A Little Getaway - Part 2

My husband and I recently took a short trip to Pennsylvania. You can read about the beginning here.

First up this morning was a visit to the Boals Mansion in Boalsburg, PA. Boals Mansion began as a farmhouse over 200 years ago and expanded into the mansion that is there today. It has been continually owned and lived in by the same family for over 8 generations. We have visited many old houses and museums but this one was different than any we had seen because it had so many original furnishings and items. According to the guide, they are still discovering unopened trunks and boxes in the basement or attic. I guess that's what happens when the house stays in the family generation after generation - it never has to get cleaned out.  

Besides the house, the grounds had a centuries-old chapel from Spain that had been dismantled and rebuilt on the grounds. One of the Boals' wives inherited a castle the chapel was attached to and she had it brought to PA. She also happened to be a descendent of Christopher Columbus and had some things belonging to him and his son.  It was only a few years ago that they found many letters and documents from the 1300 and 1400s among the things brought from Spain. Unfortunately, the house and chapel were pretty dark, so I didn't get many pictures (at least ones that weren't blurry.) 

The main house

On display in various rooms, were dresses found recently
 in the basement in seven unopened trunks. 

The original door to the chapel. It was made
from walnut with mahogany insets.

They occasionally still hold masses in the chapel today.

Almost as interesting as the mansion was this giant fungus we found on the lawn.
 Notice the quarter on top of it for scale.

After our very interesting morning, we headed north to Bald Eagle State Park for a little hiking. Bald Eagle Park is located on a lake and has multiple water activities such as boating and swimming. However, the season was over for those, so we had the park almost to ourselves. We hiked along the Butterfly trail and actually saw three butterflies on the few flowers that were still blooming here and there. That's a clue that more flower pictures are coming.

It was the day for interesting fungi.

We saw lots of black walnuts everywhere. This picture is in honor of the
Black Walnut Festival held in my hometown every October.

After a good hike at the park, we headed back to State College. We didn't make it in time to watch marching band practice again, so we consoled ourselves with ice cream at Berkey's Creamery on campus. The ice cream was made with milk from cows raised at the school. We topped off our ice cream for dinner meal later with leftovers from lunch. 

A good day overall, a very good day. 

Next time, I'll tell you about the sites we saw along our way home.