Ghost Town of Bennington PA

[@sparklefarkle6950]

Thank you for your research and keeping history "modern." I've driven past that site so many times on the highway and wondered what that place was.... Keep on keeping on!!!

[@ODDySEEy]

👍🏼

[@brucesheehe6305]

I was there yesterday in my JEEP.

[@ODDySEEy]

HA... you need a jeep to take that run along that loose train gravel road.

[@RRYankfan]

As far as the late dates, it is possible that the grave sites were purchased before the closure and once the individual had passed away, they were buried there as late as 59. I go out there a few times a year. Very neat area I love it.

[@michaelgoyette2815]

My grandmother was born and raised on the other side of he tracks at Bennington. The house is under present day route 22. She used to say “we didn’t have much but we where always warm”. My great grand parents immigrated from Poland to Philadelphia around the turn of the century. My gg father was a coal miner and died of black lunge. Bennington cemetery if you look close has a substantial amount of vets from the war of 1812 as well as the Civil War. I walked it a few years ago. At the bottom of sugar run is a one room school house where she went, still standing! It was 7 miles one way. Awesome content and thanks for sharing.

[@ODDySEEy]

I love these stories.

[@tomsheehan3876]

My Great Great Grandfather and his family lived at Bennington in the 1873 to 1879 time frame. My great grandfather was born at Bennington in March of 1878. The family members are buried on Tunnel Hill at St. Patrick’s Graveyard beginning in the 1870’s. I’ve been to Bennington site numerous times in the late 1990’s. Irish to America in 1863 from County Cork.

[@travelingman484]

Thanks for these stories. I’m an adopted son of Pennsylvania. Thank you

[@ODDySEEy]

Pennsylvania is quite the beautiful commonwealth... but we have our secrets buried under trees and rocks. :D

[@toddbreen4621]

Hi Scott, great video...thank you! My Great Grandfather from my mother's side (Madison "Christy" Mulhollen) lived in this town prior to 1917. He was born in Bellwood in 1880, and eventually made his way to Bennington. He worked in Bennington, and he was the brakeman on the train to and from Heilwood, the Heilwood Mine NO. 1 (Penn Mary no.1). In 1912, he was involved in a railway accident and lost his arm. He eventually relocated to Gallitzin but still traveled to and from Bennington. Then in 1917 he fell to his death from one of the foot bridges in Bennington, at the age of 37. He left behind a wife and 6 children ranging in age from 2 - 11. He is buried in Union Cemetery, Gallitizin.

[@ODDySEEy]

That is incredible that you have such a story of your family to tell. These are stories they should have attached to placards around these types of areas. I will have to see if my family line of Mulhollens ever came out this far.

[@dpm4351]

My family's from tunnel hill . My Dad loved Bennington. We walked the Bird eye almost every week to Bennington.

[@ODDySEEy]

I wish there was still more left behind. I guess when people were living where they worked, there was not much room for writing things down or leaving a, "I was here" or "we were here" trace.

[@dpm4351]

@@ODDySEEy our grandma's house on top of the galitzin tunnels in tunnel hill was build from shacks in Bennington.

[@byronsmail1766]

Great video, I just visited there from your video. Truly amazing place to visit. My greatest take away from the visit,, even know the town is gone, there legacy lives on to this day!

[@ODDySEEy]

And based on what I see at these sites... many of them will be gone within another generation. Part of why I go out and do these videos.

[@byronsmail1766]

@Scott's ODDySEEy I really enjoy your videos! I take my kids on adventures every week or two, we try to see history sites, and state parks, museums and natural attractions. You give us great ideas to see! I have a few trips to take in the near future because of your ideas!

[@dpm4351]

Another awesome video . 👍

[@ODDySEEy]

Thanks again!

[@captainkane1984]

Do one about the Huntingdon and Broadtop Mountain Railroad

[@ODDySEEy]

EBT and Huntingdon are "in the works". Since a new change of management at EBT, I need to take steps to gain access to sites.

[@captainkane1984]

@@ODDySEEy Amazing! Love the EBT... I love the H&BT Mountain Railroad too, but that one is more elusive.

[@ODDySEEy]

@@captainkane1984 yeah... I have data on HBT from its start in Huntingdon to Walker Township and lines going toward Alexandria... but then it goes very cold on that trail very quickly.

[@tattooedtactical6667]

Great video Scott!!! This grave yard was talked about recently in an Altoona group im in and was as i understand just cleaned up and the cross replaced!!

[@ODDySEEy]

👍🏼

[@jeffreymcneal1507]

That looks to be about the most dismal place on the East Coast I have ever laid eyes upon. I almost wanted to dig a hole and join the residents.

[@ODDySEEy]

It is a very sad and sandy place to this day. There are some trees there now, but not what I would call a wood. Remember, during this time the entirety of Pennsylvania was a barren wasteland with no trees.

[@Calypso111583]

I absolutely love your videos. I love exploring and learning the history places. I hope you continue to do these for as long as possible. Thank you for the great videos!

[@ODDySEEy]

I think I am gonna make a career out of this :) I LOVE doing this stuff.

[@Calypso111583]

We decided we're going out to visit here tomorrow.

[@Urbexy]

An interesting piece of history. I wonder if those crosses away from the gravesite were once on the upper sections of the now lost church building. Fascinating location.

[@ODDySEEy]

👍🏼

[@tattooedtactical6667]

There a very small graveyard at the beaver dam rod and gun club in queen PA.. Very very old

[@ODDySEEy]

I recently found myself out that way and couldn't find it. Can you give me a little more info if you get a chance. Send it to my email (found on the About page).

[@kayleeronan8676]

Hey Scott! Had never heard of this story until recently. I live in gallitzin and finally went looking for the cemetery. Pretty crazy drive! Found your video researching the subject. Love your channel and have watched several of your videos!

[@ODDySEEy]

The two parts to my videos, 1. Get you to go out and see if for yourself and 2. If you cannot go out and see it, then you will get to see it in the video and learn about it. It is awesome when others find my videos before they go out to these sites. Whenever I go to these places, nobody seems to know anything about them... so I research before I go now and make videos. :D

[@Ryanezek36]

You are doing a great job Scott. I subscribed. Just realized who you were. Say hi to Les. Miss you guys

[@ODDySEEy]

Will do, Ryan. Hope all is well.

[@sapperssgkelley]

If you cross the mainline on the steps you were sitting on and bear to you left a bit and down over the bank you'll find the Iron Furnace that kicked off the activity in the area. An easier way is to drive down Sugar Run road from Tunnelhill and watch for the white colored slag pile of the furnace to appear on your left. Once on the slag pile walk in reverse of the dump pattern in once in the trees you'll find the furnace. It's mostly a pile of rocks now but if you kick around you can find sand that was melted into glass and I found the brick lined mouth of the furnace when I was up there several years ago. I was excited to post a bunch of links of my research on the area but all the helpful links are now dead or purchased by Ancestry dot com. I had also found the remnants of a couple more structure foundations in the woods below the road you talked about. Nothing worth returning to look for, the church foundation is the best remnant. Before Rt 22 was built there were still a few residents in the area. if you look at the satellite view of the area across 22 you'll see a piece of the old road, there were several houses there and a small (If I recall correctly) coal yard for residents of the area to buy heating coal. Even after the new road was built, there was a man living in a shanty in the woods on the upper side of that road into the late 80's (as I was told by a local). I asked old timers I know who grew up in Tunnelhill if that would have been considered Bennington and they said that's what they always called it. So unofficially, Bennington was occupied until the late 80's. As always, great job Scott!

[@ODDySEEy]

There were a lot of graves that were significantly newer up that way. I will be returning eventually. Honestly, I didn't know what I was getting into when I went up there the first time. As the video format solidifies more into a repeatable and expectable pattern, and as my gear improves over time, I will probably go out and do "revisits" after a year or two and recapture if possible. Comments like this one I actually copy out to a site data collection page I keep in a MS OneNote folder of all my current and future visits. :)

[@juliemason9784]

What happened to the church? Was it pulled down, or left to rot with building materials robbed?

[@ODDySEEy]

I do not know definitively. But, based on other similar churches of the time period, the Methodist Episcopal Church in this area was absorbed by the United Methodist Church and when churches were closed, they typically would reuse almost EVERYTHING at a new location and give the parts and pieces of old churches a dedication in the new buildings.

[@MissRailfan]

Don't walk the tracks please. Other then that great video.

[@ODDySEEy]

I was standing on the tracks to show the cemetery in the background. The trail to the tracks is part of the track bed. I assume you have been there based on previous RR comments. No one was doing anything unsafe nor illegal.