Booklet showcasing Oil Region driving tour has been updated

From staff reports

The Oil Region Alliance has released an updated version of the Oil Region driving tour booklet.

This publication is a revision of a document last updated in 1999 that directs users to points of interest throughout the Oil Region National Heritage Area.

“The driving tour focuses on the geography and natural features and the way the landscape informed the social and economic development of the Oil Region National Heritage Area,” said Alliance project manager Abbe Watson-Popescu, who updated and developed the content of the driving tour.

This new is in full color and includes more maps, images, and historical photos. Contact information was updated and content themes were modernized.

The route of the driving tour was changed to include new swaths of the region including Pleasantville and the surrounding boomtowns. Rockland Furnace, Freedom Falls, Mineral Springs and Hughes Park are new inclusions for this edition.

“I hope that folks will use it to discover new pockets of the (Oil Region National Heritage Area) and visit sites they didn’t realize existed,” Watson-Popescu said.

The booklet’s layout was graphically designed by Brandon Boocks. Publications were printed locally by Seneca Printing.

The booklet project was financed in part by the National Park Service and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources – Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, through Community Conservation Partnerships Program Grant Heritage and Other Parks.

The booklets are available for free at the Alliance office, at 217 Elm St. in Oil City, and at literature distribution racks throughout the National Heritage Area.