Pennsylvania Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to the 250HISTORY STATE SCAVENGER HUNT for Pennsylvania – The Keystone State’s Journey Through 250 Years of American Storytelling.

This guide is part of the Semiquincentennial Series, celebrating 250 years of the United States through a local lens. Inside, you’ll find dozens of destinations across the Keystone State—some familiar, some forgotten—all brought to life through rhyming riddles, historic tales, and the spirit of discovery.

Come with us traveler, to a journey across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania—where iron was forged, ideas were born, and the nation itself took shape. This scavenger hunt will carry you from cobbled city streets to quiet mountain hollows, through colonial inns, crumbling forges, gilded theaters, and ghostly steel towns.

Each stop on your path reveals a chapter of Pennsylvania’s rich and rugged history. You’ll meet inventors and industrialists, rebels and reformers, and see firsthand how this keystone state held the young republic together. Along the way, you'll find stories tucked into roadside diners, nestled in towering forests, and echoing across old railroad bridges.

Use the clues, follow the trails, and see how many sites you can uncover. Whether you're traveling with friends, family, or a sharp eye and sturdy shoes of your own, this hunt is a celebration of discovery—and of a state that shaped a nation.

What is the only agricultural product Pennsylvania leads the nation in producing? Solved. What was the first sports stadium in America to have two decks? A mystery no more. Where is the oldest transportation tunnel? Identified. What Pennsylvania golf course is the oldest in continuous use in the country? Revealed. What caused the mine fire in Centralia and when will it burn out? No one knows.

Where Quakers played and records stood,
A double-decker, brick and wood.
Relays raced and Eagles soared,
Lombardi’s pack was once outscored.
This field holds track and football lore—
Where glory graced a nation’s floor.

Where Quakers played and records stood,
A double-decker, brick and wood.
Relays raced and Eagles soared,
Lombardi’s pack was once outscored.
This field holds track and football lore—
Where glory graced a nation’s floor.

He failed with his caramels time after time,
Till milk met with chocolate in flavor sublime.
From Derry’s green fields rose a cocoa empire,
With bars wrapped in silver and built to inspire.
Now kids ride through chocolate and dreams rich and sweet—
I

He failed with his caramels time after time,
Till milk met with chocolate in flavor sublime.
From Derry’s green fields rose a cocoa empire,
With bars wrapped in silver and built to inspire.
Now kids ride through chocolate and dreams rich and sweet—
In a town where each block smells like sugar and heat.

To conquer the mountain, they bent the track tight,
A sweeping rail loop was a marvelous sight.
Pickaxes and muscle shaped every bend,
A curve that made railroads ascend and transcend.
Trains still ride proud on this engineered grace,
The Amphitheate

To conquer the mountain, they bent the track tight,
A sweeping rail loop was a marvelous sight.
Pickaxes and muscle shaped every bend,
A curve that made railroads ascend and transcend.
Trains still ride proud on this engineered grace,
The Amphitheater of Iron, still setting the pace.

A rail that climbs the mountainside,
Where steepest grades let cars still glide.
It carried men to forge and flame,
Now tourists seek its storied name.
Climb up where steel once set the pace,
The slanted track still holds its place.

A rail that climbs the mountainside,
Where steepest grades let cars still glide.
It carried men to forge and flame,
Now tourists seek its storied name.
Climb up where steel once set the pace,
The slanted track still holds its place.

A snowy night, a crossing bold,
With boats and hope and rebels cold.
From this stone inn, the orders came—
“Let’s cross and stake our freedom’s claim!”
To Hessian ranks the Continentals sped,
And turned the war from dread to lead.

A snowy night, a crossing bold,
With boats and hope and rebels cold.
From this stone inn, the orders came—
“Let’s cross and stake our freedom’s claim!”
To Hessian ranks the Continentals sped,
And turned the war from dread to lead.

A Grecian crown where traders met,
In marble halls their deals were set.
One portico curves, the other straight—
A Strickland feat of measured weight.
Where commerce rang in rich refrain,
The past still echoes Dock Street's lane.

A Grecian crown where traders met,
In marble halls their deals were set.
One portico curves, the other straight—
A Strickland feat of measured weight.
Where commerce rang in rich refrain,
The past still echoes Dock Street's lane.