Oil Region National Heritage Area

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Oil Region National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The national heritage area commemorates and promotes the region surrounding Edwin Drake's oil well of 1859 near Titusville, which gave rise to the modern oil industry. [1]

The national heritage area includes all of Venango County and a portion of Crawford County, including Titusville and Oil Creek Township, [1] in and around the Oil Creek valley. [2]

The Oil Region National Heritage Area was established by Public Law 108-447 in 2004. It is administered by the Oil Region Alliance. [3]

The Drake Well Museum [4] [5] and Oil Creek State Park are located in this region

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The Drake Well Museum and Park is a museum that interprets the birth of the American oil industry in 1859 by "Colonel" Edwin Drake along the banks of Oil Creek in Cherrytree Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The museum collects and preserves related artifacts. The reconstructed Drake Well demonstrates the first practical use of salt drilling techniques for the extraction of petroleum through an oil well. A historic site, the museum is located in Cherrytree Township, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Titusville on Drake Well Road, situated between Pennsylvania Routes 8 and 27. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

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Oil Creek State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 6,250 acres (2,529 ha) in Cherrytree, Cornplanter and Oil Creek Townships, Venango County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is adjacent to Drake Well Museum, the site of the first successful commercial oil well in the United States, that was drilled under the direction of Colonel Edwin Drake. Oil Creek State Park follows Oil Creek, between Titusville and Oil City, and is on Pennsylvania Route 8. While the creek is the park's main recreational attraction, it also contains the sites of the first oil boomtown and much of Pennsylvania's original oil industry. The park contains a museum, tableaux, and trails to help visitors understand the history of the oil industry there, and an excursion train.

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Oil Creek is a 46.7-mile (75.2 km) tributary of the Allegheny River in Venango and Crawford counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It has a drainage area of 319 square miles (830 km2) and joins the Allegheny at Oil City. Attractions along the river include the Drake Well Museum and Oil Creek State Park. The stream was named after the oil that was found along its banks before the historic oil strike by Edwin Drake in Titusville, which Oil Creek flows through. Oil Creek is popular with canoeists and fishers. The creek is rated as a beginners creek for those interested in learning how to safely use canoes and kayaks. Oil Creek is a cold water fishery with bass and trout living in its waters.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum Center, Pennsylvania</span>

Petroleum Center is a populated place and ghost town in Cornplanter Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania, United States. In the 19th century, the name was also spelled "Petroleum Centre". The town today is almost deserted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania oil rush</span>

The oil rush in America started in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in the Oil Creek Valley when Edwin L. Drake struck "rock oil" there in 1859. Titusville and other towns on the shores of Oil Creek expanded rapidly as oil wells and refineries shot up across the region. Oil quickly became one of the most valuable commodities in the United States and railroads expanded into Western Pennsylvania to ship petroleum to the rest of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)</span> Listed on the NRHP in Venango County

The Jersey Bridge is a one-lane, Pratt through truss bridge that spans Oil Creek in Cherrytree Township, Venango County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It connects the city of Titusville to the Drake Well Museum and Oil Creek State Park. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was replaced in 1998 with a newer bridge that used the superstructure of the old bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drake Well</span> United States historic place

The Drake Well is a 69.5-foot-deep (21.2 m) oil well in Cherrytree Township, Venango County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the success of which sparked the first oil boom in the United States. The well is the centerpiece of the Drake Well Museum located 3 miles (5 km) south of Titusville.

Pine Creek is a 13.8-mile (22.1 km) long tributary to Oil Creek in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Most of Pine Creek and its tributaries are classed as Exceptional Value (EV) or High-quality-Cold Water Fishery (HQ-CWF). Only the lowest part of Pine Creek near Oil Creek is classed as a cold-water fishery.

References

  1. 1 2 "PA Oil Heritage Region". Oil Region Alliance. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  2. Shaw, L. C.; W. F. Busch (June 1984). Pennsylvania Gazetteer of Streams, Part II. Water Resources Bulletin. Vol. 16. Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Department of Forest and Waters. p. 270.
  3. "Authorizing Legislation". Oil Region Alliance. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  4. ""Drake Well"". Friends of Drake Well, Inc. and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission . Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  5. "Pennsylvania Trail of History". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2007-11-09.

Coordinates: 41°25′59″N79°42′27″W / 41.43306°N 79.70756°W / 41.43306; -79.70756