Home // News Sunday, October 25, 2009 7:39 pm
A visit to Eckley Miners’ Village becomes a trip in time, thanks to volunteers and re-enactors
Voices of the past
By Steve Mocarsky
smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
FOSTER TWP. – Each year, thousands of people ramble down the dirt road of a backwoods coal patch town and wander through the tiny, weathered, wooden houses that 19th century miners once called their homes.
For some, a visit to Eckley Miners’ Village might be an effort to reconnect with their ancestors. For others, it’s just an entertaining and educational way to spend an afternoon.
But the experience would be much less enriching and interesting without the people who freely share their knowledge about and enthusiasm for the village and the history of local coal mining, said Bill Strassner, village director.
A group of about 20 volunteers is the heart and soul of Eckley Miners’ Village, which has since 1971 been administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
They come from all walks of life, but almost all of them have some special interest in or connection with coal mining or the town itself.
“I had family that lived in the village,â€
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