Drive PA Indian Paths: Turnpike Eastbound, Part 2

This tour is Part 2 of a four-part eastbound Pennsylvania Turnpike series that eliminates turnpike boredom. To access the rest of the series, just tap on my author profile.

It tells incredible prehistoric tales of ancient Indians who once walked this trail. You'll hear compelling historic dramas unfold from the time that cultures of Indians and European settlers collided here.

This part of the tour begins at the Somerset travel plaza, a summit of the Allegheny Mountains. It ends at the Sideling Hill travel plaza.

Along the way we'll learn the origins of fire. We'll explore the problems of firewater and how they caused George Washington to lead troops here.

We'll hear Indian stories of the Underworld, and learn also how not to lower yourself over a cliff.

Just for good measure, we'll talk to a Seneca woman camped along the trail -- in her language.

So, you will reach a new understanding about life and death here centuries ago. I guarantee that!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks for the contributions of the Seneca Language Department directed by Ja:no's Bowen; Paul A.W. Wallace whose 1965 work Indian Paths of Pennsylvania cleared the way for all to follow; and Henry Schoolcraft who in the first half of the 1800s put tribal stories, legends and myths into writing -- as best as a Victorian white man could -- as Indian culture was thought to be on the verge of extinction.