Signs on Route 30 in Ligonier Township mark spot Arthur St. Clair lived out his final days

The pair of historical markers might catch some glances as motorists whizz by on Route 30.

But there’s no time to take in their significance on a small patch of land in Ligonier Township around a bend in the highway.

A yellow and blue marker erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and adjacent monument owned by Westmoreland County have for decades marked a spot near where Arthur St. Clair, an officer in the Revolutionary War, lived out his final days. The state marker was put up along the eastbound lanes in December 1946.

The county monument was erected in 1927 and rebuilt in 2009.

Former Westmoreland County Commissioner Charles Anderson was instrumental in the 2009 project. Arthur St. Clair has an important role in the history of the nation and region and should be remembered, Anderson said.

“He cut a pretty wide swath,” Anderson said.

The county’s monument had deteriorated over the years and was in need of improvements. When the project was completed, one lane of the highway was closed to allow for a rededication ceremony that included the national anthem and a musket salute by Revolutionary War re-enactors.

St. Clair served as a major general during the Revolutionary War, president of the Continental Congress in 1787 and a court justice when Westmoreland County was formed in 1773. He was the first governor of the Northwest Territory.

St. Clair died in 1818 and is buried in a Greensburg park that bears his name.

Both historical markers — on a section of the highway dotted by camps along the Loyalhanna Creek between Lincoln Highway Experience and The Road Toad — note that St. Clair spent his last days about 2 miles south in a log cabin close to a spring. The county monument names the spot St. Clair Hollow in his honor.