Meadowcroft entering its 50th year as a local and global treasure
Observer-Reporter
The Observer-Reporter
The Almanac
The Meadowcroft Rockshelter opened to the public in 2002.
Pictured is Meadowcroft Rockshelter.
The village part of Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village is heading toward its 50th birthday. Yet, as anyone with or without radiocarbon dating expertise can attest, a half-century is an infinitesimal sliver of the property’s history.
Radiocarbon dating determined that the site provided shelter for humans for at least 16,000 years. That was quite a revelation. Andy Masich, president and chief executive officer of the Senator John Heinz History Center, which oversees the sprawling indoor/outdoor museum, told The Almanac’s Harry Funk: “That site really pushed back the clock on the peopling of the Americas. Before that time, the best scientists in the world thought, well, there weren’t any human beings on this continent earlier than 10,000 years ago.”
Meadowcroft, outside Avella in northwestern Washington County, is a local treasure, to be sure. But it is an international treasure as well, a National Historic Landmark Radiocarbon where, as Funk eloquently wrote, “the cliffs of sandstone, siltstone and shale overlooking Cross Creek provided shelter” for all of those centuries.
And to think the location was discovered almost by accident. It was part of a farm that had been owned by the Miller family since the 18th century. On a mid-November day in 1955, Albert Miller, while examining the area around a new groundhog hole, spotted artifacts and decided to dig on his own. He found more items.
This did not surprise him. Miller, brother of fabled harness racing driver Delvin Miller, was into history and archaeology and suspected there was evidence on the property of human presence from long ago. But 16,000 years?
Albert Miller oversaw the re-creation of a village from the distant past and opened it to the public on Memorial Day 1969. The Rockshelter debuted in 2002.
Over time, the archaeological site has became a favorite of school field trips, history aficionados and tourists. Re-enactors talk about life from more than 100 years ago, show how candles were made before the harnessing of electricity, how people had to hunt and gather food for their existence. Blacksmithing demonstrations, with a lot of fire, sparks and hammering, is a favored attraction.
Meadowcroft will kick off its 50th year this weekend, when it will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Programs and events are scheduled into early November.
It will be a celebration of a priceless – and ageless – gem for Washington County, Western Pennsylvania and the world beyond.