade enclosing the fort contained about 7000 square yards of ground

It was the rendezvous and protection ...

Traveling The Highway

For over 200 years, Bedford County taverns have served as stopovers for weary travelers en route to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Over the years, most of these taverns have ceased to operate. However, the Jean Bonnet Tavern continues to offer a ...

Bonnet Tavern

This inn at the junction of the Forbes and Burd Roads was operated, 1779-1815, by Jean Bonnet and his heirs. In mid-1794, during the Whiskey Rebellion, embattled farmers met here and raised a liberty pole to protest the federal excise ...

Sanctuaries

Hub, Home, Heart

Calvary Episcopal Church, half a block north at 820 Sixth Street, has been a community anchor since 1901. For most of its early years, the congregation, led by founding rector Reverend Franklin I.A. Bennett, met at 11th ...

Buchanan Furnace

A short distance NW of here is the well-preserved cold blast furnace, named for James Buchanan. It was built in 1844; abandoned, 1858, due to lack of timber. At the time of its operation, the iron industry was very prosperous ...

At the Crossroads

Hub, Home, Heart

One year before Congress and the President arrived in their new capital city in 1800, Washington's Navy Yard opened at the foot of Eighth Street, two miles south of this sign. The yard soon became the city's ...

The Changing Faces of H Street

Hub, Home, Heart

The handsome church on this corner is the second to occupy this spot. The first was a small brick chapel built by John A. Douglas in 1878 for the new Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. Soon after, it ...

Enterprising Families

Hub, Home, Heart

The small scale and low rents of H Street's oldest buildings have lured waves of immigrant entrepreneurs since the buildings were new in the 1880s. By 1930, alongside Greek, Italian, Irish, and other immigrant-owned shops, at least ...