Mount Pisgah & Mauch Chunk: Live Where you Love to Play

Jim Thorpe is the seat of Carbon County. I simply love this area, a rich history and a beautiful place to live and play. This is a shot looking down from the Mt Pisgah Plane into downtown Jim Thorpe. You can see St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on the right.

When you reflect on the importance of this area in fueling America’s industrial revolution, on the backs and ingenuity of Josiah White, Erskine Hazard and later, Asa Packer, you learn to appreciate it even more.  

One amazing piece of our history is The Switchback Railroad.  It was one of a kind! Not only was it key in delivering coal, but it also became our nation’s second biggest tourist attraction behind Niagara Falls. President Ulysses S Grant and Thomas Edison were said to traveled here to ride it! Today, expert mountain bikers ride it for some of the same thrills as years ago.

Empty coal cars were pulled up the Mt Pisgah plane.  Cresting the top, they would traverse this trestle as they began their descent down the other side to reach the base of Mt. Jefferson at Summit Hill.  Here they were loaded with coal, pulled to the top of Mt Jefferson, and sent down the eight mile gravity journey to Mauch Chunk. There, coal was sent down chutes over what is today Route 209, and filled the awaiting Canal Boats on the Lehigh Canal. Later, Packer’s Lehigh Valley Railroad took over the bulk of the coal transport.

(Pictures: Above, Mt Pisgah trestle long ago, Below: the same site today)

Visiting this site, you can take in many vistas of Carbon County.

Check out these sites for more of a flavor of the history and character of Carbon County:

http://mauchchunkmuseum.com/

http://www.switchbackgravityrr.org/

http://culturedcarboncounty.blogspot.com/