The Museums

The Punxsutawney Area Historical and Genealogical Society has an extensive museum complex. There are many rooms full of historical artifacts from the area which include displays of:

• Native American history and artifacts
• early settler tools and utensils
• regional lumbering history
• area coal mining and coke production history
• local railroading history
• quilts, clothing and decorative arts from Punxsutawney's "Early Days" through the Victorian era to our recent past
• radios and early televisions
• photographic documentation of the region's history
• Groundhog Day history
• old photographs
• old postcards

Our hours of operation are as follows: Bennis House: Thursday through Sunday 1-4 pm. Lattimer House: Thursday and Saturday 10-4, Friday and Sunday 1-4. Tours of the Highlands Galleries are scheduled for 1:30 and 3 pm on Thursdays and Sundays. Tours at other times may be arranged in advance by contacting Betty Jean Highlands at 8l4.938.2555. A catalog of the "Objects of Costume" exhibit is included with the $5 ($4.50 member) entrance fee.

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Snyder Hill Schoolhouse

The Snyder Hill Schoolhouse is located on Snyder Hill just south of town. It is a restored country schoolhouse.

The Snyder School was typical of the one- or two-room country schools used years ago. From 1886 to 1959 (73 years) the school provided education for hundreds of children, many of them living today. It was the sole means of education for most of our rural population.

A one-room school consisted of eight grades and one teacher willing to accept hard and trying work. Usually overworked, the teacher undertook to teach as many as thirty pupils in the eight grades. Younger children learned from older children, as in a large family.

The Snyder Hill Schoolhouse has been restored with old desks, books and other materials that were used during the time this type of school existed. Snyder Hill Schoolhouse is surrounded by woods and rolling farm land. Your first steps inside are on hardwood floors. The only source of heat was a large pot-bellied stove that was once covered in the winter with little mittens being dried by the fire. The boys and girls each had their own separate cloakroom on either side of the main entrance. Chalk boards with the day's lessons lined the front wall behind the teacher's desk; all of this can be experienced during your visit. The school is open by appointment for individuals or tours.