For this Post on History around my area, I thought I’d do something different. I found a aerial picture of the place that I went to yesterday. Thought that I’d show you in Red where I went walking around with numbers to show where I took the Images.
Stop No. 1 shows the famous Mt. Penn Fire Tower. It has been here for as long as I can remember. The Fire Tower was built in 1939 and stands 120 ft. tall. It’s 1,239 ft. above sea level. The Tower has a winding staircase that is inside and is open to the public on certain day’s of the week. The winding staircase is not a lot of fun to climb. However, if you do you can get a very good view of the City from on top of the tower. It was closed when I was here. The trees are starting to change into their Fall color before Winter.
Here is the Tower looking from a different angle.
Stop #2. I stood on top of a flat cement structure to take this Image of where the Highland House used to be located. Only the retaining wall exists anymore. Nothing here but a empty area.
This is what used to occupy the empty space that I showed above. The Highland House or Hotel as it was called. The Highland Hotel was built in 1884 and had 118 rooms for guests to stay in. It was destroyed by a huge fire in 1930. It was never rebuilt. Guests from the Gravity Railroad that ran behind the Hotel stayed here, which I show you next.
Stop #3. This Image shows what remains of the Gravity Railroad that ran behind the Hotel. At one time there were tracks here that Trolley cars ran up and down the Mountain. The old retaining Wall is still here off to the right of this image. If you really never knew what used to be here, it looks like a long lane. The Gravity Railroad ceased to exist in 1932.
Stop #4. Here is the old stairway that led up to the Highland Hotel from the Gravity Railroad. I’m surprised that the stairway has lasted for so long. Of course, I climbed these steps just to see what was here.
Well, I hope that you enjoyed my “walk about” that you can see in Red on the Image in the beginning of this Post. This is pretty much of what I do all the time when I go “out there” with my Nikon.
Thanks for stopping by.
Les
PHOTOJOURNAL OF CORKER2 
It’s interesting how little trace there is of a building and railway line that ceased to exist as recently as 1930. I especially would have expected to see something of the railway still observable. It’s really great that you know so much about the history of your local area.