Meadowcroft Rock Shelter and Historic Village is one of the best-known historic sites and museums in western Pennsylvania. It is perhaps most famous for the archaeological site located under an ancient rock shelter. This site has pushed back the date of human habitation in the Americas as far back as twenty thousand years ago.
Meadowcroft is also well known for its Native American village and a historic village that take you on a journey through historic structures, going back to life in rural Pennsylvania during the 19th century. The structures in the historic village were moved to that site over many years, creating the historic experience we know today. Two important parts of the Historic Village had their origins in Greene County.
The Pine Bank Covered Bridge, with a span of just over 30 feet, originally crossed Tom’s Run in Pine Bank in Gilmore Township. It was built as a King Post structure sometime around 1870 or 1871. It bridged the road over Tom’s Run until 1961, when PennDOT determined a more modern bridge was required. Albert Miller, the man behind Meadowcroft Village, rescued the bridge and installed it at Meadowcroft’s historic village in 1962, where it has been ever since. The Pine Bank Covered Bridge remains in a very well-maintained state, with restoration work being completed on the bridge as recently as 2016.
Greene County’s other contribution to Meadowcroft Village also hails from the western end of the county and is not too far from Pine Bank! The Fairview Southern Methodist Church once stood at the edge of Fairview Cemetery on Six Run Road in Gilmore Township. It was an old log church building built sometime around the late 1860s or early 1870s and likely covered with wooden clapboard siding once completed. Fairview Church sat on that site until the mid- 90s, when it was purchased and moved to Meadowcroft Village. It is now a publicly viewable historic structure in well-maintained condition.
Even though the old Fairview Church no longer stands at its original site and the location of the Fairview Cemetery, the old graveyard is still a very interesting place to visit. The cemetery is well-maintained and is in a beautiful location. Local lore also states that there is a lonely grave in the cemetery covered with a large, unmarked stone slab. That slab designates the last resting place of an unknown peddler that died in the area sometime long ago.
