Drive two hours north of the city of Pittsburgh, and you’ll find Venango County, Pennsylvania, a region of remote towns, rugged hills, shimmering river valleys, and endless emerald forests. To the average traveler, this place is nothing more than your typical rural backcountry, but looks, as they say, can be deceiving. Look again, and you’ll find the remnants of a past life buried under the tangled forest: networks of rusted pipe, giant rotted wood barrels, and the foundations of towns long gone.

Petroleum Centre is one of these towns.

In this, our first episode, Hannah Allman Kennedy explores the rise and fall of a small Pennsylvania ghost town, and the colorful characters that called it home.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_Center,_Pennsylvania

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_oil_rush

Hildegard Dolson, The Great Oildorado, Random House, 1959.

https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/petroleum_centre_tour#.YjZDXxDMI6A

https://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-C

https://uncoveringpa.com/ghost-towns-in-pa

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3823c.ct004159/?st=image

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whathappenedhere.pod/

Hannah's Website: https://hannahakwrites.com/