Archaeology crew sifting through Ohiopyle State Park's past in search of cultural treasure

A pilot project at Ohiopyle State Park has members of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps sifting through dirt, looking for items of cultural significance in advance of a campsite expansion.

The cultural resource crew has been working for the past week in a wooded area near Kentuck Campground, said crew leader and archaeologist Kate Peresolak. So far, they’ve found a piece of cobalt blue glass, which could have come from a bottle or other type of vessel.

Their work site was the location Monday for a chilly visit from Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission officials.

“It’s exciting to see it in action,” said Cindy Adams Dunn, DCNR secretary. “We see it as a big advancement in our stewardship of cultural resources.”

The Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps, through a contract with The Student Conservation Association, worked on projects at state parks throughout the year. The cultural resource crew was assigned two locations — Ohiopyle and Moraine state parks.

The area at Ohiopyle was used 120 years ago as an agricultural field that has since been replaced by trees, said Angie Jaillet-Wentling, cultural resources program coordinator with DCNR. The archaeological assessment at Ohiopyle will help parks officials better understand how the land was used in the past and enable them to tell visitors about it, Dunn said.

There will be 90 holes dug at the Ohiopyle site, each 15 meters apart. Crew members work in pairs to shovel the dirt and sift through it. After the work is complete, any items found will be cleaned and documented.

Then, officials will have to determine if anything unearthed is significant enough to warrant adjusting the Kentuck Campground expansion project, Jaillet-Wentling said. Department officials will coordinate with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission officials, if necessary.

“You can either avoid it or work around it, or you can devise something,” Jaillet- Wentling said.

The Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps is in its sixth year working throughout the state, providing job skills to young people with a focus on stewardship of parks and forests. Nine adult crews helped out this year.