Jefferson County History Center

 JCHS Heritage Rocks Park 

ADA Accessible Native Plant – Pollinator Pond Habitat
& Education Center  

JCHS is designated by the Jefferson County Commissioners and PA Historical and Museum Commission as the county’s official historical society. JCHS operates the Jefferson County History Center (Museum), two archives buildings and the JCHS Heritage Park. [Local name "Scripture Rocks” is derived from folklore, so we kept that name, too, on our marketing materials and signage].  

We developed an all-volunteer-built historic cultural heritage and natural resource park as out first “outdoor museum,” which opened
June 2016. The free park is 2 miles from the History Center, and covers 4.6 wooded acres with 1.5 miles of hiking trails. We offer monthly guided tours on the Park’s cultural heritage/rock art site of 60+ engraved rocks from the early 1900s, and Environmental Education
programs. 

The park has hosted 39,000+ local, regional and worldwide visitors to date and has received 9 prestigious local, state and national museum organization awards. The latest award from PA Museums April 2022 is for our new ADA accessible Native Plant – Pollinator Pond Habitat and Educational Staging Center.  

This most recent project was envisioned in 4 Phases from 2019-2022:
Visualizing our planting plan, turning a required drainage pond (that never drains) into a pollinator’s oasis, developing the interpretive panels, signage and educational materials and finding funding for the ADA Accessible Education Area next to the Pollinator Pond Habitat. We are now in Phase IV with a final spring planting!  

May 2021 was our first Pollinator Ecology program hosting the Brookville Area School District 4th grade. We enlisted presenters who are experts in their field (including Staff, Board members and area professionals) to present Pollinator-Pond Ecology, and also Cultural Heritage, Forestry (past lumbering and current conservation), Native American Rockshelter, and Build a Bird Feeder Activity. May 2022 will be our 2nd year hosting 4th graders.    

We addded the Chronolog this year to document changes in the Pollinator habitat early spring - fall.