TeddyB1967
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History
The Ghost Town Trail totals 36 miles in Indiana and Cambria Counties, Pennsylvania. The trail was originally established in 1991 when the Kovalchick Salvage Company donated 16 miles of the former Ebensburg & Blacklick Railroad to Indiana County. In 1993 the Cambria & Indiana Railroad donated an additional 4 miles from Rexis to White Mill Station known as the Rexis Branch. In 2005 an additional 20 miles were added to the trail - 12 miles in Indiana County and 8 miles in Cambria County. The trail is designated as a National Recreation Trail by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The Ghost Town Trail derives its name from numerous mining towns that once existed along the railroad corridor. Wehrum, the largest of the former towns, once had 230 houses, a hotel, company store, jail, and bank. Warren Delano, uncle of President Franklin Roosevelt, developed the town. Other ghost towns include Bracken, Armerford, Lackawanna #3, Scott Glenn, Webster, Beulah, and Claghorn. There are few remnants of these former towns and most of the ghost towns are located on private property not open to the general public. A detailed history of the area can be found in Delano’s Domain: A History of the Mining Towns of Vintondale, Wehrum, and Claghorn by Denise Dusza Webster.
The Eliza Furnace, in Vintondale, is one of Pennsylvania’s best preserved iron furnaces. An interpretive exhibit is located at the site. The furnace operated from 1846 to 1849 and is a unique relic of the Blacklick Valley’s early industrial era. The furnace is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Historical markers along the trail provide interpretive information about the Blacklick Valley’s intriguing history.
The Ghost Town Trail is designated by the U.S. National Park Service as a National Recreation Trail. More info about the national recreation trails program can be found at: www.americantrails.org
