April 2019 If you have ever wondered what it’s like to work deep underground, a great place to visit is the Lakawana Coal Mine, a retired Anthracite coal mine and museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Opened by Continental Coal Company in 1903, many of the workers in the mine were European immigrants who came to the …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/deep-underground-in-pennsylvanias-anthracite-coal-region-the-lawawana-coal-mine-museum/
March 2019 The legacy of the Molly Maguires is all over Schuylkill and Carbon Counties in Pennsylvania. For those interested in visiting some of the locations where the members of the infamous secret Irish society lived, gathered, maimed, murdered and were executed, there are plenty of documented locations to visit. One “reputed” hangout can be …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/a-pub-with-a-mysterious-past-in-pennsylvanias-anthracite-coal-region/
March 2019 Running underneath the Canadian National Railway line near the intersection of the Queen Elizabeth Way and Highway 405 outside of Niagara Falls, Ontario, is one of the lesser known and more unusual tourist attractions in the area. Known locally as “The Screaming Tunnel,” this 125-foot-long, 16-foot-high arched limestone tunnel has an allegedly horrific …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/screaming-tunnel-one-of-the-lesser-known-niagara-area-attractions/
March 2019 The park known as McBurney Park in Kingston, Ontario, a park known locally as Skeleton Park, is one park with a rather morbid history. From 1819 until 1864, it was the Upper Burial Ground, the final resting place for many early settlers in the Kingston area of Upper Canada. Closed to new burials …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/city-park-has-a-morbid-past/
March 2019 Once envisioned as the model of what a planned community could be, the name Love Canal has become synonyms with environmental disaster. Although the community, to be called Model City by its founder William T. Love, never came to fruition under his guidance or as he envisioned, what did emerge was a residential …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/environmental-disaster-the-continuing-legacy-of-love-canal/
December 2018 The Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge is a unique tourist attraction, located in Ferris Provincial Park in Campbellford, Ontario. The 300 foot long bridge, built in 2004, takes visitors on a picturesque trip 30 feet over the Ranney Gorge, just south of Ranney Falls. Built with assistance of a construction engineering detachment from RCAF …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/no-suspension-in-thrills-the-ranney-gorge-suspension-bridge/
December 2018 The Molly Maguires was an Irish Catholic clandestine society active during the 1800s in Ireland, Liverpool and in the eastern United States, who engaged in often violent activism among the Irish communities in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region. Back then, the work and personal lives of many Irish immigrants, and of other nationalities, were controlled …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/heroes-and-villains-in-pennsylvanias-anthracite-coal-region-small-park-pays-tribute-to-the-molly-maguires/
December 2018 Drivers traveling along the Queen Elizabeth Way know very well the abandoned ship that sits in a small cove in Jordan Station. Officially named “La Grande Hermine” (The Big Weasel), the ship is a replica of the largest of the three ships that French Explorer Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River. …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/abandoned-ship-now-a-local-landmark/
November 2018 (Updated April 2022, July 2022, April 2023, August 2023 & August 2024) Note: This is Chapter 1 in my Borscht Belt series. Links to the other Borscht Belt articles are at the bottom of this article. If you don’t find a write-up on a specific hotel or bungalow colony in this chapter, either …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-crumbling-remains-of-americas-jewish-vacationland-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-borscht-belt/
October 2018 On 20 October 2018, around 100 volunteers contributed to the 5th annual community clean-up in Centralia, “Pennsylvania’s Lost Town.” Organized by EPCAMR (Eastern PA Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation), the clean-up has become an increasingly popular annual tradition for community-minded citizens of Pennsylvania and beyond the state, along with current and former residents …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-great-american-clean-up-part-3-another-successful-clean-up-in-centralia/
